Best of Star Trek: Deep Space 9---In the Pale Moonlight

"In the Pale Moonlight" is the 19th episode of season 6 and was written by Michael Taylor.

One of Captain Sisko's weekly routines is posting the casualty list from the Federation/Dominion war. Dax  is upset that a friend of hers was killed in Romulan space by a convoy of Jem'Hadar. They know that to get the Romulans on their side they would need evidence that the Dominion is plotting an attack on them---evidence that probably doesn't exist. If it did, it would be in the central command station on Cardassia Prime.

Sisko enlists the help of former Obsidian Order spy Garak to find such evidence. Garak makes contact with operatives who owe him favors. Unfortunately, they are all killed by Jem'Hadar when their communications are intercepted.

So, on to Plan B. Garak knows someone being held in a Klingon prison who can fake realistic hologram scenarios in data rods. Why not just invent the evidence?

Starfleet approves the plan, especially after word gets out that Betazed has been invaded, but the ways and means Sisko goes about faking the evidence is left undocumented because of its devious nature.

While the released prisoner works on creating the fake evidence, Sisko and Garak plan for the arrival of a Romulan Senator. As Sisko and the Romulan are in discussions, Garak is quietly executing Plan C---planting a bomb on the dignitary's ship and planting evidence to suggest sabotage by the Dominion, all without Sisko's consent or knowledge.

Things come to a head when Sisko learns of the Senator's death and confronts Garak with a sock to the jaw. There's little he can do however, seeing the operation was covert and it did get the Romulans involved in the war against the Dominion.

This episode expands Sisko's character into a multidimensional and complex man, one who is willing to bend the rules and do whatever it takes to keep the Alpha Quadrant from falling to an enemy that seems unstoppable. Making up shit to win would have seemed unthinkable to him at one time. But with mounting casualties and the possibility of  being ruled by an authoritarian regime, he decides it's worth the risk.

As he explains in his personal log:
 I lied. I cheated. I bribed a man to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing of all, I think I can live with it.