If 500 bars = 10,000 strips = 1 million slips, then one bar = 20 strips = 2,000 slips.

The docking pylon destroyed by the Jem'Hadar in To The Death has been repaired. I wonder where they got the Cardassian spare parts? (The later episode Empok Nor stated that certain Cardassian materials could not be replicated by the Federation. Although at this point in the series, the Cardies were being helped by the Feds, so the answer to my question could very well be... the Cardassians.)

IIRC in Family Business it is said that Quark hasn't been to Ferenginar in 20 years and he hoped it would be another 20 before he returned. In this episode he returns from Ferenginar where he had his annual insurance physical. So has he had his previous 20 checkups from offworld doctors?

Quark mentions that he has to pay a debt to cousin Gaila. Wasn't this the same cousin who owed Quark a spaceship? Why would Quark borrow money from someone who waited years to pay off a debt, then paid it off with a sabotaged ship?

Why didn't Quark just report Brunt for putting his personal feelings above acquiring profit? It was enough to get DaiMon Bok in trouble in The Battle and Bloodlines. So wouldn't it get Brunt kicked out of the FCA?

Wasn't it just convenient that Major Kira had decided to come along on this trip? How did they get stuck in an asteroid field? If it's dense enough to cause a navigational hazard, they should have steered clear it in the first place. Are we supposed to believe that the asteroids snuck up and attacked them? Perhaps Major Kira was showing off her flying skills? ("Here's a little trick we used to do in the resistance. Ooops!") Most shocking possible explanation of them all, Kira wanted to experience what it was like to be a mother, without the responsibility of raising the kid after birth, so she intentionally crashed into the rock and claimed it was an accident. The writer should have just said there was an accident on the planet they went to, or said they were shot at by the Jem'Hadar.

Earlier there is a comment that O'Brien couldn't have talked Keiko out of doing this survey, but why would Captain Sisko have okayed the survey? Sisko isn't married to Keiko and Keiko is a civilian. She has no authority over Sisko.

On page 381 of the DS9 Guide, Phil wondered about the difference between Quark's 52 discs of vacuum desiccated remains and Plegg's 5,000 discs. Possibly it has to do with a Ferengi's importance. Plegg was very important so the idea of his remains being spread out in at least 5,000 discs would not be surprising. (Assuming that Quark was conned & not lying to Odo about being swindled.) Quark on the other hand was very unimportant, so 52 discs is probably the bargain basement Ferengi funeral arrangement. (The equivalent of a cheap wooden box and burial in potter's field.)

I wonder why the Ferengi use a unit of 100 for Slips to Strips, but only 20 for Strips to Bars? Quark says that 500 Bars is equal to 10,000 Strips or 1,000,00 Slips.
(So in Little Green Men Jadzia bought Nog's holosuite program for half a bar of latinum?)

Why did Odo allow Brunt back on the station? Even if Quark didn't file charges in Bar Association, shouldn't the chief of station security have some say over who can and cannot board the station, especially known troublemakers like Brunt?

Brunt says that Quark's mother will be on the streets begging for food, but in Family Business it was said that Ferengi women were not allowed to talk to strangers.

A great missed opportunity would have been to have Quark's mother come and live on DS9 with Quark. *sigh* Wouldn't that have been fun?

SPOILER FOR FERENGI LOVE SONGS!!!
So if Quark's mother was to be out on the streets after this episode, then why was she still living in the family home in Ferengi Love Songs?

Where was Odo for most of this episode? Quark and Garak are talking about assassination in the middle of the tailor shop. Wouldn't Garak be afraid that Morn would overhear and say something?

If Rom didn't want Quark to be killed why didn't he tell Odo about the 'assassination'?

What about Quark's malpractice lawsuit against the Ferengi doctor?

Did the Ferengi doctor make a mistake or was he paid to make a 'mistake'?

In Little Green Men Quark said that the walls of the Divine Treasury are made of pure latinum, but the walls in Quark's dream are golden, not silvery as latinum is shown to be in Who Mourns For Morn.
Also in WMFM latinum is shown to be a liquid at room temperature, but Quark & Gint don't seen to be very cold. (But then It's All In Quark's Head.)

Quark says that if Brunt ever walks into his bar again, he won't walk out. I guess Quark had a change of heart between this episode and The Magnificent Ferengi.

Kira is no longer wearing her tight outfit. I guess it's a uniform regulation that pregnant women be allowed to wear loose clothing so sensitive menfolk won't lose their lunch seeing them in tight outfits.

I haven't seen this episode in awhile, but I've been wondering about one point... did Garak ever refund Quark's money on the assassination contract? Or is Quark going to show up dead (and surprised) in 20 years?

