Star Trek: 10 Exact Moments We Knew These Characters Were Doomed
5. Senator Vreenek - In The Pale Moonlight
It's A Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake.
One of the immortal lines of Star Trek, matched only in its silliness by the intensity of the delivery. Senator Vreenek is dead from the moment he utters it.
Consider this: the entirety of In The Pale Moonlight is told in flashback, via Sisko's log. The main aim of the week is to bring the Romulans into the Dominion War. Garak has been recruited to help. As the Cardassian says himself, hiring this man was the line that Starfleet had to cross so that they could keep their own hands clean.
Sisko's final monologue, speaking about how he can live with his crimes if it brings a quicker end to the war, stunned audiences in the 90s. However, the clues were there all through the episode. There was never any question that, deep as they were, the mission could fail. In any story of espionage and war, those who hold the secrets are the ones most at risk. Once the Senator identified the recording as a fake, his fate was sealed. All it took then was a quiet bomb to be placed in a corner of his shuttle, one expression of rage by a broken captain, and a faster ending to a bloody struggle.