The Frontier

SISKO : 
Do you know what The Trouble is? 

KIRA : 
….no. 

SISKO : 
The Trouble is Earth. 

KIRA : 
Really? 

SISKO : 
On Earth there is no poverty, 

no crime, no war. 
You look out the window 

of Starfleet Headquarters 

and You see Paradise. 
Well, it's easy to be A Saint in Paradise, 

but The Maquis Do Not Live in Paradise. 
Out there in The Demilitarised Zone, 

all the problems haven't been solved yet. 

Out there, there are no saints, just people. 
Angry, scared, determined people 

who are going to do 

whatever it takes to survive 

whether it meets with 

Federation approval or not. 

KIRA : 
Makes sense to me. 

SISKO : 
I'm glad someone understands. 

 

SISKO:
 Mister Eddington. 

I have just one question. Why? 

EDDINGTON 

[on monitor]: 
Will knowing my personal motivation 

change anything at this point? 

SISKO: 
No, I don't suppose it will. 

EDDINGTON 

[on monitor]: 
Then let's table that for now. 

The only reason I've contacted you 

is to ask you to leave us alone. 

Our quarrel is with the Cardassians, 

not the Federation. 

Leave us alone and I can promise you 

you'll never hear from the Maquis again. 

SISKO: 
Unless you see another shipment you want to hijack. 

EDDINGTON 

[on monitor]: 
You keep sending replicators to Cardassia 

and you're going to have a lot more 

to worry about than hijackings. 

SISKO: 
I don't respond well to threats. 

I thought you would know that by now. 

But I'm beginning to see that 

you don't know me at all. 

EDDINGTON 
[on monitor]: 
I know you. 
I was like you once, but then I opened my eyes. 
Open your eyes, Captain. 

Why is the Federation 

so obsessed about the Maquis? 

We've never harmed you, 

and yet we're constantly arrested 

and charged with terrorism. 

Starships chase us through the Badlands 

and our supporters are harassed and ridiculed. 

Why?


 Because We've 

left The Federation, 

and that's the one thing 

you can't accept. 

Nobody leaves Paradise. 

Everyone should want to be 

in The Federation. 

Hell, you even want 

The Cardassians to join. 

You're only sending them replicators 

because one day they can take 

their rightful place 

on the Federation Council. 

You know, in some ways 

You're worse than 

The Borg. 

At least They tell You 

about Their Plans 

for assimilation. 

You're more insidious. 

You assimilate people 

and they don't even know it. 

SISKO: 
You know what, Mister Eddington? 
I don't give a damn what you think of the Federation, the Maquis, or anything else. 

All I know is that you betrayed Your Oath, 

Your Duty, and me. 

And if it takes me the rest of my life, 

I will see you standing before a court-martial 

that'll break you and send you to a penal colony, 

where you will spend the rest of your days 

growing old and wondering whether 

a ship full of replicators was really worth it.




DAX:
Les Miserables.

SISKO:
You know it?

DAX:
I can't stand Victor Hugo. 
I tried reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but I couldn't get through it. 
It was so melodramatic and his heroines are so two dimensional.

SISKO:
Eddington compares me to one of the characters, Inspector Javert. A policeman who relentlessly pursues a man named Valjean, guilty of a trivial offence, and in the end Javert's own inflexibility destroys him. He commits suicide.

DAX:
You can't believe that description fits you. 

Eddington is just trying to get under your skin.

SISKO:
He did that eight months ago. 

What strikes me about this book is that 

Eddington said that it's one of his favourites.

DAX:
There's no accounting for taste.

SISKO:
Let's think about it.
A Starfleet security officer is fascinated by a nineteenth century French melodrama, 

and now he's a leader of the Maquis,

 a resistance group fighting the noble battle 

against the evil Cardassians.

DAX:
It sounds like he's living out his own fantasy.

SISKO:
Exactly. And you know what?
 Les Miserables isn't 

about The Policeman.
It's about Valjean, the victim 

of a monstrous injustice 

who spends his entire life 

helping people, making noble sacrifices 

for others. 

That's how Eddington sees himself. 

He's Valjean, he's Robin Hood, 

he's a romantic, dashing figure, 

fighting the good fight against insurmountable odds.

DAX:
The secret life of Michael Eddington.
How does it help us?

SISKO:
Eddington is the hero of his own story. 

That makes me the villain. 

And what is it that every hero 

wants to do?

DAX:
Kill the bad guy.

SISKO:
That's part of it. 
Heroes only kill when they have to.

Eddington could have killed me 

back in the refugee camp 

or when he disabled the Defiant, 

but in the best melodramas 

the villain creates a situation 

where the hero is forced 

to sacrifice himself 

for the people, for the cause. 
One final grand gesture.

DAX:
What are you getting at, Benjamin?

SISKO:
I think it's time for me to become The Villain.

 

There are Heroes on Both Sides. 

Evil is Everywhere.


EDDINGTON: 
But think about those people you saw in the caves, 

huddled and starving. 
They didn't attack the Malinche.

SISKO: 
You should have thought about that before 

you attacked a Federation starship. 

(Sisko turns his back on the Eddington hologram) 


(Transmission ends)

Captain's log, supplemental. 
Resettlement efforts in the DMZ are underway. 

The Cardassian and Maquis colonists 

who were forced to abandon their homes 

will make new lives for themselves 

on the planets their counterparts evacuated. 

The balance in the region will be restored, 

though the situation remains far from stable.

He is The Chosen One.

He will bring Balance.

SISKO: 

Are you all right? 

EZRI: 

I talked with Worf.

 He doesn't want to have anything to do with me. 

SISKO: 

Perhaps I should have a talk with him. 

EZRI: 

Absolutely not. You intimidate him. 

SISKO: 

Me? 

EZRI: 

Don't tell him I told you. 

SISKO: 

I intimidate Worf, huh? 

EZRI: 

You like that, don't you? 

SISKO: 

Of course not. 

EZRI: 

Come on. I've been a m