- Omet'iklan: I am First Omet'iklan, and I am dead. As of this moment, we are all dead. We go into battle to reclaim our lives. This we do gladly, for we are Jem'Hadar. Remember: victory is life.
- Jem'Hadar: Victory is life!
- [the Jem'Hadar march out]
- Weyoun: Such a delightful people.
- [O'Brien turns to face the assembled Federation officers]
- O'Brien: I am Chief Miles Edward O'Brien. I am very much alive, and I intend to stay that way.
- Sisko: Amen! Let's get it done!
- [Dax is trying to work, but Virak'kara, a Jem'Hadar, is staring at her]
- Jadzia Dax: Am I really that interesting? You've been standing there staring at me for the last two hours.
- Virak'kara: You are part of my combat team. I must learn to understand your behaviour - anticipate your actions.
- Jadzia Dax: There must be something you'd rather do. Maybe get some sleep?
- Virak'kara: We don't sleep.
- Jadzia Dax: How about getting something to eat?
- Virak'kara: The white is the only thing we need.
- Jadzia Dax: [pondering] Don't sleep... don't eat... What do you do for relaxation?
- Virak'kara: Relaxation would only make us weak.
- Jadzia Dax: [aghast] You people are no fun at all - I'm glad I'm not a Jem'Hadar woman.
- Virak'kara: There are no Jem'Hadar women.
- Jadzia Dax: [sardonically] So what do you do? Lay eggs?
- Virak'kara: [proudly] Jem'Hadar are bred in birthing chambers. We are able to fight within three days of our emergence.
- Jadzia Dax: Lucky you. So let me get this straight: no sleep - no food - no women. No wonder you're so angry. After thirty or forty years of that I'd be angry too.
- Virak'kara: No Jem'Hadar has ever lived thirty years.
- Jadzia Dax: [puzzled] How old are you?
- Virak'kara: I am eight.
- Jadzia Dax: I would have guessed at least fifteen.
- Virak'kara: Few Jem'Hadar live that long. If we reach twenty, we're considered honored elders.
- [leans in]
- Virak'kara: How old are you?
- Jadzia Dax: I stopped counting at three hundred.
- Virak'kara: [amazed] You don't look it.
- Jadzia Dax: Thank you.
- [after a brawl between Worf and a Jem'Hadar, Omet'iklan has executed his subordinate for discipline, while Sisko has only sent Worf to his quarters]
- Omet'iklan: You call that discipline?
- Sisko: A dead man can't learn from his mistakes.
- Omet'iklan: [about his Starfleet allies] They'll never succeed as long as they value their lives more than victory.
- Weyoun: There's something to be said for soldiers who aren't afraid to die.
- Sisko: I don't know, I found that nothing keeps me alert quite like a healthy fear of death.
- [Sisko fends off a fatal blow aimed at Omet'iklan with his arm and gets injured in the process]
- Omet'iklan: [baffled] I threatened to kill you. But you were willing to sacrifice yourself, to save my life.
- Sisko: [holding his arm] Looks that way.
- Omet'iklan: Why?
- Sisko: If you have to ask, you'll never understand.
- Quark: Has anyone seen my brother Rom? He told me he was gonna be working on one of the upper pylons today!
- Major Kira: He's fine, I saw him with one of the damage control teams on Level 5.
- Quark: Oh, what a relief... Wait 'til I find him, I'll kill him for scaring me like that!
- Sisko: I have a few things I want to make clear. First, this is my ship and my command, which means, I give the orders, not you and not Weyoun. What's more, I'm holding you personally responsible for the actions of your men. If I have a problem with them, *you're* the one who's going to have to answer for it.
- Omet'iklan: That's as it should be. After all, I'm the First.
- Sisko: As far as I'm concerned, on this mission, *I'm* the First.
- Omet'iklan: Until the traitors are found and terminated. After that, we shall see.
- Weyoun: Wouldn't it be much simpler if the Dominion and the Federation could reach some mutual beneficial understanding without resorting to the unpleasantness of military conflict?
- Weyoun: Your psychographic profile is required reading for Vorta field supervisors. I probably know things about you you don't know yourself.
- Sisko: There'll be a joint briefing session at 1900 hours.
