History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E23BlazeOfGlory

* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead: Sisko called Eddington a traitor for the last year, but after his HeroicSacrifice, Sisko calls him "the most loyal man I've ever known", acknowledging Eddington's loyalty to the cause he chose.

* AlienLunch: Sisko mixes puree of tube grubs with squid. Jake isn't happy when he finds out.

* IllKillYou: When Eddington breaks down and agrees to help Sisko stop the Maquis missiles, Eddington promises to kill Sisko when its all over.

--> '''Sisko:''' For a dead man, you talk a lot.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The Maquis' guerrilla warfare and ragtag fleet, which allowed them to run circles around Starfleet and the Cardassian military for the better part of 3 years, are no match for the war machine of the Dominion.

* SequelEpisode: To Season 4's "For the Cause" and this Season's ''For the Uniform" (thus concluding the Eddington Trilogy).

* CallBack: After bringing his people into the Dominion, Dukat [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E15ByInfernosLight swore]] that there wouldn't be a single Maquis left in Cardassian territory. Here, we see that it wasn't an idle boast; nearly all of the Maquis have been wiped out by the Jem'Hadar.

Nog is having dinner with the Siskos when Jake lets slip that Nog has been having problems earning respect from the Klingons stationed on board. Sisko suggests standing up to their bullying tactics. Martok interrupts the conversation to deliver some grave news: He's discovered and decrypted a message sent from the Maquis to "Michael," announcing that torpedoes on en route to hit Cardassia. Martok confirms that the missiles likely use Klingon cloaking technology. If Cardassia gets hit by them, it could trigger a war that would engulf the entire Alpha Quadrant.

Sisko deduces that the "Michael" mentioned in the message is Michael Eddington, the Starfleet traitor and former Chief Security Officer on Deep Space Nine. Sisko visits the prison where he's held and tries to convince him to help. Eddington refuses to help and prefers to simply die in the war, but Sisko takes him on a runabout into the Badlands anyway. As expected, they bicker. Eddington accuses Sisko of caring more about his pride than justice, while Sisko notes that Eddington's leadership against the Cardassians pushed them into the Dominion and made everything worse.

The pair eventually encounter Jem'Hadar, Sisko leaves it to Eddington to get them out of the scrape, proving that his death wish was a front. Now actively involved in the mission, Eddington agrees to navigate to the Maquis missile launch site on Athos IV, where they can deactivate the torpedos. However, Eddington vows to kill Sisko after completing the mission. On the way, the Jem'Hadar return. During the fight, Eddington ignites some plasma while Sisko is making alterations to the ship, nearly killing him. In spite of their squabbling, they arrive on Athos IV, which is crawling with Jem'Hadar.

Back on the station, Nog has been trying to work up the courage to stand up to the Klingons. After one botched attempt at arresting some soldiers for noise diruption, he accosts a few Klingons standing on the Promenade and orders them to move out of his "favorite spot" or he'll arrest them for loitering. Impressed by the Ferengi's spunk, Martok intervenes and orders his men to obey Nog. Later, Martok and Nog greet each other with civility, and Nog basks in the respect he's earned.

On Athos IV, Eddington and Sisko ambush a few Jem'Hadar guards, but they quickly discover the bodies of Maquis littering the compound. Eddington laments his failure to protect his people, while Sisko admits that Federation
could also have more to stop the bloodshed. Eddington then leads them to a hiding spot containing a group of Maquis survivors, including Eddington's wife, Rebecca. Eddington reveals that the torpedoes never existed, and the message was a ploy to get Starfleet to bring Eddington to the meeting point. The Jem'Hadar weren't part of the plan. Another wave of attackers arrives, and Eddington gets hit. He stays behind to cover the retreat of his Sisko and his comrades, dying in a hail of phaser fire.

Back on the station, Sisko describes how Eddington was a Maquis to the very end. The captain admits that, in spite of being a Starfleet traitor, Eddington was the most loyal man he ever knew. While the Maquis seems to be wiped out, Sisko wonders if there's still some remnants out there waiting for their moment to strike.

could also have more to stop the bloodshed. Eddington then leads them to a hiding spot containing a group of Maquis survivors, including Eddington's wife, Rebecca. Eddington reveals that the torpedoes never existed, and the message was a ploy to get Starfleet to bring Eddington to the meeting point. The Jem'Hadar weren't part of the plan. Another wave arrives, and Eddington gets hit. He stays behind to cover the retreat of the rest, dying in a hail of phaser fire.

