| Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode | |
| "Defiant" | |
 The Defiant is stolen |
|
| Episode no. | 55 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 455 |
| Airdate | November 21, 1994 |
| Writer(s) | Ronald D. Moore |
| Director | Cliff Bole |
| Guest star(s) | Jonathan Frakes as Riker Shannon Cochran as Kalita Marc Alaimo as Dukat Tricia O'Neil as Korinas Robert Kerbeck as Cardassian Soldier Michael Canavan as Tamal |
| Year | 2371 |
| Stardate | 48467.3 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous | "Meridian" |
| Next | "Fascination" |
"Defiant" is an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the ninth episode of the third season. It maintains a fan rating of 4.7 out of 5 on the official Star Trek Website.
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 previously. 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 or spend the rest of his 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 Next Generation episode "The Wounded", wherein Captain Benjamin Maxwell had to be stopped from destroying Cardassian ships and stations, which would have upset the delicate peace.
Trivia
- Thomas Riker in this episode calls the Defiant a "tough little ship" which is the same thing William Riker says to Worf in Star Trek First Contact.
- In this episode, Thomas discovers the secret fleet being organized by the Cardassian Obsidian Order which would later be used to attack the Dominion in the episode "The Die is Cast".
External links
- Defiant (episode) at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
- Defiant article at STARTREK.COM, the official Star Trek website
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