By Inferno's Light

DVD, DS9 S5 (By Inferno's Light)

Heroes and villains, the stuff of mythology, and it was always done best on 'DS9,' this episode adding to the proof, providing a shining example of Starfleet mettle, age-old races coming to the fore again as they should, and the newer boys of the Dominion and Cardassians tearing the quadrant in two. That may be a bit premature, war is averted again, mainly because the Founders always act to get maximum damage from minimum effort. Tell that to the unfortunate changeling masquerading as Dr. Bashir, though. I assume he must have been willing to die for his people, as rushing into the Bajoran sun (Bajor-B'hava'el, for your information!), was an act of suicide, especially with a bomb inside your Runabout - a suicide bomber… The Dominion begins to look like the very worst extremists in our world today. I would have liked the chance to get to know more about this changeling, why he chose to take on this mission, and if he was completely willing to die for his people? He's seen to be pretty coldhearted (if they had hearts), killing the Runabout Yukon's crew and attempting to take out an entire solar system (good job warp engines have improved since 'The Motion Picture' or the Defiant might have gone all slow-motion and spangly as it headed into a wooooorrrrmmhooooollllle…), along with the combined fleet of Starfleet, Klingon and Romulan ships, not to mention Bajor.

What about the Wormhole? Did the Founders wish for it to be collapsed? They've only just made the station alter it to make sure it can't be collapsed, so it probably would have been safe from the system's shockwave. We don't see a sun going supernova often in Trek ('Star Trek: Generations' for one), but in this case I'm glad Bajor and the series itself weren't wiped out, and I think the new head of the Cardassian government, Gul Dukat (why doesn't he upgrade himself to Legate, or is it like Kirk lecturing Picard in 'Generations' about leaving his ship and becoming an Admiral, and a previous Gul told him 'don't let them promote you, don't let them transfer you, don't let them do anything to take you away from [being a Gul], because while you're there you can make a difference!'), would have been very disappointed if Deep Space Nine had been wiped out - only a little earlier he was warning Sisko to give it up, so even in that short time we learn the Dominion isn't going to include Cardassia in all its plans: a foreboding, though minor, hint of things to come.

We've discussed the changeling Bashir (apart from his willingness to organise blood screenings - did they take some of the real Bashir's for him to 'bleed' on demand?), we've discussed the potential wipeout of the Bajoran system, but we haven't mentioned the most important piece of wanton carnage of the episode. No, step aside Mr. Worf, I'm talking about the explosion of Runabout Yukon. I'll admit it is a tradition that at least one of these workhorses has to be prematurely put down every season, but it has the sting of the writers finally having given recognition to the little ships by using their names which have been practically ignored throughout the season! They've been used plenty of times, but as I've ranted in previous reviews, they don't bother telling us which one is which! We're treated to a naming of all four (four?) Runabouts in this one (Yukon, Rio Grande, Volga, and… was there another, I'm getting confused?), which is very nice, but then they go and wipe out poor Yukon, itself having been assigned to the station to replace the Orinoco, destroyed in Season 4. The Volga had come close, surviving untold damage in 'Body Parts,' (and giving Shakaar reason to upbraid O'Brien on getting his girlfriend involved when he had a baby), and of course the Rio Grande, being the safest of them all, was the only one still operational from the pilot episode, but why did the Yukon go up anyway? Was the bomb set to a timer? It surely didn't need to be as it was heading into a massive detonator, and all the Defiant does is pull it away from the sun!

There's an inconsistency when it sounds like there are six Runabout pads, as I always thought there were only three! I'm not sure where I got six from, dialogue perhaps, but they certainly speak of pad E, which is a new one on me, especially when as recently as 'Things Past' the pads had seemingly been altered from lettered to numbered! Maybe it's a misinformation strategy to keep the Rio Grande and its record, safe? Talking of the Rio Grande, is it really the safest bet? The odds dictate that every Runabout that's ever served the station has either been destroyed or severely damaged (sorry, had my 'Generations' hat on again there, I meant just destroyed), so the probabilities were mounting that Rio Grande was likely to be next. On the other hand would you take a risk on another one which could be higher in destructive probability simply because it wasn't the Rio Grande? I'm probably thinking too much into it, but then again I'm sure the Bashir changeling didn't bother its little brain (if it had had one), about which Runabout to hi-jack, and ended up as space splatter, so that should be a lesson, I suppose. Whatever the odds, I love seeing the little Runabouts take off with the Defiant at the start, bravely charging into the path of the Dominion battle fleet and certain destruction. It's hard to believe that they were all that stood between the Dominion and the Alpha Quadrant back in Season 2; even with the hefty Defiant as mother hen the situation looked hopeless.

