Constable Odo sidled into Quark's Bar. Quark was at the counter, performing an inventory. When Odo took a seat near Quark, Quark took no notice.

"Hello, Quark."

Quark did not look up. He recognized the voice. "Constable." Quark continued with his inventory.

"How's business?"

Without stopping his inventory, Quark waved a finger at the crowds in the establishment. "You can see for yourself: things are returning to normal."

Odo glanced at the customers, then returned to face Quark. "I trust the station evacuation did not hurt your income too much."

"Oh, the loss of business was unpleasant, but I'll bounce back. Nearly all of my old customers have been in, at least once, since returning to the station. Thank you for your concern."

"Mm-hmm. Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Did you ever get paid?"

"Paid for what?"

"For the probe? The probe you planned to steal from the USS Observer?"

Quark exhaled, stopped his inventory, and faced Odo.

"Somebody's been telling you tall tales. And you, it would seem, have been falling for them."

"You deny planning to steal a probe?"

"Where did you ever hear such a thing?"

"Come now, Quark," Odo spoke as if to a child. "After Commander Sisko ordered the station to be placed under quarantine, a ship requested permission to dock. The captain of that ship said he wanted to see you."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Permission to dock was refused, and the ship went on its way. It was a cargo ship. Commander Sisko and the Starfleet officers didn't recognize the ship, or its captain. But I did."

"I still don't know what you're talking about."

"The captain goes by many names, but I know him as a big player in the black market in this corner of the galaxy. His ship is known for smuggling all sorts of contraband and stolen items."

"Do tell."

"And he came here. And he wanted to see you."

"Perhaps he just wanted some refreshment."

Odo chortled. "Or perhaps he wanted something else, something he thought you might be able to procure for him. Something for which he would pay a very respectable price."

"You mean, one of the probes from the Observer."

Odo grinned. "And I suspect that he would make you an impressive offer, if you'd obtain one for him. And knowing you as I do, I thought you might insist upon some sort of advance, a non-refundable advance, of course. And so I wonder, did you ever get paid?"

Quark stared at Odo. "Sometimes I can't tell when you're serious and when you're not."

"Oh, I'm serious, all right. You certainly must admit that one of those probes would have some value, some extraordinary value, to one or more of the captain's interested clients."

Quark turned dead serious. "No, I don't admit that. Those probes self-destructed before the Observer even got here. They were worthless! Odo, I wouldn't have even stayed on Deep Space Nine if I thought those any of those probes might be functional!"

"Not even if the price was right? What did he offer you, Quark?"

"Nothing!"

"How much for one probe? How much for two? How much for each additional probe?"

"Nothing! No one offered me anything!"

Odo nodded. "A known dealer in the black market comes to Deep Space Nine, where there is a ship holding some Upsilon Radiation-based probes. Functional or not, such probes would fetch a considerable profit on the black market. There are plenty of people out there who want to try to dissect the probe and see whether they can figure out how it worked."

"I've heard that can't be done!"

"And I've heard that there are quite a few individuals who would like to give it a try, all the same."

Quark said nothing.

Odo grinned: "So, this known dealer in the black market expresses a desire to make contact with you. And you're trying to get me to believe that all he wanted was some refreshment?"

"I'm telling you, Odo, I had no bargain, with anyone, for anything. Certainly not for a non-functional Upsilon probe. I did not communicate with that ship, at all, about anything."

"Really?" Odo feigned surprise. "What a strange thing to say, since you were the one that initiated the contact with that ship in the first place."

Quark stayed silent.

Odo continued. "Less than thirty minutes after the Observer emergency began, you issued a communication to an unspecified recipient in that sector. You requested a shipment of Ryjennah, that Andorian wine."

"What's so sinister about that? I had been planning to order some new Ryjennah for days now. And my supply sources indicated a supplier was in that sector."

"Three things are very sinister about that," Odo crooned. "For one thing, the only possible supplier in that sector was that black marketer who came here."

"You're mistaken."

"The second sinister thing is that the station was being evacuated. The number of people who can afford Ryjennah is small enough, but with the station evacuated, there would be no virtually no demand for Ryjennah, and therefore, no need to re-stock Ryjennah."

"Odo, you have obviously never run a business. When I am low on a commodity, I order more, even if there is no immediate demand."

