9. The Passenger

Summary

On their way back to the station from somewhere, Kira and Bashir come upon a damaged vessel engulfed in flames. Aboard they find a scarcely-conscious woman and a man trapped in a room. The woman urges Bashir to leave him alone, saying that the man is a prisoner and started the fire in order to escape, but Bashir ignored her. The man grabs him by the throat, croaks "Make me live" and dies. They take the woman, Ty Kajada of Kobliad security, back to the station along with the body of her prisoner, Rao Vantika. Kajada demands DNA verificatin of his identity, scans of everything and almost won't believe he's dead...she's been chasing him most of her life and knows well his cleverness, he's faked his death more than once. Everything seems kosher, he's definitely dead. Meanwhile, Odo is bothered by the intrusion of Starfleet Security Lt. Primmin, who seems to think he'll take over all security matters and keep Odo around to round up the drunks. Sisko sets him straight and as the two go over security arrangements for a duridium shipment (the Kobliad need duridium to stay alive) they realzie that security has been breached in the same way Vantika once did. It seems he's alive after all. Quark, who was supposed to help Vantika once he got to DS9 (his original destination), is shocked to be visited by some unseen person claiming to be Vantika. Dax and Bashir theorize that Vantika transferred his neural patterns into Kajada's brain, so they shut her off from their security arrangements for the shipment, which Vantika was planning to hijack. When Quark, under instructions from the unseen person, brings hired thugs to a runabout, he's shocked to find Bashir...Vantika's neural patterns are in HIM, not Kajada. The runabout tries to hijack the shipment but Dax manages to force Vantika's neural patterns out of Julian long enough for him to deactivate the shields and be beamed aboard. She removes Vantika's neural energy from Julian's brain by transporter and transfers them into a stasis container, which Kajada destroys with a phaser.

Analysis

The first of several Alien Posession plots in DS9's first few seasons, I suppose it couldn't be avoided. This one isn't so bad, really...I love Kajada, she's one of my favorite one-time guest stars. However...poor Sid. If you want to see just how far Siddig El Fadil's acting has come during his time on DS9, just watch this episode. He's terrible, just awful. And the teaser with him and Kira in the runabout is one of his most over-the-top moments as the arrogant self-important Bashir that he started out to be and had pretty much ceased to be by season three. Vantika is sort of an interesting character, even though he's dead...I would have liked to see him alive and working his nefarious magic in the flesh. As for the Odo B plot, this was the first of what would become a pattern of antagonism between Odo and Starfleet Security, who steadfastly refuse to acknowledge Odo's excellent job performance. Primmin (known as Eddington, Mark 1 in some circles) is a buffoon, and his presence prompts Odo to make one of his periodic threats to resign his post. Nothing to write home about, but a moderately enjoyable episode.

Rating: 6.0

Memorable Quote:

Kajada: What kind of fool are you?
Odo: My own special variety.

Classic Scene:

Bashir, as Vantika on the runabout, is a hoot...unintentionally. Poor Sid's way of conveying his alien possession is by talking....like....this...with...big...pauses. It's sort of funny after a few minutes.

Sexually Slanted Line 'O the Episode:

"I'll get Odo up here." --Kira...well, if anyone could get Odo up, it'd be you. (snerk)

The O/K Status Report

More examples of Kira defending Odo to naysayers...Primmin, in this case...but other than that, nothing. Sisko does mention the fact that Kira was the first person to call Odo "Constable," a gesture of affection. At this point Odo isn't too receptive to it, though.

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