History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E13BattleLines

* PlotArmor: Despite all four sitting within a few feet of each other during the crash, the three regular characters escape with few injuries, whereas the character whose only previous appearance had been back in the pilot episode is so catastrophically injured that she dies within less than a minute of the crash. Justified as the survivors are two trained Starfleet officers and a freedom fighter, while Opaka probably never received any training on crash safety.

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Sisko's idea to find a way to transport the Ennis and Nol-Ennis from the prison planet so they can die naturally. When Bashir brings up the Prime Directive, Sisko tells him that whatever their crimes, they've more than paid for them.

* PutOnABus: Kai Opaka.

* Innocuously Important: While it's not technically a Wham Episode, the 'death' of Opaka, i.e. the Bajoran Pope, obviously will have a ''major'' impact on the Bajoran status quo moving forward. The now-vacant Office of the Kai will lead to the introduction of recurring characters Bariel Antos and Winn Adami in the Season One finale. The election of the new Kai will also carry over into Season Two and its outcome will affect the series for the remainder of its run.
* PlotArmor: Despite all four sitting within a few feet of each other during the crash, the three regular characters escape with few injuries, whereas the character whose only previous appearance had been back in the pilot episode is so catastrophically injured that she dies within less than a minute of the crash.

* Innocuously Important: While it's not technically a Wham Episode, the 'death' of Opaka, i.e. the Bajoran Pope, obviously will have an effect on the Bajoran storylines moving forward. The now-vacant Office of the Kai will lead to the introduction of Bariel Antos and Winn Adami the end of the Season. The election will also take place in Season Two and affect the [=DS9=] status quo for the remainder of the show's run.

'''O'Brien:''' I'll let you know as soon as I finish making one.

** Shel-la's right-hand-woman, who mixes it up with the rest of the guys.

* TheAtoner: Kira qualifies, breaking down in front of Opaka as the horrors of her past in LaResistance catch up with her.
--->'''Kira:''' ''(tearfully)'' I'm afraid the Prophets won't forgive me.\\
'''Opaka:''' They're just waiting for you to forgive yourself.

Kai Opaka pays a visit to [=DS9=], her first trip off of Bajor in her lifetime, in order to see the Celestial Temple. As no ships are scheduled to come through the wormhole, Commander Sisko decides to take the Kai through on the runabout ''Yangtzee Kiang''. Major Kira (who notices that the Kai seems distracted) and Doctor Bashir (who has nothing better to do) accompany Sisko and the Kai to the runabout pad, where Opaka meets Chief O'Brien. Realizing that the chief has a daughter, she gives him a necklace to give to her.

The leader of the group, Golin Shel-la, takes the crew back to their cave, and identifies his people as the Ennis. He tells them that they are in conflict with a group known as the Nol-Ennis. As it turns out, the planet is a penal colony, where the two groups were banished when authorities on their homeworld couldn't settle their conflict. The Nol pick this time to stage an attack on the Ennis camp, and several members of the two sides are killed before Kira drives off the Nol. Before the Ennis can recover, though, Kai Opaka appears at the mouth of the cave.

Bashir examines the Kai, who appears to be healthy; she doesn't remember dying in the crash, only waking up outside the runabout. While Bashir continues his examination, Sisko and Kira aren't impressed with the lack of defenses that allowed the Nol to stage such a brazen attack. Shel-la reveals the reason why they don't bother, as the fallen rise up as if nothing's happened - nobody on this moon can die, at least not for long, thanks to artificial microbes. When they realized they couldn't die anymore, defensive tactics became pointless. Sisko suggests that Starfleet could rescue the two sides, resettling them separately and allowing them to end the fighting. Bashir, meanwhile, goes back to the runabout to salvage the computers and analyze the microbes.

Bashir explains that the biomechanical microbes that revive the Ennis and Nol-Ennis cannot survive in any environment other than that moon, and thus they - and Opaka - are stuck here, as once revived their lives become dependent on the microbes. The Kai reveals that she knew she would not be returning to Bajor, and that she has answered the call of the Prophets - that it is her destiny to try to find a way to bring peace to these people who haven't known anything but fighting for untold ages. She states that she is there to begin their healing process - and that Kira had been there to begin her own.

The ''Rio Grande'' finds the planet, and manages to disrupt the satellite defenses enough to allow transport. Bashir suggests that he might be able to disable the microbes to allow the people to die for good, but when Shel-la suggests he would only take the opportunity to wipe out the Nol-Ennis, Bashir drops the idea. Sisko insists that they will find a way to get Opaka off the moon, but she interrupts him, and tells him her work is there now, but that their ''paghs'' will cross again. With that, Sisko, Kira, and Bashir beam up.

* AlienNonInterferenceClause: The Prime Directive is discussed when Sisko contemplates taking the prisoners away from the moon (before it's established that they can't do that); Bashir observes that taking the prisoners may be considered interference with an alien justice system, but Sisko argued that their microbe-infected state basically made them a separate species, and they had certainly suffered enough for their original sins after being stuck in a cycle of resurrection.

* InelegantBlubbering: Kira, and why shouldn't she be; her Kai is ''dead!''
* NeverGiveTheCaptainAStraightAnswer: Averted for once; Bashir calls Ops to inform Sisko that the Kai has arrived for an unexpected visit. The news shuts Major Kira up in the middle of her tirade.
* PlotArmor: Despite all four being sat within a few feet of each other during the crash, the three regular characters escape with few (if any) injuries, whereas the character whose only previous appearance had been back in the pilot episode is so catastrophically injured that she dies within less than a minute of the crash. (Of course she was also considerably older and probably had no experience or training in surviving vehicle crashes like the other three had, but the point still stands.)

* SillyReasonForWar: The reason for the Ennis' and Nol-Ennis' conflict is never elaborated upon, but given that one side wears hats, the other doesn't, and there is no other obvious difference between them, the costume designers might have been subtly invoking the trope. Part of the point is that they're so used to war, they've forgotten about any other state of affairs, so it's probably intentional that we never find out - they may not even remember why they're fighting, just that they always have been.
** One leader even says as much, pointing out that there are numerous theories about what might have started the conflict, but that it's irrelevant since it's really the previous actions in the conflict that now what fuel all future actions.

* TheAtoner:
** Kira qualifies, breaking down in front of Opaka as the horrors of her past in LaResistance catch up with her.

** This trope is subverted, however, when Bashir proposes finding a way to turn off the microbes, and Shel-la is only interested in using it to defeat the Nol, rather than allowing his people to be put out of their misery.

* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: Bajor's religious politics have not yet been explored, so the departure of the Kai may not seem like a big deal at this point. But the question of her succession and the ultimate choice for the next Kai will affect future storylines [[spoiler:up until the end of the series.]]

** About a season later we find out that [[spoiler:Kai Opaka]] is in need of some heavy duty atoning for making a SadisticChoice.
** Kira also qualifies, breaking down in front of Opaka as the horrors of her past in LaResistance catch up with her.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars were still going on while the episode was made, with the conflict being fueled by [[AppealToObscurity long-standing]] ethnic and religious issues that seemed incomprehensible to the Western media. Hence the endless and meaningless war between the Ennis' and Nol-Ennis'.