"And what about the fifty liters of Ryjennah you already have in storage?" Odo smiled insincerely. "You see, that's the third sinister thing. You didn't need to re-stock any Ryjennah. You already have enough for the next six months, at least."

"Odo, Odo," Quark shook his head. "You don't understand."

"Don't I? That requisition you sent for Ryjennah was just a ruse. It was code for, 'Come here, I think I can get you something you really might want.'"

"No, it was code for, 'I need some more Ryjennah!'"

"You need more, with fifty liters in storage?" Odo scoffed.

Quark started to show some irritation. "Those fifty liters, Odo, are contaminated, and that's why they are in storage! If you knew anything at all about running a bar, you'd know that Ryjennah cannot be replicated, not with good quality, anyway. And you'd also know that a recent batch of Ryjennah was flagged as contaminated. Those fifty liters in storage are all from that batch! I was going to destroy them myself, eventually; I could not serve any of that Ryjennah to customers! All I have is what's here, under my counter, and that's it. And if I wanted more Ryjennah, my only choice was to put in an order for more!" Quark looked Odo in the eye.

Eventually Odo looked away.

"Tell me this, then," Odo said, returning to looking Quark in the eye. "How did you plan to do it?"

"Do what?"

"Get aboard Observer, steal a probe, and get back, all without being caught? Well, let me take that one point at a time. How did you plan to get aboard Observer?"

"I didn't!"

"That's all right, you don't need to answer that; I already know how you planned to get aboard. But how did you plan to get a probe from the ship's Locker?"

"Wait a minute! I couldn't get over to Observer, even if I wanted to! Transporter beams were blocked; you know that! And there was another ship guarding Observer, and it would stop anyone in any sort of craft from approaching."

"Yet someone did go over to Observer."

"You mean, Chief O'Brien."

"Mm-hmm. He used the Ganges to go there, and then he made a spacewalk through an access."

"Just because he did it, doesn't mean I could do it."

"Doesn't it? You know, I was able to get a look at the Ganges after Chief O'Brien got back. And do you know what I found? I found a Shultz anchor on the port nacelle."

"And that means what?"

"It means that someone could have been planning to put on a stealth environmental suit, coupled it to the anchor, and rode over to the Observer, undetected."

"That doesn't prove anything. I'll bet Chief O'Brien put that anchor there, as part of some sort of maintenance test."

Odo cocked his head. "Shall I ask the Chief about it, then?"

Quark seemed eager to return to his inventory. "Do what you like. But I'm telling you, Constable, that I did not go over to the Observer."

"I know." Odo spoke coolly. "I know you didn't go. Your buyer wasn't able to come here, so you weren't able to offload a stolen probe, so there was no reason for you to go. What I want to know is, what was your plan, exactly?"

Quark tried to change the subject. "I really have enjoyed our conversation, but I have some things I need to do, so if you'll excuse me."

Odo leaned back. "All right, I know you're busy. But let me just tell you a few things before I leave." Odo leaned close to Quark, and lowered his voice. "I know where you keep your environmental suit. I know about its stealth capabilities. I know where you've stored the two dummy probes that you planned to switch for the real probes. I know how you made them. I know where you keep the field projectors that you would use to try to move a probe out of the Observer's Locker. I know how you tried to conduct surveillance of Chief O'Brien when he was busy with investigation. I know how you communicated with the black market captain. I know that you specifically told him that you would not guarantee the probe's functionality. And I know that certain payment conduits were set up within minutes of you making contact."

Quark was poker-faced. "None of that is true. None of it."

"So you say."

"None. Of. It."

"Enjoy the rest of your day, Quark." Odo rose and exited Quark's Bar. With no break in his stride, Odo ambled out of view of the Bar and entered a lift. He gave the lift a verbal instruction. The lift took Odo away from the Promenade at once. Moments later, the lift stopped, and Odo stepped onto a deserted deck. Odo looked left, then right, then proceeded down a short corridor, which ended with an alcove.

Chief O'Brien was in the alcove, reassembling an environmental junction.

Odo stood next to O'Brien. "Hello, Chief."

"Hello, Constable. If you could wait just a moment, I have to replace this housing." As he said those words, O'Brien did just that. "There. Done." O'Brien stood and brushed off his uniform. "What did you learn?"

