Fate of Eddington

Story: Blaze of Glory
Written By: Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe
Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Year: 1997

A solid conclusion to both the Sisko-Eddington arc, as well as the whole Maquis thing in general. A message is intercepted from the Maquis, who were mostly wiped out by the new Cardassian/Dominion alliance. It seems they have set up some missiles aimed at the Cardassians in retaliation, but the federation can’t allow these missiles to go through, for it could lead to an all out war with the Dominion.
So Sisko forces Eddington to help him find and disarm the missiles. They find the bunker eventually, only the whole thing was a ruse. The message was a lie, there are no missiles, and Eddington devised this plan as a way to both get out of jail and to regroup with some Maquis survivors, including his wife. But the Jem’Hadar have invaded this hidden bunker, and Eddington fights them off to die in a blaze of glory, protecting his friends and family one last time.

Rick Berman wouldn’t allow a definitive “the maquis are over and done with” statement. He wanted them available for the future of Voyager (???). But while the writers left it somewhat open-ended, it is pretty much an arc that is over and done with. DS9 and TNG handled these stories so well, they were rarely used in a bad manor, probably because they were such a different idea in Trek that they had so many avenues to pursue. But I am glad they ended it here, Voyager had no idea what to do with them, and this series gave them a strong beginning and end.

NEXT TIME: Psychotropic Drug