To see the cards themselves, check out this Card list for the Deep Space 9 expansion set.

PICTURE: This one's real nice. It has the advantage of featuring a main character, and much more obviously than Picard on Federation on Klingon. It's also got a cool blue color scheme, and two characters - one in shadow - exchanging information. Great composition, mysterious mists, a kind of odd nose on Odo... that last one aside, 4.3.

LORE: What's meant to be a surprising fact in the first sentence, kind of is. And then the pic is explained, which is also good. I should probably discuss the choice of pic here, since I went with aesthetics in the other category, because the choice is a marginal one. I'm not sure I consider Odo very Bajoran, you see. He's worked for many sides, and wasn't in the Resistance (the skill mentioned in the game text). Still, not a bad effort - I'm just being nitpicky here. A 3.5.

TREK SENSE: Well, well, well... Espionage rears its ugly head again. Any newcomers to this article that need a recap of what I always say to these? ;-) Espionage cards always get a straight 2 here, with extra doo-dads bringing it up or down depending. Basically, Espionage cards aren't too great because espionage does not equal mission theft, and I have a hard time believing the Bajorans would Alter Records at Bajor, for example. That's not espionage, it's collaboration! The doo-dad here is that Resistance personnel allow the card to be played for free because they are the Bajorans' "intelligence skill". But is it? It seems to be the equivalent, but the Resistance is a very different organization than the Obsidian Order or Section 31. It's more about contacts and guerilla tactics than it is about spying. At least it's on-target about going for the Cardassians. That said, I can't help but bring that 2 DOWN to a 1.7. Aw, too bad.

STOCKABILITY: There are about 15 Cardassian missions the Bajorans don't have access to, and that's not very many. In fact, the way DS9 was constructed as a expansion, the Bajorans and Cardassians share a great number of missions. And you know what? Those Cardie missions aren't for the most part easy for the Bajorans, unless they're high on Treachery maybe. A few are quite theft proof, featuring Obsidian Order (your Bajorans would have to be Therapied to have it). Even Intercept Maquis which can be completed easily (Kira Nerys has all the skills) requires a lot of firepower from a ship, and Bajoran ships aren't that hot. Of course, add matching commanders, Tactical Consoles, etc. and you might have a chance. Similarly, Military Exercises is quite easy, but requires too much staffing for Bajorans not using NA ships. And why would the Bajorans decide to spy? They have a nice bunch of missions all grouped together in a region - so maybe spy on Alter Records just so you can do the complete set (lots of Treachery required), but since you only need 3 or 4 missions to get to a 100, who needs all of 'em? At least, those Cardie missions often have lots of other affiliations mentioned, so you have a better chance of seeing them even with a non-Cardassian player. They have a way to report them for free (Resistance personnel), but not a way to cycle them (a Plans card). Still, that's a small plus. Small, because I just don't think Espionage is really the Bajorans' strength. A straight 2 here.

TOTAL: 11.5 (57.5%) Started off strong...

PICTURE: There's something to be said for the streaked Cardassian here (streaked because those blurry lights in the background are the same color as his skin), who looks like he's moving at superhuman speed, but there's too much darkness here even for an espionage card. Rather dull and featuring a nightmarish composition, I can only give it a 2.7.

LORE: A simple enough sentence, and all true, but no examples, or even mention of the Order. A big wide yawn on this one, and a score of 2.6.

TREK SENSE: Another espionage card? Well, there are a few more to go unfortunately, and they all have the same basic Trek Sense problem, namely that espionage isn't equivalent to mission theft, yet this is what this card does. By completing an other affiliation's missions, they are often helping that affiliation out! Oh, not on purely scientific missions or investigations, but most of the rest, they will. And would the Cardassians help the Bajorans? Let me give you an example: would the Cardies free Bajoran prisoners at Cardassia IV (they might, but not using Rescue Prisoners' requirements). Similarly, Relocate Settlers or Refuse Immigration are nonsensical missions for the Cardassians. Looking at the mission list however, I have to say this is less of a problem for this particular Espionage card. Not a lot of the missions are that dubious, and the Cardies are so devious that even Relocate Settlers could be part of their master plan. With nothing else helping it along (free plays, etc.), the card hits a 2.3 here.

STOCKABILITY: Unfortunately, because of the decision to make DS9 an expansion you could play stand-alone, there are a lot of Bajoran/Cardassian missions already, making this Espionage card less necessary. And then there's always the problem of your not facing a Bajoran opponent, coupled with the fact that, since the Bajorans aren't one of the original affiliations, it's not featured on as many missions from other affiliations as, say the Klingons or Federation. The Cardassians can go around that with Plans of the Obsidian Order however, so it's not so bad. Good management makes it a more effective stock option. Another unfortunate fact is that when stealing Bajoran missions, there are no shortcuts. You cannot use the often easier options requiring very specific personnel, Vedeks, etc. Self-seeding Bajoran missions to spy aren't recommended either. Some have special abilities, yes, but things like seeding Bajoran universals won't help one bit. Also, as long as you're spying, go for juicier affiliations - Bajoran missions (like Cardassian ones) have a generally lower point-values-for-requirements ratio. Even with Plans, only a 2.6.

TOTAL: 10.2 (51%) Not impressed.

PICTURE: While I don't care much for the structure faux-Boone is hiding behind, his looking toward the darkness is good composition, and those shadows on his face really make his eyes hollow and extra-evil. A fairly good 3.5.

LORE: The first sentence is very true. So is the second, though it kinda highlights how weak Espionage cards are in Trek Sense. Frame-ups? That's more of an infiltrator-type trick, isn't it? Not bad, but not great. Only a 2.8.

TREK SENSE: The usual score for an Espionage card is 2, on account of its giving us an espionage equals mission theft party line, which just isn't true. Let's see if Cardie on Fed can stray from that score. Well, it doesn't have any special extras like free plays or anything, so it's gonna have to be on missions stealable only. Let's look: The various Studies and Investigations are often fine, since you're basically doing the same job the Feds would except you're in enemy territory. The real problem is those Avert Danger-type cards, where stealing the mission means helping the Federation. And the Feds have a LOT of rescues, repairs and medical emergencies in their missions. So, much like others of its ilk, it'll receive the usual 2. Can't rise above the rest.

STOCKABILITY: Any Espionage on Federation card is gonna get a little something extra just for allowing the fat Espionage Mission (Earth) to be attempted. Other than that, well, there's the fact that the Feds have more missions than any other affiliation, and often shares their missions with others. That means that, whatever affiliation you may be facing, there's bound to be a Federation icon or two on the spaceline. The missions are so basic sometimes, that your Cardies can easily satisfy their requirements. The Cardassians also have that Plans of the Obsidian Order going for them, so if no Federation mission looks interesting, they can recycle that Espionage card into card draws, along with the other management tricks that can be played by their Obsidian Order personnel. Limited by Fair Play and such, you can still seed your own Federation missions to tighten up skill redundancy. A successful 3.6.

TOTAL: 11.9 (59.5%) It's hard to be an Espionage card.

PICTURE: Took me a while to realize, but that's Garak sitting way over there, spying on the Sisters Duras. Visually, it's a fairly good Espionage card, with the usual props obscuring the spy. Thematically, it's a little off, since the Sisters aren't really aligned with the Klingons, and Garak isn't particularly aligned with the Cardassians (though he seemed to be in this episode, more than later material indicated). Not a great composition either... a 2.8.