Until Gul Dukat saved their bacon by being the reason the Jem'Hadar came through at last: it wasn't a war fleet, it was the locust swarm predicted by Sisko, passing over Bajor and on to Cardassia (unless you count the later event of the non-aggression pact). Shame he didn't also prophecy the attempt to blow up Bajor's sun, but there's only so much imagery you can take in one go. At least the next time a Klingon Bird of Prey left DS9 it would be an honourable ship, because Martok and his vessel were to be stationed at the, er, station, from this time forth. And what a glorious idea that was! Martok seems much more relaxed and casual in this episode, he hasn't got that growling, grousing rumble from the depths quite yet, probably because he's too busy enjoying personal combat with the Jem'Hadar (not in this episode, but lately), or being impressed by Worf's heroically obstinate struggle in the circled circle (as opposed to the squared circle of wrestling or boxing), and thinking up glorious songs to sing gloriously about the glorious and honourable display of Klingonness that is Worf's multi-victory hand to hand battle, still a mighty moment for our favourite Klingon.

The song wouldn't have been complete without a verse about the little Cardassian who could - I use 'little' in the comparative sense, because looking at that crawlspace, it's hard to imagine Enabran Tain squeezing his bulk in there. He'd be wedged like a bowl of jelly down the back of a radiator. Garak only feels like a bowl of jelly, and actually it's his bravery and fortitude, his self-control in finishing a task that brings out his phobia, that is the most heroic act of the episode, even Worf (who in the previous episode planned to kill him at the first sign of deceit, perhaps having read Odo's report of their mission together back in Season 3), acknowledges him for the deed. While Dukat had returned to his traditional role as a straight up villain, Garak is more a good guy than ever! It becomes something like a 'Mission: Impossible' sequence where you have the tech guy in the wall working away to make magic, the action hero battling away to keep all eyes on him, a tense standoff between goons and goodies, split second escape and a swift, surprise turnaround when the Breen proves that old saying so right. Actually I hadn't heard 'never turn your back on a Breen' before, and probably no one else in the room who wasn't Romulan had either, since it was a saying of that race, and them being the most mysterious people (behind the Breen - that sounds like a saying in itself: always stay behind a Breen), we hardly ever get to hear about what they think, say, or do.

This time we get to see a good deal of what the Romulans will do. While you wouldn't turn your back on a Breen, you wouldn't turn anything (except perhaps a phaser), on the duplicitous Romulans, but even though they're not to be trusted, you can at least count on them to pull their weight in a fight if the time comes: when the Romulans decloak around DS9, it's like a school bully suddenly appearing to back you up in a fight, and it makes you want to cheer. Turned out to be a ploy of the Founders to get rid of as many enemy ships as possible in one foul, star system-annihilating swoop, but just the thought of Federation, Klingon and Romulan forces fighting together is enchanting. And a positive move to have some sympathetic members of their race part of the prison gang - I'd have been perfectly happy to see more episodes set in that cell with the Cardassian, Romulans, human, Klingons and Breen all sitting round on bunks telling stories. That could have made for a stunning anthology episode, and what's more, I'd have lobbied hard for that Breen to survive and end up as a recurring character - hey, if Morn can get away with not speaking on camera for years, why not a Breen?

