-: I'm resigning from Starfleet.
-: Why?
-: Because I can't do my job. Garak was right.
How can I help other people when I can't even help myself?
-: I know this has been a hard time
for you, old man, but you saw it--
-: Don't call me that, I'm not the "old man."
I'm not Curzon or Jadzia.
-: No, you are Ezri, Ezri Dax.
And you've been given eight lifetime's worth of experience.
Now I know this is confusing for you right now
but in time you'll see it's a wonderful gift.
-: It's a gift I don't deserve.
-: (banging item on the table) If that's the way you feel
then go back to Trill. Talk to the Symbiosis Commission.
Maybe you could convince them
to take the symbiont out of you.
-: I wish they could but removing the symbiont
would kill me, you know that.
-: Well, if you're leaving Starfleet,
you'll have to find something to do, let's see.
Maybe you could become one of the people
who take care of the symbiont pools.
It's quiet in those caves, no one around.
No one expecting great things of you.
You could spend the rest of your life underground
in the dark, stirring mud.
80 or 90 years of that just might be what you need.
And as for Dax, that symbiont had eight amazing lives.
So what if the ninth was a waste.
-: Stop it Benjamin, I thought
you of all people would understand.
-: I do understand and you were right.
You don't deserve the Dax symbiont.
Quite frankly, you don't deserve to wear that uniform.
I'll pass this on to Starfleet command, dismissed.