Bribing Quark in Pale Moonlight

[ninetofive]

First of all, let me say this is one of my favourite episodes. But, bribing Quark to prevent him from pressing charges against Grathon Tolar seems inconsistent with Sisko's approach in the past.

In "Emissary" Sisko threatened to put Quark's nephew in prison so that Quark would remain on the staton. In "Bar Association" he threatened to charge Quark for rent and maintenance etc. so that Quark would end the strike.
Although the situation was a bit different, in "Business As Usual" Sisko threatened to come down on Quark over the slightest infraction if he continued helping sell weapons on DS9.

In other words, Sisko has always coerced Quark to get what he wants.
So I believe this is what Sisko would have done in ItPM: something along the lines of "do what I say or I'll have Odo plant some crack on you".

Having said that, I understand why the writers might have chosen bribery: presumably they wanted to show just how low Sisko was willing to go. I just think a threat would have been more consistent and thus believable.

Also, I think it would have been more interesting if Sisko had kept Starfleet Command completely in the dark, thus making him completely responsible for his actions. I think that would have made his moral discomfort more credible.

 

[Anthony Sabre]

Sure. But what would he have threatened him with? In the above situations there was actually something Sisko could hang over Quark's head. In this situation the roles were reversed. And as you mentioned the purpose of the episode was to show the length Sisko was willing to go to.

 

[ninetofive]

Fair enough. If not a threat how about an explanation? I think you'd agree that Quark would definately not want the Dominion in control of DS9 (again). What if Sisko simply told Quark that if he didn't do as he was told, the Federation would almost certainly lose the war?

 

[Anthony Sabre]

He could have done that. But then Quark would have extorted the latinum from him. After all, the Ferengi maintained neutrality during the war.

My nitpick with ITPM was not the bribe but the fact that Sisko got Vreenak on and off DS9 without a sole knowing about it. I know the ship was cloaked but that shouldn't have mattered. In The Search when Sisko brought the newly cloaked Defiant to the station it set off proximity alarms. In Visionary they were able to track the quantam singularity on the cloaked warbird. Long story short: someone in Ops should have detected that shuttle and all kinds of bells and whistles should have gone off.

 

[ninetofive]

I didn't realize the senator's visit was a secret...only Sisko's bogus invasion plan story.

 

[nx1701g]

In The Search when Sisko brought the newly cloaked Defiant to the station it set off proximity alarms.

Sisko admitted in the episode he wanted to see how close they could get to the station before they realized they were there. I think he may have caused some sort of minor imperfections that they could detect (in the novelization that was what was happening).

In Visionary they were able to track the quantam singularity on the cloaked warbird.

That was also explained in the episode. The Warbird's Singularity was off balance that was why they were able to detect it.

 

[Timo]

I'd rather think Sisko could simply have used a few personal commands and code words to "desensitize" the alarms that day... One of the perks of command, and probably a relatively regular occurrence, considering how often Odo is asked to do some sort of a security override or another.

And yes, Sisko begging and crawling in this episode makes sense, because this would be the only time Quark actually had the drop on him.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Hermiod]

^A scout ship is considerably smaller and a lot less powerful than the Defiant. It would have a much less detectable power signature.

Also, the Defiant was overpowered to begin with. O'Brien had to make a lot of changes to prevent it from tearing itself to pieces.

As for Quark, Sisko did not want to draw any attention. If he'd threatened Quark, Quark might just have gone straight to Odo (as he has done in the past) and pressed charges. Odo would have been obligated to begin an investigation and that would be that. Odo is too good. He would find out why Tolar was there, he would find out what Sisko was up to and the game would be blown. Odo may or may not have gone along with it, and his record for putting paperwork through the system was not exactly stellar, but he would have made noise.

Individual members of DS9's senior staff knew pieces of the puzzle. Bashir knew about the biomemetic gel. Dax knew Sisko was thinking about trying to get the Romulans to join the war. Worf knew that a Romulan ship was coming. Odo knew about Tolar. Quark must have known that Tolar, Sisko and Garak were spending a lot of time in his holosuites, too. Worf has contacts in the Klingon government and might very well ask why Sisko used up a favour with Gowron to get Tolar out of jail.

Sisko's plan was built on a house of cards which could have quite easily collapsed if one of them is removed.

 

[Navaros]

I disagree with the OP.

With the other things, Quark was at fault (or Nog in the case of Emissary, but it's still someone connected to Quark at fault). Quark deserved everything he had coming to him with all the threats he received from the Sisko in previous episodes. The threats were fair & just.

In ITPM, Quark did not have anything coming to him. Quark did not deserve to be threatened because he did nothing wrong in regards to what happened to him in that episode. Quark deserved a bribe since Quark was the one who was wronged, so that is exactly what he got. For Sisko to have threatened him about it would have been an unjust abuse of power.

