October 2, 1995: The Way of the Warrior opens
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 4 - it starts with the crew chasing a Changeling through the station, which is resolved to be a drill. This is one of many drills that are being run due to the increased tension with the Dominion. At the end of the drill a huge Klingon warship arrives at the
DS9 station, the Commander of the IKS
Negh'Var, one General Martok requests leave on the station, Captain Sisko agrees and a huge Klingon fleet decloaks off the station. Dax estimates nearly a third of the Klingon navy is out there.
Garek, the Cardassian Tailor (and ex-spy) finds himself the centre of attention from the Klingons since it was information provided by him to Starfleet that resulted in a massive 'group exercise' outside the wormhole headed by Admiral Jellico on the
Endurance which lead to the tense stand-off at the end of the previous season when the Obsidian Order and Romulan Tal'Shiar tried to take a fleet through the wormhole to attack the Founders homeworld. The Klingons, especially Martok's son Drex are very interested in knowing Garek's secrets- though they threaten they do not attack him due to orders.
Tensions are very high and when the Klingons start hassling civilian shipping demanding cargo inspections, and blood tests to prove crews are not Changeling's there is a tense stand-off between Martok and Sisko particularly after the
Xhosa, captained by Sisko's partner Kasidy Yates is stopped. Captain Sisko contacts Starfleet asking for the return of Jellico's fleet, only to be told that is not possible by Admiral Paris, instead he offers to send a Klingon expert, which Sisko has to accept. The next day the
Enterprise-D arrives bringing Lt Commander Worf to
DS9. This was the first appearance of the
Enterprise since the end of
TNG which pleased fans, though only Patrick Stewart, Marina Sirtis, and Michael Dorn would be seen in person. Picard briefs Sisko that Jellico's fleet shadowed the Cardassian and Romulan ones back out of Bajor and Federation space and is on holding duties in case they come back. The Klingons came uninvited as they felt 'slighted' by not being part of that fleet. Picard would be taking the
Enterprise to join Jellico as he had experience with stopping Romulan intrusions. He was lending Sisko Worf to see if he could help defuse tensions with the Klingons.
After an emotional goodbye with partner Deanna Troi who is staying on
Enterprise, Worf reports to Ops and a reunion with Chief O'Brien who he formally worked with on
Enterprise which warps away. Later on, in Quark's O'Brien introduces Worf to Dr Bashir and darts, and he meet a flirty Dax, who he rebuffs. When Drex hassles Starfleet personnel Worf uses the opportunity to pick a fight, taking his
d'k'tahg, which leads to a tense meeting with Martok. Worf demands to know why Martok's fleet is there, but the other Klingon will not tell him. Frustrated, Worf is working out on the holodeck when Dax interrupts his session and joins in. As they talk, she suggests there must be someone in the fleet who owes the House of Mogh a favour.
Inspired Worf seeks out Huraga whose House was saved by Worf's father Mogh. They get drunk together and Worf discovers the purpose of the Klingon fleet, and also something more disturbing. Worf has a private meeting with Sisko and Odo wherein Worf advises them that the fleet is here as they are expecting the Cardassian government to collapse due to Changeling interference and this is a 'stabilisation force' - an invasion force by another name. Worse, Huraga has served with Gowron for decades and he says the Chancellor has been behaving very oddly for a few months. Worf speculates he has been replaced by a Changeling.
