Star Trek: 10 Times Captains Lost Control
5. Sisko Sinks Further And Further Into The Romulan Plot
In The Pale Moonlight stands as both one of the strongest episodes of Deep Space Nine and one of the darkest moments in Star Trek up to that point. A Starfleet captain knowingly commits crimes to con an Empire into going to war. Roddenberry would most likely have had quite a few things to say about that.
When the story picks up, the action has already happened. The audiences watches Sisko attempt to come to terms with the fallout. He details his initial plot - and it was his idea - to bring the Romulans into the war. There are many people that he could have chosen to work with, but he goes straight to Garak.
Garak is one of the most enigmatic characters in Star Trek. What is known about him is shaded in layers of grey, never quite rising to the brighter colours. Sisko approaches him because this is what he needs. Starfleet, with the exception of Section 31, has not trained him for this level of duplicity.
The resulting forgeries, murders and declarations of war all serve to ensure that Sisko's plan is a success: the Romulans are going to help the Federation.
However, where Sisko devolved from his original intentions to becoming embroiled in Garak's darkness is lost in the murky shades of grey that he must now live with. Though, as he tells the audience: he can live with it.