** The whole torpedo story was a plan to trick Starfleet into taking Eddington directly to the Maquis meeting site.

* ShoutOut: When Eddington is preparing to go out in the titular Blaze of Glory, he asks if anyone can [[Music/BonJovi think of a good song]] for this situation.

* StockFootage: The small space station where Eddington is held captive is recycled footage of the Regula I from ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''.

* BatmanGambit: Eddington has been making it clear that even if Sisko forced him along to deactivate the missiles, it's still ''Sisko's'' business not his, and that he rather likes the idea of dying in a Dominion war after getting a satisfactory revenge on Cardassia. A Jem'Hadar ship approaches their runabout, and all Eddington says is a pointed, "Looks like ''you'' have a problem." But Sisko takes the handcuffs off him and then goes off for a ''raktajino'', leaving Eddington (who knows the Badlands better than Sisko) to prove his death wish isn't so strong after all.
** But that's just {{Foreshadowing}} for the ''big'' BatmanGambit: There weren't any missiles heading for Cardassia after all. At the purported "launch site" there are remnant Maquis soldiers hiding from the Jem'Hadar. Eddington wanted to rescue them, and arranged the whole "missiles" message to get Sisko's attention and help, while pretending all along it was ''Sisko'' forcing ''him'' to go!
* BerserkButton: Quark's "harmless theorizing" about an imminent Dominion invasion caused poor Morn to snap.

-->'''Eddington:''' Attacking two Jem'Hadar soldiers with a pipe? [[SarcasmMode That's a brilliant plan.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Eddington doesn't bother to listen to the entire message when Sisko brings it to him. It's later revealed that a) said message was part of Eddington's plan (meaning he likely already knew what it said), and b) the content of the message was irrelevant; it being sent confirmed that the surviving Maquis had made it to a rallying point.
* FreakOut: While chatting with Morn, Quark happens to mention if the Jem'Hadar ever show up, there's a good chance everyone will be killed. Morn did not take it well, apparently. Running around butt-naked screaming "We're all doomed!". Offscreen, naturally.

A fleet of cloaked missiles are headed for Cardassia, a desperate revenge strike by the Maquis. And only one person can help Sisko stop them. Michael Eddington.

* FridgeHorror: Since the cloaked Maquis missiles Sisko was worried about didn't exist, the Maquis must have used the Klingons' aid shipment of cloaking devices to cloak their actual warships. [[CurbStompBattle It didn't help]].

* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead: Sisko called Eddington a traitor for the last year, but after his HeroicSacrifice, Sisko calls him "the most loyal man I've ever known."

* WhamEpisode: The Maquis, having been a part of the series since late Season Two, are wiped out by the Dominion. Eddington also dies.

* NotSoDifferent: Jadzia tells Sisko that he and Eddington may have had more in common than he thought. He doesn't exactly deny it.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The Maquis' guerrilla warfare and ragtag fleet are no match for the war machine of the Dominion.

* WhamEpisode: The Maquis, having been a part of the series since late Season Two, are wiped out. Eddington also dies.

* SequelEpisode: To Season 4's ''For the Cause'' and this Season's ''For the Uniform" (thus concluding the Eddington Trilogy).

* FamousLastWords:
--> '''Eddington:''' Rebecca...

* ItsAllAboutMe: Even months after his arrest, Eddington still appears convinced that he was right to join the Maquis and Sisko only kept trying to catch them because their existence is a blemish on his record while ignoring Sisko's observation that the Maquis' actions drove the Cardassians to make their new alliance with the Dominion, which fundamentally says more about Eddington's views than it does about Sisko's feelings.

* TragicDream: Eddington's vision of an independent homeland for the Maquis; likely hopelessly optimistic to begin with, it dies a violent death at the hands of the Dominion, as Eddington laments while mourning over his dead friends.

* CallBack: After bringing his people into the Dominion, Dukat [[Recap/StarTrekDeeSpaceNineS05E15ByInfernoesLight swore]] that there wouldn't be a single Maquis left in Cardassian territory. Here, we see that it wasn't an idle boast; nearly all of the Maquis have been wiped out by the Jem'Hadar.