Relations between the Federation and the Klingon Empire have degraded to open hostility. Dax and Sisko narrowly escape a Klingon attack as they return to the station. Sisko tells Kira that Starfleet has cooked up a mission to infiltrate the Klingons and expose Gowron as a Changeling. Leading the squad will be Sisko himself.
Sisko goes to meet Odo, who is drowning his sorrows over having been turned into a human. Sisko tells him that he needs his security skills for the upcoming mission in spite of his lack of shapechanging. The pair then join O'Brien and Worf in a debriefing session to go over the attack. They will use modified polaron emitters to force Gowron to revert to liquid form. To get at him, they'll modify their appearances to look like Klingons and hitch a ride in Dukat's Bird-of-Prey so they can meld into a ceremony recognizing new commendations into the Order of the Bat'Leth.
On the way there, Dukat arranges to insert the four new Klingons into the roster for commendations. Worf coaches the other three on how to act like a Klingon, and only Sisko takes to it with gusto. They're confronted by another Bird-of-Prey, but Dukat simply blasts it out of space rather than try to talk them down. The crew arrives at Ty'Gokor, and Dukat says he's going to leave them there, since they won't need a ride back from him whether they succeed or not.
At the ceremony, the four agents mix into the crowd and attempt to adopt Klingon personas. The event is an endurance test as much as a ceremony, and they're expected to drink, celebrate, and fight all day and night until Gowron arrives. Along the way, they must plant the four polaron emitters around the room. Gowron's second in command, Martok, arrives and nearly recognizes O'Brien, but some fast talking allays the general's suspicions, for now. Odo fumbles with his transmitter, but Worf passes it off as a toy won in battle and snatches it away from a suspicious bystander. Then Gowron arrives.
Odo still needs to place a transmitter, but a Klingon is standing right in the way. As Gowron begins handing out commendations, Odo squabbles with the Klingon and finally tosses him away. With the four transmitters in place, Sisko prepares to activate them, but then his cover identity's name is called. He takes the stage and accepts his commendation, but as he's about to leave, Martok clubs him and exposes him as a Starfleet spy. The room is sealed, and all four agents are thrown in a cell.
Martok confronts the agents, and Sisko reveals the purpose of his mission. In spite of himself, Martok admits that Gowron's warmongering behavior has been out of character. In fact, Martok has suspected that he might be a Changeling for months. Sisko suggests challenging Gowron to a duel, but Martok has another idea: He breaks the four out of prison and carves a path back to the ceremony chamber so that Worf can attack Gowron. As the crowd draws weapons, Gowron orders them back and duels Worf man to man.
Martok forbids Odo from entering the chamber, claiming to be unsure of the former Changeling's loyalties. However, Odo begins to pick apart Martok's story, noting how odd it is for a Klingon general to refuse to duel a suspected spy. He also notes that Gowron, in dueling Worf honorably, is behaving exactly like a Klingon rather than a Changeling impersonator. The true Changeling is Martok. As Worf defeats Gowron and has the chancellor at his mercy, Odo and Martok brawl their way into the chamber, and Odo shouts that Martok is the true spy. As Odo gets tossed to the ground, the Changeling reveals its nature by lassoing his throat with a liquid appendage. The crowd of Klingons promptly kill the spy in a barrage of disruptor fire.
In the aftermath, Gowron and the agents discuss how the Founders attempted to manipulate both their nations into destroying each other. Martok was the one who pressed for war, not Gowron. The best thing to do would be to end it and join forces against their common enemy, but Gowron warns that once Klingons go to war, they never want to back down and "talk." Sisko points out that this is exactly the attitude desired by the Founders, so Gowron reluctantly agrees to use all his influence over the High Council to push for a ceasefire. Before the agents leave, Gowron sternly tells Worf that he won't get a second opportunity to kill him.
Back on the station, Sisko is happy to return to his human form, though he "misses the fangs." Odo is up next, and Bashir tells him that he can give the former changeling any face he desires, but Odo opts to return to his old face.
Tropes
- Actually Pretty Funny: Gul Dukat isn't known for his sense of humor, but he finds Sisko and company surgically altered to look like Klingons hilarious.Dukat: Captain, I insist we make a holographic record of the four of you. Consider it payment in full for the use of my vessel.
- Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: While not openly stated, the Martok-Changeling's final actions to try and kill Odo as well show, in the eyes of his people, Odo is no longer a true Changeling and thus open for being killed like any solid for the good of the Dominion.
- Armor-Piercing Question:Odo: Tell me, General — did Gowron destroy the polaron emitters, or did you?
