History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E05FavorTheBold

* ShoutOut: Admiral Coburn objects to Sisko's plan out of fear that the Dominion will ignore the defense of the wormhole and instead launch an attack on Earth. This is taken from a scene in ''[[Film/Midway1976 Midway]]'', in which an admiral expresses concern that Admiral Nimitz's plan will leave Hawaii vulnerable to the Japanese. For bonus points, the Starfleet admiral shares his name with Creator/JamesCoburn, who played the same skeptical admiral in the film.

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: The Bajoran deputy is more than a little uneasy at having to stand guard with a Jem'Hadar.

** Martok's plan to convince Gowron to commit KDF assets to Operation Return. Even as the Chancellor's most trusted General, Martok knows his recommendation alone isn't enough to persuade Gowron to sign off on such a risky action. So, he convinces Worf -- still out of favor with Gowron and considered an enemy -- to accompany him to make the plea. As Martok reasons, if Gowron's two greatest enemies and allies are ''both'' telling him the same thing, it'll have more weight with the Chancellor and is more likely to persuade him. Next episode will prove Martok's instincts were right.

** Martok's plan to convince Gowron to commit KDF assets to Operation Return. Even as Gowron's most trusted General, Martok knows his recommendation alone isn't enough to persuade Gowron to sign off on such a risky action. So, he convinces Worf -- still out of favor with Gowron and considered an enemy -- to accompany him to make the plea. As Martok reasons, if Gowron's two greatest enemies and allies are ''both'' telling him the same thing, it'll have more weight with the Chancellor and is more likely to persuade him.

Kira then contacts Ziyal to see if she can convince her father Dukat to pardon Rom. Ziyal agrees and tries to argue that, by freeing the spouse of a Bajoran, Dukat can create a reputation for himself as a savior of Bajor. Dukat balks at the idea, and the pair descend into a bitter argument, causing Ziyal to storm away.

** Subverted when Dukat recognizes that Kira would not have put herself at risk of reprisals by punching out Damar, and that she only would have done so if [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes he hurt Ziyal]]. Despite their relationship being frosty at that moment, Dukat demands to know exactly what Damar did to provoke Kira.

* WoundedGazelleGambit: During the Cold Open, the Defiant was loudly pretending to be critically wounded (Sending out distress signals, taking their phasers offline, setting their shields to 30%, and venting warp core plasma behind them) to lure out Dominion ships so a nearby cloaked Rotarran can take them out.

* LackOfEmpathy: The Female Changeling's lack of regard for anything that's not another changeling shines through; when Odo describes the solids' love for freedom, she remarks that the Dominion will need to "break" them of that. She brushes it off as a poor choice of words (naturally, the result of solids' language being to imprecise, rather than any fault of her own), but it's enough to start weakening her hold over Odo, who isn't yet too far gone.

** Martok's plan to convince Gowron to commit KDF assets to Operation Return. Even as Gowron's most trusted General, Martok knows his recommendation alone isn't enough to persuade Goweon to sign off on such a risky action. So, he convinces Worf -- still out of favor with Gowron and considered an enemy -- to accompany him to make the plea. As Martok reasons, if Gowron's two greatest enemies and allies are ''both'' telling him the same thing, it'll have more weight with the Chancellor and is more likely to persuade him.

* DumbMuscle: Kira describes Nausicans this way and reasons that they'd be no use in breaking Rom out of jail.

** Quark's integrity is on display in this episode as his BigBrotherInstinct kicks in hard. He convinces Zek to offer to buy Rom's freedom and later hires some Nausicans to try to bust him out, though Kira nixes that idea.

After several skirmishes in which the Defiant is able to destroy Dominion ships, only to be told to fall back, Dax takes Sisko to task over the low morale that the crew is under. Aware of the situation, Sisko has formulated a plan to retake Deep Space Nine. When he presents his plan to Starfleet brass the next day, they express concern about how lightly defended Earth would become. Sisko, however, insists that the Wormhole is the key to controlling the Alpha Quadrant, and that whoever controls Deep Space Nine controls the wormhole. The Starfleet brass approve the plan, but the Klingons are not yet on board, so Martok and Worf leave in hopes of convincing Gowron.

Sisko leads his fleet in the ''Defiant''. Several hours away from the Deep Space Nine, they detect that the Dominion has 1,254 ships, a 2-to-1 advantage against the Federation. The battle to retake Deep Space Nine is about to begin. A grim Sisko announces, "There's an old saying: 'Fortune favors the bold.' Well, I guess we're about to find out."

After several skirmishes in which the Defiant is able to destroy Dominion ships, only to be told to fall back, Dax takes Sisko to task over the low morale that the crew is under. Aware of the situation, Sisko has formulated a plan to retake Deep Space Nine. When he presents his plan to Starfleet brass the next day, they express concern about how lightly defended Earth would become. Sisko, however, insists that that the Wormhole is the key to controlling the Alpha Quadrant, and that whoever controls Deep Space Nine controls the wormhole. The Starfleet brass approve the plan, but the Klingons are not yet on board, so Martok and Worf leave in hopes of convincing Gowron.

* SpannerInTheWorks: The Station's Graviton Emitter ends up being this for Operation Return. Sisko and Ross obviously had no way of knowing the Dominion had finally figured out how to disable the minefield when they drafted the battle plan. Once they received Morn's smuggled message, it throws the entire plan into disarray and Sisko's forced to launch early with only half the intended Starfleet ships (and none of the hoped-for Klingon reinforcements).