What was the first episode with the changling Bashir that was killed in episode "By Inferno's Light"?
How long Bashir was not Bashir: 37 days
Inquisition
SLOAN: And you were there five weeks?
BASHIR: Thirty seven days, actually.
In Purgatory's Shadow
BASHIR: Over a month ago. I was attending a burn treatment conference on Meezan Four. I went to bed one night and woke up here.
BASHIR: From what I've seen of him over the last month, he doesn't come across as the forgiving type.
By Inferno's Light
O'BRIEN: Four weeks? Are you telling me I've been hanging around with a changeling for over a month?
A popular theory is that Bashir was not Bashir beginning in episode "Rapture" because the Bashir in the prison camp was still wearing the older style uniform, episode "Rapture" was where everyone began wearing the newer uniform. But it's also possible he changed into an older style uniform for the medical conference
At least 2 months separate episode "Rapture" and "For the uniform"
For the uniform
(8 months of time separate episode "for the uniform" and "for the cause")
EDDINGTON: You've been on my tail for eight months and now that we're face-to-face that's all you have to say to me?
SANDERS: You've been after him for eight months. Not to put too fine a point on it, but you haven't gotten the job done. Look, Captain, I understand how you feel. If one of my officers had fooled me the way Eddington fooled you, I'd take it personally, too. Bad choice of words, I didn't mean fooled.
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.
Rapture
(at least 6 months separate episode "Rapture" and "for the cause")
JAKE: Dad, Kasidy's spent the last six months in prison for helping the Maquis. She's paid the price for what she did
Therefor 2 months separate episode "For the uniform" and episode "Rapture", this suggests Bashir was still real bashir during episode "Rapture"
In Purgatory's Shadow
(less than a month separates episode "In Purgatory's Shadow" and "The Begotten", this suggests Bashir was a changling in episode Begotten")
DAX: Nerys, the O'Brien's baby is less than a month old. He doesn't recognise his own fingers.
(7 months separate episode "In Purgatory's Shadow" and "Body Parts")
KIRA: He spent seven months inside my belly, listening to my heartbeat, hearing to my voice. There's a connection there.
The Begotten
(5 months separate episode "The Begotten" and "Body Parts")
O'BRIEN: What are you talking about? She's been living in my home for the last five months.
Therefore 2 months of time separates "In Purgatory's Shadow" and "The Begotten" when we subtract those amounts, this could suggest Bashir was still human in episode "The Begotten"
Although this quote from a later episode throws that into doubt
Time's Orphan
KIRA: He knows me. I had him inside of me for five months. Oh, I know. I think I might want to have one of my own someday.
which makes sense when looking at dialogue from these 2 episodes
Body Parts
BASHIR: Major Kira will have to carry the baby to term. You see, Chief, Bajoran women carry their children for less than five months. Because they have such a short gestation period, they vascularise very quickly. Mother and child form a complex interconnecting network of blood vessels. In order to transfer the baby back to Keiko, I would have to sever those ties, which would likely cause massive internal haemorrhage in Kira and a severe respiratory trauma for the baby.
Accession (8 episodes prior to episode Body Parts)
QUARK: Did you hear? Keiko's going to have another baby.
WORF: Now?
O'BRIEN: No, seven months.
For the Uniform
(given that the Defiant was in working order at the end of episode "In Purgatory's Shadow" at least 2 weeks separate episode "For the Uniform" and "In Purgatory's Shadow")
O'BRIEN: Two weeks. And that's working with three shifts round the clock.
The Darkness And The Light
(2 or 3 weeks separate episode "The Darkness and the Light" and "The Begotten")
LUPAZA: Can I? How much longer?
KIRA: A couple of weeks.
KIRA: You can't bring it into the light! Not yet! Doctor Bashir said if I don't have at least three more weeks
Looking for Par'Mach In All The Wrong Places
(potentially only a month separates episode "Looking for Par'Mach In All The Wrong Places" and "The Begotten", less reliable but this could be used to argue for the earlier episodes )
KIRA: Well, Julian doesn't think that's going to happen for another month.
The Ascent
(episode "The Ascent" consumes a couple weeks of time)
(before crashing they were on the runabout for 4 days)
ODO: The only thing I've heard for the last four days is you complaining.
(after crashing)
QUARK: I can't believe it. I've been walking for three days and I haven't seen a single beetle. I could really go for a beetle right now. Any kind of beetle, just as long as it had a little meat on it.
