April 25th, 1993, "Battle Lines"
Let's get this out of the way up front: Killing Opaka this soon was a mistake. I understand the creator's feelings later that having a Kai who opposed our heroes would present more dramatic opportunities, but even so, it was too soon to kill her.
On the other hand, I never really liked Opaka in the first place. "Wise" people who seem to only exist to recite fortune cookie aphorisms have always rubbed me the wrong way. We needed an interim episode to get to know her as something beyond "female Pope" or "reciter of fortune cookie aphorisms."
Fiver by Wowbagger
SISKO: Well, there's nothing of strategic value here, just personal logs and some files on Bajoran terrorists. But it is a glimpse into the Cardassian mind.
O'BRIEN: You might want to warn Kira before she sees her file.
KIRA: (entering) Warn me? About what?
SISKO: Oh, er, Dax and Mister O'Brien discovered some of the last Prefect's personal files. There's a file on you. You may find it disappointing.
KIRA: I'm a big girl, Commander.
...
KIRA: A minor operative whose activities are limited to running errands for the terrorist leaders?
SISKO: Major, when you're through feeling underappreciated...
A good gag, but not indicative of what Dukat would say about her. I wonder why it had to be a file written by Dukat.
SISKO: Kai Opaka. Why would she be here?
BASHIR [OC]: She says you once offered her a tour of the station.
When did that happen? And why did she have to make this trip a secret? I have to assume that she didn't want to hide a visit to the station, she wanted to hide a trip through the wormhole.
KIRA: Just a long stream of statistical data followed by a request for reply. I'm not reading any response.
SISKO: Launch a class two probe. We'll follow it up later.
The only other mention of a class two probe is when the Enterprise used one to deliver the hytritium back in "The Most Toys". The TNG Tech Manual says that it's an upgraded Class 1 probe, too bad a Class 1 can only go at half the speed of light. Are they going to wait a few years to get any telemetry? If you want warp speed you need a Class 8 probe, which is clearly too big to fit on a runabout.
ODO: Opaka's people are on subspace to me every five minutes.
Come to think of it, who's in command of the station right now? Is Dax really the senior officer present? What is Odo's rank in the Bajoran Militia, anyway?
ODO: That's not going to satisfy them on Bajor. You have no idea what the Kai means to them.
After "Caretaker" I would think that Sisko would brief the others on this subject.
KIRA: It's all so senseless. Opaka's always been a symbol of hope to me. Her words gave our struggle meaning. And now she's dead. Her life ends on some unknown moon, and for what?
Don't blame yourself, Kira. Opaka insisted on coming her, she knew what she was doing.
BASHIR: Although she appears to be normal, her physiology has been radically altered.
SISKO: How?
BASHIR: I'm not sure. The tricorder indicates some kind of bio-mechanical presence at a cellular level.
SISKO: Bio-mechanical? You mean something artificial?
BASHIR: I wish I could tell you. Whatever it is, it seems to be directly controlling her metabolic processes.
We needed a better explanation here.
DAX: There's still no sign of them on any of the long range scanners.
O'BRIEN: Not even a transponder signal.
Hold on a second here. Sisko, Bashir, Kira, Dax AND O'Brien are off the station at once? Who's in charge, Quark? Actually, where is Primmin this week?
BASHIR: His reading's are the same as Opaka's. Virtually every cell in his body shows signs of this bio-mechanical presence. Now somehow it has literally brought him back to life.
Once again, a better explanation. If this was just advanced nanites that can repair all damage, Bashir should just say that and collect a sample to be twisted into a Borg weapon.
SHEL-LA: The Ennis and the Nol-Ennis are ancient enemies. For generation after generation we fought the same war. The leaders of our planet were unable to mediate a peace. Finally, they sent us all here and told us that we would serve as an example for the rest of civilisation.
OPAKA: How did your fight begin?
SHEL-LA: Some say it was water, some say it was land. It's not really very relevant now.
I despise it when people have forgotten why they're fighting. It sort of worked back in "A Taste of Armageddon", but it's been thirty years and hamfisted standins don't really fly anymore.
SHEL-LA: Zlangco, the leader of the Nol would never agree to a cease-fire.
SISKO: Ask him.
SHEL-LA: You don't know them. All they care about is--
I hate this nonsense as well. When our heroes encounter two factions at war, they should never accept only one faction's version of events.
DAX: We'll have to survey each planet, one at a time.
O'BRIEN: Not to mention two dozen or so moons and an asteroid belt. Bloody needle in a haystack.
I always have a problem with people saying that it'll take forever to scan one star system. Especially for something as big as a runabout. At best I'll forgive "there's this one asteroid that's generating a weird field that's messing with sensors, we'll have to take a closer look."
O'BRIEN: Runabout hulls are made out of metallic composites that interact with magnetic fields. We could send out a few probes to scan the system for those specific magnetic resonance patterns. If Sisko's runabout is in the system, we might pick up a fluctuation in the hysteresis curve.
Why would you design starship hulls that allow for eddy currents from unknown magnetic fields?
The hysteresis curve shows the relationship between a force and the effects caused by the force. It takes time for changes in the force to be reflected in the the object and so forth.
DAX: The magnetic deflection of a runabout's hull is extremely weak. The probes will never be able to detect it.
O'BRIEN: They will, if I can outfit them with a differential magnetomer.
DAX: A differential magnetomer. I've never heard of a differential magnetomer. How does it work?
O'BRIEN: I'll let you know as soon as I've finished making one.
Okay, we're going past Scotty territory into MacGyver territory. And a magetometer measures changes in a magnetic field, don't ask me what a "differential" magnetomer is.
KIRA: Me? No, not at all, I. They're content to die. I've always fought to stay alive. I don't want you to have the wrong impression of me, Opaka.
OPAKA: Jus what impression do you think I have?
KIRA: That I enjoy any of this. I don't enjoy fighting. Yes, I've fought my entire life, but for a good cause, for our freedom, our independence. And it was brutal and ugly and I. But that's over for me now. That's not who I am. I don't want you to think that I am this violent person without a soul, without a conscience. That is not who I am.
A bit hamfisted, but a nice sentiment.