- Batman Gambit: The Changeling's plot is to trick Odo, from the last season's episode, into believing Gowron is a changeling. This will push the Federation to kill him and when they find out he isn't one, removing a good leader from the Klingons—thus allowing the Martok-Changeling to take the role of Evil Overlord and rule the Klingons, pushing them harder against the Federation, and weakening both so a Dominion conquest would be that much easier. Unfortunately for the Founders, there are a number of complications in their plan, the first one being that the Federation would prefer to expose the Changeling infiltrator before killing them, and the plan gets slowly derailed by factors the Changelings failed to account for, with Odo's deductive skills paired with his knowledge of Klingon honor sealing the plan's fate.
- Beam Spam/More Dakka: When the Changeling is revealed, every Klingon with a clear line of fire pulls out their disruptor and doesn't stop shooting until it explodes. Qualifies as both tropes because, while the disruptor pistols are energy weapons, they fire distinct bolts instead of continuous beams.
- Black-Tie Infiltration: The team infiltrates the Order of the Bat'leth initiation ceremony as inductees in order to unmask Gowron as a changeling.
- Boisterous Bruiser: An enforced trope. The Klingon honorees are expected to drink, party and fight each other all night as a test of character. When the Starfleet officers arrive, a Klingon immediately headbutts O'Brien, laughs, and walks away.
- Brick Joke:
- One of the things that Odo likes about the beer at Quark's is the bubbles. He later laments the lack of bubbles in Klingon bloodwine.
- During rehearsal, Worf informs Sisko that backhanding a fellow Klingon would initiate a Duel to the Death; if he wanted to simply express anger or annoyance, he should use his fist instead. Later, when a Klingon brags about killing a fellow Starfleet Academy friend of Sisko's, Sisko uses his fist against him (covering up his motivations by feigning that the other Klingon was blocking the bloodwine).
- Call-Back:
- Lieutenant Vilix'pran is mentioned to be having another litter of kids. He also apparently got promoted from ensign to lieutenant in the intervening year-and-a-half between episodes.
- General Chang has a statue in the Hall of Warriors.
- A disguised O'Brien and the Martok-Changeling meet and speak of a battle that happened during the Klingon Civil War.
- Can't Hold His Liquor: By Klingon standards — after Gowron arrives, one overserved warrior is carried out.
- Coincidental Disguise-Complementing Trait: Initially, the Klingon performance is a little dubious, but Sisko acquits himself quite effectively by managing to beat several Klingons in an arm-wrestling match; turns out that he used to be captain of the Academy wrestling team. Of course, this was over twenty years ago, so it's a rather painful victory for Sisko, but at least it allays the suspicions of the Klingon spectators.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Worf pretty quickly has Gowron on the ropes during their duel, and is on the verge of killing him (after managing to shatter Gowron's bat'leth) before Odo is able to out Martok as the Changeling.
- Dressing as the Enemy: Sisko, O'Brien, and Odo are surgically altered as Klingons. Even Worf has his forehead ridges altered.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Worf does a drill sergeant routine on everyone when teaching them to act Klingon.
- Drinking Contest: Even the greatest Klingon war heroes are not considered worthy of the Order of the Bat'leth unless they can drink all night.
- Drowning My Sorrows: How Odo deals with the loss of his shapeshifting powers.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
- The Martok-Changeling's refusal to challenge Gowron to honorable combat, and his confusion over why Worf is fighting him with a bat'leth instead of just shooting him (as well as why Gowron accepts Worf's challenge instead of letting his bodyguards deal with him), allow Odo to figure him out.
- The Founders' plan to dupe the Federation into killing Gowron — and presumably therefore intensifying the war with the Klingons — turns out to be suffering from this. The Federation initially comes up with a plan to expose Gowron as a Changeling rather than just killing him, and when that fails, Worf tries killing Gowron via ritual combat. Had Worf succeeded, then at best the Klingons would have just shrugged it off as him claiming revenge on Gowron for discommendating him, and at worst, Worf would have become the new chancellor (depending on whether or not a discommendated Klingon can claim the chancellorship) and most likely put an immediate end to the war.
- Fang Thpeak: A likely inadvertent example, as Sisko seems to be fitting in perfectly as a Klingon in spite of Avery Brooks clearly struggling to speak around his new teeth.