ODO: You are not going to collapse. We're almost to the tree line. After that, we've only got a few more hours of climbing left before we can set up the transmitter.
QUARK: A few hours? You mean like three?
ODO: More like six.
QUARK: I could do six. Seven might be pushing it, but six I could do.
ODO: Come on.
(But they've reach a ridge and see there's at least one more ridge and valley between them and their goal.)
ODO: Forget about six hours. It's more like six days.
Soldiers of the Empire
WORF: You know that I was forced to fight the Jem'Hadar guards in the camp. Each day they would call me to the ring and each day I would fight. But, then there came a day when I wavered.
By Inferno's Light
MARTOK: Seven battles and seven victories. What hero of legend have done as well?
(They leave the camp during the next match which would mean "By Inferno's Light" consumes 7 days of the 37 days he was in the prison camp)
DUKAT: (on monitor) The true leaders of the Alpha Quadrant. And now that we are joined together, equal partners in all endeavours, the only people with anything to fear will be our enemies. My oldest son's birthday is in five days. To him and to Cardassians everywhere, I make the following pledge. By the time his birthday dawns, there will not be a single Klingon alive inside Cardassian territory or a single Maquis colony left within our borders. Cardassia will be made whole. All that we have lost will be ours again, and anyone who stands in our way will be destroyed. This I vow with my life's blood. For my son, for all our sons.
DUKAT [on monitor]: Then I'll make it simple then A few days ago, I swore all Cardassia had lost would be regained. That space station you're so fond of was built by Cardassia.
In Purgatory's Shadow
(episode "In Purgatory's Shadow" consumes over 36 hours, probably a few days)
SISKO: They have thirty six hours to find their way home. Let's hope they can make it. Dismissed.
(they plan to close the wormhole in 36 hours and try to close it at the end of the episode)
MARTOK: Yes. There's a crawl space just behind those panels. He spent hours in there working every day for months on end. Cardassians. They're clever people. Especially that one. But in just a few days at best, he'll be dead.
(he dies in that episode)
WORF: My Klingon operas.
DAX: Well, you won't be using them for the next few days. Somebody might as well enjoy them. What? Something wrong?
(trip there and back was expected to take a few days)
The Begotten
(episode "The Begotten" consumes at least a week of time)
MORA: I'm measuring its volume. It's been here a week and it's only grown seventeen percent. After three days in my lab, you were twice that size.
The Darkness And The Light
(episode "The Darkness And The Light" consumes at least 3 days)
KIRA: No, I'm not all right! I haven't slept in three days, someone is killing my friends, and my back! Sorry.
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Julian_...ir_(Changeling) says this
QUOTE
Based on the fact that the real Bashir was not wearing the newer uniforms introduced in "Rapture", we can deduce that he had been replaced by a Changeling since at least that episode. This means the Changeling performed surgery on Sisko in "Rapture" and tried to help save the Changeling infant in "The Begotten".
On the other hand, it is also possible that it was acceptable to wear either uniform style during that transitional period, as was seen in the transitional period Star Trek Generations, indicating that he may have been captured after the aforementioned events. However, that is unlikely since all Starfleet officers stationed on DS9 since "Rapture" have been wearing the newer uniforms.
In response to the often proposed question, Ronald D. Moore commented "It would've been before "Rapture." (AOL chat, 1997)
The Bashir Changeling also appears in The Badlands, Book Two, which takes place just after the events of "The Begotten".
Star Trek tie-in author, Christopher L. Bennett, proposed the following about the Changeling:
Indeed, the timeline doesn't really work out there. The uniform change was in "Rapture", and Bashir was supposedly abducted 37 days before the end of "By Inferno's Light". But there's no way that "Rapture," "The Darkness and the Light", "The Begotten", "For the Uniform", "In Purgatory's Shadow", and "By Inferno's Light" could've all taken place within less than 37 days. According to dialogue, "Darkness" is at least three weeks before "The Begotten," which in turn covers nearly 2 weeks. So that's at least 33 days right there, and the events of "For the Uniform" and the 2-parter cover about a week each, plus however much time might have elapsed between them. (Even if we assumed 26-hour Bajoran days, 37 of those is only 40 Earth days, so that doesn't help.) So Bashir must have been abducted after the uniform change; there's simply no other possibility. The fact that he's in the old uniform is a paradox.