LORE: The lore's not at all from the same source as the picture, so it's a lot more relevant. Unfortunately, it doesn't talk much about intelligence activity, it only mentions suspicion and the NEED for intelligence operations. A lukewarm 2.9.

TREK SENSE: Yawn. Am I getting sick of repeating myself with these? You bet I am! But since I live to serve, here we go: Espionage cards all make the same mistake of equating espionage with mission theft. Allowing an affiliation to complete a mission instead of your opponent doesn't always make sense (and certainly isn't spying). Oh, the various investigations and studies are ok (as they are conducted in enemy territory), but many of the others aren't. Cases in point, Brute Force and Krios Suppression strictly helps the Klingons. In the weird file, there's Bat'leth Tournament (doable with the right equipment). See what I mean? Of course, the Cardassians have one saving grace: they're incredibly manipulative. Many suppressing those Kriosians will get them something. In any case, most Klingon missions fall in the "anyone could be interested" category anyway, probably on account of sharing a lot of them with the Feds and Rommies. That saves the card a little, but unfortunately no extra doodads regarding the Obsidian Order or anyhting like that to help it further. Hits a 2.5.

STOCKABILITY: The Klingons are a relatively good affiliation to spy on given their high number of missions (they're one of the original affiliations) and fair closeness in stats and skills to the Cardassians (Cardies are a good compromise between the sneaky Romulans and strong Klingons). Self-seeding the missions yourself, you can always tighten up skill redundancy in your deck, opting for either Treachery or Honor in most cases. Hoping to steal an opponent's missions is dangerous though. A lot of Klingon missions are still Klingon-only, so you have to cross your fingers that your opponent will actually use the Empire. There's also a couple of Klingon missions with practically unstealable missions like A Good Day to Live or Bat'leth Tournament (possible, but really, only if you self-seed). Cardassian Espionage should always be accompanied by the Plans of the Obsidian Order objective. That way, you can include copies of every possible Espionage card, and in the advent you can't use one, you can recycle it. It also allows the cards to be more easily played, and the Obsidian Order personnel are usually good personnel. You don't have to force them in a deck. Good enough at 3.6.

TOTAL: 11.8 (59%) Probably the lowest score you'll find on a Garak card.

PICTURE: The Romulan in stark darkness is appropriate to the concept, but there's little here to really interest the viewer. You can't tell what's really happening, and some of the shapes, though dim, are a little distracting. About average at 3.1.

LORE: I loved this simple enough lore on Espionage - Romulan on Federation, and the reprise is funnier still! It's also a nice link to the other lore since the Bajorans are the *other* good guys. Still as simple and zen as it ever was, and still worth a perfect 5.

TREK SENSE: Another rerun, unfortunately, but what can I tell you? Mission theft still isn't equivalent to espionage in my book. The Romulans doing the Bajorans' missions still makes no sense a lot of the time. For example, what would the Rommies have to gain by Relocating Settlers at Jeraddo? Changeling Research (and other Studies and Investigations), I can see, but how could they do Refuse Immigration? Sometimes, it just don't work! No special extras to change my mind, so still a plain 2.

STOCKABILITY: The Romulans may have less missions than the other 2 original affiliations, but they still have more than the new guys, including the Bajorans. Of course, the Bajorans have a tendency to share their missions more with the Cardassians and Federation than the green team, so if you want to steal their missions, you'll most likely need an Espionage card. There are also a couple of cool ones like Search for Weapons which the Romulans might want to seed for themselves, thereby evading Fair Play, for the hand weapon seeds. And in general, the requirements aren't very hard. They often require more personnel (lots of classifications over skills) for the same point values, but they're not very hard to find. And when there's a Bajoran-centric requirement (like Vedek), there's usually another way to solve the mission included. Add Plans of the Tal Shiar and a few good Tal Shiar personnel (they certainly exist), and you have a way to recycle unusable Espionage cards if your opponent doesn't care to use the affiliation you thought she would. I'd say about a 3.6 when you throw that in.

TOTAL: 13.7 (68.5%) With the difficulties facing Espionage cards under my system, it was lucky it had good Lore.

PICTURE: Though the composition looks a little busy, there's a lot to like here. First, though the Romulan isn't spying on any Cardassians - he's on Deep Space 9 - it can look that way because it's still a Nor, and that's Cardassian. Next, the cross-hatched shadows match those of the Romulan uniform, having him play the chameleon. And last, though this takes away from the covert nature of the card, I like the big X on the door that spotlights the Rommie spy. In fact, how busy the composition is simply helps hide him. A cool 3.8.

LORE: Well... the lore makes the best out of a difficult situation, mainly that there are few examples of Romulans spying on Cardassians. The pic and lore go hand in hand in telling us that it of course happens, but it's gone "undetected". Good stuff. Bad stuff? Sure: the term "infiltration" means something else in the game and is a little jarring here. A 3.4.

TREK SENSE: Bear with me, this is the last Espionage card, at least for a while. So again, I'll repeat my objections to equating espionage with mission theft, and though Investigations and Studies could be usurped by another affiliation, many missions just don't make sense using the original requirements. For example, Security Briefing, while a prime Espionage location, shouldn't be spied on using the Diplomacy requirements. Other missions don't make sense such as Intercept Maquis or Protect Shipment. I will give the Romulans a slight score hike because there are a lot of Cardie missions that would seem to crossover with their interests, but without any extras (like free plays, etc.), it'll remain slight. A 2.2.

STOCKABILITY: Well, the Romulans probably have the least missions of the original three affiliations, but do they really need to steal from others? It all depends. There's a nice crossover between Romulan and Cardassian missions, including Treachery requirements, that may fit in well with your green team. Of course, this also means that there are a lot of missions that can already be attempted by both the Cardassians and Romulans, lessening the usefulness of this card. No problem though, with Plans of the Tal Shiar, you can better manage your Espionage cards, inlcuding discarding them for better cards if you simply misgauged your opponent. Bonus: if your opponent is playing Bajorans rather than Cardassians, you can go after her homeworld easily (Treachery x4? Done). Which doesn't mean you can't use self-seeded Cardassian missions for good effect. For example, Espionage opens up the useful (and easy) Search for Weapons to your Rommies. I'd have to call this one a 3.8.

TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) There. You won't have to listen to my Espionage speeches for a while (and Treaties are a long way off).

PICTURE: A pic we've seen a great many times on DS9, it's a classic combination of Federation runabout and Cardassian docking pads. Appropriate to the concept, but perhaps not as appropriate as a runabout landing on a planet. After all, small ships already dock at stations and outposts. Composition shows off some great linework. It almost has to if the creators intended it to be used regularly on the show. A 3.6.

LORE: Well, I think the lore may be overstating it. Sure, a lot of people are picky about procedures, most notably Federation personnel, but there are those who subscribe to Kira's "seat of the pants" methods. Ok, but by no means perfect. Low average at 2.9.