Odo grinned. "Quark admitted nothing."

"That's no surprise."

"And for what it's worth, I think he told me quite a few things that were true."

"That is a surprise."

"Mm-hmm. But he also told me at least two lies. He denied that he considered sneaking onto Observer and stealing a probe; and he denied that his request for more of that Andorian wine was just a ruse, when in fact it was a request to explore negotiation for the sale of a probe that he would steal." Odo smirked. "Quark will pay for those lies."

"Pay, how?"

"Never mind; he will pay dearly, and he has only himself to blame. Now, although Quark was exploring a possible sale of a probe, I don't think it went any further than that. I don't think Quark had the first idea how he would be able to actually steal a probe. When his potential buyer was refused access to the station, he dropped the idea entirely."

O'Brien smirked. "Did you mention that you knew about some dummy probes?"

"Yes. No reaction."

"I assume you mentioned that you knew about a stealth environmental suit?"

"I did. Again, no reaction. And with field projectors, no reaction."

"Did you mention the Schultz anchor on the Ganges nacelle?"

"Quark said that you had probably put it there."

"Which I did." O'Brien chuckled.

"I tried to bluff Quark in other ways, as we discussed. The bluff was fairly effective, I must say. Quark now probably thinks there are dummy probes and a stealth suit somewhere on the station! I've seen how he reacts to questioning like that. If he had acted indignantly, belittling the scheme we were laying out as amateurish, then I would be inclined to think that he was planning a heist, one less amateurish."

"I take it he reacted in some other way, other than indignantly."

"He did. He simply took it all in and issued a simple denial. He seemed to be wondering who might have fabricated some dummy probes, and who might have a stealth environmental suit. In my judgment, that reaction suggested to me that he was most concerned that he was being set up to take the blame for the actions of others."

"Meaning that he was probably not planning to steal a probe. But he was afraid he might be falsely blamed for plotting to do that very thing."

Odo nodded. "That is most likely, I would say. Mind you, I am loathe ever to refer to Quark as 'innocent'; but it seems to me that some of his actions, though suspicious, do not add up to any real threat of actual mischief."

"Well, when I found Quark had tried to bypass the security on my holodeck simulations, I had to wonder what he was up to, if anything. Thanks, Constable, for helping me feel a little more at ease."

"My pleasure."

Back in Quark's Bar, Quark noticed that Rom had returned from an errand. Rom carried a sealed container under one arm.

"Rom!" Quark called. "Come here!"

Rom placed his container in a corner and hustled over to the counter.

"I got the table coverings you wanted, Brother!" Rom reported excitedly. "The dealer on Bajor had only eight remaining, and I got them all, at a good price!"

Quark was unimpressed. "Good, Rom, that's good. But I have another errand for you."

"What is it, Brother?"

Quark lowered his voice. "Go down into storage and find our cache of Ryjennah, and have it destroyed."

Rom was not sure he had heard correctly. "Brother?"

"We have fifty liters of Ryjennah in storage. All of it is contaminated. We cannot serve it to customers. Our only option is to dispose of it. So have it destroyed. And do it quietly."

"But, Brother! That Ryjennah was very costly!"

"I know how expensive it was."

"And we are just going to destroy it?"

"We have no choice."

"But, Brother, how do we know it was contaminated?"

"It just is."

"But I signed for the shipment myself, not long ago! I performed a full scan! I remember! The quality was excellent! There was nothing wrong with it!"

"Well, apparently the scans missed something. I've learned that that particular batch is no good."

"That cannot be! Shall I find that scan for you?"

Quark was losing patience. "Rom, get down to storage and dispose of that Ryjennah!"

Rom quivered. "Brother, are you going to hold me responsible for overlooking a defect in the product?"

"No, Rom. Do not worry. I am not going to blame you."

"Are we going to blame the dealer who sold it to us?"

"No. We accepted the product after examining it, and that absolves the dealer."

"If I may ask, then, Brother: who is going to pay for the loss of all of this Ryjennah?"

Quark scowled. "I know the one who ought to pay. He is the one who is forcing me to take this loss, in order to prove my innocence. And one of these days, I am going to make him pay."