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In the Hands of Prophets

O'BRIEN: Try one. You'll like it.

Too early for me. You sure?

It's so sweet.

It's a natural sweetness from the sap of the jumja tree.

It's full of vitamin C.

Since when did you become such an expert on jumja sticks?

Oh, Neela told me. Did she?

Mm-hmm. So... she working out any better than the last one?

Who, Neela? She's terrific.

She's even taught me a thing or two.

I'm glad to hear her expertise doesn't end with jumja sticks.

No. She's a really good engi...

Hold on. What?

Well... you're not thinking...?

Well, Keiko!

Just keeping you on your toes, O'Brien.

Oh, very funny.

Be careful who you share your jumja with.

KEIKO: Now, as we discussed in yesterday's lesson the wormhole was discovered by Commander Sisko and Lieutenant Dax earlier this year.

Does anyone know what makes this wormhole so unusual?

Jake?

It's stable? It's stable. That's right, Jake.

It's the first stable wormhole known to exist...

Please, continue.

A stable wormhole is very important because it allows us to travel, secure in the knowledge that neither end will shift locations.

Who knows why this wormhole is stable?

Because it was artificially constructed.

Commander Sisko encountered the entities who created the wormhole when he went... Excuse me.

By entities, do you not mean the Prophets?

Yes, on Bajor, the entities are worshipped as Prophets.

Our studies of the wormhole have shown that it was formed by unique particles we call "verterons" that are apparently self-sustaining in nature.

This begins to explain how a ship at impulse can safely pass through without...

Ships are safely guided through the passage by the hands of the Prophets.

In a manner of speaking.

Not, apparently, in your manner of speaking.

Perhaps we should discuss this after class.

Do you believe the Celestial Temple of the Prophets exists within the passage?

I respect that the Bajoran people believe that it does.

But that's not what you teach.

No. I don't teach Bajoran spiritual beliefs. That's your job.

Mine is to open the children's minds to... history, to literature, to mathematics, to science.

You are opening the children's minds-- to blasphemy, and I cannot permit it to continue.

Sorry I couldn't get here sooner.

Another fusion reactor went down.

How's it going? Done.

Done?

Did you remember to re-initialize the isolinear coprocessor?

I did it exactly like you showed me. Should I test it?

Well, uh, let me. You know us old folks. We like to feel useful.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

You keep this up, I'll be out of a job.

I doubt that.

Let's close it up.

Not that one. That's a security seal.

You need an EJ7 interlock to close it.

EJ7?

Yeah. That's okay. I have one here.

Bloody hell.

What's wrong?

Well, my EJ7 is missing.

It was here yesterday.

Maybe you left it in Ops.

No. I...

I don't misplace my tools.

I'm not exactly surprised.

You knew this was going to happen?

A confrontation like this was inevitable.

Sometimes I wonder if we'll ever find the common ground we need to bring Bajor into the Federation.

Major, would you join us?

We've been talking about an incident this morning at school.

I heard. Vedek Winn's been meeting with some of the Bajoran civilians about it.

What do you know about her?

She's from an orthodox order.

She has some support to become the next Kai... probably not enough.

The question is, how much support does she have on this station?

She has mine.

KEIKO: You can't possibly believe teaching the facts about the wormhole amounts to blasphemy.

I think some revisions in the school curriculum might be appropriate.

You teach a lot of Bajoran children.

I'm not going to let a Bajoran spiritual leader dictate what can or can't be taught in my classroom.

Then maybe we need two schools on this station-- one for the Bajoran children and another for the Federation.

If we start separating Bajoran and Federation interests...

A lot of Bajoran and Federation interests

are separate, Commander.

I've been telling you that all along.

Nobody's saying that there can't be spiritual teaching on the station, Major, but can't it be in addition to what's taught in Mrs. O'Brien's classroom?

But if she's teaching a fundamentally different philosophy...

I'm not teaching any philosophy.

What I'm trying to teach is pure science.

Some might say pure science taught without a spiritual context

is a philosophy, Mrs. O'Brien.