The second half of the show was broadcast the week later - the show opened with the Klingon flagship IKS
Kahless arriving at the station carrying the Klingon Chancellor Gowron. Sisko and Gowron meet with Martok and Worf. It is a tense meeting with Gowron refusing to tell Sisko the reason for the Klingon build up, so Sisko begins guessing, from an invasion of Dominion space to attacking Cardassia. Gowron scoffs at the first, but hesitates at the second, at which point Worf jumps in and seizes on that. Gowron goes to say something but Martok proclaims there is evidence that the Cardassian government is infiltrated by Changeling's. Sisko demands the proof. He produces a hefty looking chef's knife and demands Gowron and Martok prove they are not Changeling's right now since they had not. Martok snatches up the knife, and cuts himself, followed by Worf and Sisko. Gowron grabs the knife and as he goes to cut himself, the knife changes into Odo forcing a Link with the Changeling posing as the Chancellor. The warriors in the room react as 'Gowron' forcibly ejects Odo from a linking, and even as Worf and Martok fire on him he transports out. Sisko orders a Red Alert, as Martok tries to contact the fleet, only to find he cannot get through.
They run to Ops to find that 'Gowron' is claiming that Sisko and Martok are Changeling's and ordering an attack on the station.
DS9 powers up- the repairs seen going on all previous season come to bear as the station is at full power and arms. Sisko order Kira to raise ships from Bajor, while Worf contacts Jellico or Picard. Martok manages to get through to various Klingon commanders and the Klingon fleet starts fighting itself. Sisko sends Dax, Martok and Worf to take the
Defiant out to target 'Gowron's' ship. A spectacular battle plays out on screen, complicated by the arrival of Gul Dukat with several
Galor class Cardassian ships who were bringing representatives of the new civilian Detapa Council now in charge of Cardassia to meet Bajorian representatives. Dukat throws himself into defending the station after a hurried briefing.
The
Defiant with help from the station, and Worf's knowledge sees the
Kahless crippled. Martox insists on going on-board to capture 'Gowron'. Worf goes with him, and they find pitched battles going on across the ship. They battle to the bridge and both take on the Changeling directly. It is Martok who get the killing blows in. As the Changeling dies it spits out "we are everywhere". Silence descends on the Bridge, before Worf orders the attack to cease. Huraga demands to know if Martok is now Chancellor...
The fallout from
Way of the Warrior would set tone for the rest of the season with paranoia and fear prevalent, leading to the attempted coup on Earth led by Admiral Leyton at the season climax. Martok would not become Chancellor, becoming Field Marshall of the Klingon forces as war loomed. Worf's brother Kurn stepped into the Chancellorship propelling the House of Mogh to the top. Worf himself would return to the
Enterprise, though he would not stay there, eventually becoming Ambassador to the Klingon Empire after
Nemesis scattered the
Enterprise crew in 2002.
July 19, 2003: Since the end of
Excelsior in June 2002 there had not been any live action
Star Trek on TV. Therefore, there was high expectations for the
Star Trek panel at San Diego Comic-Con. What was announced really surprised the con-goers and wider fanbase.
Star Trek on TV was being rested for 'a few years' instead an animated
Excelsior series was coming called
Star Trek: The Lions of the Night and a sequel to successful
Nemesis ‘was on the way’, though no details were provided. Sir Patrick Stewart was on hand to discuss the movie in broad strokes, and to the delight of fans he was joined on stage by Avery Brooks. The two actors revealed only titbits, but Brooks did at one-point joke it was about Sisko and Picard playing three hours of poker on the Holodeck with Spock and Data, which brought the house down.
June 13, 2006: A part of the 40th Anniversary celebrations the movie
Star Trek: Discovery premiers at the second
Star Trek Experience park in Iowa.
The film sees a 2381 joint operation by the
Deep Space Nine and
Next Generation crews to investigate the source of signals in the Gamma Quadrant that seem to be coming from a Starfleet source. The movie gave fans the first look at the lives of the
DS9 crew since the end of the show in 1999, with the dispersal of the crew post Dominion War and updated the fans on the
TNG crew's lives post the events of 2002’s
Nemesis, wherein they had been accused of killing the entire Romulan Senate during a diplomatic visit to Romulus, and the split up of the famous crew during the fallout.
