How did they find Captain Sisko at the end of the DS9 episode "Waltz?"

Question

DS9 "Waltz":

DUKAT: I'm so glad we had this time together, Benjamin, because we won't be seeing each other for a while. I have unfinished business on Bajor. They thought I was their enemy? They don't know what it is to be my enemy, but they will. From this day forward, Bajor is dead. All of Bajor. And this time, even their Emissary won't be able to save them.

(Sisko kicks Dukat's knee, so Dukat punches him and crawls back into the shuttle. As the ramp closes we see Kira, Damar and Weyoun with him again.)

[Bridge]

DAX: It's time.

WORF: Plot a course out of the system, full impulse. Once we've cleared the outer planets, head for the rendezvous coordinates, maximum warp.

DAX: Course laid in. Engaging impulse engines.

O'BRIEN: Captain. I'm picking up a signal. It's from Gul Dukat.

Ship's log, stardate 51413.6. We have rescued Captain Sisko, but we did not have time to locate Gul Dukat's shuttle. We are now en route to our rendezvous with the troop convoy near the Badlands, and the Captain is recovering in sickbay.

[Medical bay]

DAX: Benjamin? I've notified Starfleet of Dukat's last known position. They'll find him.

SISKO: No, they won't. You know, old man, sometimes life seems so complicated. Nothing is truly good or truly evil. Everything seems to be a shade of grey. And then you spend some time with a man like Dukat and you realise that there is really such a thing as truly evil.

DAX: To realise that is one thing. To do something about it is another. So what are you going to do?

SISKO: I'll tell you what I'm not going to do. I'm not going to let him destroy Bajor. I fear no evil. From now on, it's him or me.

I was really confused by this ending. Am I to understand that Dukat sent a message to the Defiant giving away his position and letting the Defiant know where Sisko is?

He tells Sisko that Sisko will no longer be able as the emissary be able to help Bajor, which I think implies he's leaving Sisko stranded. Sisko is on the planet alone with no functioning technology so Sisko has no way to contact the Defiant.

O'Brien states he picked up a signal from Dukat which I guess implies that Dukat was sending the Defiant a signal. I'm not sure exactly why Dukat would do this.

Wikipedia episode page:

Dukat recovers and follows Sisko outside, tackling him to prevent his escape. But when Sisko challenges his enemy to kill him, Dukat instead leaves Sisko behind and takes off in the shuttle, vowing to destroy Bajor. The Defiant crew then picks up Dukat's signal and finds Sisko. Dukat, however, escapes, leaving Sisko grimly aware of the battle over Bajor that is sure to come.

The way this article is written, by it's passive voice, implies that possibly Dukat didn't purposely send out a signal, but it was something that was discovered. If that's so I'm still confused about how they found Sisko on the planet and why they wouldn't assume he was on the shuttle with Dukat.

I'm kind of confused what happened at the end of the episode and how they located Sisko.

Answer 1

Yes, Dukat contacted the Defiant and let them know where to find Sisko.

After leaving orbit, Dukat sent a message to the USS Defiant which included coordinates for where to find Sisko on the planet. He knew that the Defiant was already in the area and that Sisko had earlier sent a transmission after repairing the transmitter. Since Dax stated that they could not find Dukat's shuttle afterwards, he apparently masked his signal somehow.

As for WHY he did this, you have to realize how Dukat views the relationship between he and Sisko. For Dukat, it's not a matter of good vs. evil - it's a duel between equals, a chess game played by two masters. Dukat does not see himself as a villain, nor does he see Sisko as the hero, although he does acknowledge that others see them that way. This is made evident numerous times on-screen, and has been confirmed by those behind the scenes as well.

DUKAT: One man's villain is another man's hero, captain.

Or, as Ira Steven Behr puts it in a Captain's Log interview:

In Dukat's mind, Dukat is the hero of every episode he appears in.

Given the way he views their relationship, Dukat would not simply abandon Sisko in space. He wants to out-wit him, to defeat him on equal footing. He wants to prove - to the whole universe - that he, Dukat, is the better of the two men. It is NOT a normal relationship between a Cardassian and his enemy, as Dukat's view of Sisko often confuses & frustrates other Cardassians.

As for his statement that Sisko will no longer be able to help Bajor, he does not mean to imply that he is stranding Sisko, but rather that their "game" is moving up to the next level. He is essentially saying "You have no hope of defeating me, because NOW I'm mad."

---

In many ways, the relationship mirrors that of The Joker and Batman. The Joker wants to defeat Batman, but only on his own terms, and possibly even in a way that would allow the relationship to continue afterwards. The biggest difference is that The Joker knows he's the villain.

Answer 2

He tells Sisko that Sisko will no longer be able to help Bajor as the emissary, which I think implies he's leaving Sisko stranded.

Nope. As you quoted, Dukat said:

we won't be seeing each other for a while. I have unfinished business on Bajor...

Not “we won’t be seeing each other ever again thanks to you being hopelessly stranded here”, which would have been the most likely outcome had Dukat not sent a signal to Kira & co., like O’Brien says he did:

O'BRIEN: Captain. I'm picking up a signal. It's from Gul Dukat. [Emphasis mine.]

Dukat says that the Emissary won’t be able to save Bajor this time because Dukat thinks he’s going to beat Sisko when they meet again.