On the other hand, it's stated in dialogue that Kirayoshi was born "less than a month" before "Purgatory." Since the 2-parter takes about a week, that pretty much requires that Bashir was abducted in between "The Darkness and the Light" and "The Begotten". That part can't be finessed, since the dialogue is explicit. On the one hand, Bashir had to be abducted after the uniform change, which creates a plot hole; but on the other hand, Kirayoshi had to be delivered by the changeling impostor, which creates a second plot hole. It's a total mess -- they just didn't think through the timeline carefully when they put in the date references.
But as for this part 'Because if Changeling!Bashir helped to deliver the baby in "The Begotten", then he also did the ultra-delicate brain surgery on Sisko in "Rapture".' Since "Rapture" was significantly more than 37 days before the end of "Inferno," that means it was the real Bashir who did that.
Personally I'm thinking the first episode where Bashir was a changling was episode "The Darkness and The Light" or "The Begotten". Leaning toward "The Begotten" because it aired 3 weeks after "The Darkness and The Light".
Things Past - November 18, 1996
The Ascent - November 25, 1996
Rapture - December 30, 1996
The Darkness and The Light - January 6, 1997
The Begotten - January 27, 1997
For The Uniform - February 3, 1997
In Purgatory's Shadow - February 10, 1997
"By Inferno's Light" - February 17, 1997
February 17, 1997 subtract 37 days gives January 11th shortly after episode "The Darkness and The Light".
If airtime differences correlate to in-story time differences, like they often times do and like the 2 or 3 week quotes from Kira suggests, that would give Bashir enough time to go to the conference on Meezan Four and get kidnapped.
In The Cards
WINN: Forgive me, Emissary, but you've already done that. It was your advice six months ago that kept Bajor out of the Federation. How did you put it? Bajor must stand alone. Well, we are very much alone now.
(6 months separate "In the Cards" and "Rapture" according to Winn, in terms of airtime 6 months, 21 days separate these episodes too)
BASHIR: No. This is the first chance I've had to get any research done on my prion project in five months. You couldn't drag me away from here.
(this implies that Bashir was on the station a month after episode "Rapture" when comparing his statement to Winn's perhaps this means he was taken prisoner a month after episode "Rapture" or for people who think "Rapture" was the first episode with Bashir as a changling it could also mean Bashir was saying 5 months ago he had a chance to work on his project right after escaping from prison. In terms of airtime 49 days separate episode "Rapture" and "By Inferno's Light", enough wiggle room for either side there)
Star Trek First Contact is another complication. There was this dialogue from episode "In Purgatory's Shadow"
SISKO: A Dominion invasion of the Alpha Quadrant will affect Cardassia every bit as much as it's going to affect us. Besides, we need all the help we can get. The Dominion picked a perfect time to invade. The Cardassian fleet is in shambles, the Romulans are not much better off, and between the Klingon War and the recent Borg attack, Starfleet's spread pretty thin.
This implies that the events of Star Trek First Contact occurred sometime before "In Purgatory's Shadow" but since they were all wearing the newer style uniforms that implies it was sometime after episode "The Ascent" when they switched over to the new uniforms.
Star Trek First Contact's stardate is 50893.5 which suggests that the events of Star Trek First Contact actually occurred later in the season after the events of "In Purgatory's Shadow" in between these episodes:
Children of Time - stardate 50814.2
Blaze of Glory - stardate ?
Empok Nor - stardate ?
In The Cards - stardate 50929.4
But Worf was still wearing the crest of Mogh, this implies the events of "First Contact" occur sometime before the events of episode "Soldiers of The Empire", before the events that the stardates suggests the events took place. First Contact came out in December of 1996, between episodes "The Ascent" and "Rapture" in terms of airtime.
Given that there's more evidence that the events of First Contact occurred between "The Ascent" and "In Purgatory's Shadow" than otherwise, I'm more inclined to think that's the case. But there would need to be some time available to fit in the events of First Contact between "The Ascent" and "In Purgatory's Shadow" where Worf and the Defiant and travel to Earth, get badly damaged and make it back in time for the Defiant to be repaired and usable again for the episodes that fall between then and episode "In Purgatory's Shadow". More reason to believe that the time period between when "The Ascent" and "In Purgatory's Shadow" is longer than the time period that Bashir was a changling and less likely that Bashir was a changling during episode "Rapture" if that's the case.