TREK SENSE: Why should there be cards for things that seem implicit to a ship's function? It's the same question we could be asking about Engage Shuttle Operations. Ships take off and land, it's just a fact. And just like we don't need cards to make ships fly from one place to another, or to fire weapons, or beam personnel, we really shouldn't need any to land. But since not all ships in Star Trek land, that was never built into the rules. So, does this fix Trek Sense rather than stab at it? It states that ships without staffing requirements are small enough to fly in an atmosphere unharmed and land. It takes a little Range to do so, of course (just 1), and though "1" can represent interstellar distances, and planet-to-orbit can't possibly match it, the time spent could be the same. It's a matter of impulse versus warp drives. But are all staffless ships really landers? Shuttles, runabouts, bajoran raiders and scouts, yes. Some of those were even mentioned on other cards as landers. Interceptors look a lot like Raiders, though there's no conclusive evidence, which only leaves the Zibalian Transport as the least landable scow in the game. That one, I don't think would fly (I mean, land). The Captain's Order part makes sense given the wording of the title, though a runabout "captain" could be just an ensign really. I may find its existence silly, but given that it is required, it gets as high as a 3.8.

STOCKABILITY: Landing small ships? We already have Engage Shuttle Operations for that no? Well, yes and no. Establish Landing Protocols allows a lot more ships (ships with better attributes) to land. It's seedable, so you can start off with it. It takes only 1 RANGE to land or take off as opposed to a ship's entire RANGE. It can be downloaded in more ways than ESO.  So has it replaced ESO entirely? Not quite. It still won't allow you to carry small craft aboard your ships. So there. ELP (long titles don't agree with me, sorry) is the better landing card though, not wasting your entire RANGE, and allowing some much better ships (some with matching commanders even) to land, whether it's to protect your Neutral Zone interests or to solve the Planet mission or even hide from passing armadas. What's more, there are three cards that download it, saving you a seed slot. One if Docking Pads which itself can be seeded for free as one of your six sites. Your staffless ships report there, so you might as well use them fully. The second way is Ready Room Door which can also protect it by virtue of its being a Captain's Order. The third way is to get it when you suddenly need it, upon playing Hidden Fighter. And this is a big deal actually: the card may be better at allowing ships to TAKE OFF than to land. After all, what's a hidden fighter good for if it can't leave the planet? You practically need this card if you're to pull off such stunts as suddenly giving ships to stranded personnel, build interceptor armadas in a jiffy, etc. The Dominion won't have much of a need for it, and some affiliations won't feel the need given their few staffless ships, but it's good for the Federation, and great for the Bajorans. Utilitarian, but that's what makes it stockable. A 3.8.

TOTAL: 14.1 (70.1%) A staple in a few decks.

PICTURE: I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the "cosmic rain" obscuring the planet. On the one hand, it really sets this mission apart from its planet brethren; on the other, the shapes and colors aren't especially attractive. A 3.1, I guess.

LORE: All the elements are there, no problem, and the lore makes the mission a nebula, which has some game purposes. A good 3.3.

TREK SENSE: Before going into the game text, I'd like to discuss deeper issues for a second. First off, there already WAS a Cardassian station at Amleth Prime when the planet was mentioned. This mission apparently occurs before the events from "Return to Grace". The real question is, why can't you make use of the station once it's built? No reporting, no Nor download, no nothing. That's too bad. Now, on to the game text. If all an Outpost requires to be built is a simple Engineer, a station requires additional Science, Security and Cunning. Why is that? Well, the location of the station would seem to require scientific expertise (that emission nebula). The Cunning is probably derived from the same source. Security might be a Cardassian conceit (they are rather obsessed with it), but again, outposts don't require it. Maybe because it's a remote station, and thus more covert? Maybe "establishing" a facility is different from "building" one, in that the area has to be checked out beforehand. Of course, you do realize a Cardassian Outpost can be seeded here, right? Kinda ridiculous. The special ability corresponds to that seen in the show. Ships can't maintain their cloaks here. As a remote facility, the 5 Span is appropriate, but perhaps a little overstated. The points look fine. Not very focused - a 3.4.

SEEDABILITY: A big plus is that all this mission requires is classifications and attributes, incredibly more common than specific skills. A single personnel with the right piece of equipment could fulfill all but the CUNNING requirement. The points are decent for it too (which isn't always the case for the DS9 missions). Another plus is that there's only one attemptability icon on the card making it harder to steal. And then there's the no-cloak function, which makes this location a nice place to set your armada on your Klingon or Romulan opponent's ships. They can't hide here. Of course, you have to lead them here, or Hail them as they pass by, which isn't possible if using Engage Cloak. It's no more easy or difficult than most other decloak cards (LaForge Maneuver and Tachyon Detection Grid, for example). By putting RANGE inhibitors on the cloaked ship, or another large Span mission adjacent to this one, you can increase the odds of a ship stopping here as well. The mission is also a nebula, so those filthy Federation navigators can get back much quicker or stop space battles here, but it also means Isabella can blow up ships at the location. It's especially important to mention it because Establish Station is a planet, helping balance a nebula deck heavy on space missions. A simple enough mission with some positive traits, though not especially useful depending on your strategy. A 3.6.

TOTAL: 13.4 (67%) A lot of little details help this one along.

PICTURE: That's a very clear shot of a ship we don't already have on file (i.e. made into a ship card), with a cool shield effect on which the tractor beam has locked. Simplicity of color and an interesting balance of darks and lights give this one an odd murky feel, but I like it. A 3.6.

LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)

TREK SENSE: Shhh, don't tell 'em we wanna grab 'em with our tractor beam. I suppose that's the rationale for the Hidden Agenda icon, but the fact of the matter is, Hidden Agendas should be planned, whereas Establish Tractor Lock (ok, ETL from now on) seems more of a reaction to other actions. It, of course, plays on a Nor or ship with Tractor Beam, goes to reason, though the game text should more properly say "plays on table until placed..." if it really wants to be a Hidden Agenda. On a Nor, you'll further need a personnel at Ops to flip the switch. The ship has to be staffed too, for the same reason, though it appears ship Tractor Beams are tougher to operate - the Enterprise for example, requires 1 Command and 2 Staff to flip that same switch. Yeah, that's a problem. Once the Beam is on an opposing ship, that ship can't move, obviously, and it can't fight. I'm a little surprised that it couldn't fire weapons if only to disable to beam emitter as has been done on the show before. Maybe the proximity makes battling dangerous? Well, that never stopped the Klingons or the Jem'Hadar. Since the ship is presumably fighting the beam with its engines, I'm not concerned that you can't tow the ship with this card. That's fine. You can turn the beam off at any time, of course, but it may be forcibly discarded if any of the following are true: your ship/Nor moves (you would have to break the Lock because of those dueling engines), your ship/Nor battles (you mean, you can't use weapons on one side of the Nor while you tractor a ship in the other? Bah.), your Shields are less than the target ship's Range (somehow equating Tractor Beam strength with Shields... where did this come from?). It's a natural function for Tractor Beams, but ETL only gets a 2.9 here.

