The first visitor from the Gamma Quadrant drops by, a twitchy crocodile man with invisibility powers. Taken under genial O'Brien's wing, the guy is not terribly forthcoming on his background. When asked about his species, his name, and his purpose in life, his only answer is 'I am Tosk'. (They got him off a shelf at Ikea.)
He's got nutrients built in, sleeps only 17 minutes a day, and claims to have no vices for Quark to exploit. Tosk claims: "I live the greatest adventure one could ever desire."
Namely: being hunted for sport by Gerrit Graham and his fellow lizard men. Who WOULDN'T?!
Even when humans engaged in blood sports against lower species, they did not hunt sentients. (Well, except the crazy rich ones with private islands.) Sisko has no tolerance for the abuse of any life form. To be a Tosk is meant to be an honour, and the hunter claims Tosk are only intelligent because the hunters bred it into them.
O'Brien complains about it to the sympathetic giant ears of his 'barkeep' Quark, and hits on an semi-satisfactory solution: he breaks Tosk out to die like a dog... with honour!
"Captive Pursuit" is not much of a first contact: they didn't even get their name. "Yee-haw! Them Alligator Boys Was Green-Neck Space-Billys!" I suppose. And what did Sisko mean when he said they'd never seen ships like these? Tosk is driving what looks a lot like a repainted Vulcan ship and the hunters are in a Zalkonian vessel. Still, we'll look back on this as the nicest genetically engineered Gamma Quadrant reptilian species. And how we'll laugh! (At something else.)
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