DEFIANT (STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE EPISODE)

"'Defiant'" is an episode of '', the ninth episode of the third season.

Contents

Plot

External links

Plot

William T. Riker shows up on Deep Space Nine and proceeds to charm the crew, especially Major Kira. She takes him on a tour of the station and its new ship, the ''Defiant''. Once aboard, he pulls a phaser on her, stuns her, fakes a warp-core breach and steals the ship.
Back on the station the crew realizes it is not Will Riker but his duplicate Thomas Riker. Tom Riker had been created in a transporter accident and stranded on a planet nine years earlier and was rescued about two years ago. He is now suspected to be a member of the Maquis, and thus wanted by the Cardassians. Riker has stolen the powerful ''Defiant'' to strike a heavy blow on Cardassian forces in the name of the Maquis.
Commander Sisko is placed in a difficult position. He wants the ''Defiant'' taken back and returned to his station without having to destroy her. He eventually travels to Cardassia Prime to oversee and assist the operation led by Gul Dukat to hunt Riker down. Riker meanwhile travels to the Orias system because he heard rumors about Cardassian troop build-ups there.
After doing considerable damage, the ''Defiant'' is eventually confronted by unknown Cardassian starships, coming from Orias. Knowing Riker is trapped and that Gul Dukat wants the Defiant sensor logs, Sisko offers Riker a choice. Turn the Defiant and her Maquis crew over to Starfleet and spend the rest of your life as a Cardassian prisoner.
Riker comments on the fact that it is not a death sentence and thinks Sisko's offer over. He finally surrenders the ship to the command of Major Kira after meeting up with an allied Cardassian cruiser who beams him aboard for the trip to Cardassia.
Much of the tension created in this episode comes from the moral dilemma that Sisko has to deal with. Much of the combat is seen on a display screen, similar to the episode "The Wounded", wherein Captain Benjamin Maxwell had to be stopped from destroying Cardassian ships and stations, which would have upset the delicate peace.
The fleet build-up Riker mentioned was indeed taking place and would be revealed in Improbable Cause and The Die is Cast later in Season 3. The fleet build-up turned out to be a joint Obsidian Order and Tal Shiar plot to eliminate the Founders.

External links

★