Recap / Star Trek Deep Space Nine S 06 E 06 Sacrifice Of Angels
The resolution of a six-episode arc, and a direct sequel to Favor the Bold
, Sacrifice of Angels follows Sisko, again in command of Defiant
, and the displaced Deep Space Nine crew on the mission to retake the station from dominion forces.
After a series of costly defeats
at the hands of Dominion forces, the Federation Alliance must stop Gul Dukat from dismantling the minefield at the mouth of the Wormhole. So, without the support of the reluctant Klingon High Council, the severely undermanned Federation fleet sets off on Operation Return
to take back Deep Space Nine.
To get there, however, they'll have to go through a Dominion Fleet that outnumbers them more than two-to-one
This episode provides examples of:
- Big Badass Battle Sequence: Hell, yeah. Naturally, the Klingons join in.
- Big Damn Heroes: Several in the course of the episode.
- Worf and Martok bringing the Klingon fleet into the battle.
- Odo and his deputies.
- Quark, to even his surprise.
- Big "NO!": Dukat when Ziyal is killed.
- Bittersweet Ending: The good guys retake the station, but Ziyal is killed and Dukat is reduced to a shell of a man.
- Call Back: Sisko wins that barrel of bloodwine from Martok. Sisko declares that they'll drink it together.
- Chekhov's Gun: The station's Bajoran security force and their guns.
- Deus ex Wormhole: As if there was any other way to stop thousands of Jem'Hadar ships... Sisko had to goad the Prophets into doing it though.
- Endangered Soufflé: Though not because it was poorly cooked—because the guard's face fell into it.
- Foreshadowing: The female changeling predicting that Odo will rejoin the Greak Link eventually.
- Friend or Idol Decision: Odo's dilemma between returning to the Great Link or remaining loyal to his solid friends comes to a head, now that his friends' lives or way of life are in peril. He chooses loyalty over the Link.
- Go Ye Heroes, Go and Die: Bashir and O'Brien reciting The Charge of the Light Brigade was not helpful.
- Guns Akimbo: Quark during his Big Damn Heroes moment.
- Gunship Rescue: More accurately, an Armada Rescue. A Klingon armada, with Worf and General Martok at the fore, swoops in just in the nick of time.
- Infraction Distraction: Quark repeatedly asks the Cardassian jail guard not to mess with the Hasperat soufflé he's bringing Kira. This prompts him to inspect it more closely—and Ziyal sedates him.
- Jail Bake: Subverted with the Hasperat soufflé—it doesn't actually contain anything; it's just there to distract the guard while Ziyal hits him with the off-button hypospray.
- Know When to Fold 'Em / Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: With the Federation Alliance winning the battle and Dominion reinforcements not coming, Weyoun and the Founder rather casually decide it's time to leave DS9.
- Last Stand: One ship against 2800, and Sisko orders the Defiant into the wormhole anyway in order to live up to her name.
- Literal-Minded: Holding the Jem'Hadar guards at gunpoint, Quark says "Nobody move!" and then tells them to open the cells. Of course, they don't move, because Quark told them not to.
- Madness Mantra: Dukat.
- Must Make Amends: Odo makes up for his lapse in judgment two episodes ago via a Big Damn Heroes moment, and then covering for Kira and Rom as they attempt to stop the Dominion from destroying the minefield.
- Neutral No Longer: Sisko gave a "What the Hell, Hero?" speech to the Prophets over the Dominion War, which convinced them to ensure that no Dominion reinforcements will ever make it through the Wormhole... including a monstrous armada already transiting it. The armada just... disappears.
- Oh Crap!:
- Quark gets this expression when Kira, Jake, and Leeta are taken prisoner, realizing it's up to him to get them (and Rom) back out.
- The whole bridge crew to the size of the Dominion fleet.
- And again when they see the minefield blocking the wormhole destroyed.
- The Dominion gets a turn when the Defiant emerges from the wormhole...and the Dominion ships don't.
- Red Shirt: The Miranda-class starship seems to be showing its age, as shown in this episode. It's the first in a series of battles that shows their surprisingly high attrition rate; amounting to little more than cannon fodder.
- Shout-Out: O'Brien and Bashir quote Lord Tennyson's poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade". Appropriately, as there are around 600 Starfleet ships in the fleet.
- Status Quo Is God: After the status quo was broken in the fifth season finale, it's finally brought back with the Federation retaking Deep Space Nine from the Cardassians and the Dominion.
- Stuffed into the Fridge: A rare villainous example, as Ziyal is killed basically just so that Dukat could have a breakdown.
- Take Up My Sword: Sisko makes this an order to the fleet - anyone who breaks through the Dominion lines is to make a run straight for Deep Space Nine. Initially, the Defiant is the only ship that succeeds. But by the end of the battle more Alliance ships manage to slip out of the meat grinder.
- Trap Is the Only Option: During the battle, Dukat orders the Cardassian fleet to open a hole in their lines. Sisko immediately knows it's a trap, but decides that flying into it is the only way to break through.
- Villainous Breakdown: Dukat when the Dominion fleet doesn't come through the wormhole and it becomes clear that The Federation and the Klingons are winning the battle. Made worse by Ziyal's death.
- Visual Effects of Awesome: The first time Star Trek really used CGI to its full potential, pulling off a bigger battle scene than ever seen before. Particular mention goes to the early moment when a huge Galaxy-class ship thrusts towards the enemy...only for a second to fly in front at an angle and start blasting away at the Cardassians with its phasers. Unsurprisingly, this scene was repeatedly reused as Stock Footage for battles in future episodes.
- There's also the Klingons Big Damn Heroes moment, where a Klingon fleet arrives in the nick of time, dramatically lit with a sun behind them as they charge into the fray. This shot was also reused in at least one later episode.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Sisko chewing out the Prophets for not being inclined to help him. They accede, but at a cost to be exacted later.
- You Are Too Late: Kira and Rom's sabotage of the weapons array is too late to prevent the Dominion from destroying the minefield. It does, however, come in handy when the Defiant arrives at the wormhole (as the Dominion can't stop the ship from entering); also, after the Deus ex Wormhole mentioned above, the station is defenseless against the Defiant and the other ships who have broken through the line.
- You Do Not Want To Know: Garak asks how "The Charge of the Light Brigade" ends. O'Brien replies with this—which basically answers Garak's question.