- Fumbling the Gauntlet: Sisko has the right attitude for a Klingon (unlike O'Brien and Odo, who struggle to achieve the same level of swagger and confidence), but during the rehearsal, Sisko accidentally challenges Worf to a Duel to the Death by backhanding him rather than striking him with the fist. Thankfully, Worf realizes this trope is in play and simply corrects Sisko.
- Haven't You Seen X Before?: When Dukat sees Sisko and his team in disguise.Sisko: What's wrong, Dukat? Haven't you ever seen a Klingon before?
[Sisko and Dukat share wide grins] - Hero of Another Story: Or at least Worthy Opponent of another story. This is a ceremony for honoring Klingon war heroes. Every Klingon attending the ceremony is by definition a badass, except possibly the caterers and service staff. Or, knowing Klingons, possibly not even that exception.
- He's Back!: Odo gets a good one here. After being understandably depressed all episode about recent events, it is he - without any need for his shapeshifting abilities - who cracks the Founders plan just barely in time to stop it through observation and detective work.Gowron: But they sorely underestimated Odo here!'''
- Holographic Disguise: Dukat apparently uses one to disguise himself as a Klingon. Too bad it picks the wrong time to go off-line.
- Idiosyncratic Cultural Gesture: While training his fellow officers to impersonate Klingons, Worf has to inform Sisko that striking a Klingon with the back of your hand is a gesture of contempt and a good way to initiate a fight to the death. Instead, you should use your balled fist.
- Irony: Gowron and the Empire justified their invasion of Cardassia by trumpeting charges of Changeling infiltration and takeover. Now, a year later, they found out it was their government that got infiltrated by the Dominion. Oops.
- Jurisdiction Friction: Worf and Kira get into a spat in the beginning over whether or not to take the Defiant to look for the overdue Sisko and Dax. While Kira is Sisko's second-in-command on the station, Worf is in command of the Defiant in Sisko's absence. It never gets resolved as Sisko shows up and renders the argument moot.
- Large Ham: Sisko really goes to town while pretending to be a Klingon. After all, a Klingon party is a World of Ham.
- Laser-Guided Karma: One of the Klingons boasts how he recently killed a Benzenite who happened to be an Academy friend of Sisko, who then introduces the Klingon to the mighty Sisko Fist (under the guise that he was blocking the bloodwine). Fortuitously, this brilliantly reinforces Sisko's Klingon persona.Sisko: "BRAG ALL YOU WANT, BUT DON'T GET BETWEEN ME AND THE BLOODWINE!"
- Let Me Get This Straight...: O'Brien summing up how impossible their mission is.O'Brien: So let me get this straight. All we have to do is get past an enemy fleet, avoid a tachyon detection grid, beam into the middle of Klingon headquarters and avoid the Brotherhood of the Sword long enough to set these things up and activate them in front of Gowron.
Worf: If we succeed, there will be many songs sung in our honor.
O'Brien: Let's hope we're there to hear them. - The Main Characters Do Everything: Apparently Starfleet has none of the espionage or infiltration experts you might expect to investigate Gowron.
- The Mole: Gowron is believed to be this, until it turns out that it's actually Martok.
- Multiple Gunshot Death: The Changeling meets his end this way; once it reveals itself in the presence of hundreds of Klingon warriors, every such warrior with a clear shot and a disruptor pistol proceeds to unload on it.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Worf suggests that the simplest way to prove Gowron is a changeling is to kill him, as changelings revert to their natural form upon death. Starfleet Command already thought of that and nixed the idea. Possibly because they remember what happened the last time Starfleet officers got into the assassination business. This is also the Martok-Changeling's suggested solution, which would be in-character if not for the dishonorable way he eventually has them try to go about it.
- Mythology Gag: This episode marks the second time René Auberjonois appears as a character disguised as a Klingon, after Starfleet Colonel West in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Amusingly, their characters had opposite motivations. In Star Trek VI, West was trying to start a war between the Klingon Empire and the Federation. In this episode, Odo is trying to stop the Klingon/Federation War.
- Never Gets Drunk: Sisko and his cohorts, despite partaking of the bloodwine, have consumed anti-intoxicants which allow them to stay sober.
- No Kill like Overkill: When Martok is exposed as a Changeling, the gathered Klingons pop him so full of disruptor fire that he explodes.
- Not Me This Time: Gowron turns out not to be a Dominion mole. He wastes no time in establishing that he's still a really unpleasant person.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Odo pulls this both ways when he realizes Martok is the Changeling, not Gowron. If Gowron was a Changeling, he would have his bodyguards just shoot Sisko and the others rather than accept Worf's challenge to an honorable one-on-one duel. On the other hand, Martok refused the idea of challenging Gowron himself and insisted that they kill him by shooting him. A real Klingon wouldn't hatch such a cowardly and underhanded scheme.
