History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E09Defiant

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Despite Kira vowing to rescue him, Thomas Riker is never seen or mentioned again in canon.

And the bad news doesn't stop there. With Dukat onboard the station, Odo delivers the info that Thomas Riker is a part of the Maquis. And he's in possession of a lethal new battleship. It's not hard to guess where they're heading with it. Sisko and Dukat reluctantly join forces and head for Cardassia Prime.

* CloningBlues: Kira suggests this is why Thomas Riker is so determined to carry through with a suicidal attack on Cardassia: as a way to set himself apart from William Riker, the successful first officer of the ''Enterprise''.

The bearded one is on his own vacation after Dr. Crusher finally forced him to take some time off. Running into Kira, he asks her to show him the new ''U.S.S. Defiant''. After a brief bit of harshness between Riker and O'Brien, Kira powers the ship up . . . and instantly gets phasered by Riker. Faking a plasma conduit malfunction, Riker makes off with the ship.

* GambitPileup: Sisko representing Starfleet works with Cardassian Central Command's Gul Dukat to stop the Maquis-controlled Defiant. The Maquis themselves believe there is a renegade Cardassian fleet in the Orias system out to attack them. The Obsidian Order observer, Korinas, states that any Central Command ships that enter the Orias system will be destroyed.

* MotiveMisidentification: Tom and the Maquis believe the fleet in the Orias System is being built for an all-out attack on the DMZ.

* GambitPileup : Sisko representing Starfleet works with Cardassian Central Command's Gul Dukat to stop the Maquis-controlled Defiant. The Maquis themselves believe there is a renegade Cardassian fleet in the Orias system out to attack them. The Obsidian Order observer, Korinas, states that any Central Command ships that enter the Orias system will be destroyed.

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: The Obsidian Order has known about the ''Defiant'' cloaking device, but intentionally withheld this information from the Central Command. Ostensibly, it's because the Order didn't consider this single cloaking device to be a threat to Cardassian national security. Unofficially, though, it's clearly another instance of the InterserviceRivalry between the two governmental branches.

* DoubleMeaningTitle: It describes both the titular ship, and that a version of William T. Riker is being "Defiant" of Star Fleet.

* MotiveMisidentification: Tom and the Maquis believe the fleet in the Orias System is being built for an all-out attack on the DMZ. [[spoiler: "Improbable Cause" and "The Die is Cast" will subsequently reveal they had the right idea, but they got the target wrong. The Obsidian Order's actually going after the Dominion instead.]]

* GambitPileup : Sisko representing Starfleet works with Cardassian Central Command's Gul Dukat to stop the Maquis-controlled Defiant. The Maquis themselves [[spoiler: believe there is a renegade Cardassian fleet in the Orias system out to attack them. The Obsidian Order observer, Korinas, states that any Central Command ships that enter the Orias system will be destroyed. In "Improbable Cause", we learn that the fleet in the Orias system is a marshaling of Obsidian Order and Romulan Tal Shiar ships to take out the Founders]].

* GambitPileup : Sisko representing Starfleet works with Cardassian Central Command's Gul Dukat to stop the Maquis-controlled Defiant. The Maquis themselves [[spoiler: believe there is a renegade Cardassian fleet in the Orias system out to attack them. The Obsidian Order observer, Corinas, states that any Central Command ships that enter the Orias system will be destroyed. In "Improbable Cause", we learn that the fleet in the Orias system is a marshaling of Obsidian Order and Romulan Tal Shiar ships to take out the Founders]].

* OhCrap: Dukat when told the ''Defiant'' was hijacked for the Maquis.

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: Discussed when Kira chews out Riker and his crew of terrorists for ''not'' going on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge with the hijacked ''Defiant''. She tells Riker that if she had a ship like that under her command during the Occupation, she'd have blasted Terok Nor to bits, then continued on to Cardassia Prime and levelled the planet from orbit, killing any Cardassians that tried to stop her. Instead, Riker and his Maquis crew are acting like Starfleet officers on an intelligence-gathering mission.

* WhamLine: "You did it, Tom."

Kira's is getting run ragged by work order after work order around the station. It finally comes to a head when she snaps at Bashir, who needs a runabout to transport medical supplies. The good doctor notes how overworked and stressed she is, and he forces her to take some time off.