The death of the Breen was one of the few things I wasn't wholeheartedly impressed with, and not for the reason above, but because I felt the dissolution of the bodies, of Breen, Romulan and Jem'Hadar, were not weighty enough. I wanted a proper disintegration, like we see of the green and blue guy in 'Suspicions' on 'TNG,' or the deaths in 'Star Trek II.' The effects of this vaporisation were too light and fluffy, although I appreciated the detail of the weapon burst hitting the wall behind Worf as he gets beamed away in the nick of time. If James Horan's death in this wasn't up to his 'hole in the chest' demise in 'Suspicions,' the character did get to be a bit more complex than most Jem'Hadar soldiers, with the exception of Goran'Agar, the honourable, who only wanted freedom for his people, or perhaps Omet'iklan, who gained respect for Sisko during their joint venture. Ikat'ika's execution was a reverse of Weyoun's in 'To The Death,' since he was killed for expressing honour, to the Vorta's distaste, while Weyoun was killed for his dishonourable conduct, by a Jem'Hadar. Deyos wasn't a bad Vorta, and successfully carries across that incredible aloofness, as if he sees everyone around him as low animals, but they hadn't found one to match Jeffrey Combs' version, so it was only a matter of time before they brought him back.

The extended cast becomes ever larger with these two episodes. Martok's assigned to DS9 under Gowron's disapproving eye - even at this early stage he looks extremely unimpressed with the General, probably for two reasons: despite there being enemies still to fight, I think Gowron would have preferred Martok to have died, and the other biggie is the issue of trust. If a man had been impersonated by an enemy and hoodwinked you into war against your former allies, you'd find it hard to get along with the real man with all that egg on your face, after the fact. Gowron does a good job of retaining all dignity because Sisko knows how to talk to him. I'd have liked a more formal scene in the wardroom, something like 'Rapture,' with Admirals and delegates, to announce the resumption of friendliness between the Federation and Klingon Empire, and a return to alliance. But it has the advantage of making Sisko more important in our eyes: already the avowed Emissary of the Bajorans, he now has the power to reinstate the Khitomer Accords and mend the Klingon fence, and it shows respect from Gowron that he could be persuaded by this man. It puts him more on a par with Picard, who was the Klingon Arbiter of Succession.

Other recurring cast are furthered as well - Garak gets to be a hero and gets the girl (he doesn't quite know what to say or do when Ziyal affectionately kisses and hugs him in Quarks!), and is appreciated even more for being the only friendly Cardassian at such a time; Dukat gets to be a villain, and his old life back. It shows how much of a backward step he took from being a good man, because he abandons the new life he fell into when he rescued Ziyal, by disowning her, and his position of power over Cardassia means his family would have welcomed him back after treating him as an outcast. What would have made for an insightful arc would have been to actually see some of his home life and how his wife and children adjust to this Father that had been previously rejected. He even mentions his son, like a reminder that he had an old life on his homeworld which he's taken up again, becoming Sisko's enemy once more and seizing power with both hands, as you'd have expected him to do in the first three seasons, until he began to delude himself that because he liked the denizens of DS9, they liked him too! His statement of intent, to wipe every Klingon and Maquis from Cardassian space is scarily similar to the Nazi regime, strengthening historical parallels that had always existed.

Odo doesn't get to be in this one, most likely for the reason that he was the number one hole in the Founders' plan, since we know he can detect others of his species if he comes into close proximity with them, demonstrated against Admiral Leyton in Season 4. But there were plenty of odd alien faces (sorry Odo!), to enjoy anyway - I don't think I'd ever noticed a 'fish-man' (actual race unknown), before, as one of the prisoners in the asteroid, as well as a thick-necked green-tinted guy with a bony head ridge, and the merest glimpse of another fish-like creature with tentacles sprouting out of the side of its face! It makes me want to go back and freeze-frame these bizarre and never-explored races. Even the sight of a female Bajoran security officer (walking past Kira and Ziyal on the Promenade), isn't a familiar sight, though Ensign/Lieutenant Jones is (he hurries past camera down a corridor carrying a phaser rifle). And the old running joke of stem bolts comes up again. What's the joke? Nothing really, just that they don't mean anything and no one ever explains what they are, however many times they come up in general conversation.

It's not really the content of this story that has the greatest impact, as exciting and inspiring as the heroic and daring adventures are. What matters is where this left, and would lead, the series. Like two fighters circling in the ring, we taste the danger that now threatens the Alpha Quadrant like never before, and though unsatisfied, making us wait for the inevitable conflict is artful. The confrontation in numbers with the Dominion and now Cardassian forces remained on the horizon, masterfully building to a suspense, but keeping something held back, ready to use as an end of season cliffhanger. Many of the best episodes were yet to come, but the puzzle pieces were being laid ever more expertly, the extended cast coming together, and a future of immense proportions was being dammed up ready for the break out of the flood.

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