STOCKABILITY: A fair way to make your opponent waste time, ETL restrains a ship and keeps its crew from battling, moving, going out and solving missions, etc. Flying your ship to an opposing ship with a ton of personnel (like, all of them, don't you hate Mega-Away Teams?) and flipping over this Hidden Agenda may cause huge problems for your opponent. You're even allowed to make your crew jump ship, leaving the ship empty but still tractor-active. Recommended ships are those that have high SHIELDS, since you don't want your opponent to break free. And that may be a problem for this strategy since Mega-Away Teams are designed for solving plenty of missions. High RANGE ships are too. In combination with dilemmas, this objective may take on a more sinister appearance. Combo a RANGE-reducer with, say, REM Fatigue Hallucinations, decloak your ship and slap on the ETL, and watch your opponent panic when he can't get the ship back to his outpost. You may want to seal the deal with Mission Debriefing, which is great against Mega-Away Teams too (to make sure he doesn't escape on the same turn). At a Nor, there's not as much call for the card, but you cuold decide to punish an intruder's vessel trying to leave your facility, and I'm pretty sure the ship's RANGE won't exceed your SHIELDS. A slow-down card with some strength, but seeing as it's not effective against every strategy (armadas will make short work of your Tractor ship, for example), and that multiple ETLs on the same ship/Nor can't simultaneously target multiple ships, it's pretty limited. a 3.3.

TOTAL: 13.07 (65.33%) Who can tell all those tractor cards apart anyway?

PICTURE: The Bajoran Wormhole effect got very high points on that card, and it's much the same here, but the size restricts the score. The small Defiant going into it is a routine shot on DS9, and appropriate to this concept. Pretty straightforward, but nice colors and composition. A 3.6.

LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)

TREK SENSE: Like many objectives, it's seeded or played on table, which is fine, and later placed on a ship. Ok, I see this as the order coming down from Starfleet (or whoever) that the Gamma Quadrant must be Explored. Later, when a ship is in a position to go through the Wormhole, the Admirals can decide that THAT is the ship that will do the exploring. Requiring the ship to be docked at a facility indicates that it was getting supplies for the trip. Slight problem?: for Exploration to count, you have to solve a mission in the Gamma Quadrant, except they're not all explorations and studies, yet they seem to be missions that you could do as part, or because of, your exploration mission. Ok, that passes the test. Then, you have to come back to relay what you've found, but to the same facility. I'm not sure why a similarly-aligned facility couldn't debrief you just the same. As a reward, you get points (5) and resources (3 cards). The points, I understand, because a goal has been accomplished. The resources, well, they may be things you've brought back, extra resources allocated to the effort (though they should have come BEFORE not AFTER)... it's a little hard to explain. Finally, the "discard objective" phrase is a little wrong too: how can that kind of wide exploration ever be over? Before I end this paragraph, let me also question some of the ramifications of Explore Gamma Quadrant, like the fact that some ships are woefully unequipped to go on such an exploration mission, yet its affiliation still considers it viable; or that the Dominion, if they have a facility and ships in the Alpha Quadrant, can also explore their own turf and get points and cards from it - iffy, though they don't have a lot of GQ missions (and Rescue Founder really isn't exploration based). A 2.8.

STOCKABILITY: Using a Gamma Quadrant and a Bajoran Wormhole? You're probably going to include this objective to monopolize on it. After all, if you're going to go into the GQ, solve a mission, and come back to pick up more personnel, you might as well profit from it. 5 points isn't much, but it's added to the mission points, and you also get 3 card draws which can be very helpful, especially in interrupt-heavy decks. Doubling up on bonus points associated with travel and mission solving can form the basis of a deck archetype, since you can add to this File Mission Report (if your facility's a Nor), Return Orb to Bajor (if you're using the Bajorans and put an Orb at the mission location), and, for the Dominion running between their Primary Supply Depot in the GQ and their Empok Nor in the AQ, "cargo run". These are all ways to get more points and/or more card draws. I probably wouldn't use more than one such objective, always doubling up on bonus point cards for either an early lead or quick catch-up, since there would probably be only one mission in the Gamma Quadrant I'd want to return from (if there's a second, I want to end with it and not have to come back). Not altogether that useful when you consider that it requires lots of other cards, but good if those cards are to be included anyway. A 3.5.

TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) Ready to explore the next card.

PICTURE: Generally very likeable, with a nice color scheme (thanks to the O'Brien blues and gold transporter effect). The poses are dramatic, and that's a DS9 version of Gul Evek while we wait for the personnel card version. The gold design on the left is pretty enough, but unfortunately, the way the transporter effect cuts through the frame, seems to be outside the picture, only supplying distraction. Ends up around 3.8.

LORE: The story pretty well summed up, I think, though I might not have split it into two equal sentences as done here. I know I'm nitpicking, but the rhythm just doesn't work for me. Are "false charges" mentioned to explain the Treachery element in the game text? Because those need not be part of every Extradition, especially when the Federation is using it. 3.4 from me.

TREK SENSE: Three lines to get a very specific effect, and it works like a charm. The dilemma requires opposing personnel at that location to conduct the Extradition, which is much more satisfying (if difficult) than having the dilemma do it and you suddenly getting the captives from that third party. First, you need someone to "authorize" the Extradition and that would be either a Law personnel (who issues the warrant) or a Treachery personnel (who falsifies some charges). Not only does this work, but it also allows for the two affiliation "styles" (good guys and bad guys). Is it a problem that the authorizer has to be at that location (when clearly, Makbar was nowhere near this event)? Not really, since Makbar (in the one shown example) doesn't necessarily issue the order. It was Evek who was in charge of the arrest. Of course, he doesn't have Treachery (which is why we need a full Cardassian version, so there). Then, you may beam your Security personnel aboard (no more than 4) to capture a personnel. Security *would* be in charge of this kind of operation, which doesn't explain Evek's presence aboard the Runabout - he doesn't have Security either - but let that go. The limit of 4 is somewhat arbitrary, but works as a small "police" unit that a ship might allow to walk aboard to grab their man (or woman). The personnel to be grabbed must have less Strength than the police unit, or else it couldn't be captured against its will. There's some backwards thought used here, since the personnel to be Extradited would seem to be pretty much random (among lower Strength personnel), but you could imagine that the target was predetermined, and the unit tailored to its Strength. Then, your Security may beam off with the captured personnel. Not seamless, but darn close. A 4.6.

SEEDABILITY: Requires a lot of effort for a dilemma (when most just set themselves off without any), but it's a good capture card nonetheless. Basically, you'll need to have a Law or Treachery personnel at this location, as well as SECURITY personnel (though they may all be the same personnel). So you need to follow your opponent around (well, if you remember where you seeded this, just ambush him) with the right personnel, and you need to do it from a location with transporters. In other words, while your Law/Treachery guy can be on a planet, your SECURITY must use a transporter to get aboard opponent's ship, so they have to be on a facility or ship. There are a couple of easy ways to do this. One is to seed this dilemma where you have a facility, daring your opponent to come and attempt that mission. Building your base at one of his missions may do the trick. The other is to lead with Scout Encounter, downloading a scout vessel with two universal SECURITY personnel (one of which would have Treachery or, dare to dream, Law). They don't attack, they'll be boarding opponent's ship in due time to nab a personnel. If you CAN get 4 SECURITY aboard a ship, you'll have absolutely no trouble surpassing any target personnel's STRENGTH, even if hand weapons are present. But one-man juggernauts exist in the form of Zon (who has the Treachery) and of a number of Jem'Hadar. The dilemma is even a little more flexible than it looks, not requiring you to beam to the ship attempting the mission, but any opposing ship present. Space redshirting? Well, I don't WANT your Mot the Barber! Hehehe. And then, there's Makbar. Though you'll need to really hound your opponent's personnel with a ship (or else hope to Extradite straight from Cardassia), bringing her along means you can use this dilemma to grab TWO personnel, beaming over up to EIGHT personnel. While beaming over that many personnel simply makes sure you have enough to cover opposing STRENGTH, there's not a whole lot of reason to do it. Like you really have that much SECURITY all on the same ship. Lots of balls to juggle at the same time, but a nice little card, especially to take advantage of  Scout Encounter. A 3.5.

