History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E01ApocalypseRising

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 emperor 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.

* IdiosyncraticCulturalGesture: 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 good way to initiate a fight to the death.

Sisko goes to meet Odo, who is [[DrowningMySorrows 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.

* BrickJoke: 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.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: 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.

* BatmanGambit: 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 EvilOverlord and rule the Klingons, pushing them harder against the Federation, and weakening both so a Dominion conquest would be that much easier.

* FumblingTheGauntlet: 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 DuelToTheDeath by backhanding him rather than striking him with the fist. Thankfully, Worf realizes this trope is in play and simply corrects Sisko.

* IdiosyncraticCulturalGesture:In "Apocalypse Rising", 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 good way to initiate a fight to the death.

* LargeHam: Sisko really goes to town. After all, a Klingon party is a WorldOfHam.

** The Klingons are partying pretty enthusiastically but then they are partying specifically [[BloodKnight about war.]]

* VillainHasAPoint: Dukat's justification for why he's leaving everyone at the Klingon headquarters. It's dangerous for him to stay, and if they are 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 is right.

* ApeShallNeverKillApe: While not openly stated, the Martok-Changeling's final actions are to try and kill Odo as well shows, 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.

* BatmanGambit: 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 and allow the Martok-Changeling to take the role of EvilOverlord and rule the Klingons, pushing them harder against the Federation and weakening both so a Dominion Conquest would be that much easier.

** A disguised O'Brien and The Martok-Changeling meet and speak of a battle that happened during [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E26S5E1Redemption the Klingon Civil War]].

* HeroOfAnotherStory: Or at least WorthyOpponent of another story. This is a ceremony for honoring [[ProudWarriorRace 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 [[BattleButler that exception]].

* JurisdictionFriction: 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.

* LaserGuidedKarma: One of the Klingons boasts how he recently killed a Benzenite who happened to be an Academy friend of Sisko, who then [[MyFistForgivesYou introduces the Klingon to the mighty Sisko Fist]] (under the guise that he was blocking the bloodwine). Fortuituously, this ''brilliantly'' reinforces Sisko's Klingon persona.

* MurderIsTheBestSolution: 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 [[Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry the last time]] Starfleet officers got into the assassination business.

* UncertainDoom: The fate of the real Martok and whether or not he's still alive. This will get picked up later in the Season.

* VillainHasAPoint: Dukat's justification for why he's leaving everyone at the Klingon headquarters. It's dangerous for him to stay, and if they 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 is right.

Relations between the Federation and the Klingon Empire have degraded to open hostility. Dax and Siski 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.

* OutOfCharacterAlert: How Odo identifies Martok as the Changeling.

* WreckedWeapon: Worf manages to shatter Gowron's bat'leth at the end of their duel.

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 celebration, 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.

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 celebration, and they're expected to drink, celebrate, and fight all day and night until Gowron arrives. Along the way, they 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.