DS9: Business as Usual

         Quark has always been a character of, shall we say, somewhat questionable ethics. But that doesn't mean he is necessarily evil or particularly immoral. Just not afraid of cheating some people to make extra profit. But in this episode we learn that there are limits to what he is willing to do for money and they mostly involve the deaths of millions of people. I actually appreciate the moral ambiguity of the episode with the Bajoran government willing to take Quarks side but the Federation being unwilling to even talk to him when he gets deep into the arms trade. To the Bajorans their access to illegal weapons was the vital link to defeating the Cardassians which makes me suspect the Cardassian government would have a slightly different reaction to Mr. Hagath.
         We open with Dax and Quark playing Tongo, but really Dax is just taking Quark's money, he is too busy being distracted by his mounting debt. And speaking of debt, one of his creditors walks right in, his cousin Gaila. It turns out Gaila wants to use Quark's holosuites as an arms show room for an associate of his and Quark will get to take 5% of the profit. For a change we switch to the B story second which is pretty much entirely Chief O'Brien trying to take care of his some Yoshi while Keiko is on Bajor and literally every time Yoshi is set down or in anyone's arms but Miles he starts crying. Quark meanwhile is meeting Gaila's business partner Hagath, an enthusiastic and rather antagonistic man who loves selling guns and threatening those with less power than himself.
         Things go great for a while since they are only showing off holographic weapons it doesn't appear they can be touched by the law, but that is less clear when Odo drags Quark into the security office to arrest him. But Sisko and Kira show up with news that since Hagath sold guns to the Bajorans Quark isn't to be prosecuted for his crimes. Quark gets back to business preparing for a big client, the Regent of Palamar. Quark goes all out preparing a welcome for the regent and even impresses Hagath. The meeting goes great, but Quark is really upset by the news that the weapons are going to kill 28 million people. Quark comes up with a plan to let the regents enemies run into the regent in a cargo bay and it goes great. The regent is killed and a hit squad is sent after Hagath and Gaila. Sisko makes Quark pay for the repairs but is pleased Quark is out of the arms business. The episode closes with Dax and Quark again playing Tongo.

         Review: No one in Starfleet has generally been allowed to be nearly as unethical as Quark which has kept a lot of the stories from having the kind of weight this one does. I am impressed with the fine line this episode walks and manages to stick with all the way to the end. 

7 out of 10