TOTAL: 15.3 (76.5%) We need more "torture O'Brien" cards. ;-)

PICTURE: They've put Bareil's head in the dead center of the card which is good composition here as the medical staff's arms and the scanner's wires radiate from that center. The Extraordinary Methods, however, are supposed to be the operations on his brain, but here, he's only being scanned. Of course, the prop master had meant this device to be the operator, and the one used as the operator, the scanner, so Decipher fixes Paramount's snafu in a sense ;-). A card that remains unremarkable overall though. Only 3.5.

LORE: The facts that are there are all true and relatively well put, but a mention of the positronic implants might have helped explain the game text a little better, especially to people who've forgotten the details of the somewhat forgettable "Life Support". A plain 3.

TREK SENSE: The idea is for your Medical staff to take every means necessary to keep someone alive, though the person is so far gone (was supposed to die after all), that you only really get one more turn of juice for them. You of course need a competent enough medical staff, and indeed, 3 Medical describes Bashir in a nutshell. That option isn't as good as the Medical/Cybernetics one (since the positronic brain implants would seem to require Cybernetics), but helps us understand how Bashir could do what he did without that specialized skill. Not sure 3 universal Medicals could do the same of course, but that's a common anomaly. And anyway, Extraordinary Methods aren't limited to such implants; there's lots a doctor could do above and beyond the call of duty. Another common anomaly springs from cards universally applying to androids, shape-shifters, et al. The former would absolutely require Cybernetics; the latter couldn't possibly abide it. By keeping it simple, Decipher avoided a lot of Trek Sense problems. 4.6 from me.

STOCKABILITY: Well, I suppose sometimes you need a certain personnel not to die, but the extra turn it would get from this card isn't exactly the greatest life-saver in the world. Not only is it a VERY short-term solution, it requires outrageously high requirements (MEDICAL is common enough, but 3? And Cybernetics ISN'T common). The affiliation who would benefit from it the most is undoubtedly the Dominion. These guys have a variety of ways of saving their Founders, but losing a Vorta can be just as detrimental as the Ketracel-White counts down. Unfortunately, they have relatively few MEDICAL personnel, and only one Cybernetics personnel (the MEDICAL Borath), a Vorta himself. Other affiliations don't have such an imperative to protect specific personnel, and ironically, though a Bajoran is pictured on the card, it's a good thing he was fixed up by a Federation member, as I don't think the Bajorans are equipped well enough to use this card. At a maximum, Extraordinary Methods can give you just one extra turn (two with End Transmission) to solve the mission, pass the dilemma, ration White, use matching commander bonuses, whatever you needed that personnel for. Space-Time Portal can return that personnel to your hand if you use your extra turn to get aboard a ship, thereby saving ot from the discard pile at least, but there's just not enough incentive to use this card. Only a 2.3.

TOTAL: 13.4 (67%) The reverse of the usual strong card/lame Trek Sense combo.

PICTURE: A good Q-card, since his turn-of-the-century pugilist persona was always funny to me (even if the episode wasn't). Great colors and composition, with Q speaking directly to the player, and that cool purple line over the bar almost acting like a ring's ropes. That, plus the colors of that line match his tank-top. A very good effort at 4.2.

LORE: The theme of Q speaking directly to us is continued in the lore, with lines clearly taunting us. Cool title too. A 3.6.

TREK SENSE: Highly conceptual, I'm afraid. The idea is to taunt your opponent into initiating a personnel battle somewhere, just like Q is doing here. And that works, with the other nullifyer, Oof!, being a great thematic foil for the card (related images AND concepts). But the way you do the taunting is purely arbitrary: taking away skills is irritating to be sure, but unsupported in the episode. Particularly jarring is the fact that Q apparently does this to ALL your personnel, no matter where they are. Now his annoying Sisko might have resulted in Ben "forgetting" a couple skills, but Q didn't have such a wide-ranging effect. Saving grace: à la Q, only "important" personnel are bothered with, that is, those that have enough skills to be considered mains. The countdown icon isn't a bad thing here, since Q usually gets bored when people don't react to him and his shennanigans. Some interesting stuff, but the main ability is out there. A 2.6.

STOCKABILITY: Q-Dilemmas are the better Q-cards because they can be seeded directly into a combo thanks to Beware of Q. Regardless, this is one of the most potent Q-cards available. Sure, it's got a time limit, but killing the 2 first-listed skills? That's pretty strong. Oof! is always a problem (especially since it downloads with Q the Referee), but not that much is you arrange multiple Q-Flashes that would include this card. A personnel battle can always be avoided if you keep your personnel at arm's length for three turns. And hey, the Federation and Borg won't easily initiate battle, so they'll be stuck with the skill loss. Mission specialists and support personnel will be fine, but that's practically it. Multi-skilled personnel will be hit where it hurts, where Decipher usually places extra classifications and all-important skills like Diplomacy or Navigation (check, you'll see). Three-skill personnel will be hit very hard indeed! You may also use the card like Q wanted you to: to force personnel battle. In competing fast-deck strategies, every turn counts, and your personnel have to be at their sharpest to do what must be done. But Fightin' Words may just force you to initiate battle to free everyone up. At the seeder of the dilemma, dangle a super-powerful Away Team in front of your opponent's forces, and they may just send a lamb to the slaughter, or really trap a whole Away Team with a sudden weapons download (plenty of personnel can help you there now). Offering difficult choices (lose skills or battle?) is always great torture, but let's not forget this'll really derail mission attempts. Can you get through the dilemmas that follow with so few skills? I didn't think so. Exactly 4.

TOTAL: 14.4 (72%) Fought well.

PICTURE: While the picture within a picture idea is an interesting one, there are a few things going against it. First and foremost, it just doesn't reflect the reports filed throughout all Star Trek series. Those are all on PADDs that top officers get to read later. Odo's communication from Klaestron IV shown here doesn't even respect the rules of the card as set up in its game text! Next is the quality of the image itself - the bright glare in the upper right corner is quite distracting, and Decipher's often been able to clear up fine print, and I would have really liked to have been able to read more than "302" here. A 2.5.

LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)

TREK SENSE: When I read the word "Seeds", I raised a Vulcan eyebrow (starts off well, no?) - if a mission report can only be filed once a mission's completed, it scarcely makes sense for it to be in place even before the game starts. My doubts evaporated once I dug deeper. Not only could it mean the *policy* is already set up, the game text pretty much confirms this by having you always play the card before the mission to be reported on is solved. The mechanic is interesting: your personnel that have partaken in a mission attempt (and actually helped with the mission itself by providing skills or classification) can file a mission report about it and, in effect, boost that mission's points by showing off what they've learned (from their expertise's standpoint) to their superiors, mission reports being an end unto themselves in this bureaucratic world, if you will. The limits may cause trouble though. You have to file before you attempt another mission for example, so that would preclude you having two crews on different missions operating independently but simultaneously. I also don't see why a report couldn't be late, perhaps because data had to be analysed. The mission report has to be files at a site that allows this. The problem with this is: ships don't have sites and I'm sure those officers file their share of reports. Reports are often sent along to a facility via subspace, and there's no real reason why you'd have to go back specifically to a Nor to be able to use this objective. Being unopposed is standard as you can't write a decent report when the bad guys are in the room. The limit of one per mission is however suspect (though undoubtedly required for balance) since I would find no fault in having various specialists reporting on the same endeavor. Security's got an opinion, hey, so does Medical. Their reports probably won't tell me the same thing. The idea was sound at the start, but too many limits, and a DS9-centric attitude, sinks this ship. A 2.8.

STOCKABILITY: Using a Nor does stick your cards in a rather flashy spot, and that can be a disadvantage, as is commandeering and opposing personnel being able to use your facility. That's why there are so many advantages to doing so, such as personnel reports/downloads, ore processing and (wait for it) Filing Mission Reports. 5 extra points per mission may not seem like a lot, but consider that the main Nor users don't have mission specialists, and for some reason, their missions don't quite pay off as much as the "classic" affiliations' in the requirement/points ratio. Of course, with Treaties and commandeering, you can subvert all that, but let's just say it makes an okay alternative to those kinds of bonus points for Bajorans, Cardassians and Mirror universe citizens. When you add Explore Gamma Quadrant, the same mission can net you even more bonus points. It unfortunately takes more time because you have to return to the station, walk to a site and file, all the while not attempting another mission. That's a problem. It also limits you to OFFICER, MEDICAL, SCIENCE, ENGINEER and SECURITY personnel (even as a skill) so strict VIPs and CIVILIANs won't be able to file. Also watch out for missions that are solved without skills (such as by specific personnel) they won't work either. The limit of one per mission is also unfortunate and won't equal other affiliations' mission specialist points. Of course, imagine a player who had access to all modes of bonus points - he would be able to have a one-mission win too easily ;-). Mirror, Mirror actually adds some spark to the card by having Jake Sisko (a CIVILIAN who would not normally be allowed to use it) able to file at any site, which in itself isn't that great an advantage (though forget having to walk very far, you can file even at a docking site), but can also download it. I mean, the card seeds and all, but maybe you'd rather keep that seed slot for something better? Jake may be hard-pressed to actually help solve Youth and Biology missions, but since the card would download to the table, anyone of your personnel could use it. Heck, Jake doesn't even have to match that affiliation OR be on the station. Decent, if not exactly a powerhouse, so a 3.5.

TOTAL: 11.73 (58.67%) Don't you just hate it when a review comes off positive at the end, but doesn't make the grade?

PICTURE: Perhaps an odd pic considering that it "contains" two other pics, those being Retaya and Navigational Hazards (more or less), but the big difference between this and Retaya's other card is the perfume box. And since that's what he used to kill people, it makes sense it would be included here. I like his pose (I really like Retaya in general), but there may be too many dark elements in the picture. The perfume box (almost looking like an Orb) has perfume vials that look suspended in thin air. A little messy, so a 3.3.

LORE: The story's told, the Tal Shiar is mentioned, and though Retaya is too, there's enough here on Flaxian Assassins *in general* for it to work as a generic dilemma. A very competent 3.6.

TREK SENSE: There are a lot of fun elements here, but maybe not all of them work out. Let's see. First, Flaxian Assassins aren't called in for no reason, so a real juicy target is required: someone with 3 or more skill icons. You can't actually target who you want though (too bad), it's still random selection, but only among the most "important" personnel (there goes McKnight thinking she's better than the other ensigns again). The Tal Shiar connection is interesting because it exists in the "real world", but why would two people be killed just because the Tal Shiar hired him? They only kill in pairs? As long as he's there, let's get rid of Sisko too? I don't buy it, though I like the mechanic that if Tal Shiar are in play, they're automatically up to something :-). That leaves us with the requirements for passing the dilemma (note that Retaya may absurdly kill and kill again if not passed). Security is of course a natural here, doubled since these assassins are very cunning. Odo proved to be very knowledgeable of their methods when he 1) figured out it was a Flaxian and 2) figured out how to make the poison. In fact, Odo may have been TOO smart. He doesn't have Biology, yet here it is on the card! Its function is clear: recognizing the poison. But maybe Trek Sense would have been better served by giving the option of 2 SECURITY OR SECURITY and Biology. No room, I know. I like it, but can't really "recommend it": a 3.

SEEDABILITY: A killer with staying power and some somewhat steep requirements... oh, it's definitely a keeper. 2 SECURITY isn't as easy as it sounds except for the Dominion, so you only really have to weed out as much Biology as you can (just in case) to make sure it hits. MEDICAL killers/relocators are best for this since the Meds are the most Biology-inclined group of personnel. Even the aforementioned Dominion is gonna have trouble since they only have 5 Biology personnel (though only one MEDICAL), none of them SECURITY. As for the SECURITY, you might get lucky with an Angry Mob. The booty? A highly-skilled personnel (3 or more skill dots)! Any skill-based dilemmas after this one are possibly going to be murder, not to mention the mission attempt itself. This dilemma also lends itself well to your playing Romulans. Once you have Tal Shiar on the table, your opponent stands to lose two big personnel instead of one. Really recommended if playing decks centered around that particular intelligence service. And it MUST be passed to be discarded - always a plus. Too bad dilemmas with multiple SECURITY requirements are becoming more common, leading to a rise of the classification in Away Teams. Probably won't work against mission specialists strategies either. At least a 3.8 though.

TOTAL: 13.7 (68.5%) Any bets on Retaya's personal score?

PICTURE: If ever a picture needed to be electronically lightened, it would be this one. There were, in fact, clearer shots than this one in the episode, though a little more from the back. I do like the speeding stars, a rare example of a ship keeping its environment, plus it highlights a scout ship's usual speed. A 2.8 even with that.

LORE: Things like "of Flaxian registry" on a "Flaxian Vessel" tells us little in the way of new information. At least there's a matching commander named (always a plus), plus a little backstory on him (but not the ship). An even 3.

TREK SENSE: Though never actually identified as a scout ship, it seemed to be at once a personnal transport and larger than a shuttle, so the profile fits. As such, no staffing and no special equipment also works, and the Flaxians are of the Non-Aligned breed. Retaya did command the one pictured and as the only Flaxian ever seen, makes a natural matching commander. That leaves us with attributes to discuss: Scout Vessels generally have high Range compared to their other stats, and this one does. Since it never did much except speed away from the station and then promptly blow up, it's really hard to evaluate any of it. Everything makes sense given what little we know. The lack of originality is what keeps an otherwise sensible design at 3.7.