My philosophy is that there is room for all philosophies on this station.

Now, how do you suggest that we deal with this?

I'm not sure you can.

I can't tell you how much I've looked forward to this moment.

I'm honored to meet the Emissary to the Prophets.

If you'd let me know you were coming, Vedek Winn,

I would have greeted you sooner.

I did not wish to bother you with my insignificant visit.

I'd hardly call it insignificant.

Thank you, Emissary.

I wish you wouldn't call me that.

I'm Commander Sisko, or Benjamin, if you like.

But you are the Emissary.

Don't you know the cherished place you have earned in the Bajoran spiritual life?

I'm not sure I'm comfortable in that role.

The course the Prophets choose for us may not always be comfortable but we must follow it.

May I?

Still the disbeliever.

I once asked Kai Opaka why a disbeliever was destined to seek the Prophets and she told me that one must never look into the eyes of one's own gods.

I disagreed.

I told her I would do anything to look into their eyes.

She suggested that I sit in darkness for a day, and quite properly so.

She cannot be replaced, and I miss her deeply.

It's important to me that we resolve your problems with the school.

The Prophets have spoken to me through the Orbs, Emissary.

I understand my duty to defend the Bajoran faith.

The teacher has dishonored the Celestial Temple.

If she does not recant,

I cannot be responsible for the consequences.

This still seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through to find one tool.

With that interlock, someone could access every critical system on the station.

DAX: Chief, have you seen Ensign Aquino recently?

No, now that you mention it.

He didn't report for duty this morning.

The computer says he's not on the station, but he didn't log out.

Have you talked to Odo?

I guess I'd better.

Scanners are ready.

Computer, show location of any independent tritanium sources.

Level 3, Section 5.

Oh, that's the tool locker.

I've been through everything in there three times.

What's that?

Looks like something in a power conduit on Level 12, Section 8.

What would tritanium be doing there?

Computer, shut down that conduit.

Reroute power flow.

Conduit deactivated.

Come on.

Over here, Chief.

That's tritanium composite, all right.

Looks like our missing interlock.

Must have been melted by the conduit's plasma flow.

That still doesn't explain how it got here in the first place.

( tricorder beeping )

Hey...

I'm picking up traces of organic material.

Whatever it was, it's been pretty well cooked.

Let's take a sample to Dr. Bashir.

See what he can make of it.

Ensign Aquino made a log entry the night he disappeared about some sort of plasma flow irregularity in the conduit.

He indicated he was going to fix it.

So, it was an accident. Well, I guess so.

Bashir has confirmed that the remains were human.

I'm sure the DNA trace will confirm that it was Aquino.

I'll have one, please... unless you're feeling adventurous today.

Sorry. We're all out.

What? What are all these?

These aren't for sale.

Not for sale, huh?

How would you like a jumja stick up...? Miles.

ODO: Is there a problem?

Damn right there is!

I don't have to sell anything to them if I don't want to.

Why wouldn't you want to sell to them?

Miles, can we go?

Let's go.

Seek the Prophets.

I'll seek you... Miles!

Seek them yourself.

Maybe you were right.

Maybe we've no business here.

I'll put in for a transfer, and that'll...

No, I can't run away from this now.

WINN: ...don't you all agree?

What's this?

WINN: If we abandon the Prophets, then everything we have...

Here's Mrs. O'Brien now.

Good morning.

WINN: Are you Mr. O'Brien?

That's right.

A pleasure to meet you.

I've just been hearing many wonderful things about your wife from the parents of these children.

She apparently is an excellent teacher.

Yes, she is, and she doesn't deserve what you're doing to her.

WINN: I feel your anger toward me and I forgive you for it.

Mrs. O'Brien, if I've misjudged you, I am terribly sorry.

Have I?

Is there a place in your school for the Prophets?

No.

I admire you for standing by your convictions even though I disagree with them.

Please believe me, I want to find a way to allow these children to stay in your school.

