A criminal from the Gamma Quadrant tells Odo that he knows of other beings like him.
Summary
A visitor from the Gamma Quadrant attempts to steal a valuable item that Quark is buying from a pair of twin Miradorn, but Odo stops him. The remaining Miradorn vows to kill the man who shot his brother. Once the visitor, who introduces himself as Croden, is in a holding cell, he makes several comments to Odo regarding Changelings. This piques Odo's interest, as he has never encountered another shape shifter.
Croden claims to have met one before. Croden's motives are suspect as he never divulges anything outright, but he claims there were once shape shifters on his homeworld. According to Croden, they were persecuted and driven off the planet; however, he may know of a place where they still exist. Odo is not fooled by the fact that Croden conveniently cannot give directions but can find his way to this place himself. However, Crodn gives Odo a necklace with a stone that changes shape.
Sisko and Dax meanwhile try to contact Croden's homeworld about what to do with him. Apparently highly xenophobic, one of their leaders demands Croden's return. Sisko tells the man that a runabout will return with Croden aboard in the next 52 hours.
Back on the station, Croden claims that he happened upon an uncharted colony of Changelings in a nebula he calls the Vortex and that he knows his way back to it. Sisko has other plans and gives Odo the assignment of bringing Croden back to his homeworld. Odo takes Croden in a runabout and manages to slip by the Miradorn's ship without being detected, but the Miradorn, still bent on killing Croden, forces Quark to tell him where Croden went.
During the trip to Croden's homeworld, he drops hints and is persistent about the Vortex, knowing Odo wants to find his people. The ship suddenly shakes; the Miradorn has fired on it while Odo was distracted with Croden's story. The Miradorn hails Odo and orders him to surrender his prisoner, and when he refuses, the Miradorn ship attacks the runabout. As Odo says in trying to evade the Miradorn, "I'm a security officer, not a combat pilot!" Croden says he can maneuver the ship through the Vortex and that the gases might hide it.
In trying to avoid the Miradorn, Croden is forced to land the runabout in order to keep the other ship from finding it. Once on the asteroid on which Croden spoke of before, Odo demands to know if any of the stories were true. Croden admits that on his homeworld people tell stories about Changelings but he has never met one and he does not know where the stone came from. However, his daughter is in a stasis chamber on the asteroid. Ultimately, Croden decides to answer for his crime on his homeworld but Odo finds a Vulcan ship that agrees to take Croden and his daughter back to Vulcan with it.
During the episode Odo exclaims "I'm a security officer, not a combat pilot!" as a nod in the direction of Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy from TOS.
References
Characters
- Main characters
- Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks)
- Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor)
- Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell)
- Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig)
- Miles O'Brien (Colm MeaneyMA)
- Odo (Rene Auberjonois)
- Quark (Armin Shimerman)
- Recurring characters
- Rom (Max Grodénchik)
- Morn (Mark Allen ShepherdMA)
- Broik (David B. LevinsonMA)
- Computer voice (Majel Barrett)
- Other characters
- Croden (Cliff De YoungMA)
- Ah-Kel and Ro-Kel (Randy OglesbyMA)
- Yareth (Leslie EngelbergMA)
- Hadran (Gordon ClappMA)
Locations
- Alpha Quadrant • Bajoran wormhole • Chamra Vortex • Deep Space 9 • Gamma Quadrant • Operations center • Promenade • Quark's • Rahkar • Station commander's office
- Referenced only
- Vulcan
Starships
- USS Ganges (Danube-class runabout) • USS Rio Grande (Danube-class) • Ma-Karn-class raider
- Referenced only
- T'Vran
Races and cultures
- Bajoran • Changeling • Ferengi • Human • Miradorn • Rakhari • Trill • Vulcan
- Referenced only
- Altoran • Cardassian • Klingon • Rigelian • Vanoben
States and Organizations
- Bajoran Militia • Gatherer • Starfleet • United Federation of Planets
- Referenced only
- Starfleet Academy
Other
- asteroid • class M • Ferengi phaser • first contact • gold-pressed latinum • holosuite • IDIC • impulse engine • languor • nebula • photon torpedo • plasma charge • security chip • shapeshifter • stasis • stasis chamber • toh-maire
Appendices
Background information
- "Vortex" is the first episode of the series where extensive scenes take place in the Gamma Quadrant.
External links
- Vortex (episode) article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Vortex (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Connections
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous episode: The Nagus |
DS9 episode produced | Next episode: Battle Lines |
| Previous episode: The Nagus |
DS9 episode aired | Next episode: Battle Lines |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous Adventure: Lessons |
Next Adventure: Red Sector | |