History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E14OneLittleShip

* CurbStompBattle: The ''Defiant'' is ambushed and defeated in a few seconds.

* NotQuiteBackToNormal: Related to the above trope. At the end of the episode, Odo tells Bashir and O'Brien that they seem to be a few centimeters shorter than before, which Quark agrees with, causing them to run to the infirmary. Afterwards, Odo and Quark step down from the half-ledge they were on.

* {{Corpsing}}: In-universe, Kira tries, but just can't keep a straight face at the idea of people being miniaturized.

Back at the station, Worf reads his poetic work in progress of the episode's events. "This is the story of a little ship that took a little trip." Dax struggles to find something polite to say until she realizes that Worf is fucking with her, and they laugh. Meanwhile, Bashir and O'Brien try to impress Morn and his lady friend about their recent exploits, but Odo and Quark ask if they're sure they've been returned to full size, since they seem a little shorter. When the pair realize that Morn's lady friend is taller then them, they dash off to the infirmary, leaving Quark and Odo laughing at their prank.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: The episode acknowledges that the shrunken crewmen wouldn't be able to breathe regular-sized air molecules, but all the other scientific problems involved in shrinking down matter are left unaddressed.

* TheAirNotThere: Averted. O'Brien suggests beaming out of the shrunken runabout to readjust the ''Defiant's'' computer controls, but Bashir tells hims he would suffocate, as his lungs couldn't process the normal-sized air molecules outside. Apparently the air molecules inside the runabout have shrunk with it, though, as they are still able to breath there. So they use the air from the runabout to breathe outside it.

Back at station, Worf reads his poetic work in progress of the episode's events. "This is the story of a little ship that took a little trip." Dax struggles to find something polite to say until she realizes that Worf is fucking with her, and they laugh. Meanwhile, Bashir and O'Brien try to impress Morn and his lady friend about their recent exploits, but Odo and Quark ask if they're sure they've been returned to full size, since they seem a little shorter. When the pair realize that Morn's lady friend is taller then them, they dash off to the infirmary, leaving Quark and Odo laughing at their prank.

Rather than take days to figure out how to repair the ''Defiant'', Kudak'Etan decides to force Sisko to make the repairs for him, going against the advice of Ixtana'Rax, who knows that Starfleet officers will take any opportunity to escape. Sisko insists that needs his crewmen to help, so the Jem'Hadar allow him Worf, Nog and Kira to help him. Meanwhile, the ''Rubicon'' slips into a plasma port and outruns a plasma discharge to make their way into the engine room.

The Jem'Hadar are commanded by First Kudak'Etan. He and the majority of his men are a new strain of Jem'Hadar called "Alphas," created in the Alpha Quadrant. His second is Ixtana'Rax, an Honored Elder and a Gamma, creating tension between them. The ''Defiant'' is heavily damaged, particular the engines, leaving them stranded. Their attack ship continues on as they make repairs. Luckily, they seem to have no awareness of the ''Rubicon''. Onboard the shuttlecraft, the crew realize that they're still shrunk down to only a few centimeters, and their communications are down, so they'll have to find some way to slip into the ship themselves.

Nog cracks the encryption thanks to the modifications, but Ixtana'Rax suddenly orders all Starfleet officers to step away from their controls, revealing that he knows the repairs were completed an hour ago, and they've been stalling. Kudak'Etan ignores Ixtana'Rax's suggestion that they check for sabotage and orders the Jem'Hadar to power up the engines. As Starfleet officers brace for the secret self-destruct program to kick in, the miniature ''Rubicon'' swoops in to save the day, zipping around like a hummingbird and firing gumdrop-sized photon torpedos at the Jem'Hadar. Sisko and his men join the fray, and the Jem'Hadar are quickly defeated.

* OhCrap: It's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, but the Alpha's "WTF?" reaction to coming face-to-face with the shrunken runabout. (See the above image.)

* BreatherEpisode: A Fantastic Voyage Episode following one of the heaviest episodes in the series. Unusually, the lighter episode features the main conflict of the series whereas the heavier episode was a stand-alone story that was AllJustADream.
* CallBack: The Jem'Hadar Second, one of the Gamma Quadrant veterans, is referred to as an Honored Elder, meaning he survived at least twenty years of service.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Jadzia beams a bubble of compressed air into an airtight circuit box so Bashir and O'Brien can have thin oxygen for 20 minutes, but none of them think to use spacesuits or life-support belts instead.

