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In 2373, Lieutenant Julian Subatoi Bashir, Chief Medical Officer of Deep Space Nine, was kidnapped by the Dominion (while away at a medical conference) and replaced by a Changeling. Dr. Bashir's subsequent appearance in a Dominion prison camp, wearing a style of uniform that had been replaced half a dozen episodes before, has left the exact date of his capture uncertain.
However, more than a year later, when under interrogation by Section 31, it was revealed he had been held captive for 36 or 37 days (I forget which). This is significant because that figure is almost exactly one-tenth of a year, or 100 stardates. We still don't know how stardates are meant to work, but one thing is certain: there are 1000 of them in a year!

Naturally it's not as cut-and-dried as this; "By Inferno's Light," the episode where Bashir escapes, is the 15th episode of the season - yet only it and three other episodes prior to it have stardates mentioned in them.

Therefore we can assume Bashir was kidnapped on or about Stardate 50465, 100 prior to the given Stardate (in "BIL") of 50564.2.

Here's the Timeline:

"The Rapture:" DS9 crew appear wearing the new uniforms. While the changeover was not complete throughout Starfleet (an Admiral and his staff retain the TNG uniforms) Bashir is seen wearing the new style. He also performs delicate neurosurgery on Captain Sisko, and it is this that has always worried people - was it the Changeling? If so, why did he save Sisko? After all he could hardly have known Sisko woulkd recommend Bajor not join the Federation, something the Dominion would prefer not to happen!

"The Darkness and The Light:" Stardate 50416.2, which confirms that at this stage Bashir cannot have been replaced.

"The Begotten:" We're now into the realm of extreme uncertainty! Bashir delivers Keiko/Kira's baby, and also assists Odo and Dr. Mora Pel in treating an infant Changeling. . . yet as "The Die is Cast" the previous year shows, one Changeling would be willing to break his cover to save another - Bashir lets the baby Founder die, and also allows it to cure Odo the outcast.

"For the Uniform:" Stardate 50485.2; I can't remember how much, if at all, Bashir was in this episode. But the Stardate indicates it is set after he must have been replaced.

"In Purgatory's Shadow:" Here the real Bashir is seen in prison, and the Changeling begins overt action.

"By Inferno's Light:" Stardate 50564.2; Sometime around this stardate, Bashir escapes the prison camp, ending the 36-7 day period mentioned.

So was it Bashir or the Changeling in "The Begotten?" I'd say Bashir. I've tried to work the stardate out using the total gestation period of Keiko's baby - but it's impossible! Even assuming a normal 9-month pregnancy (ie 750 stardates) we don't know when the conception was, and if as some people remember O'Brien told Worf the news in "Accession" (the episode before "Rules of Engagement," Stardate 49665.3) then the baby might have been conceived on or around 49600, and born around 50450 - 850 stardates, giving a pregnancy with another half-trimester! Ouch. . .

It's not concrete, I admit that. We can say that with 26 episodes per season, and 52 weeks per year, one episode happens per fortnight, or about 35-40 stardates. The separation between "TDaTL" and "FtU" (70 stardates with one ep in between) above bear this out. This puts "The Begotten" as just before (about a week, anyway) Bashir left on his conference, and we know he wouldn't go anywhere so close before the birth.

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So why the uniform? Simple. Bashir went to bed one night, and woke up in a prison camp. He was probably beamed straight out of bed. They'd been planning this for a while, and had even laid on clothes for him - not knowing that they would be out of date. They HAD to have planned this for a while, in order to have a Changeling prepared to function as a human doctor for however long it took.

Reviewing this, it struck me what a clever idea it was to have Siddig El-Fadil's character be taken. Why TPTB at Paramount chose him I don't know, but within the show it makes perfect sense. Why Bashir and not someone else?

Sisko: too important, impossible to replicate all his knowledge. Family member on the station.

Kira: pregnant when plan formulated.

Odo: Duh. . .

Worf: Likewise, a lot of knowledge. Quite possibly the most pissed-at-the-world person of all time, the rod up his ass has a rod up its ass. Relationship with other crew member. . .

Dax: Trying to imitate a symbiont and host with 7 lifetimes of experience? Tricky.

O'Brien: Years of hands-on experience in engineering impossible to pass on to Founder; family on board, plus Kira living with them then.

Jake: Why?

Quark: Nope.

No, Bashir is the obvious choice. Single (or no solid relationships) and rather aloof (no-ome knew why then) with a range of knowledge easy to duplicate given his tendency to write a paper or give a talk on anything new he discovered at the drop of a hat. And a Changeling had already impersonated him without anyone immediately noticing. As CMO he can go anywhere. . .

And why give him a STARFLEET uniform in any case? Easy - they knew his size!

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. . . and it seems that the choice of uniform for the real Bashir was meant to imply he had been replaced before "The Rapture." It was a spur of the moment idea, and they figured that nothing special had happened in the previous few episodes to contradict is. Echevarria (who wrote "The Begotten") expressed doubts about the way Bashir failed to help the baby changeling, but they just said that he was sticking to his cover no matter what.

And then they go and contradict it again later by giving a ridiculously short time of his imprisonment!

From TrekWeb: 'If Bashir was a changeling, then how did he manage to miss the detection of damage to the baby changeling? Did he really miss the damage? Or did he intentionally destroy the baby changeling? Producer Ronald D. Moore: "I don't think the Bashir-changeling missed the damage to the baby, and I don't think he intentionally harmed it. More likely is that the damage could not be repaired and he simply let events play themselves out."'

And:

'Writer Ronald D. Moore: "The revelation that Bashir had been a changeling for a few episodes was something that came up during the story break of "Purgatory's Shadow." We thought it would be a really cool surprise and a quick check of the preceeding episodes showed that it wouldn't damage anything in those shows (although Ren� [Echevarria] did have reservations about the Changeling-Bashir delivering Kira's baby [in The Begotten])."'

Someone needs to ask Echevarria, RDM, RHW or ISB about this. Was the time give in "Inquisition" (written by Bradley Thompson & David Weddle) an attempt to correct the furore over the date of the abduction, I wonder. . .

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Probably posed as his wallet, or something.

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