I'm sure the children and their parents are happy to hear you say that.

Let me be the one to make the first concession.

I will no longer request that you teach anything about the Celestial Temple.

Just don't teach anything about the wormhole at all.

Ignore it?

Find other ways, other things to teach the children.

And when we get to theories of evolution or creation of the universe-- what then?

We'll face those issues when we come to them.

I'm a teacher. My responsibility is to expose my students to knowledge, not hide it from them.

The answer is no.

( murmuring voices )

I've tried to be reasonable.

SISKO: If Aquino turned off the conduit to fix the relay, why did it reactivate?

The Cardassians only equipped those power conduits with one flow regulator per level.

The computer could have realigned it.

When the power flow was rerouted back it could have caught him inside.

You don't sound entirely convinced.

No, it all adds up, only...

Well, I don't know.

Spit it out, Chief.

He borrowed one of my tools without asking.

It was 4:00 in the morning. Maybe he didn't want to disturb you.

The repairs could have waited.

He was a Starfleet engineer.

You don't take a Chief's tools without asking. It's unheard of.

Are you suggesting it might not have been an accident?

I don't know what I'm suggesting.

I only know what I know. He should have asked.

Constable, maybe you ought to take a closer look into this.

Dismissed.

Hi.

Can I talk to you for a minute?

Sure.

I heard about what happened at school.

Did Mrs. O'Brien call classes off?

No, there was only me and four other kids left but she still kept the school open.

She changed the lesson to teach us about Galileo.

Did you know that he was tried by the Inquisition for teaching that the Earth moved around the sun?

Tried and convicted. His books were burned.

How could anyone be so stupid?

It's easy to look back seven centuries and judge what was right and wrong.

But the same thing is happening now with all this stuff about the Celestial Temple and the wormhole. It's dumb.

No, it's not.

You've got to realize something, Jake.

For over 50 years, the one thing that allowed the Bajorans to survive the Cardassian occupation was their faith.

The Prophets were their only source of hope and courage.

But there were no Prophets.

They were just aliens that you found in the wormhole.

To those aliens, the future is no more difficult to see than the past.

Why shouldn't they be considered Prophets?

Are you serious?

My point is, it's a matter of interpretation.

It may not be what you believe, but that doesn't make it wrong.

If you start to think that way, you'll be acting just like Vedek Winn.

Only from the other side.

We can't afford to think that way, Jake.

We'd lose everything we've worked for here.

You're worried, aren't you?

What are you going to do?

I'm not sure, but I think I've got to find some help.

I'm sorry to keep you waiting, Commander.

Vedek Bareil?

No need to pay tribute to me.

Pay tribute? I was just...

Usually when I meet one of Bajor's spiritual leaders the first thing they do is grab my...

Ear?

It's unpleasant, isn't it?

I've been far too polite to admit it.

I was five the first time one of the monks grabbed my ear.

He was a stern old crow who could virtually squeeze the pagh out of you with his thumb and forefinger.

And as a chronic misbehaver,

I was his favorite victim.

I swore one of my life's goals would be to do away with that archaic ritual.

You can count on the Federation's support.

( chuckling )

I hope you don't mind if I do a little planting while we talk.

All those hours of listening to 112 vedeks talking at once made me yearn for the sanctity of my arboretum.

Is this yours?

I began my service at the monastery as the gardener.

I had no other ambition but to grow the most lovely Feloran bromeliads on the planet.

Unfortunately, the Prophets did not allow me that peaceful life.

I understand my friend Vedek Winn has brought her blessings to your station.

I was hoping you might be able to arrange an audience with the Assembly so I could discuss our school.

Why me?

You are the leading candidate to become the next Kai.

Your ideology is quite different than Vedek Winn's.

You have been correctly informed.

I'm sorry, Commander.

The Vedek Assembly will not see you.

Why not?

Some fear you as the symbol of a Federation they view as godless.

Some fear you as the Emissary who walked with the Prophets.

And some fear you because Vedek Winn told them to.