I would say that giving a Quark a threat in the ITPM situation instead of a bribe would have vastly lowered the integrity of the Sisko character. Giving him a bribe was not nearly so bad, given the situation. The bribe route is a lot more respectable of a way for Sisko to have handled it.

 

[ninetofive]

I don't want to debate what is just or unjust, but if one were to adopt your moral standpoint, it could be argued that coercing Quark to stay on the station was in fact 'an unjust abuse of power'. If Sisko had threatened Quark in ItPM, he would have been acting in everyone's best interest, including Quark's, but in "Emissary" he was just using Quark for his own ends (Sisko believed it would help him to eventually bring Bajor into the Federation, or whatever).

 

[Triskelion]

I think that bribing Quark was the most direct way to get the desired results; Sisko knew Quark would likely accept a bribe without arguing his injuries. Any other means of coercion would likely spark Quark's resistance.

And you don't go tell someone like Quark that the Federation is going to lose the war without his help. You just don't. Knowing the outcome of the game, Quark would demand his own moon, or simply leverage that information with the Dominion in exchange for power over the Ferengi Alliance or possibly a whole sector in the AQ, or possibly a cut of all trade through the wormhole. You don't give that kind of power to such an unreliable source. What did it cost Sisko? Quark was the one who sold out his civil rights. Sisko just facilitated the unethical behavior, but Quark could have easily refused the bribe. Still, it did tarnish the uniform.


Correct me if I'm wrong, but Sisko didn't inform Starfleet of anything, did he?

 

[DanCPA]

I think that bribing Quark was the most direct way to get the desired results; Sisko knew Quark would likely accept a bribe without arguing his injuries.

Well said! Sisko had a job to do, and he did it!

 

[Navaros]

I don't want to debate what is just or unjust, but if one were to adopt your moral standpoint, it could be argued that coercing Quark to stay on the station was in fact 'an unjust abuse of power'. If Sisko had threatened Quark in ItPM, he would have been acting in everyone's best interest, including Quark's, but in "Emissary" he was just using Quark for his own ends (Sisko believed it would help him to eventually bring Bajor into the Federation, or whatever).

It wasn't unjust to threaten Quark with punishing Nog for his crime, because Nog was fully-deserving of that punishment. To punish Quark for almost getting killed, when Quark did nothing wrong, cannot be compared to that at all.

It's wouldn't be in anyone's best interest for Sisko to debase himself by threatening Quark for almost getting killed. All that would do is reflect very badly on the integrity of Sisko to the point where he shouldn't even be respected any more, and also the same for the Federation as a whole which he represents. Had the Sisko tried to threaten Quark about that then Quark, if written in character, would have rightfully told him to go screw himself and then exposed to everyone what Sisko tried to do.

 

[Mr. Fergy]

I think that bribing Quark was the most direct way to get the desired results; Sisko knew Quark would likely accept a bribe without arguing his injuries.

Well said! Sisko had a job to do, and he did it!

Agreed.

It was a "necessary evil".

 

[Timo]

Quark was the one who sold out his civil rights. Sisko just facilitated the unethical behavior, but Quark could have easily refused the bribe.

I don't see how selling out one's civil rights could ever be construed as "unethical behavior". One's rights are one's rights, and for one to do as he pleases.

...Never mind that in the Ferengi culture, not engaging in bribery would probably be held as utterly unethical. Rule of Acquisition 98 expressly states that every man has his price, after all.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Triskelion]

Well, good luck telling that to a court martial board.

 

[Hofner]

In "Emissary" Sisko was actually doing a favoer for Quark. If Sisko did nothing Nog would've gone to prison whether Quark left the station or stayed. Sisko gave Quark or Nog that is, a way to avoid prison. If you want to accuse Sisko of immoral behavior, it's that he let Nog get away with his crime scott-free. Personally I have not problem with this, he simply made a bargain with Quark for the good of the station.

As mentioned, in ITPM Quark had done nothing wrong, in fact he was the victim of the crime. There was no reason in pointlessly bullying him and as also previously pointed out, bribing was the quietest way to resolve the situation.

Robert

 

[nx1701g]

^ He also gave Quark one of the best business deals that he ever made (because of the Wormhole and remember for a time in Season 2 and 3 he collected a percentage from each Ferengi deal in the Gamma Quadrant).

 

[Hermiod]

Well, good luck telling that to a court martial board.

Sisko would not have been court martialled. He had Starfleet's backing to do what he did.

 

[Triskelion]

When did Starfleet know anything about it? Maybe I've forgotten but I don't remember any conversations with Starfleet in this epi.

And if Sisko really had Starfleet's backing, then there would have been no need to do what he did at the end.