History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E22Valiant

The two reveal to Jake and Nog (separately) the backstory of the ''Valiant'': it was a training ship built solely for Red Squad and while on a mission to circumnavigate the entire Federation, the Dominion War broke out and they became trapped BehindEnemyLines. While engaging a Cardassian cruiser, all the commissioned officers were killed, leaving the cadets in command. Watters reveals to Nog what are, ostensibly, their orders: to gather intel on a new Dominion battleship. However, their technobabble says they cannot catch up with the enemy ship. Being a commissioned gold shirt, Nog is immediately put in charge of engineering, even though as the only commissioned officer, he should really be taking command of the ship itself.

* OhCrap: When the explosion clears and the Jem'Hadar ship is without a scratch, you can plainly see the fear on the cadets' faces.
* OnlySaneMan: Jake.

* WrongGenreSavvy: Watters likely took after the famous captains like Kirk and Picard, and presumed this was his heroic moment to become a Starfleet legend by taking on impossible odds. [[RealityEnsues Who turned out to be impossible.]]

* DavidVersusGoliath: This time, Goliath wins.

** Which makes sense, because, you know... ''[[MadeOfExplodium antimatter]].''

* YouAreInCommandNow: In a CallBack to the talk with Chief O'Brien in [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E04BehindTheLines "Behind the Lines"]], Nog receives command of the ''Valiant'' after Watters and Ferris are killed. But by then, nearly the entire bridge crew is dead and the ship is about to be blown to hell.

** Also of technobabble and hair brained schemes saving the day.
* DevelopmentGag: The USS ''Defiant'''s original name was USS ''Valiant''.

* CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough: Watters and Farris, especially in the ready room scene with Jake.

* OhCrap: When the explosion clears and the Jem'Hadar ship is without a scratch, you can plainly see the fear on the cadets faces.

* SuicidalOverconfidence: A combination of inexperience, stress and misplaced bravado lead to a stupid plan that fails miserably.

* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: The plan that Red Squad discusses fails spectacularly.

Nog and Jake are heading to Ferenginar with what Jake suspects is a proposal for an alliance against the Dominion (because, obviously, the only Ferengi in Starfleet is the most qualified person to handle a proposal of an alliance). The two are flying a runabout without any sort of escorts, so naturally they're easy picking for a squad of Jem'Hadar attack fighters. Luckily, they are rescued by the USS ''Valiant''. There, they find that the crew is entirely compose of Red Squad, an elite training unit from Starfleet Academy that Nog idolized and wanted to join. The captain, Tim Watters, takes an immediate liking to Nog as he's the one person who is a Starfleet officer, while CPO Dorian Collins is befriended by Jake.

* SuicidalOverconfidence: A combination of inexperience, stress and misplaced bravado lead to a stupid plan that fails miserably.

* [[spoiler:AbandonShip]]: At the climax.

* DavidVersusGoliath: [[spoiler: This time, Goliath wins.]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Originally, the story would have centered on Major Kira and Jake, but that was scrapped as Kira would have kicked the cadets' asses and assumed command in five minutes.

* ContinuityNod: [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E11ParadiseLost Cadet Shepard]] is still with Red Squad.

* MilesGloriosus: Watters is taking stimulants to stay awake, judging by his initial reactions to Jake and Nog he's a sycophant, judging by his later reactions he's a fragile egotist. Several times throughout the episode, when interacting with Jake (and to a lesser extent Nog), all the named cadets demonstrate that they're not the seasoned officers they're pretending to be (you can't imagine even TOS-era officers treating a nosy civilian how Jake is treated here), and some of them can't even see how poorly Watters led them, even when recovering from serious injuries after being pulled from an escape pod.

Nog and Jake are heading to Ferenginar with what Jake suspects is a proposal for an alliance against the Dominion (because, obviously, the only Ferengi in Starfleet is the most qualified person to propose an alliance). The two are flying a runabout without any sort of escorts, so naturally they're easy picking for a squad of Jem'Hadar attack fighters. Luckily, they are rescued by the USS ''Valiant''. There, they find that the crew is entirely compose of Red Squad, an elite training unit from Starfleet Academy that Nog idolized and wanted to join. The captain, Tim Watters, takes an immediate liking to Nog as he's the one person who is a Starfleet officer, while CPO Dorian Collins is befriended by Jake.

* OnlySaneMan: Jake.

The two reveal to Jake and Nog (separately) the backstory of the ''Valiant'': it was a training ship built solely for Red Squad and while on a mission to circumnavigate the entire Federation, the Dominion War broke out and they became trapped BehindEnemyLines. While engaging a Cardassian cruiser, all the commissioned officers were killed, leaving the cadets in command. Watters reveals to Nog was are, ostensibly, their orders: to gather intel on a new Dominion battleship. However, their technobabble says they cannot catch up with the enemy ship. Being a commissioned gold shirt, Nog is immediately put in charge of engineering, even though as the only commissioned officer, he should really be taking command of the ship itself.

Watters and Farris assemble the crew and reveal that their scans depict a weakness in the ship: an exhaust shaft that leads directly to the main reactor...sorry, wrong film...a flawed antimatter storage system that can be easily ruptured with the right technobabble. Jake tries to talk them down by saying that his own father, The Sisko, would not take on a mission this suicidal on his own. Of course, Red Squad can do anything, and he is ignored. Jake tries to talk sense into Nog, who has let his new rank go to his head and for this, Jake is thrown in the brig.

While heading toward Ferenginar aboard a runabout, Nog and Jake are attacked by the Jem'Hadar, and rescued by the starship ''Valiant'', a ''Defiant''-class battleship crewed by the cadets of Red Squad which had been stranded behind enemy lines.

* [[spoiler:AbandonShip]]: At the climax.