* EnsignNewbie vs SergeantRock: the dynamic between the Alpha and Gamma Jem'Hadar. The original Gamma Jem'Hadar were more of an occupation force in the Dominion's home territories, so they're a lot more by-the-book and strict about protocol. Faced with the unpredictable independent races of the Alpha Quadrant, the Founders bred the new Alpha Jem'Hadar to be more independent-minded, so that they'll display more combat initiative instead of just robotically following orders. The Alphas were bred to replace the losses of the older Gammas, and are instantly put in command over more experienced troops: the lead Gamma in this episode is an Honored Elder, one of the few Gammas who has survived twenty years of service, but the new lead Alpha was promoted to replace him as the new First of their unit, despite ''none'' of the Alphas being in service for more than ''one'' year. The problem is that the Alphas may have more initiative, but they're not as experienced as the Gammas, making them brash and reckless.

* PlotArmor: [[ExplosiveInstrumentation A console explodes]] on a RedShirt? HesDeadJim![[note]]Or at least seemingly so. While he isn't explicitly stated to be dead, he is not among the surviving bridge officers being held in the show hall.[[/note]] The same console explodes on Kira? Yeah, she'll be all right.

* TheresNoKillLikeOverkill:
** When the main characters retake the ship, Dax, O'Brien and Bashir have the ''Rubicon'' firing its miniaturized ''torpedoes'' to take out individual Jem'Hadar around the engine room. Considering that photon torpedoes canonically carry antimatter warheads as their payloads, the results should really be [[ChunkySalsaRule a lot messier]]. [[note]]Assuming about a 200-to-1 scale change, they would still have a yield in the range of several tons of TNT.[[/note]]
** Photon Torpedos are usually variable yield, so when you arm them you can decide how much antimatter to place inside the warhead for the detonation size you want. So the ''Rubicon'' could shoot small torpedoes at the Jem'Hadar with little damage to the ships' bulkheads as shown, though even with variable yield it should have been large holes in the bodies of the Jem'Hardar who got hit.

* [[WarriorPoet Warrior Poetry]]: A Klingon tradition. Who knew?
** CallBack to an episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' - Worf once offered love advice to Wesley, saying that the male's part in Klingon romance is to recite poetry. And to duck a lot.

* [[TheWorldIsJustAwesome The Inside of This Console Is Just Awesome]]: Bashir compares it to an "optronic forest."
* TheWorfEffect: Looks like it when the new Alpha Jem'Hadar take over the ''Defiant'' (the TropeNamer even [[ItsAllMyFault beats himself up over it]]), but {{Subverted}} when Sisko and his crew take it back.

The ''Defiant'' is on scene to investigate a NegativeSpaceWedgie which causes objects and organisms to shrink to a fraction of their normal size. Dax, Bashir, and O'Brien are sent aboard the runabout USS ''Rubicon'', but they are cut off from the ''Defiant'' when the ship's tractor beam mysteriously cuts out. The now miniscule crew in their tiny runabout are left on their own to figure out what happened.

Meanwhile, the ''Defiant'' has been disabled and commandeered by a strike team of Jem'Hadar soldiers, and the crew must struggle to take back control of the ship, or destroy it before it can be delivered into the hands of the Dominion.

** At the end of the episode, we have Worf pranking Dax with his non-existant commemorative poem, then Odo pranking Bashir and O'Brien.

* PainfulRhyme: Worf's poem is full of them, if the opening couplet is anything to go by:
-->'''Worf''': This is the story of a little ship, that took a little trip.
** Subverted when it turns out that he hasn't actually written anything.

** At the end of the episode, Odo pranking Bashir and O'Brien.

* PlotArmor: [[ExplosiveInstrumentation A console explodes]] on a RedShirt? HesDeadJim![[note]]Or at least seemingly so, there's no actual confirmation that the officer is indeed dead.[[/note]] The same console explodes on Kira? Yeah, she'll be all right.

* BreatherEpisode: A Fantastic Voyage Episode following one of the heaviest episodes in the series.

* SkewedPriorities: The ''Defiant'' has been heavily damaged behind 'enemy' lines, the warp drive is off line, there is a shipful of human prisoners who are prone to fighting back, and none of the Jem'Hadar know how to get the ship working again. The first order the First gives? Remove the chairs from the Bridge, since Jem'Hadar don't like to sit down.

* TheresNoKillLikeOverkill: When the main characters retake the ship, Dax, O'Brien and Bashir have the ''Rubicon'' firing its miniaturized ''torpedoes'' to take out individual Jem'Hadar around the engine room. Considering that photon torpedoes canonically carry antimatter warheads as their payloads, the results should really be [[ChunkySalsaRule a lot messier]]. [[note]]Assuming about a 200-to-1 scale change, they would still have a yield in the range of several tons of TNT.[[/note]]

* WorthyOpponent: Not the First, whose arrogant stupidity cost the Dominion the fight, but the Second, who gives the correct advice every time and would have been a NoNonsenseNemesis. Sisko aknowledges it at the end.