5 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Episodes With Great Space Battles

When “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” debuted, it got backlash for breaking the franchise formula. The series took place on a space station, orbiting planet Bajor and a nearby wormhole, rather than a starship. (Though DS9 got an attached ship, the Defiant, in Season 3.)

Yet contrary to what you might expect from the stationary setting, “Deep Space Nine” was the most action-packed and propulsive “Star Trek” show yet. Case in point: The pilot, “Emissary,” actually shows the vaunted Battle of Wolf 359, where a Borg cube slices up a 40-ship-strong Federation fleet. On “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” only the aftermath of Wolf 359 was shown, but “Deep Space Nine” threw viewers into the trenches; the series’ lead, Ben Sisko (Avery Brooks), was on the USS Saratoga during Wolf 359.

Sisko himself was also more a man of action than Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) or even James T. Kirk (William Shatner). “Deep Space Nine” repeatedly showed that unlike most Starfleet captains, Sisko is the kind of man who will sacrifice principles for the greater good, even if he doesn’t like it. That quality makes him the kind of leader you want on your side in a war — which is good for Starfleet, because the last two “Deep Space Nine” seasons see the Federation and its allies thrown into a full-scale war with the Dominion, the reigning power in the Gamma Quadrant (the section of space on the other side of the wormhole). “Deep Space Nine” was the first “Star Trek” show to depict a seasons-long war arc, and it resulted in numerous epic space battles.

Both the original “Star Trek” and “The Next Generation” have some episodes with thrilling space battles, but thanks to the Dominion War, “Deep Space Nine” has them far outranked.

In 49 BC, Julius Caesar defied orders of the Roman Senate and brought his troops over the Rubicon River into Italy. History says that before doing so, Caesar declared, “Alea iacta est” — “The die is cast.” Those four translated words have become an idiom meaning someone has done something that can’t be undone, but they’re remembered as a confident, badass boast because Caesar won. What if he hadn’t?

The “Deep Space Nine” episode titled after “The Die Is Cast” has one suggestion. In the previous episode, “Improbable Cause,” Odo (Rene Auberjonois) and Garak (Andrew Robinson) discover the Cardassians’ Obsidian Order and the Romulans’ Tal Shiar have formed an alliance. With a fleet of cloaked ships from both intelligence agencies, they plan to launch a surprise attack on the Dominion Founders’ homeworld in the Gamma Quadrant, preemptively ending the threat of Dominion invasion. 

Except the Founders have an inside man. (They’re shapeshifters, after all). The Romulan-Cardassian fleet is lured into a trap; the Founders’ homeworld has been evacuated, so the barrage the Romulan and Cardassians fire at it proves utterly fruitless. Then, a much, much larger Dominion fleet reveals itself. The battle is indeed a massacre, but not what the Tal Shiar and Obsidian Order had in mind.

The Dominion War is still a few seasons away, but this space battle hammers home the threat. The Romulan ships, especially, are D’deridex class warbirds. “Star Trek: The Next Generation” showed these Romulan warships to be absolute powerhouses that easily dwarfed the Enterprise-D. Their cloaks, too, also reflect the Romulans’ famous craftiness. Seeing those enormous ships get blown away after the Tal Shiar themselves get outplayed by Dominion infiltration? It’s a genuinely nerve-wracking display of the Dominion’s power.

The Federation and the Klingon Empire have a turbulent history. They were enemies for much of the 23rd century, but when “Next Generation” jumped ahead to the 24th century, the Federation and Klingons had become allies. The show even featured Worf (Michael Dorn), the first Klingon in Starfleet.

“Deep Space Nine” Season 4 added Worf to the main cast; Sisko calls for him after a huge Klingon fleet arrives at DS9. Paranoid about Dominion infiltration, the Klingons are preparing to invade Cardassia. The Federation opposes this move, the alliance breaks down, and the Klingon Empire becomes Starfleet’s enemies again. The Klingon fleet, led by Chancellor Gowron (Robert O’Reilly) and General Martok (J.G. Hertzler), even attacks Deep Space Nine. 

Later episodes will reveal this was actually Dominion infiltrators among the Klingons who wanted to break the strongest military alliance in the Alpha Quadrant (but that’s a story for another time). Even without knowing that in “The Way of the Warrior,” it’s downright painful to see the Federation and Klingons shooting at each other again.

DS9 is far outnumbered. The episode shows a variety of Klingon ships, from small birds-of-prey to imposing Vor’cha class battlecruisers, and that diversity underlines the size of the fleet. With only one large target, the Klingons swarm the station, but that gives DS9 a chance to show off how well-armed the station is. Many Klingon ships are destroyed, but there can be no surrender. Gowron declares, “Today is a good day to die” — basically the Klingons’ own version of “The die is cast.” Once the Klingons’ soften up DS9’s shields, they even beam soldiers aboard to directly attack the station’s crew. On top of the thrilling space battle, “The Way of the Warrior” offers great melee action scenes, too.

