Thanks go to my beta reader, Mark Russel Stanley

* * * * *

Elim Garak and Julian Bashir are spies in the classic mold, a blend of Graham Greene's fictional agents and the spies of the real world. In fact, Bashir and Garak are the most realistic spies in the world of fiction. This is particularly true of Garak.

The world of espionage has been traditionally populated with fantasists, neurotics, wannabees, and the marginalized.

The most famous British spy, Sidney Reilly, was neither British, nor was he a spy. However, he managed to convince a lot of us that he was both.
 
In 1940, two top agents of MI-6 arranged to meet a German Colonel at the Dutch-German border post at Venlo to receive high level intelligence on German intentions. The two agents met the Colonel and were immediately surrounded by Gestapo and hauled away to spend the rest of the war in a concentration camp. However, the German triumph was dampened somewhat when they discovered their prisoners were complete frauds.

In those days, Amsterdam was the centre of espionage. The lads who claimed to be with MI-6, would gather with les bon hommes who claimed to be French spies, the tovarichi who thought they could pass for NKVD, and cameraden who pretended represent the Abwer, Germany's intelligence service. They would get drunk, take turns telling lies, report back what they heard, and submit claims for payment to agents of doubtful existence.

Garak might have belonged to the Obsidian Order, or he may be a gardener turned tailor, claiming to be the son of a policeman. He likely learned his craft, that of spinning tall tales through carefully placed hints and specious denials,
from Enabran Tain.

The pretence certainly seduced Bashir, who would love nothing better
than to be "Our Man Bashir."

The relationship between Garak and Bashir is haunting similar to that of two British agents, Burgess and MacLean, who were really working for the KGB. In the final analysis, it is Bashir who seduces Garak. Or so Garak lets him believe.

What makes Garak and Bashir so fascinating is not knowing what is fact, embellishment, or outright lies. Garak may, indeed, be who he says he
isn't. Or he might be the illigitamate son of a cop who enjoys the aura of mystery which comes with pretending to be a spy.

Bashir, on the other hand, makes no pretense. He wants it -- to be a spy, that is. He is like the gifted amateurs of Britain like Lawrence of Arabia, or John Buchan, (author of the Thirty-Nine Steps,) both of whom lived well beyond the fine
line between truth and fantasy.
 
The foibles of Garak and Bashir in no way detract from their characters, but rather those foibles enhance them, making them all the more loveable and colourful.
 
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