STOCKABILITY: The Flaxian Scout Vessel's primary function is to serve as a scout ship for those affiliations without access to them. Launch Portal downloads a scout and turns it into a giant shuttle ready for launch (all while suspending play), and that's a good way to escape a ship about to explode. The high RANGE can then be used to get the heck out of Dodge. Its WEAPONS and RANGE are nothing to rave about, but they compare more or less well with aligned scouts - more SHIELDS but less WEAPONS than the Bajoran scout and 2 more SHIELDS than the Romulan, for example. The Cardassians, Ferengi, Dominion and Federation really have nowhere else to turn if they want to pull such a trick. Add a Ready Room Door to the combo, and Retaya downloads aboard making the ship (with Plaque and Log) as much as 10-6-8, still not a fighter, but not too shabby. That, and Retaya isn't a bad personnel (dual-classification and useful skills). Still, being useful to that many affiliations keeps it well above water at 3.7.

TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) Not just an indistinct image.

PICTURE: Gee, it's hard to believe that the font from every MacIntosh computer ever made still exists in the future (worse still, in a Bajoran interface). Indeed, this is no holds barred the worst computer graphic ever used in modern Trek. That said, it doesn't make for a very nice-looking card image either, and you have to have seen the episode to see its connection to the title. But there are a couple of fun things here nonetheless: Ibudan had [framing] Odo on the same to-do list as Lunch at Quark's for example. Oh, and "Back up computer" is hilarious and *does* seem to come from a 20th century computer just like the font. So not a total wash, it hits 2.8.

LORE: Competently done, it explains rather well the doings of the game text. A good 3.5.

TREK SENSE: You Frame a personnel of your choice so that it gets relieved of duty. Relief from duty is rather well represented by the inability to use skills and staff ships. Well, staff ships, that's obvious, but what if a personnel wanted to use its skills by itself? I'm sorry Lieutenant, you're not allowed to play Music, that would be a conflict of interest. Indeed, Star Trek has featured plenty of stories where the accused goes out and solves the murder him- or herself. Maybe something like preventing the pooling of the accused character's skills would have been more appropriate. You'll note the personnel is still allowed to use attributes and classifications (even in pooling) and other abilities (like Ketracel rationing). Not doing too well there. The fact that the personnel must be unique is likewise unexplained. Sure, Odo is as unique as they come, but we've seen universals get Framed in the past haven't we? Simon Tarses, for example. The Frame is of course dispelled when someone solves the murder. I understand fully the Biology/high Cunning combo since forensics can absolve someone of a crime even with today's methods (and it was especially true in the episode). Are we however to regard Law as a kind of detective skill? It's never been presented that way anywhere else, just as the knowledge of laws and perhaps the authority to enforce them. Or is this a Law personnel simply getting around a legal loophole à la "The Practice" and bailing your personnel out? Possible. I'm of two minds on this one (anyone disturbed by the fact Odo can't normally be Framed?), but it does get points for originality. A 3.

SEEDABILITY: It doesn't kill a personnel, but it does render it mostly inert. I'm not too worried about staffing ships, though with Balok Framed for Murder, the Fesarius will never fly, but all the skills are right out. That leaves classification (darn), attributes (bah) and species-specific abilities. But since it's all your choice, you can definitely create some nasty combos here. Follow up with something requiring a rather rare skill, and Frame the only personnel that has it. You might want to kill special skills which are giving you a scare or a headache too. But just how easy is it to cure this puppy? Usually, it's quite difficult. There's really no universal Law personnel, and some affiliations have only one. There's the shiny new Wyatt Earp that's Non-Aligned, but that's hardly a comfort. Biology and CUNNING>9? Use this dilemma a few times, and you might start to see your opponent start stocking PADDs. There's Julian Bashir of course, and his Founder cousin, plus Beverly and Will, Jake and Nog, Ira Graves with a little help from his assistant and Lal if you really wanted her to have Biology. That's not a lot I'm afraid. So an almost fool-proof way of setting up other dilemmas like Orion Syndicate Bomb or Drumhead. A fine 4.1.

TOTAL: 13.4 (67%) That's all my investigation turned up.

PICTURE: I think the Galors look reasonably nice on the cards (excepting the Aldara) considering how bad they look on the show (the different "stories" aren't smoothly aligned for one thing). Harsh light illuminates the universal Galor, but it still looks very good. The angle deemphasizes the ship's bulky traits (which appear in profile), and makes it look more like a strange fish. The navigation lights on it are bright and colorful. A good 3.6.

LORE: Simple and to the point, I especially like the Galor being called the backbone of the Cardassian fleet given the general shape of the ship - like a fish head trailing its backbone behind it. A competent 3.4.

TREK SENSE: Galor-class ships have generally been characterized as older workhorses of the Cardassian fleet, and as such should lack some of the newer technologies like Holodecks or higher-end attributes. Two staffing icons is also a good choice for these. It's big enough to still warrant a Tractor Beam of course. No real issues with the attributes, and the matching commander for the ship being Non-Aligned is more a problem for THAT card than this one. Not very original, and in fact, I remember being sort of disappointed: a 3.

STOCKABILITY: Pretty basic as far as ships go, the Cardassians get a vessel easier to staff than the biggies, but not as easy as the made-for-armadas K'Vorts and Attack Ships. Considering that the Naprem has the same exact attributes, you have to wonder who the slackers are aboard the Galor. The total lack of anything but your basic Tractor Beam isn't very inspiring either. At least the ship has a matching commander, in the form of the Non-Aligned Ocett (who will always need an aligned personnel to staff the ship). That's a universal ship at 10-10-10 (Plaqued and Logged), but only one such copy since Ocett ISN'T universal herself. The prospect of a Galor armada isn't an impossible one, note, since it's easy to put leaders aboard them (Guls usually have the necessary skills and report for free to Central Command). Good speed, but no special help from Tactics (for the Galor specifically that is). More viable than a Romulan armada I suppose. It's probably the best choice to Spacedoor too, given that other Cardassian universals are either weak or tougher to staff. With the low staffing there's also no problem reporting it to a Nor. Functional enough, but if using fewer vessels, I probably wouldn't use more than the original Spacedoored universal type. The unique Galors are all tougher and have better matching commanders overall. A 3.3.

TOTAL: 13.3 (66.5%) Mostly average.

PICTURE: Though I can appreciate the unity of color and texture inherent in the pic, the composition is quite awkward. Garak's position lessens considerably the impact of his supposedly deranged expression. Is he falling over backwards or what? A poor 2.6.

LORE: An original title - funny even - but a little specific for a dilemma (sounds like you're facing Garak rather than one of your own personnel). The lore itself does this too, but with a little more panache, such as the mention of "fun". And of course, it doesn't fail to mention Empok Nor which makes it seedable at the staton. A slightly awkward 3.2.