Oh, we're all very good at conjuring up enough fear to justify whatever we want to do.

Today, I am only a vedek.

If the Prophets will it, someday I may be Kai and I can be a better friend to you then.

In other words, being my friend now might hurt your chances.

The Prophets teach us patience.

It appears they also teach you politics.

I'm sorry you made this long trip for nothing, Commander.

Please stay and enjoy the gardens as long as you like.

Is it my imagination or are we a little shorthanded today?

Three Bajoran crewmen didn't report for duty.

They said they weren't feeling well.

Do you think it's contagious, Major?

It's too early to tell.

Are your people willing to throw away everything we've accomplished during the past seven months?

Everyone knows if the Federation leaves the Cardassians will be back.

With all due respect, Major, protecting your borders is not the primary reason the Federation is here, and it's not why I'm here.

I'm here to build a trusting relationship with your people and I'd like to start feeling that somebody...

somebody on your side is giving something back to that effort.

I think I've given you all the support I can, short of...

It's not enough.

I thought there was room for all philosophies on this station.

You tell our sick Bajoran crewmen they better get well immediately or they'll recover on the way to their next assignment.

Yes, sir.

Commander, Dr. Bashir has found some new evidence about Ensign Aquino that you should see.

Sir, I've finally managed to reconstruct the victim's DNA.

It's definitely Aquino, but the power flow in the conduit didn't kill him.

You see, the plasma disruption in his cellular membranes indicates that he was exposed to a directed energy discharge

before he was placed in the conduit.

O'BRIEN: A directed energy discharge?

From a phaser?

Set to kill.

Could this murder be related in any way to the tensions over the school issue?

If you're suggesting he was killed by a Bajoran just because he was with the Federation...

The analysis proves that he was killed the night before Vedek Winn arrived.

There wasn't any school issue yet.

Any ideas about a motive?

All right, then let's start at the beginning.

Ensign Aquino goes to repair a power conduit.

One moment, Commander.

I'm not convinced of that. But the log...

It could have been altered by our killer to cover his tracks.

I've checked the turbolift records the night of the murder.

Aquino did take a turbolift to Level 3, but not to the power conduit where he was found.

DAX: Where did he go?

ODO: Runabout Pad C.

A runabout? What was he doing in a runabout at 4:00 in the morning?

Apparently, he was getting murdered.

Everything in the runabout seems to be perfectly normal.

It doesn't look like the airlock systems have been tampered with.

Let's run a level-1 diagnostic on the runabout's computer interface-- then we'll call it a day.

I already have. Everything's normal.

I don't even know what we're looking for.

If something happened around here, it's been pretty well covered up.

Did you know him well?

Aquino?

Oh, barely at all.

Just the "welcome aboard if you need anything" speech.

You? Not really.

Bajoran and Starfleet officers don't really socialize that much.

How come?

I don't know.

I guess we just keep to ourselves.

Well, you're not like that with me.

Well, you're not like the others.

You know.

You don't put on any airs.

You're just... nicer.

Uh, look...

I'll close up here.

Why don't you take off.

You sure?

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm sure.

Good night.

On your toes, O'Brien.

You were looking for me?

Don't tell me-- there's a Bajoran convention on the station

I didn't know about. Thanks, Odo.

I need to call in more dabo girls.

It's not a convention.

They're from an orthodox spiritual order coming to support Vedek Winn's efforts to keep the Bajoran children out of school.

Orthodox? In that case,

I'll need twice as many dabo girls.

These spiritual types love those dabo girls.

This is not what I wanted to talk to you about.

What do you know about the murder of Ensign Aquino?

You wound me.

All these years together, I thought you knew me.

Odo, I am not a killer.

No, but most of your friends are.

True, and I would gladly sell one of them to you if I could, but unfortunately, none of them have taken credit for the death of the Starfleet officer.

Sorry.

O'BRIEN: Odo!

Keep your ears open.

Are you kidding?

That's the Seventh Rule of Acquisition.

This is a security bypass module.

You found it at Runabout Pad C?

