Let's move on...
- After the excitement (and cost) of the last three episodes, we've gone to a bottle episode--"Invasive Procedures". There's a technobabble storm battering the ship, so most of the crew is evacuated (offscreen, to save costs). A damaged ship is rescued, only to find terrorists onboard that quickly take over the station (thanks to Quark, of course). One of them is a Trill, played by John Glover. He wants Dax's symbiont--he didn't make the grade at the symbiont trials, and wants a second chance. They threaten to kill the others, so Bashir reluctantly agrees to perform the operation. It's a success--but without the symbiont, Jadzia will die within hours. One of the terrorists (Megan Gallagher) is in love with the Trill, so Sisko plays mind games with her--he's not the same Trill she knew. She realizes he's going to leave her, and she agrees to help. They manage to stop the rogue Trill and save Dax. By the way--one of the terrorists is a Klingon, played by future Voyager star Tim Russ.
- Garak the "Tailor" returns in "Cardassians". He and Bashir are having a nice conversation on the Promenade (there are two alien extras with what appears to be blocks of concrete on their heads) when a young Cardassian (Vidal Peterson) bites Garak on the hand. The kid is with an adult Bajoran--he's an orphan. Gul Ducat gets involved. The foster father (Terrence Evans) has been teaching the kid to hate his race, and they consider him to be Bajoran (message coming in...). Another alien (with what appear to be cell phones festooning his cloak) tells Bashir that the kid is being mistreated, and an investigation begins. The O'Briens take custody of the kid temporarily. Ducat calls--the kid's father is a Cardassian bigwig. Garak and Bashir go to Bajor to find out what happened in the adoption process--and find more Cardassian orphans there. Bashir demands to know what's going on. Garak explains a political battle between the real father and Ducat. The real father (Robert Mandan) arrives, 'Brien explains the situation, and the kid rejects him. Ducat shows up just as the hearing begins. Bashir and Garak arrive--and drops a bomb. The Cardassian military dropped the kid off at an orphanage knowing he wasn't an orphan. The real father is allowed to take the kid home.
- We get another "message" episode in "Melora". Bashir greets alien cartographer Melora (Daphne Ashbrook) from a low gravity planet--she uses a wheelchair on the station, and her quarters replicate low gravity. Apparently, the Cardassians never got around to ADA rules, or she would have a much easier time on the station. Of course, Melora's the "I don't need any help" chip on her shoulder type. Bashir sees right through it, and like all female guests, he falls in love with her. Unlike the others, she reciprocates, and they end up doing the low gravity mambo in her quarters. Later, she and Dax have some girl gab time on a shuttle. Bashir comes up with a technobabble treatment to help Melora move around normally--it's like a Love Boat episode with Doc Bricker. She starts to debate if she wants to leave her old life. In the B-story, a stranger arrives at Quark's bar, and enigmatically tells him he's there to kill Quark. Attempts to mollify him are wasted. He attacks Quark in his quarters, and he bribes the would-be killer. The two storylines combine when the killer kidnaps Quark and the girls. Sisko, Bashir, and O'Brien teleport onto a shuttle and follow them through the wormhole. Melora saves them all by turning off the gravity and taking out the killer. She decides to stop the treatments and says goodbye to Bashir.
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