Plot
Captain Sisko, worried over events of the last several days, recites an entry into his personal log which is revealed as flashbacks. He realizes that the war with the Dominion has been costly for the Federation and its allies. Presented with a bad situation that is expected to turn worse, he concludes that the only chance for success is to bring the neutral Romulan Empire to their side.
To do this, Sisko plots with former Cardassian spy Garak to obtain evidence of Dominion plans to invade the Romulan Empire, but Garak's allies are killed before they find that information. Lacking other legitimate methods, Garak offers an alternative solution: forging a recording of Dominion officials planning to conquer the Romulan Empire, which would then be encoded onto a Cardassian data rod. The data would then be given to the Romulans as evidence to provoke them to war.
Hesitant of the plan but driven forward by the Dominion's recent conquest of Betazed, Sisko allows Garak to continue and assists him by securing the release of a criminal forger named Grathon Tolar from Klingon execution as well as providing a large quantity of rare bio-mimetic gel to trade for an authentic data rod. Sisko's actions are questioned by his fellow crewmembers, as the gel is extremely dangerous and can be used to make biological weapons, but Sisko refuses to discuss the details.
Once Tolar has created a convincing holographic record of a Dominion meeting between Damar and Weyoun discussing plans involving a Romulan attack, Sisko invites Vreenak, an influential Romulan senator, to Deep Space Nine in secret. Sisko shows Vreenak the recording and gives him the data rod to verify its authenticity.
However, Sisko discovers shortly afterwards that Vreenak has recognized the recording as a fake, after which Vreenak quickly departs the station. As Sisko prepares to face the possibility that his actions may force the Romulans to join with the Dominion once Vreenak returns to the Empire, he learns that Vreenak's ship was destroyed en route. Sisko assaults Garak, who admits he planted a bomb on Vreenak's ship as an assurance that his plan would work; when the Romulans scan the wreckage, they will find the data rod, and attribute any signs of forgery to damage from the destruction. This evidence would be enough to implicate the Dominion, with Dominion protests of innocence only serving to further convince the Romulans of their guilt.
Garak also reveals he had Tolar killed in order to keep his work secret. Garak argues to Sisko that the Alpha Quadrant has been saved at the small cost of "the life of one Romulan senator, one criminal, and the self-respect of one Starfleet officer," which, considering all circumstances, is "a bargain." Garak's plan unfolds as he intended and the Romulans join with the Federation against the Dominion. At the end of the flashbacks, Sisko admits that Garak was right, and states that he can live with his decision for the better of the Alpha Quadrant. Repeating that he can live with his decision he then orders the computer to delete the log entry.
Read more about this topic: In The Pale Moonlight
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—John Dryden (1631–1700)
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)