How long Bashir was not Bashir: 37 days
Inquisition
SLOAN: And you were there five weeks?
BASHIR: Thirty seven days, actually.
In Purgatory's Shadow
BASHIR: Over a month ago. I was attending a burn treatment conference on Meezan Four. I went to bed one night and woke up here.
BASHIR: From what I've seen of him over the last month, he doesn't come across as the forgiving type.
By Inferno's Light
O'BRIEN: Four weeks? Are you telling me I've been hanging around with a changeling for over a month?
A popular theory is that Bashir was not Bashir beginning in episode "Rapture" because the Bashir in the prison camp was still wearing the older style uniform, episode "Rapture" was where everyone began wearing the newer uniform. But it's also possible he changed into an older style uniform for the medical conference
At least 2 months separate episode "Rapture" and "For the uniform"
For the uniform
(8 months of time separate episode "for the uniform" and "for the cause")
EDDINGTON: You've been on my tail for eight months and now that we're face-to-face that's all you have to say to me?
SANDERS: You've been after him for eight months. Not to put too fine a point on it, but you haven't gotten the job done. Look, Captain, I understand how you feel. If one of my officers had fooled me the way Eddington fooled you, I'd take it personally, too. Bad choice of words, I didn't mean fooled.
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.
Rapture
(at least 6 months separate episode "Rapture" and "for the cause")
JAKE: Dad, Kasidy's spent the last six months in prison for helping the Maquis. She's paid the price for what she did
Therefor 2 months separate episode "For the uniform" and episode "Rapture", this suggests Bashir was still real bashir during episode "Rapture"
In Purgatory's Shadow
(less than a month separates episode "In Purgatory's Shadow" and "The Begotten", this suggests Bashir was a changling in episode Begotten")
DAX: Nerys, the O'Brien's baby is less than a month old. He doesn't recognise his own fingers.
(7 months separate episode "In Purgatory's Shadow" and "Body Parts")
KIRA: He spent seven months inside my belly, listening to my heartbeat, hearing to my voice. There's a connection there.
The Begotten
(5 months separate episode "The Begotten" and "Body Parts")
O'BRIEN: What are you talking about? She's been living in my home for the last five months.
Therefore 2 months of time separates "In Purgatory's Shadow" and "The Begotten" when we subtract those amounts, this could suggest Bashir was still human in episode "The Begotten"
Although this quote from a later episode throws that into doubt
Time's Orphan
KIRA: He knows me. I had him inside of me for five months. Oh, I know. I think I might want to have one of my own someday.
which makes sense when looking at dialogue from these 2 episodes
Body Parts
BASHIR: Major Kira will have to carry the baby to term. You see, Chief, Bajoran women carry their children for less than five months. Because they have such a short gestation period, they vascularise very quickly. Mother and child form a complex interconnecting network of blood vessels. In order to transfer the baby back to Keiko, I would have to sever those ties, which would likely cause massive internal haemorrhage in Kira and a severe respiratory trauma for the baby.
Accession (8 episodes prior to episode Body Parts)
QUARK: Did you hear? Keiko's going to have another baby.
WORF: Now?
O'BRIEN: No, seven months.
For the Uniform
(given that the Defiant was in working order at the end of episode "In Purgatory's Shadow" at least 2 weeks separate episode "For the Uniform" and "In Purgatory's Shadow")
O'BRIEN: Two weeks. And that's working with three shifts round the clock.
The Darkness And The Light
(2 or 3 weeks separate episode "The Darkness and the Light" and "The Begotten")
LUPAZA: Can I? How much longer?
KIRA: A couple of weeks.
KIRA: You can't bring it into the light! Not yet! Doctor Bashir said if I don't have at least three more weeks
Looking for Par'Mach In All The Wrong Places
(potentially only a month separates episode "Looking for Par'Mach In All The Wrong Places" and "The Begotten", less reliable but this could be used to argue for the earlier episodes )
KIRA: Well, Julian doesn't think that's going to happen for another month.
The Ascent
(episode "The Ascent" consumes a couple weeks of time)
(before crashing they were on the runabout for 4 days)
ODO: The only thing I've heard for the last four days is you complaining.
(after crashing)
QUARK: I can't believe it. I've been walking for three days and I haven't seen a single beetle. I could really go for a beetle right now. Any kind of beetle, just as long as it had a little meat on it.
