So, Tomas Roeder was Section 31, or at least Internal Affairs. He was undercover in the anti-war movement. He started to really believe what he was preaching, and so decided to leave, and set up the whole latinum theft thing to make that possible.
But... I still don't understand the last scene between him, Sisko, and Garak. Why does he want to kill Sisko? What is this thing that he was unwilling to do? Why does Garak have some kind of weird realization that the whole thing is just about Tomas being obsessed with Sisko? Are these things supposed to be mysterious, or am I just missing something?
I'm talking about these passages:
From Garak's POV: "Sisko. At this moment, Garak came close - closest - to seeing the whole story; unraveling the threads that bound him to this place, these people. But the pain, and the darkness deluded him, and all he understood was Roeder. The charm, the brutality, the whole terrible episode had simply been contrived to find out why Sisko had come back to Earth. Not Garak. Not the conference. Not even the protest. Just Sisko. After that, Garak could penetrate Roeder's mind no further. Whatever it was that Roeder wanted to know, whatever it was about the commander of Deep Space Nine that had driven Roeder to take these desperate measures-all of this Garak could not begin to guess. He had hoped that Roeder would tell him. Now he had to doubt whether Roeder was going to get the chance."
Then, the same moment, from Sisko's POV: "Garak's eyes widened, ever so slightly; it seemed that something had become very clear to him. His lips curled slowly into a cold smile. Sisko could not later say why that had made the difference. But, at that moment, it seemed to him that everything came together at once: Vreenak's murder, his failed confession, Ross's sanction, Layton's approval, Veral's consent. All of the lines drew together at this point. Shooting Roeder would not be a crime, but that did not make it right."
Huh?
Was Roeder just freaking out because the latinum theft was happening on DS9, and he thought Sisko might know about it? It seems like something much more important is going on here, but I can't think of what it could be.
And while we're at it - just before this, Roeder and Garak have a conversation about being pushed too far. Were we supposed to figure out what Roeder was being asked to do that was pushing him too far, or was that supposed to be an Unanswered Question?
I was with the book right up until the end, but I can't figure out if this is intentionally vague or if I'm just not clever enough to figure out how it all fits together.
But... I still don't understand the last scene between him, Sisko, and Garak. Why does he want to kill Sisko? What is this thing that he was unwilling to do? Why does Garak have some kind of weird realization that the whole thing is just about Tomas being obsessed with Sisko? Are these things supposed to be mysterious, or am I just missing something?
I'm talking about these passages:
From Garak's POV: "Sisko. At this moment, Garak came close - closest - to seeing the whole story; unraveling the threads that bound him to this place, these people. But the pain, and the darkness deluded him, and all he understood was Roeder. The charm, the brutality, the whole terrible episode had simply been contrived to find out why Sisko had come back to Earth. Not Garak. Not the conference. Not even the protest. Just Sisko. After that, Garak could penetrate Roeder's mind no further. Whatever it was that Roeder wanted to know, whatever it was about the commander of Deep Space Nine that had driven Roeder to take these desperate measures-all of this Garak could not begin to guess. He had hoped that Roeder would tell him. Now he had to doubt whether Roeder was going to get the chance."
Then, the same moment, from Sisko's POV: "Garak's eyes widened, ever so slightly; it seemed that something had become very clear to him. His lips curled slowly into a cold smile. Sisko could not later say why that had made the difference. But, at that moment, it seemed to him that everything came together at once: Vreenak's murder, his failed confession, Ross's sanction, Layton's approval, Veral's consent. All of the lines drew together at this point. Shooting Roeder would not be a crime, but that did not make it right."
Huh?
Was Roeder just freaking out because the latinum theft was happening on DS9, and he thought Sisko might know about it? It seems like something much more important is going on here, but I can't think of what it could be.
And while we're at it - just before this, Roeder and Garak have a conversation about being pushed too far. Were we supposed to figure out what Roeder was being asked to do that was pushing him too far, or was that supposed to be an Unanswered Question?
I was with the book right up until the end, but I can't figure out if this is intentionally vague or if I'm just not clever enough to figure out how it all fits together.
