Deep Space Nine · Season 2, Episode 25
“Tribunal” · Season 2, Episode 25
In this episode: Miles O'Brien (4), Kovat (3), Odo (2)
Didn't you bring the holocam?
Was I supposed to?
You said you were going to.
Did I?
Last night, when we were going over the list in bed.
Not me. I was dead as soon as my head hit the pillow.
You talked to me for a half hour.
No, there must have been someone else in bed with us.
I've been told that I've already been charged, indicted, convicted, and sentenced. What would I need with a lawyer?
Ah, Mister O'Brien, if it seems immodest of me, I apologize, but the role of Public Conservator is key to the productive functioning of our courts. I'm here to help you concede the wisdom of the state, to prepare you to accept the inevitable with equanimity. There is an old Cardassian expression: “Confession is good for the soul.” But it's also good for the populace to see people like you confess. It makes them feel better about themselves. It makes their lives more bearable.
So that's what this is all about? Make the people of Cardassia feel better, huh?
No, no, no, but that's not a bad side effect.
Have you ever won a case?
Winning isn't everything.
You don't know me very well, Constable, but I've been in service to the Federation—Starfleet—all my adult life. No one has ever questioned my loyalty. No one in my entire life has ever had cause to ask, “Miles O'Brien, are you a criminal?” I took an oath to defend the Federation and what it stands for. I don't steal from them. I don't lie to them. I'm no angel, but I try to live every day as the best human being I know how to be. I need my little girl to wake up in the morning and look up at me and see a man she can respect. Until now, she always could.
Being accused of a crime is not a disgrace, Chief. Some of the great figures of history have shared the honor with you.
I didn't figure on dying a martyr.
Not all of them were martyrs; not all of them died. Some of them were just innocent men, like you.
What? What happened?
You won.
I won?... They'll kill me.
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