- O'Brien: ...followed by a get-to-know-you buffet at 1930.
- Jadzia Dax: And I forgot my dress uniform.
- Omet'iklan: You think you have to lie to us and use the white to ensure our loyalty. But the fact is we are more loyal to the Founders than the Vorta ever will be. It is the reason for our existence; it is the core of our being.
- Weyoun: There's an entire corps of Jem'Hadar down on Vandros IV that would disagree with you.
- Omet'iklan: And for that, they will die.
- Worf: We consider Klingon women our partners in battle. They're the mothers of our children.
- Jadzia Dax: And a lot of fun at parties too.
- Worf: True.
- Omet'iklan: Any soldier who cannot follow orders is a danger to his unit and must be eliminated.
- Sisko: Mister Worf is not a danger to my command. But if I eliminate him for a simple breach of discipline, then *I* would be. My men would stop trusting me - and I wouldn't blame them.
- [O'Brien has recorded a potential good-bye message to his family]
- O'Brien: Every time I record one of these, I think... this is it. This is the one they're gonna end up hearing.
- Jadzia Dax: It'll never happen.
- O'Brien: What makes you say that?
- Jadzia Dax: Because, when you've lived eight lifetimes, you develop certain instincts. And my instincts tell me that you, Miles Edward O'Brien, are going to live to be 140 and die in bed, surrounded by family and friends.
- O'Brien: Do you really believe that?
- Jadzia Dax: Do you?
- O'Brien: I'd like to.
- Jadzia Dax: That's all that matters.
- O'Brien: [after a pause] Well, just to be on the safe side, maybe you'd better enter this into the ship's log anyway.
- Jadzia Dax: I'll put it right alongside my message to my mother.
- O'Brien: You record these too?
- Jadzia Dax: Doesn't everyone?
- [the Jem'Hadar bring Weyoun's white dispenser into the mess while Weyoun is eating]
- Omet'iklan: It's time.
- Weyoun: It's time when I *say* it's time.
- [the Jem'Hadar remain]
- Weyoun: [sighs] Very well.
- [to the dispenser]
- Weyoun: Prepare six vials. Unlock.
- [Weyoun opens the dispenser and takes out six vials]
- Weyoun: [bored, reciting] First Omet'iklan, can you vouch for the loyalty of your men?
- Omet'iklan: [solemn] We pledge our loyalty to the Founders, from now until death.
- Weyoun: [bored] Then receive this reward from the Founders, may it keep you strong.
- [He hands out the white]
- Weyoun: The Founders' ability to control the Jem'Hadar has been somewhat... overstated. Otherwise we never would have had to addict them to the white.
- Sisko: Sounds like the Dominion isn't quite as stable as you'd like us to believe.
- Weyoun: [with cold fury] The Dominion has endured for two thousand years and will continue to endure long after the Federation has crumbled into dust.
- [calms down]
- Weyoun: But we'll leave that to history.
- [Weyoun has been intently watching Odo for some time]
- O'Brien: [to Odo] I wonder what would happen if you went over there and ordered him to stand on his head.
- Weyoun: Your people... want you to come home, Odo. No matter what differences you may have with them, no matter what mistakes you may have made, they still love you.
- Odo: Well, maybe they do. But I don't love them.
- Weyoun: You're lying. And you're not very good at it. I on the other hand am an expert at lies, both in telling them and in spotting them...
- Toman'torax: It is our duty to punish those who would break their vow of loyalty.
- Odo: Are you accusing me of something?
- Omet'iklan: It is not for us to accuse a god of betraying heaven. The gods themselves will sit in judgment over you.
- Odo: I'm no god, and neither are the Founders. The sooner you realize that, the better off you'll be.
- Weyoun: Tell me, Captain, are you familiar with the Iconian civilization?
- Sisko: They controlled a vast interstellar empire about two hundred thousand years ago.
- Weyoun: What's important is *how* they controlled that empire.
- Sisko: The Gateways.
- Weyoun: Exactly. Sophisticated transporters that allowed them to move, instantaneously, from one planet to another, from one solar system to another, without the use of starships.
- Omet'iklan: I did what had to be done, what any First would do. I placed the good of my unit above my personal feelings.