ODO: You are not going to collapse. We're almost to the tree line. After that, we've only got a few more hours of climbing left before we can set up the transmitter.
QUARK: A few hours? You mean like three?
ODO: More like six.
QUARK: I could do six. Seven might be pushing it, but six I could do.
ODO: Come on.
(But they've reach a ridge and see there's at least one more ridge and valley between them and their goal.)
ODO: Forget about six hours. It's more like six days.
Soldiers of the Empire
WORF: You know that I was forced to fight the Jem'Hadar guards in the camp. Each day they would call me to the ring and each day I would fight. But, then there came a day when I wavered.
By Inferno's Light
MARTOK: Seven battles and seven victories. What hero of legend have done as well?
(They leave the camp during the next match which would mean "By Inferno's Light" consumes 7 days of the 37 days he was in the prison camp)
DUKAT: (on monitor) The true leaders of the Alpha Quadrant. And now that we are joined together, equal partners in all endeavours, the only people with anything to fear will be our enemies. My oldest son's birthday is in five days. To him and to Cardassians everywhere, I make the following pledge. By the time his birthday dawns, there will not be a single Klingon alive inside Cardassian territory or a single Maquis colony left within our borders. Cardassia will be made whole. All that we have lost will be ours again, and anyone who stands in our way will be destroyed. This I vow with my life's blood. For my son, for all our sons.
DUKAT [on monitor]: Then I'll make it simple then A few days ago, I swore all Cardassia had lost would be regained. That space station you're so fond of was built by Cardassia.
In Purgatory's Shadow
(episode "In Purgatory's Shadow" consumes over 36 hours, probably a few days)
SISKO: They have thirty six hours to find their way home. Let's hope they can make it. Dismissed.
(they plan to close the wormhole in 36 hours and try to close it at the end of the episode)
MARTOK: Yes. There's a crawl space just behind those panels. He spent hours in there working every day for months on end. Cardassians. They're clever people. Especially that one. But in just a few days at best, he'll be dead.
(he dies in that episode)
WORF: My Klingon operas.
DAX: Well, you won't be using them for the next few days. Somebody might as well enjoy them. What? Something wrong?
(trip there and back was expected to take a few days)
The Begotten
(episode "The Begotten" consumes at least a week of time)
MORA: I'm measuring its volume. It's been here a week and it's only grown seventeen percent. After three days in my lab, you were twice that size.
The Darkness And The Light
(episode "The Darkness And The Light" consumes at least 3 days)
KIRA: No, I'm not all right! I haven't slept in three days, someone is killing my friends, and my back! Sorry.
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Julian_...ir_(Changeling) says this
QUOTE
Based on the fact that the real Bashir was not wearing the newer uniforms introduced in "Rapture", we can deduce that he had been replaced by a Changeling since at least that episode. This means the Changeling performed surgery on Sisko in "Rapture" and tried to help save the Changeling infant in "The Begotten".
On the other hand, it is also possible that it was acceptable to wear either uniform style during that transitional period, as was seen in the transitional period Star Trek Generations, indicating that he may have been captured after the aforementioned events. However, that is unlikely since all Starfleet officers stationed on DS9 since "Rapture" have been wearing the newer uniforms.
In response to the often proposed question, Ronald D. Moore commented "It would've been before "Rapture." (AOL chat, 1997)
The Bashir Changeling also appears in The Badlands, Book Two, which takes place just after the events of "The Begotten".
Star Trek tie-in author, Christopher L. Bennett, proposed the following about the Changeling:
Indeed, the timeline doesn't really work out there. The uniform change was in "Rapture", and Bashir was supposedly abducted 37 days before the end of "By Inferno's Light". But there's no way that "Rapture," "The Darkness and the Light", "The Begotten", "For the Uniform", "In Purgatory's Shadow", and "By Inferno's Light" could've all taken place within less than 37 days. According to dialogue, "Darkness" is at least three weeks before "The Begotten," which in turn covers nearly 2 weeks. So that's at least 33 days right there, and the events of "For the Uniform" and the 2-parter cover about a week each, plus however much time might have elapsed between them. (Even if we assumed 26-hour Bajoran days, 37 of those is only 40 Earth days, so that doesn't help.) So Bashir must have been abducted after the uniform change; there's simply no other possibility. The fact that he's in the old uniform is a paradox.
