History Literature / ShipOfTheLine

Picard arrives to meet Gul Madred and threatens him with his daughter's life unless he reveals the location of the prisoners. Madred relents, only to learn that Picard was bluffing. He still takes Picard to retrieve the captives and learns that it was his own daughter who informed Starfleet about them, which breaks the man. Picard learns about the ''Enterprise'' being hijacked and on its way to Cardassia. He is given command of three Cardassian warships and has them crewed by the freed prisoners, moving to intercept the Federatiom flagship.

* MilitaryMaverick: Bateson's views on Starfleet and Klingons are outmoded in the 24th century, but with the tensions with the Empire on the rise, Starfleet Command thinks that Bateson may be the right man for the job of commanding the flagship. Bateson takes the ship to the border in order to run war games right under the Klingons' noses to bait them into making a move. After Kozara succeeds in taking over the ship, he admits he was wrong and wants Riker to glory. Riker, for his part, points out that he was right. The Klingons were preparing for trouble. Bateson's trap forced them to move before they were ready.

* ClipShow: Picard is able to interact with holographic recreations of Captain Kirk's original mission. He sees the events of [[StarTrekS1E5TheEnemyWithin "The Enemy Within"]] and [[StarTrekS1E14BalanceOfTerror "Balance of Terror."]] Picard is able to interact with Kirk in the recreation.

* BadassBeard: Bateson's beard is constantly described as a "[[Literature/TheThreeMusketeers musketeer]] beard". And, of course, there's Riker's beard as well. Bateson jokes that one of them is going to have to shave, or else everyone aboard the ''Enterprise'' will want to grow one. Cue Deanna piping up, "Don't look at me!"

In 2278, a Klingon named Kozara tries to cross the Neutral Zone and attack Starbase 12 while all Starfleet ships are distracted at the border. The Klingon cruiser encounters a damaged border cutter, the USS ''Bozeman'', under the command of Captain Morgan Bateson, who is a longtime foe of Kozara. Kozara knows that if he leaves the small ship alone and heads for the starbase, the crew of the ''Bozeman'' will warn Starfleet, which could jeopardize the mission. Bateson has his people rig a comm buoy, set to transmit half an hour after being launched. Meanwhile, the ''Bozeman'' is evading the cruiser's powerful disruptor bolts. In desperation, Bateson orders the ship to hide in a small nebula. Upon exiting the nebula, the ''Bozeman'' nearly collides with the USS ''Enterprise''-D, and the crew learns they have been catapulted nine decades into the future. They are told that their sacrifice has allowed the original ''Enterprise'' to chase off Kozara and save the Starbase. With no reliable way back, they decide to make new lives in the 24th century.

** The ''Bozeman'' herself is described this way: as a workhorse of the fleet that will never reach the celebrity status of ships like the ''Enterprise'' but one toils loyally in obscurity.