TREK SENSE: On the show, the psychosis-inducing pheromones were keyed specifically to Cardassians, here, they will work on any species. Well, no, strike that, they will work on one random individual, regardless of species. One random personnel, the only one of its species, now that would have been somewhat believable. But that one Vulcan, say, is affected, but not the other Vulcans with it? Now, while that personnel becomes confused, or perhaps because it opened the box with all the pheromones in it and took them all in (sparing others), that personnel is stopped, while the others obliviously continue their mission attempt. The target personnel becomes a killer and starts picking off personnel that aren't as Cunning as it is. Rationale: it tries to kill everybody, but only personnel dumber than the psycho fall for the guerilla tactics used (more or less infiltrating the gang so that they don't even know one of their own is stalking them). Here, the opponent's choice is what hurts, because it's like saying the pheromones actually give you orders (target priority, etc.). Seemed pretty random on the show if you ask me. The cure is 2 Exobiology, which makes some measure of sense, though Biology would work just as well. All depends if the target personnel is of your Medicals' species or not. Is it disturbing that the target personnel can contribute to the cure? Not that much, since Garak did realize something wasn't right, and the cure could be be manufactured at gunpoint ;-). A lot of stuff wrong with it, at least it can seed where it was actually encountered: on Empok Nor. A 2.5, mostly because it's original.

SEEDABILITY: The dilemma will certainly see some action on Empok Nor, since it's one of a handful that can be placed there to protect the station from commandeering, but it's not that bad at missions either. Just make sure you weed out the Exobiology somewhere in the combo, because the cure will take effect before a second death can take place. But first things first: At the onset, it's a simple random filter, not that interesting, but you might be lucky enough to turn Picard into a psycho killer (whip out those Parallax Arguers!). The mission continues, but eventually a wall is hit (hopefully after Exobiology has been weeded out). As I understand it, the stopped personnel isn't part of the Away Team or crew so cannot be "present" with any Exobiology just yet. At the start of your opponent's turn, the killer will strike (provided 2 Exo are not present), but by then, and I've seen this happen many times, the decision will have been made to ditch the offending personnel until the cure can be brought to it. It's still under your opponent's control, so beaming it down to the nearest planet isn't out of the question, or even leaving it on a ship. Of course, you could get decidedly badlucky and randomly target a Targ or something, rendering the dilemma useless. Any dumb personnel makes a very bad target. That's one limit to the card. The other is minor, but may come into play on Empok Nor: once it's killed every member of its own group, you'll have to start choosing some of your own personnel present (CUNNING allowing) to die. Not something you always have to worry about on mission attempts, but since a couple of Empok Nor dilemmas actually download you personnel (and not necessarily the smartest in the deck) to the same location, you're more at risk. Which brings up an interesting strategy: Self-seeding this dilemma, encountering it alone with a brainiac of some sort on a shuttle, gives it a once per turn Leck-like ability to kill without initiating battle. Against the restricted Borg or Federation, that means your Ira Graves (just an example, and one with puny STRENGTH to boot) can kill opposing personnel with impunity (opponent's choice, but hey, try to get into the same room with the Queen and see them scramble), and never be counterattacked. This also means that that ditched target personnel from earlier can do the same to you, so beware. A lot of possibilities in this one (including one death of your choice), but a lot of risk too - somewhere around a 3.9.

TOTAL: 12.2 (61%) You have an issue with THAT?

PICTURE: Garak used to be in this shot of his Shop, though I'm not entirely sure how these pics are obtained - CGI or establishing footage not used in the show - but all the accoutrements are there, dresses, suits, etc. It's just not a very attractive image. The colors are dull quite frankly, the fashions uninteresting, and that gold ball (the head of a manequin) looks completely divorced from its function, just floating there. As low as a 1.9 despite the effort that probably went into it.

LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)

TREK SENSE: Garak's Tailor Shop - location: Promenade, on either DS9 or Terok Nor... Waitamminit! Garak is an exile from Cardassia! There's no way he would have a Shop on a Cardassian station. Ah, you say, but he's fully Cardassian in the cards. True enough (less points for those), but I'd suspect that if he were not an exile, he wouldn't be a tailor either. The point is relatively moot anyway when you consider that unlike Quark's Bar, there never was a Garak's on Terok Nor, EVEN during the Dominion control of the station. Garak reports for free here, quite naturally, except it must be a version of his persona with Obsidian Order, which unfortunately excludes the most tailorish of them: Plain, Simple Garak. Ouch. And the fact that Obsidian Order personnel report here? Well, how many times has this been done in the series? How about absolutely none? Garak is NOT on good terms with the Order so he's never been paid a visit by any old friends, but he's also well protected because no enemies have come calling either. On Terok Nor, where Obsidian Order personnel would more likely be welcome (a relative term), they wouldn't stand around in a Tailor Shop, they'd probably be up in Ops or at the Security Office. I'm only up to the first line of game text, how bad is this? Now, the spying function is intersting, but it won't stand up either. The idea is that an Obsidian Order personnel who also has Treachery (practically the spying skill before any of these intelligence skills came up, except why need both when the first makes the character a spy pretty much - moot point really since they ALL have Treachery anyway) can peek at future plans (the top of the draw deck). But he or she does it from the Tailor Shop? Ok, nice cover, I suppose. My problem isn't really with doing so from your opponent's Nor, it's doing so from your own. How could an Enabran Tain on your very own Terok Nor have any better clue of what his Romulan opponent may be doing? Absurd. Now, if you aren't in control of the station and have O.O. there (a clause which should definitely have applied to the other function), you can somehow report Cardassian personnel and equipment aboard through... what? A tunnel at the back of the Shop, over there behind the sowing machine? I'm not discounting Garak's ability to pull almost anything off, but this is a little far-fetched even for the realm of conceptualism, isn't it? I mean, sure, Garak's had some Cardassian Disruptors and PADDs with him at times, but personnel? Barely slides by on a 1.

SEEDABILITY: On the one hand, it's the Cardassian equivalent of the Continuing Committee (sorta); on the other, it's your insurance against getting your Terok Nor stolen by an opponent seeding Deep Space 9 first. Either way, if you're playing with Cardies, it's a good idea. If you control the station, it's somewhere to report your Obsidian Order personnel regardless of classification, and you can even download them from Ops specifically. They can either run to the docking ring to staff those cloakable Keldon Advanced ships (unfortunate that they can't report to the station) or across the Promenade to the Holding Cells to Interrogate, Torture or Brainwash any captives (what they do best, eh?). We also know how useful they can be with Plans of the Obsidian Order, and they can help solve Alter Records, right where the station is, at Bajor. Leaving one such personnel at the Shop will also give you an almost Orb-like prescience in knowing what card your opponent has on top of his draw deck. This is useful just for the information, but with other cards such as Subspace Schism or Telepathic Alien Kidnappers, it's really evil. If you DON'T control the station, the Shop is even better. I.e. it'll give you a good chance of taking it back. Reporting a Computer Skilled Obsidian Order operative early in the game (as in, the Tent) can mean early commandeering of DS9 (that's two versions of Elim Garak - either of which reports for free even - and Enabran Tain). If you can stall for time, or if you don't manage to send your guy up to Ops before someone else gets there, you can use the personnel to smuggle personnel and weapons aboard (yeah, never mind the PADDs) the station and go take it by force. Those Computer Skill personnel can also get access to docking sites and allow incoming ships to dock. With hand weapons present, you might even get that Garak to throw a few people out an Airlock, or better yet, smuggle in another Treachery/Computer Skill personnel who can (Dukat seems strongest, but perhaps Security Chief Garak has the most potential). You can STILL peek at your opponent's draw deck in this mode, so that's not lost either. You should have your forces aboard and in control in no time anyway. A strong 4.5.

TOTAL: 9.87 (49.33%) Live on seedability alone? Can't be done, I tell ya.

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