History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E09TheAscent

* {{Defictionalization}}: In-universe example with Fizzbin. While the game was invented on the spot by Kirk during the Sigma Iotia II, a century later it's now become a recognized game throughout the Quadrant. Creator/RonaldDMoore's joking explanation was that Kirk evidently marketed the game after the end of the Five Year Mission. Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe's explanation is that the Sigma Iotians extrapolated a game from Kirk's rules and it's since become the planetary national game (and thus Quark's familiar with it).

-->'''Quark:''' Which means you spent the last ten years of your life trying to catch a nobody – with little success, I might add. So you tell me, which one of us is the bigger failure?
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: The only thing keeping Odo and Quark going is the idea of dying together.

* RealMenWearPink: Odo likes to read trashy romance novels. He ''claims'' they help him gain insight into crimes of passion. Quark doesn't buy it, and semi-seriously offers to loan him an erotic novel.

On the planet, Odo realizes that Quark has been gone too long and so much have failed. He starts dictating his final message to whoever finds their bodies, but mid-sentence he's transported onto the Defiant. It seems Quark did make it all the way to the top and passed out over the transceiver. Odo is irritated that Quark has saved their lives. Bashir ushers them both into sick bay, where they recuperate side by side. Quark brings up all those horrible things he said about Odo and admits... he meant every single thing. Odo agrees. The two friendly nemeses share a chuckle.

Stopping for camp, Quark passes out, and Odo panics, suspecting that he's dead, but the Ferengi wakes up half-deaf and barely clinging to life. They keep going but eventually degenerate into an even nastier argument. After spewing their hatred for each other, they get into as shoving match and tumble back down the mountainside. Odo's leg breaks, so Quark fashions a splint and a litter to drag the crippled constable with him. He only gets so far before collapsing and giving up. Odo refuses to die, however, and starts crawling past him, pushing the transceiver along. Shamed, Quark bitterly refuses to be shown up and continues his trek alone.

* CassandraTruth: Given how Quark is known for complaining about any little detail, it takes Odo several minutes to realize that there is a buzzing sound on the runabout which isn't part of any onboard equipment.

The bomb is a product of the Orion Syndicate, and it's a doozy. Constable and prisoner try beaming the bomb away, but it creates a limited explosion nonetheless, which severely damages the ship. They crash land in an L-class planet, barely habitable. Upon waking up, they discover that they have no communications to send a distress call, limited rations, and no life support. They'll freeze or starve to death if they don't think of something. Quark eventually detaches the ship's transceiver array and plans to carry it high enough so that its weak signal can pierce the atmosphere. They'll have to reach the top of a nearby mountain.

Back on the station, Jake bristles at Nog's attempts to copy-edit his stories without his permission, while Nog rebukes Jake for laying around the apartment playing computerized dom-jot instead of cleaning or working. After a nasty argument, the pair decide to split up.

Odo and Quark make their laborious ascent. Quark has agreed to split the time they spend carrying the transceiver and wearing the one survival suit they have. Hours go by, and the exhausted pair realize that they have ''much'' farther to go than they originally realized. They don't help themselves by bickering the whole time. Quark accuses Odo of failing to take advantage of being a solid and enjoy the things he clearly wanted to experience while a Changeling. denies being a member of the Orion Syndicate, with his proof being that members always kill themselves before going to trial. He also realizes that Odo doesn't know what charges, if any, he's been accused of. In fact, he's probably being summoned as a witness rather than a suspect. Odo counters that Quark could never afford to join the syndicate anyway, since he's a failure. The barkeep counters that that means Odo has spent his life failing to arrest a nobody, which makes him a bigger failure.

Stopping for camp, Quark passes out, and Odo panics, suspecting that he's dead, but the Ferengi wakes up half-deaf and barely clinging to life. They keep going, but eventually degenerate into an even nastier argument. After spewing their hatred for one another, they get into as shoving match and tumble back down the mountainside. Odo's leg breaks, so Quark fashions a splint and a litter to carry the constable with him. He only gets so far before collapsing and giving up. Odo refuses to die, however, and starts crawling past him, pushing the transceiver along. Shamed, Quark bitterly refuses to be shown up and continues his trek alone.

Back on the station, Sisko meets with Nog and the pair bond over their disappointment that their boys couldn't get along and are so stuck in their ways. Sisko visits Jake and announces that he'll need a roommate if he's to continue living in his own quarters, so he brings Nog back in. As Nog's captain and Jake's father, what he says goes, so the boys will just have to work it out. Jake offers to start exercising with Nog, but Nog suggests going out for some fun instead. With compromises in place, the friends share a laugh again.

Odo arrests Quark, but while transporting him to trial in a runabout they crash land on a deserted planet and are forced to depend on each other to survive and call for help. Meanwhile, Nog returns to the station. Jake moves out of Ben's quarters so he and Nog can be roommates, but Starfleet Academy has changed Nog and things don't go as smoothly as they had hoped.

* EndOfAnEra: A Meta example. This is the final episode to feature the original Starfleet jumpsuit uniforms created exclusively for ''Deep Space Nine''. Beginning with the following episode, [=DS9=] will switch over to the redesigned uniforms that were being introduced in 'Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' for the remainder of its run.

* EndOfAnEra: A Meta example. This is the final episode to feature the original Starfleet jumpsuit uniforms created exclusively for ''Deep Space Nine''. Beginning with the following episode and for the remainder of the show's, [=DS9=] will switch over to the redesigned uniforms that were being introduced in 'Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' for the remainder of its run.