- Pet the Dog: Gowron takes a moment to praise Odo for unmasking the real Changeling and foiling the Dominion's plot.
- Pragmatic Villainy: When Dukat arrives at Klingon headquarters to drop them off, he tells Sisko he's not sticking around (especially not with his holographic filter malfunctioning). He then points out that if Sisko is successful, then the war will be over and they won't need him to return to DS9. If not, then they'll be executed as spies before Dukat can help them.
- Retcon: At the end of Season 4, the plan really was to simply make Gowron a Changeling, which was changed to a Batman Gambit to hide the real one here.
- Screw the War, We're Partying:
- The Klingons are partying pretty enthusiastically, but then, they are partying specifically about war.
- Quark's bar is a subversion on the other hand as business is dropping because of the war.
- Simple Solution Won't Work: When Damar suggests that they simply torpedo Ty'Gokor, Sisko replies that it's too well defended, which is why they have to infiltrate it.
- Status Quo Is God: Odo chooses to return to his old face at the end of the episode.
- Stunned Silence: Kira screws with Dukat pretty good when she tells him she's pregnant with O'Brien's kid — making sure to purposely leave out the bit about having it transferred from Keiko. Poor Dukat is at a rare loss for words.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The aftermath of the Martok Changeling's exposure. While Gowron is grateful for the exposure and foiling of an assassination attempt, it doesn't automatically end the current Federation-Klingon War (or patch things up enough to restore the Khitomer Accords). Gowron's hands are tied by Klingon militarism and the politics of the High Council (to say nothing of his own ego and pride). The best he can do is to push for a temporary cease-fire, and return Sisko and company safely to Deep Space Nine.
- Taking You with Me: The Martok Changeling attempts to do this with Odo, realizing that the Klingons don't really pay attention to "innocent until proven guilty" and so would be in for a very painful questioning at this accusation.
- Taunting the Transformed: Gul Dukat finds the sight of the altered Sisko and co absurdly hilarious, to the point that he insists on taking photos of the four "Klingons" as payment for the use of his ship.
- Uncertain Doom: The fate of the real Martok and whether or not he's still alive. This will get picked up later in the season.
- Unfinished, Untested, Used Anyway: Subverted — they never get a chance to field-test the polaron gizmos provided by Starfleet before they're found and destroyed.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Sisko and his staff discuss their plan early in the episode. It hits a few minor snags before completely falling apart.
- Villain Ball: After Odo calls out to Sisko that Martok is a changeling, the Changeling immediately uses his shapeshifting powers to try and strangle Odo in view of everyone. Aside from the idiocy of confirming Odo's accusations in a room full of armed Klingons, he doesn't even try to talk his way out of it even though he knows that Sisko and his crew have no way to prove he's a Changeling.
- Villain Has a Point: Dukat's justification for why he's leaving everyone at the Klingon headquarters. It's dangerous for him to stay, and if they're successful, they won't need his help to get back to DS9. If they fail, he won't be able to save them. Everyone concedes that he's right.
- Wham Line: "Martok's the changeling!"
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?:
- When smuggling the infiltrators in, Dukat's ship is challenged by a picket ship. The plan was to send over a premade holographic disguise in transmission, but the mechanism fails. Dukat says, effectively, "To heck with that" and fires a couple bursts of disruptors, destroying the ship.
- Martok basically gives this line later in the episode, wondering why they don't simply kill Gowron. Odo at this point realizes that Martok is not acting like a proper Klingon.Martok: What are they doing? Why doesn't Sisko just shoot him?
Odo: I have a better question. Why isn't Gowron letting his bodyguards kill Worf? I'll tell you why: Klingon honor, a concept you should be very familiar with. My people, on the other hand, don't care about honor. How did you put it? "There will be no honorable combat, no formal challenges." Hardly the words of a Klingon. Tell me, General, did Gowron destroy the polaron emitters, or did you?
- Wrecked Weapon: Worf manages to shatter Gowron's bat'leth at the end of their duel.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: The Founders have fooled Odo into believing that Gowron has been replaced by a changeling, hoping that Starfleet will kill him and allow Martok (the real changeling) to replace him. When Sisko and his team show up with polaron gizmos designed to expose changelings, "Martok" has them destroyed to try to force Team Sisko to kill Gowron. It might have worked — except that "Martok" blows it by not allowing an honorable challenge as per Klingon custom.