Did Quark really dream about his meeting with Gint or was is rather a holosuite program created by Rom and Garak?

Why would someone loose their lunch at the sight of a most beuatifula nd sexy pregnant woman. I didn;t mind th etight uniform.

OK...Quark asks Garak to kill him...nobody gets in trouble, but when Worf tried to kill Kurn, (after Kurn asked Worf to kill him) Worf & Dax got in trouble. Does this make sense?

NANJAO: The end of this story reminded me of "It's a Wonderful Life"

Of course it makes sense. Obviously, Quark and Garak had no intention of letting others discover what they were doing. "Nobody got in trouble" because no one knew about it. Had they found out, they'd have been in as much trouble as Worf in Sons of Mogh.

Second, Dax didn't get in trouble in that episode. Only Worf did. Dax was the one who alerted the others to what Worf was doing when she realized what he was up to after Quark told her Worf asked for adanji incense.

AH! I get it. I never expected there'd be so many complicated nuances on DS9. Thanx.

I wonder... did Sisko and the others help Quark start his bar again in the end because they like him or because Sisko knows how important a bar is for the morale of the people (the reason he used to pressure Quark in staying on in the pilot?) What do you think? When I watched this for the first time, I thought everybody is a friend of Quark, but when I rewatched it, I had my doubts...

I'm also a little bit surprised that Quark couldn't come up with a way of cheating Brunt instead of obviously breaking the contract, like cloning himself, buying another corpse of a poor ferengi cheap and alter the DNA, make a holographic corpse....

Keith Alan Morgan
Kira is no longer wearing her tight outfit. I guess it's a uniform regulation that pregnant women be allowed to wear loose clothing so sensitive menfolk won't lose their lunch seeing them in tight outfits.

Personally as a mom, I should get extremely offended at the last line. Like Anonymous said, I don't see a reason why anyone would be sick seeing a pregnant female. Pregnancy, being a natural condition and part of adding to society, wouldn't it be welcoming to see a pregnant female, no matter what she is wearing, being it covers what clothing is suppose to cover?
And to discuss the second part of this, as having to experience pregnancy twice, the loose clothing is more comfortable to a pregnant woman. With the body constantly changing, tight clothing does not make sense. Consider Kira's outfit a maternity uniform.

I could be wrong, but I would've assumed that Keith meant to cynically describe the discomfort such men feel in order to indicate that he himself does not share it.

I could be wrong too, and I'm not really mad at anyone here really, and I do get the slight feeling that KAM is joking good naturedly, it's just sometimes that line of thinking is in real life, and it gets me how a pregnant woman, so praised for being pregnant, is sometimes considered, by a few I know, to be disgusting to look at. It maybe one thing to look at someone who you consider is making you sick, and actually go through it, non-stop, for nine months, sick, and in pain, and everything else you can name of. I am sensitive toward this, and feel there could have been a different example, mind you, I didn't say better, just a different example, to notice Kira wearing a less tighter outfit. Which, to note in a more unemotional objective, but yet from experience point of few, elementary, I couldn't wear tight clothing myself being pregnant, trust me, I tried to wear my jeans as long as I could, but when my face got red, that was the hint to vist a maternity shop. Plus, everything on me was very sensitive.
Now, this also gives me another nitpick to this episode. The fact, that they had to go to Garek to make a uniform for Kira. Being a military wife, I have seen female pregant soldiers, with uniforms made for a pregnancy. I would think that Starfleet would be able to reguisition maternity uniforms that would be in stock, or the pattern in the computer, then to go to a Cardassian dress maker. Even though that Kira is a Bajoran in the Bajoran militia, I would think they would have maternity uniforms too, right?
Ohhh, and don't worry, I won't even start on the heels, I know that subject has been brought up before! ;)

Ok Luigi, you're right, and I am sorry, and sorry to KAM, I do see it as you do. Man, I'm a ditzhead! I don't read sarcasm very well.

Hey I have to add my two cents to this. I happen to be very male and when my wife was pregnant I thought that if anything it already took a beuatiful woman into the levels of a goddess. :-) So I most definately dont feel uncomfortable around pregnant women and I can see where KAM may have been joking and slightly misunderstood.

I think the point I was trying to make (very badly) was that now that Kira is not what most people would see as a sex symbol she is no longer wearing the skin tight outfit. (I think I made a comment about Pulaski not wearing a skin tight uniform over on one of the NextGen boards as well.)

I was trying to be funny, but clearly I chose the wrong subject to make a joke about. Sorry about that.

