I apologize for my lateness, friends. I’ve been dealing with a health issue that has both consumed a lot of time, and also sapped some of my ability to keep up with everything I want to get accomplished. Better late than never, though. Still, I’m going to be trying to catch up a bit here, and I will be forgoing screenshots in this one.
Primary Plot
Nog (and Jake) are trying to break into profit. His father has made an ill-advised purchase and is stuck with product that Quark doesn’t want and can’t sell. Nog has taken it upon himself to make deals and trade it away to DS9 cargo freighters, hoping to score gold-pressed latinum. He is not finding any takers.
The boys keep trading and swapping, never knowing the relative value of any product they barter for.
Meanwhile, a stubborn resident, and his servants, of a Bajoran outpost has refused mandatory evacuation orders as an attempt is made to drill into the core of the moon to tap it for energy. He doesn’t want to leave his lifetime home, preferring to perish than leave.
There are alternative options for the moon energy project, including a different methodology that would take a year to yield energy results but would not require the removal of the populace. Major Kira even compares the forced removal to Cardassian attempts to deal with Bajorans during the war.
Bajorans attempt to remove the stragglers by force and the old man resident is shot. Kira-the-possibly-still-Needlessly-Defiant defies the attempt to remove the hardcases, requesting the doctor and making sure they aren’t removed by medical staff during treatment. She then stays with the old, cantankerous fellow, staying close by him and acting as his nurse, caring for him through the night. She even helps him continue to build his little kiln in his garden as he adamantly swears he’ll never leave.
Meanwhile, the Bajorans are ready to remove everyone by force, and are prepared to do so immediately. Sisko asks (really flat-out orders) Dr. Bashir to request a stay and an exception for Kira and the old man on medically necessary and humanitarian grounds, even though the doctor says there is no reason and would like the man moved to DS9 immediately for treatment even if that is against the old man’s will. Still, Dr. Bashir acquiesces, buying Kira some time.
The two boys, Jake and Nog, have bartered their original product of sauce through several trades into land. Nog was strongly against this last trade, upset to own only dirt with no value, but it turns out this land is the last holdout to allow Bajorans to implement their mining. They now have leverage, and can turn it into hard profit, turning it over to Quark to conduct the negotiations.
Kira remains with the old man until he is healthy enough to be up and about again. They finish the kiln and light a fire in it. The man says as long as his house remains, here is where he’ll stay. Kira then destroys the kiln with her phaser. She takes the long stick (torch? It looks like a hammer, maybe) that is lit with flame and uses it to set the old man’s house ablaze in several areas. She tells him it is time to go, and he tells her that if she’s really his friend, she’ll use her phaser on him. She doesn’t, of course. He says if he leaves, he’ll die. She says he won’t, and together they beam out.
Other Thoughts
The ending was a bit abrupt, but I really liked it. It didn’t feel like everything needed to be wrapped up. Kira got a lot of much-needed character development. The episode felt very comfy to me. I thought the plot with the kids was a bit tacked on, but even it wasn’t bad. Nog and Jake needed some help with their characters too.
Final Grade: B
It might surprise you, but I liked this episode. I guess it was a bit of a bottle episode. Very few effects, very simple, probably very low budget. Still, I enjoyed it. It is rare when I like an episode more than Drake, but this one did it for me.