On the other hand, it's stated in dialogue that Kirayoshi was born "less than a month" before "Purgatory." Since the 2-parter takes about a week, that pretty much requires that Bashir was abducted in between "The Darkness and the Light" and "The Begotten". That part can't be finessed, since the dialogue is explicit. On the one hand, Bashir had to be abducted after the uniform change, which creates a plot hole; but on the other hand, Kirayoshi had to be delivered by the changeling impostor, which creates a second plot hole. It's a total mess -- they just didn't think through the timeline carefully when they put in the date references.
But as for this part 'Because if Changeling!Bashir helped to deliver the baby in "The Begotten", then he also did the ultra-delicate brain surgery on Sisko in "Rapture".' Since "Rapture" was significantly more than 37 days before the end of "Inferno," that means it was the real Bashir who did that.
Personally I'm thinking the first episode where Bashir was a changling was episode "The Darkness and The Light" or "The Begotten". Leaning toward "The Begotten" because it aired 3 weeks after "The Darkness and The Light".
Things Past - November 18, 1996
The Ascent - November 25, 1996
Rapture - December 30, 1996
The Darkness and The Light - January 6, 1997
The Begotten - January 27, 1997
For The Uniform - February 3, 1997
In Purgatory's Shadow - February 10, 1997
"By Inferno's Light" - February 17, 1997
February 17, 1997 subtract 37 days gives January 11th shortly after episode "The Darkness and The Light".
If airtime differences correlate to in-story time differences, like they often times do and like the 2 or 3 week quotes from Kira suggests, that would give Bashir enough time to go to the conference on Meezan Four and get kidnapped.
In The Cards
WINN: Forgive me, Emissary, but you've already done that. It was your advice six months ago that kept Bajor out of the Federation. How did you put it? Bajor must stand alone. Well, we are very much alone now.
(6 months separate "In the Cards" and "Rapture" according to Winn, in terms of airtime 6 months, 21 days separate these episodes too)
BASHIR: No. This is the first chance I've had to get any research done on my prion project in five months. You couldn't drag me away from here.
(this implies that Bashir was on the station a month after episode "Rapture" when comparing his statement to Winn's perhaps this means he was taken prisoner a month after episode "Rapture" or for people who think "Rapture" was the first episode with Bashir as a changling it could also mean Bashir was saying 5 months ago he had a chance to work on his project right after escaping from prison. In terms of airtime 49 days separate episode "Rapture" and "By Inferno's Light", enough wiggle room for either side there)
Star Trek First Contact is another complication. There was this dialogue from episode "In Purgatory's Shadow"
SISKO: A Dominion invasion of the Alpha Quadrant will affect Cardassia every bit as much as it's going to affect us. Besides, we need all the help we can get. The Dominion picked a perfect time to invade. The Cardassian fleet is in shambles, the Romulans are not much better off, and between the Klingon War and the recent Borg attack, Starfleet's spread pretty thin.
This implies that the events of Star Trek First Contact occurred sometime before "In Purgatory's Shadow" but since they were all wearing the newer style uniforms that implies it was sometime after episode "The Ascent" when they switched over to the new uniforms.
Star Trek First Contact's stardate is 50893.5 which suggests that the events of Star Trek First Contact actually occurred later in the season after the events of "In Purgatory's Shadow" in between these episodes:
Children of Time - stardate 50814.2
Blaze of Glory - stardate ?
Empok Nor - stardate ?
In The Cards - stardate 50929.4
But Worf was still wearing the crest of Mogh, this implies the events of "First Contact" occur sometime before the events of episode "Soldiers of The Empire", before the events that the stardates suggests the events took place. First Contact came out in December of 1996, between episodes "The Ascent" and "Rapture" in terms of airtime.
Given that there's more evidence that the events of First Contact occurred between "The Ascent" and "In Purgatory's Shadow" than otherwise, I'm more inclined to think that's the case. But there would need to be some time available to fit in the events of First Contact between "The Ascent" and "In Purgatory's Shadow" where Worf and the Defiant and travel to Earth, get badly damaged and make it back in time for the Defiant to be repaired and usable again for the episodes that fall between then and episode "In Purgatory's Shadow". More reason to believe that the time period between when "The Ascent" and "In Purgatory's Shadow" is longer than the time period that Bashir was a changling and less likely that Bashir was a changling during episode "Rapture" if that's the case.
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