Penumbra

Originally Appeared Here

Son of a prophet doing some personal reappraising
When he sees himself in the mirror, half man, half amazing(1)
He found a couple hecapates to set up a homestead
Let his hands shape the landscape like he was Frederick Law Olmsted(2)
And Kasidy finds out she's a part of my Dad's plans
When he gets back from searching for Worf in the Badlands
Dax tracks him down when she decides to take a Gander(3)
But she can't talk about Jadzia, or ask of Alexander
Caught unawares and thrown in a Breen prison
While back on the station the Prophets send a vision
Hope the Emissary gettin married still if he can
'Cause in the ceremony, I'll be the best man(4)

1. From "It Ain't Hard to Tell" on Nas's debut album Illmatic, referenced in his later song "Nas Is Like".
2. Regarded by many as the father of American landscape architecture, Olmsted designed New York City's Central Park, among other works.
3. "Take a gander" can both mean "to take a look", and refer to the runabout U.S.S. Gander taken by Ezri Dax.
4. Paraphrase of lyrics from Young MC's "Bust a Move",  "Your best friend Harry has a brother Larry / In five days from now he's gonna marry / He's hopin you can make it there if you can / Cause in the ceremony you'll be the best man"

Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges

Originally Appeared Here

Garak wants to know the way of stoppin' this
How Bashir's an eternal optimist
Wakes up in his quarters and he knows he's not alone
Running through the hall to catch up to Luther Sloan
Finds Ezri Dax, she says relax
Too late anyway because Sloan covered his tracks
Now in the Bellerophon mess he's attending a reception
Sloan intercepts him, says he needs to practice his deception
Afraid their allies find a separate peace like John Knowles' tale(1)
Recalling Romulans with doctor, he remembers them wholesale(2)
And now Sloan got vaporized but he never said die
Confronts the admiral with allegations, demands to know why
It benefited Starfleet but their ways are awful violent
Ross just makes excuses, in times of war the law falls silent(3)

1. American novelist best known for the novel A Separate Peace.
2. Sloan praises Bashir's eidetic memory, or "total recall". The film Total Recall was based on the Philip K. Dick short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale".
3. English translation of the Latin episode title.

Chimera

Originally Appeared Here

O'Brien and Odo don't come back empty-handed
Dad releases the changeling like the constable demanded
Thinks that Odo is denying his true self out of shame
Tells his friends, these solids, they all seem the same
And it's crazy how they just gaze in amazement
As they raze all the forests and phase in the pavement
Disrupt balance of nature, but he agrees to stay as a favor
Knows Odo won't leave the Major, now Laas takes the form of a vapor
Menacing mist on the promenade like the moors of Caldos II(1)
Klingon tries to start a fight so Laas runs him through
Now he's awaiting arraignment when Kira sets him free
Lay low, look for Odo in a mine on Koralis III
Laas admits he wouldn't stay on the station, mutatis mutandis(2)
Odo says because he's never known love he can't understand this

1. Federation colony from TNG's "Sub Rosa", with an environment similar to the Scottish Highlands.
2. Latin phrase meaning "changing only those things which need to be changed".

Field of Fire

Originally Appeared Here

Ezri's uneasy 'cause there's a killer on the station
Thinks there's another man who can aid investigation
Nestled inside her kinda like a Kurlan Naiskos(1)
Joran always stays close while she's detective in plain clothes
As the shooter strikes again with clinical precision
Got an exographic sensor enhancing his vision
Turns out he's a sniper with a hell of a scope(2)
Takin' out other officers just because he can't cope
When they blew up the Grissom and Chu'lak was traumatized
Friends and crew, know he miss 'em, maybe drove him to homicide
Now Chu'lak's in custody, to her quarters she heads back
Understands that Joran's gonna lurk inside her like Redjac(3)

1. Hollow ceramic figures containing many smaller replicas inside. Captain Picard was given one by his old mentor Richard Galen in TNG's "The Chase".
2. From MC Ren's verse in N.W.A.'s "F--- The Police", "I"m a sniper with a hell of a scope / Taking out a cop or two because they can't cope with me"
3. Non-corporeal entity from TOS's "Wolf in the Fold", it possessed physical beings to commit murders, including those attributed to Jack the Ripper.

It's Only a Paper Moon

Originally Appeared Here

Nog's stepping out the airlock and leaning on his cane
They say there's no real pain, it's all in his brain
He's driving me insane, and I insist he escapes our room
Check the night life at Vic's even if it's only a paper moon
Soon he tells his counselor this is where he'd rather be
Live out his life like Captain Pike in Talosian menagerie(1)
He starts throwin punches, Vic says it's time for Nog to take five
Reminds him living with holograms ain't being alive(2)
He'll wake up in fake Vegas where neon lights seem duller
Photonic Shape without form, shade without colour(3)
And he's gotta live life, all the skinned knees and bruises(4).
Play the cards that you're dealt, even if he wins or loses.

1. In "The Menagerie", Christopher Pike has been crippled in a training accident and is brought by Spock to live in an illusory world created by the Talosians. He had previously rejected this life in "The Cage".
2. Paraphrase of John Wayne's character Ethan in The Searchers, "Livin' with Comanches ain't being alive". Nog and Vic discuss this film in the episode, which incidentally stars Jeffrey Hunter, who portrayed Captain Pike.
3. From T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men"
4. In "The Cage", Christopher Pike said, "You either live life – bruises, skinned knees and all – or you turn your back on it and start dying"