Stardate 47944.2: Briefly after meeting Boone, his old friend from the USS Rutledge, O'Brien leaves the station with Keiko for a vacation. But the Cardassians kidnap the chief and put him on trial. The Cardassian trial is just a confirmation of a verdict that has been fabricated in advance. Without even knowing the charges against him, O'Brien is told that he is guilty and has been sentenced to death. Under Cardassian law, Odo is allowed to act as O'Brien's nestor during the tribunal, whereas defendant's "lawyer" Kovat only attempts to make him confess his guilt. On Deep Space 9, Bashir and Dax find out that Boone has stolen warheads from a weapons locker and transported them to the chief's runabout, to supply them to the Maquis as it seems, using a recording of O'Brien's voice to trick the security system. But Boone is not a member of the Maquis. Bashir discovers that he is a surgically altered Cardassian. With this proof Sisko enters the Cardassian courtroom where Judge Makbar swiftly decides to release O'Brien to spare the Cardassian Union the embarrassment about the feigned criminal case.

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