The movie opens with the
Dreadnought Class USS
Enterprise-D arriving at station
Deep Space Nine after receiving Priority One orders to head there. Captain Riker is met by Captain Sisko who takes him to the conference room where they are met by Admiral Picard, who is taking charge of the operation. During the briefing Chief O'Brien (last seen leaving the station for an engineering job on Bajor) announced he was part of the Federation crew developing the
Gateway station at the Gamma Quadrant mouth of the wormhole, and it was him that had found the signals. It was a simple SOS with no identifiers, other than being on a Starfleet code. There is debate on what it means, however given Picard has a priority in ensuring they do not break the Treaty of Bajor that ended the war, the Dominion Observer on-board is brought in so Picard can ask for formal permission to traverse Dominion space, this is Jem’hadar Honoured Elder Goran'Agar, who informs them that it will need to be taken to the Founders directly.
There is a moment for crews to say a few words with partners- Sisko talks to his son Jake and wife Kasidy on the Promenade, Worf and Troi share a moment on the ‘Embassy Row’, Dax and Lenara share a moment in their quarters, O’Brien video calls his wife Keiko and his two children on Bajor, and Bashir gets a moment with his husband Garek before the order comes to leave.
After a spectacular Wormhole traversing sequence, the two ships travel towards the Founders home world, halfway they detect Dominion ships and the
Defiant cloaks, heading away from
Enterprise. The flagship is met by Jem’hadar ships and Weyoun who insist on a bureaucratic interpretation of the Treaty, and as expected, ties up Picard in red tape. Meanwhile
Defiant slips towards the Founders home world using the ‘Advanced Cloak’ Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge has developed during the
Enterprise’s time in Romulan space as part of the Federation’s efforts to stabilise the Empire. They arrive and broadcast directly to the Great Link, leading to Captain Sisko and Colonel Kira beaming down to converse with Odo, the shape-shifting former Security Chief of
DS9. Odo grants the permission but insists on travelling with the crew (along with Weyoun and a party of Jem’hadar guards) as Ambassador, and also partly to be with Kira again.
La Forge is not the only crewmember on the ‘wrong’ ship with Jadiza Dax and O’Brien trying to triangulate the signal on
Enterprise, and Data covering for Dax on
Defiant. Ambassador Odo is given guest quarters on
Enterprise, which sees some tense Jem'Hadar stand-off’s with Commander Madden’s security forces.
As they get through Dominion space the two ships start coming across hostile forces, there is a battle vs ships unknown even to Odo.
Enterprise and
Defiant struggle but prevail. Eventually the source of the signal is tracked down to a ship in orbit of a Class M Earth like world, and discovered to be coming from the
Enterprise-B! Lost since 2321 while on a diplomatic mission, she had been presumed long destroyed. The
Excelsior class ship has been seemingly stripped for parts and barely functional. An away team is sent over under Riker.
They are hailed from the surface by the Prime Minister- a being who wears the face of Captain Kirk, (played with great ham by William Shatner). Kirk explains they are now in the Confederation, a civilisation of worlds operating under the distracted noses of the Dominion. A dinner is arranged on the surface. Diplomatic Officer Troi informs them that she can sense there is much more going on making Picard and Sisko even more wary of the offer. Picard order the crews to maintain active scanning of the system.
At that point Riker signals from the
Enterprise-B, they have found many dead and one comatose body in stasis. Doctor's Crusher and Bashir work to revive the unconscious Klingon male, who was badly injured before he ended up in a stasis field. Meanwhile Data and Dax work to access the
Enterprise B's computers. The crews need to know what the
Enterprise's last mission was as it is missing from their databases.
To buy time, Picard, Sisko, Troi, Data, Kira, and secretly Odo beam down to the planet. The place is technologically advanced, and populated by multiple alien lifeforms, but occasionally an Andorian, Human, Caitlin, or Vulcan can be seen. PM Kirk entertains them with ritualised non-lethal combat not unlike Klingon forms, but different, like it was only read about not witnessed. Attempts to learn about the history of the world are rebuffed, though they keep the grandstanding Kirk talking, and with careful questioning they learn this being only has partly memories of his time in Starfleet, leading to more questions.