No, that's just it. It wasn't at Pad C.

That was as clean as a whistle.

Just to be safe, I ran a diagnostic across the board.

This showed up at Runabout Pad A.

Pad A...

Aquino never went anywhere near Pad A.

It doesn't make sense.

On the contrary, it makes perfect sense.

Ensign Aquino goes to Runabout C because some sensor shows an anomaly in the security net there.

He interrupts whoever is tampering with it and is killed.

The killer puts the body in the conduit and instead of going back to Pad C, which might be traced with Aquino's turbolift log, he changes his plan and moves to Pad A.

But what was the plan? Everything else seems normal.

I'd guess somebody wanted to steal a runabout.

We're not missing one.

Huh. It's curious.

He goes to a lot of trouble to defeat the security net and then doesn't go through with...

( explosion )

The school!

( alarm blaring )

( screams and exclamations )

Keiko!

Keiko!

Miles!

FIREMAN: Stand back, please!

Clear the way!

What have you got?

I'm reading traces of cabrodine and infernite-- common explosives, both easily obtainable.

Then we're looking at a simple, homemade bomb.

( crowd clamoring )

Where is Mrs. O'Brien?

Her husband took her home.

Was she hurt? Was anyone hurt?

No.

The Prophets have been kind today.

The Prophets had nothing to do with what happened here today.

This was the work of a disturbed and violent mind who listened to your voice, not the Prophets'.

Is the Emissary holding me responsible for this act of terrorism?

The Commander of this station is.

May the Prophets forgive you for abandoning them.

You claim the Prophets as your personal constituency, Vedek Winn.

I'm not convinced that's justified.

Who do you speak for?

An order that's barely listened to in your Assembly.

So you come here looking for a more receptive audience.

Is that what your friend, Vedek Bareil, told you?

He's as misguided as you are.

No, that's not fair.

You are not simply misguided, as I once thought.

Now I see you want nothing less than to destroy us.

Destroy you?

You live without a soul, Commander.

You and your Federation exist in a universe of darkness and you would drag us in there with you.

But we will not go.

You have just made your first mistake, Vedek.

Have I?

The Bajorans who have lived with us on this station, who have worked with us for months, who helped us move this station to protect the wormhole, who joined us to explore the Gamma Quadrant, who have begun to build the future of Bajor with us, these people know that we are neither the enemy nor the devil.

( murmurs of agreement )

We don't always agree.

We have some damn good fights, in fact, but we always come away from them with a little better understanding and appreciation of each other.

You won't succeed here.

The school will reopen.

And when your rhetoric gets old, the Bajoran parents will bring their children back.

We'll see.

( crowd murmuring )

How is she, Chief?

She's pretty shaken up, sir, but she's planning to hold classes tomorrow in one of the small cargo bays, if that's okay.

You tell her Jake will be there on time.

It will make her feel a lot better to hear that, sir.

Anything new on Aquino? Yes, sir.

I found a security bypass module at Runabout Pad A.

It looks like somebody might have wanted to steal a runabout.

That's probably why Aquino went there in the first place.

I've put security seals in place at all three pads and I'm checking for any other anomalies.

DAX: Benjamin, there's an incoming transmission from Vedek Bareil on board a Bajoran transport.

On screen.

Commander, I've decided to accept your gracious invitation.

Invitation?

You did invite me to tour your facility.

Yes, yes, of course, Vedek. We'd be honored.

Unfortunately, we have some damage on our Promenade.

We won't have time to clean up before you arrive.

Yes, I heard about it.

Perhaps I can help you clean it up.

That would be very much appreciated.

It's the least a friend can do.

I look forward to seeing you again.

My dear, you should not be here.

Vedek, they found out about the runabout.

I see.

I have no way to escape.

Then we must accept that as the will of the Prophets.

But if I go through with this now,

I will be caught and executed.

The sacrifices the Prophets call on us to make are great sometimes, my dear, but the rewards they give will last through eternity.

What the hell?