“Deep Space Nine” Season 5 builds up to the Dominion conflict turning into a hot war, which it finally does in the season finale, “Call to Arms.” The first battle is fittingly waged at Deep Space Nine; the Dominion and their Cardassian vassals want ready access to the wormhole so as to replenish their forces. The Federation and Klingons have mended fences, so Martok (the real Martok; the one introduced back in “Way of the Warrior” was revealed to be a Changeling imposter) helps out in the station’s defense.

But one station, Martok’s bird of prey (the IKS Rotarran), and the Defiant? That measly warhost stands no hope of holding back a whole Dominion fleet, at least not forever. Knowing evacuation is inevitable, our heroes spend the episode trying to hold their ground only long enough to set up a minefield around the wormhole.

The Dominion, having strengths in numbers, attacks DS9 in waves. The fight is rendered with numerous impressive VFX shots of Dominion and Cardassian ships swooping in to fire at DS9, guns blazing — only to often find guns on the other side blazing back. Even so, once the minefield is set up, Sisko knows staying further would only be a matter of pride. The Defiant and Rotarran flee, leading to an impressive visual of them cloaking together, side-by-side, and literally slipping through the Dominion fleet by disappearing.

“Call to Arms” ends Season 5, and launches the Dominion War, on an uncertain note. Bajor is officially neutral in the conflict, meaning the non-Starfleet characters stay behind on the now-annexed DS9; war has torn the main cast apart already. The final shot of the episode, the main characters rendezvousing with an enormous Federation and Klingon fleet, shows this war will be long and painful.

The opening episodes of “Deep Space Nine” Season 6 are essentially a six-part serialized narrative about the early conflicts of the Dominion War. Carrying on from where “Call to Arms” left off, half the main cast are on the Dominion-occupied station, and the other half is aboard the Defiant fighting on the war’s frontlines. Those two paths converge once more in “Sacrifice of Angels,” when the Federation retakes DS9.

What, you didn’t think Starfleet was going to leave the station in Dominion hands forever, did you? The show is called “Deep Space Nine,” for goodness’ sake! This time, the Defiant comes with a full armada of Federation ships behind it. Except they’re still outnumbered 2-1 by the Dominion ships. Worse, the minefield is on the cusp of deactivation, after which thousands more Dominion reinforcements will be coming through the wormhole.

As the climax of a six-episode arc, “Sacrifice of Angels” features not one space battle sequence contained to a portion of the episode. Rather, the battle is the whole narrative spine, and is waged across almost the entire episode. Frames filled with dozens upon dozens of starships weaving beside each other highlight the enormous scale of the battle.

There are also several remarkable shots of glorious, fiery starship deaths; the Dominion War solidified the Miranda class as the red shirt of Starfleet ships. But despite the odds, the Federation prevails. Some late-arriving Klingons punch a hole in the Dominion’s line, but it ultimately comes down to a more literal deus ex machina. Sisko is the emissary of the “prophets,” the noncorporeal aliens who live inside the wormhole. As the Defiant stares down the Dominion fleet coming through the wormhole, Sisko asks the prophets for a rare favor. They grant it, and the enemy ships disappear.

The Dominion War continues across “Deep Space Nine” Season 6, with the Romulans later entering the war on the Federation-Klingon alliance’s side. In the Season 6 finale, “Tears of the Prophets,” the alliance goes on the offensive against the Dominion. With the Defiant as tip of the spear, they launch an invasion of the under-defended, Cardassian-held Chin’toka system and seize it, making inroads into enemy territory.

The alliance forces divide and conquer. The Klingons, led by Martok, engage the Dominion ship squadrons, leading to a brutal sequence of the ships’ fanatical Jem’Hadar fighters ramming numerous Klingon ships, inflicting heavy casualties. The Federation and Romulans engage a new type of adversary: a system of automated weapons platforms protecting the systems’ planets. Several shots of the weapons platforms pinning down and slicing Federation/Romulan ships to pieces instantly sell their threat. Subsequently, the Defiant pulling off a bombing run on the asteroid containing the weapons platforms’ power system — including tricking the platforms into firing on their own generator — is one of the most thrilling space battle sequences in all of “Deep Space Nine.”

The Chin’toka system battle hangs over the rest of “Deep Space Nine.” A rematch in “The Changing Face of Evil” sees the Dominion retake the system with help from some new allies, the Breen. The final battle of the Dominion War in the series finale, “What You Leave Behind,” also relies a fair bit on stock footage from past battles, including “Tears of the Prophets.” The stakes are higher in “What You Leave Behind,” but the repeated footage makes it fall just a tad short of the earlier battles that first showcased it.

Still, compared to the other classic “Star Trek” shows, there is an embarrassment of riches with all the epic space battles in “Deep Space Nine.”