Cardassian professor Natima Lang (Mary Crosby) arrives at Deep Space Nine with her students, Rekelen and Hogue — political dissidents intent on reforming the oppressive Cardassian military government. Lang and Quark were once lovers; Lang ended the relationship after Quark betrayed her trust, and she now wants nothing to do with him, but he still has feelings for her.
When Lang sees Garak at Quark's bar, she panics, guessing he will inform the Cardassian government of their presence. In the guise of a conversation about fashion, Garak hints to Quark that Lang's radical beliefs and companions are likely to lead to her death. Quark offers Lang his assistance, but she refuses, not trusting him to care about anyone but himself.
Meanwhile, a Cardassian warship arrives and threatens the station. Garak explains to DS9's senior staff that Cardassian Central Command wants Hogue and Rekelen, whom he describes as terrorists, handed over.
Quark offers Hogue and Rekelen a contraband cloaking device to help them escape, on the condition that Lang stay with him. Lang has an argument with Quark, during which she accidentally shoots a phaser at Quark, stunning him. Horrified, Lang finally admits that she still loves him and Quark finally manages to convince her to stay.
Lang and her students are arrested by security chief Odo: the Bajoran government has agreed to turn them over to the Cardassians in exchange for the release of several Bajoran prisoners. A former rival of Garak's, Gul Toran, tells Garak that Central Command wants the prisoners dead; in exchange for killing them, Garak will be allowed to return to Cardassia.
Quark convinces Odo to release Lang and her students. Garak greets them at their ship, where he laments that he must now kill Quark as well. Toran appears, revealing that he only used Garak to learn Hogue and Rekelen's whereabouts; the offer of a return to Cardassia was a lie. Garak shoots him and allows Lang, Hogue, and Rekelen to escape. Lang convinces Quark to let her leave, promising to return to him when her work reforming the Cardassian government is done. Quark sadly lets her go.
Once she leaves, Quark asks why Garak shot Toran, and Garak asks why Quark let Lang go. "I had no choice — I love her," Quark says. Garak replies, "And I love Cardassia, which explains what I did".
In this episode, the main guest star is Mary Crosby, playing the role of Natima Lang. Mary is the daughter of Bing Crosby and the aunt of Denise Crosby, who had played Tasha Yar on Star Trek: The Next Generation.[1]
Producer Ira Steven Behr disliked this episode, because he believed that it made Quark come across as too heroic.
However, makeup artist Michael Westmore has stated that the love scene between Quark and Natima Lang in this episode was one of his favorite Star Trek scenes. He liked the scene so much because in spite of the heavy prosthetic makeup, it was a simple, romantic scene between two people in love and the makeup becomes completely unimportant. Armin Shimerman (Quark) and Mary Crosby (Natima Lang) had their makeup touched up every time the actors kissed, since his red-orange makeup kept mixing with her light grey makeup.[citation needed]
During filming, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck on January 17, 1994 at 4:31 am, while Armin Shimerman, Mary Crosby and other actors requiring extensive makeup, were in preparation for crew call. Most of the actors in the makeup trailer (whilst still in makeup) ran to their cars and drove home to check on their families. While driving through the streets of L.A., many of the actors startled many other motorists with their bizarre alien makeup. According to Armin Shimerman, he "scared the crap out of people" with his alien appearance.[3][4]
Michael Reilly Burke, who plays Hogue, had also performed on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but not as the same character.[1]