Computer, identify subprogram labeled "ANA".

That file is protected by a personal security access code.

On whose authority?

Chief of Operations, Miles O'Brien.

Me? I never saw this file before.

Override command.

Unable to comply.

State security code to release protection.

Lieutenant, I've got to do a manual isolation of an anomalous file.

It's in the security field subsystem labeled "ANA".

That file is going to be protected by a series of encryption sequences.

I'll run an adaptive program.

For once, we're lucky we're working with a Cardassian computer.

It shouldn't have any more than seven sequences.

Beginning decryption.

On-line. Patched to subprogram ANA.

( clamoring )

Clear the way.

Clear the way.

Make room.

Move along, now.

Clear the way.

Clear the way, now.

Clear the way.

Please stand back.

Clear the way, please.

Thank you.

( clamoring continues )

That's it.

Computer, access subprogram ANA.

Code 4100RLX.

Accessing.

Identify commands within the file.

Commands are sequential overrides of security fields approaching Runabout Pad A.

The force fields.

Display sequences on screen.

Right to the Promenade.

Computer, run a level-3 sensor sweep of the Promenade.

Report any anomalous reading.

Working.

An escape route.

Escape from what? You got me.

One anomalous reading detected.

Identify.

A subspace relay was activated in the security office nine minutes, seven seconds ago.

Activated to do what?

Unknown. Insufficient data.

I'm going down there.

I'll run a diagnostic on the other security systems and I'll call you as soon as I have anything.

Promenade.

I expected you sooner, Bareil.

It seems our paths have grown apart.

Perhaps we can bring them together again.

I would like nothing better than that.

Come with me to the school.

Let us both show our commitment to a peaceful resolution to this series of events.

Of course.

( tricorder whirring )

( beeping )

Computer, is the subspace device integrated into the isolinear coprocessor?

Confirmed.

( sighing )

O'Brien to Dax.

Go ahead.

It's in the isolinear coprocessor.

Didn't you just repair that unit two days ago?

Yes, I did.

With Neela.

Looking around at your faces,

I believe you feel the shame I feel at this sight.

No, it's got to be the weapon detectors in the Promenade.

That's the only thing those coprocessors could possibly affect.

All weapon detectors appear to be functional, Chief.

That's got to be it.

She's good. She's real good.

She could make it look like they're normal.

But it's got to be the weapon detectors.

O'Brien to Sisko.

BAREIL: Once, our world was a center of learning.

It attracted travelers from many other worlds.

Go ahead, Chief.

I'm not entirely sure, but...

I think the weapon detectors on the Promenade may have been disabled.

What do you mean, you're not sure?

I mean Neela may have disabled them.

Your assistant?

Yes, sir.

...to reject violence as a solution, to join hands with all peoples and begin to trust again.

( crowd cheers )

No!

( crowd yelling )

The Prophets spoke.

I answered their call.

The Prophets spoke!

I answered their call!

It was all to get him here, wasn't it?

The school, the protest, the bombing-- you knew that would get him out of the monastery.

You did it all to kill him-- to stop him from becoming Kai.

Neela insists she acted alone-- unless you want to consider the Prophets coconspirators.

She'll never tell us the truth.

We'll never be able to prove that Winn was involved.

You okay?

Okay?

I've forgotten "okay."

I haven't seen "okay" in what seems like years.

I was just sitting here thinking, last year at this time

I was fighting the Cardassians in some nameless swamp.

And if you'd stopped by and told me that just one year later, they'd be gone, and I'd be wearing this uniform, up here in charge of protecting some wormhole...

Protecting your Celestial Temple.

I envied Vedek Winn because she was a true believer.

I wanted my faith to be as strong as hers.

Maybe it is.

I've got a report to put together for Starfleet.

You ought to get some rest.

I'd rather help you.

Commander...

I heard what you said to Vedek Winn at the school.

I just wanted you to know... you were right-- what you said about the Bajorans-- at least about me.

I don't think that you're... the devil.

Maybe we have made some progress after all.