Slinky, this wasn't the first time the problem of Garak making an officer a uniform came up. He made one for Odo at the end of Broken Link, and I ask, just as I did for that episode, aren't they replicated by the quartermaster? Why are they going to Garak for these things? It's the same problem with going to Quark for food.

That's right Luigi, I remember you saying that. Then again, noticed who Garek made the uniforms to. Kira and Oda, members of the Bajoran militia. Maybe the Bajorans do not have someone to go to to requisition uniforms, and need actual tailors, like Garek. Interestingly though, we have a Cardassian depended upon to make Bajoran uniforms,

I have noticed the same thing too, KAM, about Pulaski. I have felt that Pulaski was wearing the draped over top, due to her age, but I think she would have been fine wearing the one piece, like everyone else. In fact, in one TNG episode, wasn't their a no-named transporter crewwoman, who seemed about Pulaski's age, and she wore the one piece. I thought she looked alright in it. Then again, we could go on why Troi had her outfits, and then go back to why T'Pol has hers, in fact, in the first two seasons, why she has the skintight catsuit, yet on Vulcan ships, their uniforms are different.........and this is for another time, another board, and another crazy Slinky moment.
ANd R, I like what you said. And thank you KAM, and I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions so quickly.
And now back to our show.............

No problem. I just say what i feel.

So Quark owed money to Humans, huh? That's not very consistent with the Federation not using money, but maybe individual Feds (or non-Fed Humans) are smarter than the UFP in this regard.

On the other hand, Sisko tells Quark to send him a bill, so I assume the Feds/Starfleet do keep some money for dealing with "less financially advanced" cultures. (Maybe they replciate it. That way, they could induce inflation and monetary havoc into an unfirendly government.)

(IMO, "the Federation doesn't use money" is the worst idea in Trek. There've been some other bad ones, but this one makes the least sense.)

So if Quark's mother was to be out on the streets after this episode, then why was she still living in the family home in Ferengi Love Songs?

Maybe Ishka bribed someone (with Quark's money or her own profits) to keep her house.

Brunt says that Quark's mother will be on the streets begging for food, but in Family Business it was said that Ferengi women were not allowed to talk to strangers.

Begging doesn't have to involve talking. About the women-not-talking thing- how do they get married if they can't talk to a man until she marries one?

What about Quark's malpractice lawsuit against the Ferengi doctor?

1) Quark can't do business with Ferengi after this ep- presumably this would include any legal apparattus with which to sue a Ferengi.
2) I had always assumed, given what Brunt knew, that he put up Dr. Orpax to lie to Quark about his health. That's not incompetence- that's deliberate lying(which on Fereginar would be acceptable)

I've been wondering about one point... did Garak ever refund Quark's money on the assassination contract?

We never actually saw Garak accept money from Quark(though this could have happened off-screen). I had always thought that Garak never intended to kill Quark since he knew Quark did not really want to die.

In the holosuite, Garak says "Computer, remove corpse" and the computer removes both the corpse and the plate of food holo-Quark landed in.(I know, small point.)

BTW: I certainly hope Quark remembered to "call off" Garak. (Quark asked Garak to kill him)

Finally...why DIDN'T Quark use Garak to kill Brunt? If he made it look like an accident, nobody would get into trouble & Quark's problem about the contract would be solved.

Wouldn't the FCA just send another agent? I also think Quark said he would not do anything to go against Ferengi society(such as killing an FCA agent)

If Brunt was found dead, no matter the circumstances, wouldn't Quark be the first suspect, given his potential motive? Odo said "I always investigate Quark."

This episode was directed by the actor who played Captain Sisko.

I thought I'd seen every episode of DS9 multiple times, but as I watched this one recently I remembered almost nothing that happened; same with Second Sight in season two. I knew that Bashir transferred O'Brien's baby to Kira, I guess I just never caught the ep it actually happened. Back when it aired I probably saw that it was Ferengi-heavy and skipped it.

Speaking of Ferengi however, a contract is a contract, but if it's made under false pretenses shouldn't it be able to be voided? The doctor of his "insurance physical" could clear that up (assuming he wasn't in on it), and Quark could go after Brunt for allowing his personal feelings to get in the way of profit, as KAM points out. Regardless, Quark's banishment (for lack of a better term at the moment) doesn't seem to affect him much. He even gets dabo tables back at the bar in short order, which would be nits for those eps of course.

Since I don't think I've watched this entire episode before, I don't recall what's pointed out in the guide; I'll have to dig it up. In the meantime, still catching new things on this show after all these years makes me hopeful about what else I may have missed!

Quark's banishment was another season four misfire that was undone the following season.