Not Going Well

Story: A Time to Stand
Written By: Ira Steven Behr & Hans Beimler
Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Year: 1997

Season 6 begins with a serialized six-episode arc, this first episode establishes some simple elements: they are still not back at the station…and the war is not going well. Our characters have been fighting relentlessly, and stuck in the little cramped Defiant isn’t helping anyone’s moral…not to mention the constant bad news from the front. On the station Odo, Kira, Quark, and Jake are still on the station, forced to work with the Dominion and the Cardassians because of the non-aggression pact made with Bajor. In the behind the lines story, Kira and Odo want the Bajoran security back on the promenade, Dukat refuses…Weyound decides that they will be reinstated when Odo asks him personally…Odo is a God.
Starfleet finally does comes up with a new plan: to destroy the main supply of Ketracel-white in the Alpha-quadrant. This could be dramatic turn of events for the Federation, since the Wormhole is still mined near DS9, and so far the Dominion/Cardassians have not yet been able to figure out a way to disable the minefield. So the Jem’Hadar ship captured by Sisko in “The Ship” is going to be flown by the Defiant crew in order to destroy the supply. They do succeed in destroying the supplier, but not without repercussions: the bomb goes off early and knocks out there warp drive…they are stranded in Cardassian/Dominion space.

There are a lot of nice character touches; from our people behind the lines, the Defiant crew with Garak and Rom, Martok and Sisko, Admiral Ross, the banter between Damar, Dukat and Weyoun as well. It is a fantastic set-up for what the next 5 episodes will involve for sure.

NEXT TIME: None But the Brave