For the Cause

ST episode
series = Deep Space Nine
name = For the Cause


Eddington gives orders
ep_num = 93
prod_num = 494
date = May 6, 1996
writer = Ronald D. Moore

director = James L. Conway
guest = Kenneth Marshall as Michael Eddington
Penny Johnson as Kasidy Yates
Tracy Middendorf as Ziyal
John Prosky as Brathaw
Steven Vincent Leigh as Reese
stardate = 49729.8
year = 2372
prev = The Muse
next = To the Death"For the Cause" is an episode of the science fiction television series "", the 22^nd episode of the fourth season.

Plot

During a security briefing, Lieutenant Commander Michael Eddington informs the senior staff that twelve industrial replicators will be delivered to the station in three days before being delivered to Cardassia, as per the request of the beleaguered empire, whose industrial base has been destroyed by Klingon attacks. Eddington also reports that with Cardassia's preoccupation with the Klingons, the Maquis have been emboldened, and their activity in the demilitarized zone between Cardassia and the Federation has increased. Starfleet Intelligence believes the Maquis will try to stop the delivery, and possibly steal the replicators. After the briefing, Eddington and Odo also inform Captain Sisko that there may be a Maquis smuggler on the station, and that preliminary circumstantial evidence may point to Sisko's girlfriend, freighter captain Kasidy Yates.

Meanwhile, Garak begins to take a closer notice of Gul Dukat's daughter, Tora Ziyal, who is now living on the station under the supervision of Major Kira. He mulls over an invitation by her to a Cardassian sauna in one of Quark's holosuites, wondering if she intends to kill him in order to please her father, since it was Garak who had Dukat’s father tortured and killed years ago, when he was a member of the Obsidian Order, Cardassia’s internal security police.

Sisko sends Worf in the "Defiant" to confirm Eddington and Odo's suspicions about Kasidy Yates, and indeed, Worf witnesses Kasidy's ship, the "Xhosa", transferring cargo to a Maquis raider in the Badlands.

Kira comes to Garak's tailor shop and threatens to kill him if he harms Ziyal. From this Garak actually deduces that it would be safe to meet with Ziyal, reasoning that Kira would not have threatened him if Ziyal had ill in mind for him. Quark points out to him, however, that Kira's threats may have been designed to lull into a state of complacency to facilitate any ulterior plans on Ziyal's part.

Sisko intends to stop Kasidy’s next delivery himself and capture her Maquis contact. When Kasidy's contact fails to appear, Odo becomes suspicious, wondering if Sisko was merely lured away from the station, which may be the Maquis’ target. When Sisko boards the "Xhosa" and confronts Kasidy, she insists that she was merely delivering medical supplies, and that she did not knowingly lure Sisko from the station, as it seems that she was duped by the Maquis just as Sisko was.

Back at the station, Eddington orders his security team to place the replicators aboard a Vulcan transport that is due to arrive at the station at any moment. After the security officers leave the wardroom, Kira arrives in the room. Eddington stuns her unconscious with a phaser, and steals the replicators, revealing himself to be a member of the Maquis.

Sisko returns to the station, but without arresting Kasidy or her crew, much to Odo's objections. Eddington later contacts Sisko, proclaiming his allegiance to the Maquis, excoriating the Federation for their politics in general and their treatment of the colonists that formed the Maquis in particular. He asks Sisko to leave the Maquis alone, telling him that they only consider Cardassia their enemy, and not the Federation. He also warns Sisko that there will be further conflicts if the Federation attempts to send more replicators or similar aid to Cardassia. Sisko vows to hunt Eddington down and arrest him, no matter what it takes.

Garak ultimately meets Ziyal in the holosuite, but although he is armed with a phaser to protect himself, Ziyal tells him that she has no illicit intentions toward him, explaining that as the half Bajoran, half Cardassian daughter of the former prefect of Bajor during the Occupation, she is an outcast on Bajor. She says she needs no companionship, since she spent five years in a prison camp all alone, but would like to learn more about Cardassia, from the only person on the station that can tell her anything about it. Thus their relationship begins.

Kasidy returns to Deep Space Nine, having let her crew off at a Maquis colony. She says she sensed that Sisko left her in the Badlands to see if she would willingly turn herself in. She says that she will not apologize for what she did, but felt she had a duty to aid the Maquis, just as Sisko has his duty, which he fulfills by ordering security to arrest her, after they share an emotional embrace.

Production

* Writer Mark Gehred-O'Connell was inspired by the Oklahoma City bombing to write this episode. Specifically, he recalled how in the days following the bombing, suspicion fell upon people of Middle Eastern descent as the culprits, when in fact, the true culprit was Timothy McVeigh, a white American. Gehred-O'Connell decided to write a story in which Deep Space Nine was the target of a terrorist attack, after which suspicion fell upon the least likely person, Kasidy Yates, as the prime suspect. As the story evolved, the attack upon the station was dispensed with, and the trust between Kasidy and Sisko became the thematic focus of the episode.Erdman, Terry J. & Block, Paula M.; the "Star Trek:Deep Space Nine Companion"; Pages 338-341]
* After being played by Cyia Batten in "Indiscretion" and "Return to Grace", Ziyal is played in this episode by Tracy Middendorf. This is Middendorf's only appearance in the role, as Melanie Smith later acquires the role permanently in "In Purgatory's Shadow", playing her until the character's final appearance in "Sacrifice of Angels". Batten would go on to appear as Irina in "Drive", an episode of ', and as Navaar in "Bound", an episode of '.
* The mention of Tholian punctuality by Kasidy in the second scene of Act 2 was writer Ron Moore's tribute to the episode, "The Tholian Web", in which those aliens first appeared.
* The reference by Jake Sisko in Act 3 to the 1961 Yankees and the 1978 Red Sox was a tribute by producer Ira Steven Behr to his two favorite baseball teams.
*The set of the "Xhosa" bridge was created from pieces previously used as the interior of the "Saratoga", on which Sisko had served as First Officer, as seen in the pilot episode, "Emissary".
* The story in this episode would be followed up later in a sequel episode, "For the Uniform".

References

External links

*StarTrekDS9 article|68906|For the Cause