Enterprise and Defiant, 2381 by thefirstfleet
O’Brien has been digging into odd signals he has been receiving, and with help from La Forge, Lt Nog, and Jem’hadar First Taran'atar they uncover a massive fleet of cloaked ships in this seemingly lightly defended system. The Starfleet ships are utterly outgunned and surrounded. Meanwhile, the Doctor’s succeed in waking their patient, whom they have identified as General Worf, ancestor of Ambassador Worf, a former crewmate of theirs. Worf informs them of the last mission of the
Enterprise-B.
Flashback: In 2321 Captain Chekov’s
Enterprise-B comes to Quo’nos to discuss the violent Cardassian Union’s attacks on Federation and Klingon ships. Ambassador Kirk and General Worf make a visit to the area to discuss matters at
Starbase 310 but are beset by Cardassian ships- they make a run for it, pushing the spaceframe's limits, then they take a major damage and crash out of warp in an unknown system, therein they find themselves shallowed by a (familiar to the audience) wormhole. They transition badly, and effectively fall out of the wormhole powerless, with most of the crew KO. An alien ship arrives (similar to the designs seen earlier) and takes the
Enterprise in tow.
A montage shows the aliens, who are shadowy, smoky forms, merging with crewmembers and effectively processing them causing loss of control and memories. Some like Chekov and Worf manage to escape the Wisps. Under ‘Kirk’ a slightly twisted version of the Federation is shown being established- its expansionist and militaristic where the Federation is defensive and exploratory. Chekov’s Resistance grows, picking up alien allies and conducting raids. First contact with Dominion sees the Confederation beaten down militarily and they impose a new level of control over the Confederation which is a new complexity for the Resistance. Then a few years ago something distracted the Dominion- their forces vanished, and never came back, allowing the Confederation’s leadership to flex its muscles. The Resistance was betrayed and crumbled- Chekov is seen mounting a last-ditch firefight ((Walter Koenig was clearly enjoying himself) while Worf and a few last fighters manage to escape to space to activate the
Enterprise-B's emergency beacon during a firefight, before he fell into stasis. Worf now thinks it may have been a trap…
At the dinner Sisko manages to get Kirk taking about what his plans are. Kirk expresses (fake) surprise they are here at all, but now they are here they can help them conquer the Dominion. Picard tries to explain that is impossible, but Kirk smiles and several Wisps enter the room, moving to try and possess the crew. At this point Odo makes himself known and shields the away team, while Kira signals for emergency beam out. They dissolve in a transport beam as Kirk shouts for his warriors.
Enterprise and
Defiant then have an extended spectacular battle vs the Confederation’s forces- both ships end up badly damaged as they run for the Dominion border-
Enterprise uses its lance to take out multiple ships at once, but nearly loses shields due to the power taken up.
Defiant rolls and curves among the enemy, picking off ships really showing her manoeuvrability. They reach the known boarder of Dominion space, where Dominion forces slam into the Confederation, before Kirk orders a retreat from his
Vengeance battlecruiser.
Vengeance
There is a conference at the
Gateway station- Odo says the Dominion will consider this is an internal matter, but Picard insists the Federation cannot ignore the violation of its citizens and will be keen to peruse a course of recovering its people- based on their examination of Worf, and the
Enterprise-B dead, Bashir and Crusher are sure the Wisps control can be disrupted. Both sides agree to wait for decisions from Command or the Great Link.
As they talk the movie cuts to a cabin wherein the Away Team sent to the
Enterprise-B are meeting including Riker- who reveal they are hosting Wisps...
Star Trek: Discovery was made for a budget of $150 million and was a box office smash bringing in $390.1 million. Some critics and fans consider it a bit derivative of
Trek plots gone before, but general audiences lapped it up and Rotten Tomatoes rated it 92% ‘fresh’. A sequel was greenlit.
