After having a meal with
Dr. Bashir, Lt. Dax is abducted by a group of aliens while walking back to her quarters. Dr. Bashir alerts
Commander Sisko that she has been taken, and the
Deep Space Nine crew is able to prevent the abductors from leaving the station. One of the abductors, Ilon Tandro, accuses
Dax - the Dax
symbiont, then in the body of
Curzon Dax - of murdering his father, Ardelon Tandro, a famous military hero from Klaestron IV; he wants to punish Jadzia Dax for the crime. His claim is based on the fact that during a
civil war a coded message informed the opposing side of his father's location, and of the people who knew the location, Curzon was the only one without an alibi.
Major Kira insists that Dax cannot be
extradited to Klaestron without an arbitration hearing under Bajoran law; with the Bajorans threatening a
diplomatic incident over Ilon attempting to kidnap Dax from what is technically Bajoran territory, he is forced to agree. At the hearing, Sisko argues that Jadzia and Curzon Dax are two different individuals, sparking a lengthy debate. The arbiter suggests removing the Dax symbiont and leaving Jadzia behind, but Dr. Bashir says that neither would survive the operation. Ilon argues that failure to punish Trill symbionts for acts committed in past lifetimes would create a
perfect crime. Curiously, although her fate is uncertain, Jadzia seems complacent about the entire affair. Meanwhile,
DS9's security chief
Odo visits Ilon's mother, Enina. She tells him that Tandro's murder inspired his people to victory, and he has since become a worldwide hero, but she is adamant that Curzon did not betray her husband. Odo discovers evidence of an affair between Curzon and Enina, giving him a motive for the murder. Enina admits the affair to Odo and tells him that her husband was not the hero in life that he was in death. As the hearing resumes, Enina testifies that at the time of the murder, Curzon was in her bed. The arbiter dismisses the case. After the hearing is over, Enina talks privately with Dax of how no one must ever know that her husband had sent the coded message himself in an attempt to betray his own people, and that the rebels killed him for the favor. == Production ==