It's time to spin the "Kira is pissed off" wheel. The winner this week is . . . overworked!

Yes, [=DS9=]'s walking temper tantrum is getting run ragged by work order after work order around the station. It finally comes to a head when she snaps at Bashir, who needs a runabout to transport medical supplies. The good doctor notes how overworked and stressed she is, and he forces her to take some time off.

The ''Defiant'' is headed for the system with an entire Cardassian fleet on their tail. Things get odd when they arrive. Three Cardassian ships move from the planet to defend it. Under the command of the Obsidian Order—who are forbidden to have said ships.

Dukat won't accept that until Sisko makes a concession: Sisko will give him the logs and Riker—so long as Thomas isn't sentenced to death, as the Cardassians are so apt to do.

* CallBack:

* CloningBlues: Kira suggests this is why Thomas Riker is so determined to carry through with a suicidal attack on Cardassia: as a way to set himself apart from William Riker, the successful first officer of the ''Enterprise''.
* ContinuityNod: Maquis member Kalita, from TNG's "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E23PreemptiveStrike Preemptive Strike]]", reappears as part of Thomas' crew.

* DoctorsOrders: Bashir brings Kira up short by invoking his authority as CMO to immediately relieve her of duty. When she protests, he states that not even Commander Sisko can override his judgment in matters of a medical nature.
** "Will" Riker's excuse for showing up on the station unannounced, he claims Dr. Crusher ordered him to take some shore leave.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Dukat spends most of the episode stewing because [[PulledFromYourDayOff he missed his son's 11th birthday party]].
-->"When my son looks back on this day, the only thing he'll remember is that a Federation officer, on a Federation ship invaded his home, and kept his father away from him on his eleventh birthday, and he won't look back with understanding. He'll look back with hatred, and that's sad."

** Tom in general is a little out of character as "Will", for those watching for the subtle signs. He doesn't stride with quite the same confidence, he seems slightly nervous giving his excuse for being there to Sisko and is outwardly freaked out when Dax reminds him they've met (he quickly puts two-and-two together who she is & fumbles through a vague response that is careful to look real but not accidentally get any details wrong that Tom wouldn't have known about). At various points Tom talks about 'not feeling like' going to Quark's despite this being his stated aim for being there. And while he charms Kira, he doesn't outright seduce her the same way we'd expect Will to. He seems to be operating on a clock to hijack the ''Defiant'' and finally is noticeably agitated when he realizes O'Brien (who Will served with for years, but Tom has never met) could blow his cover so close to achieving the goal, hence why he snaps at him. But there's a lot of really subtle acting from Jonathan Frakes throughout the early parts of the episode to hint at this not quite being Commander Riker.

* GambitPileup : Sisko representing Starfleet works with Cardassian Central Command's Gul Dukat to stop the Maquis-controlled Defiant. The Maquis themselves [[spoiler: believe there is a renegade Cardassian fleet in the Orias system out to attack them. The Obsidian Order observer, Corinas, states that any Central Command ships that enter the Orias system will be destroyed. In "Improbable Cause", we learn that the fleet in the Orias system is a marshaling of Obsidian Order and Romulan Tal Shiar ships to take out the Founders]].
* {{Hammerspace}}: Where Thomas Riker got that phaser from, nobody quite wants to know. But he definitely wasn't wearing it a few seconds before that.
** Riker ''was'' standing at a tactical console. Starfleet tactical stations are often known to have sidearms placed under the console.

* NoodleIncident: Pretending to be Will, Thomas claims to have once walked away from Quark's with a small fortune and a dabo girl. Based on what Jadzia says, the story has at least some truth to it.
** The incident is also referenced in the ''TNG'' episode "Firstborn." Quark apparently wasn't able to give Riker his entire payout, and still owed him a large sum of money. Riker uses this as leverage to pry information out of him.

* PragmaticVillainy: Dukat's briefing with Sisko and Odo shows both sides of it. He warns that the Cardassian government won't believe their story of a transporter duplicate stealing the ''Defiant''; instead, they'll insist the Federation let the Maquis have it and use this event as an excuse to attack the Demilitarized Zone in force. Dukat helps Sisko, however, out of concern of the Federation acting to defend their colonies and a war erupting during a tense situation.

