The Ship (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

"The Ship" is the 100th episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the second episode of the fifth season.

Overview

Sisko must keep the Dominion from retaking a Jem'Hadar fighter which has crashed.

Plot

Deep Space Nine crew, including Sisko, Dax, Worf, and O'Brien are conducting a planetary survey via a runabout when a Dominion Warship crashes near their location. Investigating, they find the crew inside dead, a likely failure of the ship's internal dampers during the crash. Sisko contacts DS9 to have the Defiant come tow the ship back to the station so that it can be studied.

As they wait, a Jem'Hadar ship appears in orbit, destroys the runabout, and transport several Jem'Hadar soldiers to the surface where they fire on the Starfleet personnel, killing several of them and mortally wounding Muñiz, O'Brien's assistant. Sisko orders his crew into the Dominion ship for protection. To their surprise, the Jem'Hadar do not follow but maintain watch on the ship. As Muñiz's wounds are tended to, they find little of the ship to be of use beyond the unique helm controls used by the Jem'Hadar. The group is contacted by Kilana, the Vorta in command of the Jem'Hadar, who offers to meet with Sisko.

At the meeting, Kilana refuses to allow Sisko to claim salvage rights for the ship, but offers to return Sisko and his crew back to the Federation safely. As they talk, a Jem'Hadar transports onto the crashed ship and tried to attack the remaining crew, but Muñiz, though weak, is able to fire and kill the Jem'Hadar. Kilana and Sisko immediately return to their ships, and Kilana orders her ship to fire near the crashed vessel. Sisko comes to believe that they do not intend to fire on the ship directly, as there is something valuable aboard, and are trying to psychologically influence them to abandon the ship. O'Brien tries to assure Muñiz that he will live, but Worf asserts that the wound from the Jem'Hadar weapon will not heal, and Muñiz should prepare for his death, leading to tensions between the two and others as the bombardment continues for ten hours. During this period, Muñiz succumbs to the wound and dies.

Sisko and the others start to devise a plan to try to bring up the ship's engines to a point where they would be able to pilot the ship out, when they notice a liquid dripping from the inverted floor. They discover that part of the bulkhead is really one of the Changelings, unable to hold its form anymore. It falls to ground and dies, turning into powder. The bombardment suddenly stops, and Kilana transports to the vessel. She explains that the Jem'Hadar on her ship have all committed suicide as they have allowed the death of one of their "gods", the Changeling, and thus there is no further reason to prevent Starfleet from salvaging the ship. Sisko allows her to collect some of the dust from the former Changeling before she departs to her ship and leaves orbit. The Defiant arrives shortly thereafter and tows the ship back to DS9.

Back on DS9, O'Brien, Worf, and others hold funeral arrangements for Muñiz and the other crewmen lost. Sisko considers that their deaths, as part of their duty as Starfleet officers, aided the recovery of the Dominion vessel that will have the potential to save the lives of thousands.

In a side plot, Odo has arrested Quark and a co-conspirator, none other than Dr. Bashir. Odo takes the two to Sisko's office, where Major Kira is waiting for them, and learns that Quark had ordered a shipment of Rigelian Fleaspiders. The Fleaspiders were for Bashir for his extraction of the venom to relieve Kira's pregnancy woes. But as usual, Quark took the opportunity to acquire more profit. He also smuggled Rigelian Liquid Crystals with the Fleaspider shipment.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Ship

• The Ship at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Ship" at TV.com
• The Ship at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• The Ship at StarTrek.com