The Ship (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
| "The Ship" | |
|---|---|
| Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 2 |
| Directed by | Kim Friedman |
| Story by | Pam Wigginton Rick Cason |
| Teleplay by | Hans Beimler |
| Featured music | Jay Chattaway |
| Production code | 500 |
| Original air date | October 7, 1996 |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"The Ship" is the 100th episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the second episode of the fifth season. Much of the episode is set inside a mysterious spacecraft
Sisko leads a mission to the Gamma Quadrant, and they land on a planet there.
Guest stars include Kaitlin Hopkins as Kilana and F. J. Rio as Muñiz
Plot
An away-team of Deep Space Nine crew, including Sisko, Dax, Worf, and O'Brien are conducting a mineral survey for cormaline ore on the uninhabited Gamma-quadrant planet Torga IV via a runabout when a Dominion warship crashes near their location. Investigating, they find the crew and all personnel dead, and O'Brien speculates that the ship's inertial dampeners might have failed, but Dax notes that the crew were dead hours before the crash. Sisko contacts DS9 to have the Defiant come tow the ship back to the station so that it can be studied.
In the episode's subplot, Odo has arrested Dr. Bashir and Quark for failure to fill out the proper paperwork for the importation of a shipment of Rigelian fleaspiders, and Quark, additionally, for the inclusion in the shipment of a number of prohibited Rigelian Liquid Crystals. Odo takes them to Sisko's office, where Major Kira is waiting for them, and learns that the fleaspiders were for Bashir, so he can extract their venom to help relieve Kira's pregnancy woes.
As the away-team waits for the Defiant, a Jem'Hadar ship appears in orbit, destroys the runabout and its three crew, and transports a number of Jem'Hadar soldiers to the surface: where they fire on the away-team, killing one and seriously wounding Muñiz, O'Brien's assistant. Sisko orders his crew into the Dominion ship for protection, and to their surprise, the Jem'Hadar do not follow en masse, but maintain watch. As Muñiz's wounds are tended to, though they are proving difficult to treat. The group is next contacted by Kilana, a female Vorta in command of the Jem'Hadar, who requests a meeting with Sisko.
At the meeting, Kilana refuses Sisko's claim of salvage rights for the ship, but offers to return Sisko and his crew safely to DS9. As they talk, a Jem'Hadar transports onto the crashed ship and attacks the team; yet Muñiz, even in his weak state, is able to shoot 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 intimidate them into abandoning the ship. O'Brien tries to assure Muñiz that he will live, but Worf asserts that Muñiz should be prepared for death — part of an uncharacteristic flare of tempers among the away-team as the bombardment continues for ten hours. During this period, Muñiz eventually dies.
Sisko and the others devise a plan to bring the ship's engines online, but it fails. A liquid begins to drip from the inverted floor, and a bulkhead turns out to really be a Changeling, 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 from her ship have all committed suicide for allowing the death of one of their "gods," and 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 four lost crewmen. 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. No resolution to Bashir and Quark's problems is shown.
Related
The captured Dominion ship later appears in the season six premiere, A Time to Stand.
See also
- Akutan Zero (Zero fighter crashed landed in Alaska during WW2)
External links