** Riker's uniform looks a bit large on him. As we find out, it's not ''Thomas'' Riker's uniform. It's probably the first command red uniform he could get his hands on.

* SpotTheImposter: Averted with Thomas Riker since he ''is'' a perfect duplicate of Will, right down to fingerprints and voiceprint. Played straight later when Sisko points out the "Defiant" the Cardassians are chasing near Outpost 47 is a fake - the warp signature is right, but the phase variance and subspace harmonics don't match.
* StateSec: Averted as the Obsidian Order is forbidden from having military forces, presumably to maintain a BalanceOfPower with the military.
* StealthInsult: When Sisko is proven right about a suspected feint by the ''Defiant'', the Obsidian Order's liaison very passive-aggressively insults Dukat's command acumen by praising Sisko's.

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Averted with Sisko and Dukat, who get along fine while trying to navigate this crisis. Played straight with Dukat and his Obsidian Order observer.

* NotSoDifferent:
** Sisko and Dukat both know what it's like to have to break promises to their children because of their jobs.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when the Obsidian Order officer orders sensitive information locked down in Sisko's presence and Sisko notes that he'd do exactly the same thing if there were a Cardassian officer aboard [=DS9=]. Except he would've been more discreet.

* MotiveMisidentification: Tom and the Maquis believe the fleet in the Orias System is being built for an all-out attack on the DMZ. [[spoiler: "Improbable Cause" and "The Die is Cast" will subsequently reveal they had the right idea, but they got the target wrong: The Obsidian Order's gunning for the Dominion instead.]]

** The Obsidian Order's fleet of ships hidden in the Orias system would come into play a few episodes later.

** Despite being terrorists, Riker and his Maquis accomplices only attack Cardassian military targets during their incursion into Union territory. And even then, most of their attacks are hit-an-run raids and feints meant to draw patrols away from the uninhabited Orias system, which is their true objective.

* JurisdictionFriction: Officially, the Cardassian Central Command handles all military matters, while the Obsidian Order handles foreign intelligence and StateSec. However, as Dukat learns in this episode, the Order has started building their own fleet of warships in the Orias system, for an unknown purpose.

* SpotTheImposter: Averted with Thomas Riker since he ''is'' a perfect duplicate of Will, right down to fingerprints and voiceprint. Played straight later when Sisko points out the "''Defiant''" the Cardassians are chasing near Outpost 47 is a fake - the warp signature is right, but the phase variance and subspace harmonics don't match.

* ItsAllAboutMe: When Tom Riker refuses to abort his run on the Orias system, even though he has Central Command ships chasing him and Obsidian Order ships in front of his, Kira realizes the mission is more about one-upping his counterpart, Will Riker, than it is about stopping the Cardassians.

'''Kira:''' It's not the mission you're thinking about, is it? Or even the colonists in the zone. This is about you, isn't it? You and that other Will Riker out there. The man with your face, your name, your career. You are looking for a way to set yourself apart. Some way to be different.

** Tom in general is a little out of character as "Will", for those watching for the subtle signs. He doesn't stride with quite the same confidence, he seems slightly nervous giving his excuse for being there to Sisko and is outwardly freaked out when Dax reminds him they've met (he quickly puts two-and-two together who she is & fumbles through a vague response that is careful to look real but not accidentally get any details wrong that Tom wouldn't have known about). At various points Tom talks about 'not feeling like' going to Quark's despite this being his stated aim for being there. And while he charms Kira, he doesn't outright seduce her the same way we'd expect Will to. He seems to be operating on a clock to hijack Defiant and finally is noticably agitated when he realizes O'Brien (who Will served with for years, but Tom has never met) could blow his cover so close to achieving the goal, hence why he snaps at him. But there's a lot of really subtle acting from Jonathan Frakes throughout the early parts of the episode to hint at this not quite being Commander Riker.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Kira chews out Riker and his crew of terrorists for ''not'' doing this after hijacking the ''Defiant''. She tells Riker that if she had a ship like that under her command during the Occupation, she'd have blasted Terok Nor to bits, then continued on to Cardassia Prime and leveled the place from orbit, killing any Cardassians that stood in her way. Instead, the Maquis are acting like Starfleet officers on an intelligence-gathering mission.

* TheMenFirst: Turns out that like Will Riker, Tom cares about the lives of his crew, which Kira uses to convince him to surrender.