Best of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine---Whispers

"Whispers" is the 14th episode of the second season and was written by Paul Robert Coyle.

We follow Miles O'Brien through his routine day at the station as security preparations are being made to hold a peace conference between two rival factions.

What makes it anything but routine for O'Brien is that all the chief officers are acting strange, even suspicious of him and to him. Even Keiko is acting abrupt, getting up earlier than usual, and whispering something seen but unheard to Commander Sisko as Miles walks by the promenade on his way to do daily maintenance checks.

While piloting a shuttlecraft, the story is told in narrative form as Miles relates how the crew was acting toward him. He's on his way to warn the delegation about the strange behaviors of the crew and that they may be in danger.

Conclusion: As Miles lands on the 2nd planet in the system, he sees Sisko and Major Kira have arrived before him. He holds them at phaser point while receiving assurances from the crew that he's not in danger and among friends. He is shot by one of the members of the indigenous peoples as Dr. Bashir and Miles (the real one) appear and we learn that the Miles we followed and listened to all along was a replicant, sent to commit an act of sabotage or even murder at the conference. That implanted directive would have been activated during the meeting.

I found this episode intriguing and even a bit creepy. Part of me was wondering if the crew had been taken over by an alien much like the ones from TNG episode called "Conspiracy."

But there is a clue early on, the same one the replicant Miles states in his logs on the shuttle, that his nuclear family weren't acting the same. His little daughter shirks away from an embrace by him and runs to her mother. Having seen this episode in 1994, I was thinking maybe the child was perceptive and knew this wasn't her father. But I couldn't remember it very well and decided not to over analyze the show but instead go on the journey with O'Brien and see where it would take me.

The story had the added bonus of not having a side story to distract from the main focus. One highlight was dinner time with Keiko and Miles. Was Keiko trying to poison him with the stew she prepared for him? Or was Keiko just acting weirded out because there was something actually wrong with her husband?