Inquisition (''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'')

"Inquisition" is the 142nd episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It is the 18th episode of the sixth season. Starfleet counter-espionage units make the rounds at Deep Space Nine as the war with the Dominion drags on. An intelligence leak may be coming from the station and they are investigating. The story is told from the standpoint of Bashir, who is of special interest due to having been a prisoner of war in Season 5.

Broadcast on April 8, 1998 on television, it received Nielsen ratings of 4.7 points corresponding to about 4.6 million viewers.^[1]

Plot

Dr. Bashir, scheduled to leave for a conference the next day, tends to Chief O'Brien, who has dislocated his shoulder while kayaking in a holosuite. Bashir wakes up the next morning feeling tired, and is summoned to a meeting of the senior staff. Sisko introduces Sloan, the deputy director of Starfleet Internal Affairs. Sloan suspects one of them of being a Dominion spy, and confines them to quarters.

Bashir is escorted to the ward room, where Sloan treats him cordially while asking a few light questions and seems satisfied. Upon returning to his quarters, Bashir suspects they have been searched. O'Brien secretly contacts Bashir, informing him that his interrogation with Sloan lasted hours and focused entirely on Bashir.

Bashir is then brought back to Sloan, who has changed his tone. He accuses Bashir of being a traitor, pointing out various questionable acts, including his sympathy for renegade Jem'Hadar trying to cure their Ketracel White addiction ("Hippocratic Oath"), lifelong dishonesty about his genetic enhancements ("Doctor Bashir, I Presume?"), and his handling of a group of genetically enhanced outcasts who tried to convince the Federation's to surrender ("Statistical Probabilities").

Sloan presents a theory that, during Bashir's time in a Dominion prison ("By Inferno's Light"), he was persuaded to become a Dominion spy, but using a technique that would allow him to hide these memories even from himself, allowing him to truly believe he was a loyal Starfleet officer, then retrieve the intelligence later. Bashir refuses to accept Sloan's theory, but Sloan condemns him as a traitor and has him marched through the Promenade in handcuffs to a holding cell, where he is treated with contempt by Sloan's staff.

Sisko attends Bashir's next interrogation, pointing out holes in Sloan's arguments to no avail, but later privately suggests to Bashir that Sloan's theories are plausible. Sloan then informs Bashir he is being moved to another starbase without Sisko's knowledge. However, when the cell's forcefield is lowered, Bashir is suddenly beamed away and finds himself aboard a Dominion ship, where he is greeted warmly by Weyoun.

Weyoun confirms Sloan's theory, and when Bashir refuses to accept this, asserts they have been through the same conversation many times prior. Weyoun tells Bashir he was not tortured, but made a moral choice to help the Dominion end the war quickly and save lives. Bashir then wonders why Weyoun and Sloan are trying to convince him of the same thing, and concludes that Sloan himself is the traitor. At that moment, the ship is attacked, and Worf and Kira rescue Bashir.

On the Defiant, Sisko demands an explanation for the Dominion's involvement, and, uncharacteristically, the entire crew refuses to listen to his suggestion that Sloan is a spy or possibly a Founder in disguise, branding Bashir a traitor. Desperate, Bashir grabs O'Brien, who pulls his arm away. Bashir is surprised the Chief's injury has healed already, and tricks him into revealing he is unaware how he supposedly hurt it, realizing the entire situation isn't real. The Defiant bridge dissolves and Bashir finds himself in a holographic simulation room with just Sloan and two guards.

Sloan informs Bashir that his loyalty was being tested. Sloan explains that he is a member of Section 31, a secretive autonomous Starfleet intelligence agency. Bashir questions the legality and ethics of the operation, but Sloan justifies their actions as necessary to protect the Federation. He attempts to recruit Bashir, who refuses and threatens to expose them, but Sloan seems unconcerned, and has him knocked out by hypospray.

Bashir relates the events to the DS9 crew. Sisko reports that Starfleet Command neither confirms nor denies Section 31's existence. He predicts that Sloan will try to recruit Bashir again, and orders him to accept, so they can find out more. Odo is amused that Bashir's spy fantasies have become real.

Casting

This episode feature the first appearance of William Sadler as Luther Sloan, who would become a recurring character on the series. Additionally, Jeffrey Combs returns as Weyoun.

Reception

It is noted that this episode used the Voyager holodeck, and that the whole episode was actually set on one (A surprise-it was all holodeck versus it was all dream plot device).^[2] William Sadler's performance as Sloan was described as "magnificent", and the actor-character combo returns for two more episodes.^[2] Jammer's Review called the episode ".. a mysterious, intriguing look at the "other side" of Starfleet" and compared it to the "Homefront" "Paradise Lost" duology.^[3]

"Inquisition" is noted as one of the show's espionage stories featured in the later seasons.^[4] It was noted the spy plots featured in Deep Space Nine fit with the standard purview of the espionage fiction stories.^[5]

References

See also

• Worst Case Scenario (Star Trek: Voyager) (Cut off from Starfleet intelligence because of being stranded on the other side of the Galaxy, Voyager struggles with spies)
• Repression (Star Trek: Voyager) (This explores the kind of spy that Starfleet may have been looking for)
• Section 31

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Inquisition

• "Inquisition" on IMDb
• "Inquisition" at TV.com

• "Inqusition" at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)

• "Inquisition" at StarTrek.com