History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E22Valiant

* BlindObedience: The entirety of Red Squad has absolute loyalty to Watters, with Collins even refusing to consider that he sucked as a captain ''after'' the plan fails horribly and Watters dies in the process, followed by the [[TotalPartyKill rest of the crew]].

* AbandonShip: At the climax.

* ElitesAreMoreGlamorous: Deconstructed. The elite Red Squad eventually reveal themselves to just be terrified kids who are well out of their league. In fact their "elite" status actively works against them; they've been so ingrained with the idea that they're the best-of-the-best of all the cadets that they lose sight of the important fact that they ''are'' inexperienced cadets.

* EverybodysDeadDave: Nog telling Collins that their attack has failed and everyone else is dead.

* KnowWhenToFoldEm: Jake points out that even his MemeticBadass father would not engage the Jem'Hadar battleship if he didn't have to and that there's no shame in running from a battle you can't win. None of the Red Squad cadets listen and they pay the price.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Nog gives Jake one for thinking about his own survival instead of being willing to risk his life in battle against the Dominion battleship.

* 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 Farris are killed. But by then, nearly the entire bridge crew is dead and the ship is about to be blown to hell, so all Nog can do is order the surviving crew to AbandonShip.

* GloryHound: Watters and the rest of Red Squad, grabbing the IdiotBall firmly as they pursue a massive Jem'Hadar battleship instead of taking their undermanned and damaged warship back to rejoin the rest of Starfleet.

* IdiotBall: Whoever was in charge of the ''Valiant'''s mission grabbed this ''hard'': staff a state-of-the-art warship to circumnavigate the entire Federation with absolutely inexperienced cadets (some of which are seventeen years old) at a 5-to-1 ratio against commissioned Starfleet officers, have them maintain strict radio silence with no exceptions, and don't require any communication from them while they are roaming Dominion space, spying on a Dominion ship during a Dominion-dominated war. No matter how good the Red Squad is -- and this seems more like an InformedAbility than anything else -- this is a mission that would be certainly given to a battle-experienced crew like that of the ''Defiant'' and not a bunch of [[EnsignNewbie wet-behind-the-ears cadets]]. And at the very least, all those cadets should really have been scattered among a multitude of ships where they would be surrounded by experienced officers. Some of this fits in to Red Squad's last appearance, where Admiral Layton assigned them to a mission no one could retrieve them from so they wouldn't be available as witnesses to his machinations. There's also the implication that Watters is deliberately misconstruing orders to keep himself in command and earn glory, since Worf notes the ship went missing eight months ago, rather than returning home and going back to a cadet, even though he would have plenty of other opportunities if he had the humility to earn his way into Starfleet from the ground up.

* [[AttackPatternAlpha Attack Pattern Sierra-4]]: Used in the skirmish with the first Jem'Hadar fighter.

* ForegoneConclusion: From the moment we are introduced to Red Squad, specifically Watters, you can pretty much count to the second when the ''Valiant'' blows up.

** Captain Watters. It's dubious that the orders to gather intel on the battleship are genuine, given how close they were to Federation-held territory at the start and they could have easily returned home. This is further supported by Worf noting the ship was said to have gone missing eight months ago, so he definitely didn't get those orders in that time frame. He obviously doesn't want to go back to being a cadet, even though they are in a war and advancement could be quick.

* ContinuityNod: [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E12ParadiseLost Cadet Riley Shepard]] is still with Red Squad. [[BackForTheDead He dies along with everyone else.]]

* ScifiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: The cadets' original mission was supposedly to circumnavigate the entire Federation. Just getting from one end of it to the other in a straight line would take years. Circling the perimeter would [[Series/StarTrekVoyager take decades]].

* SinkTheLifeboats: The Jem'Hadar don't even spare the escape pods after the ''Valiant'' goes down for the count. Only one escape pod [[PlotArmor with the main characters aboard]] escapes because the exploding ''Valiant' hides it.

* SinkTheLifeboats: The Jem'Hadar don't even spare the escape pods after the ''Valiant'' goes down for the count. Only one escape pod goes free, [[PlotArmor because it has main characters aboard]].

** Also note we actually have the precedent of Wesley Crusher, who Captain Picard who commissioned Crusher to a full Ensign, with the command authority and the Enterprise-D's chief helmsmen before he even went to the academy and was clearly treated as an officer on board the ship. Which tracks with Watters having the genuine command authority as 'acting Captain' until another officer actually qualified for command (which we saw in the TNG episode 'Thine Own Self' is a very different thing from simply having rank).

!This episode provides examples of:

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Invoked. In modern military protocol, being a commissioned officer, Nog would have immediately outranked everyone on board the ''Valiant''. However, Ron Moore based his writing on 19th century naval tradition, where an acting captain could only be removed from command by a flag officer, a tradition also followed in the TNG episode [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E20TheArsenalOfFreedom "The Arsenal of Freedom"]], where Geordi refused to cede command to then-Chief Engineer Logan. [[note]]This is why the original concept involving Major Kira was scrapped, as she would have ended the episode in five minutes by assuming command.[[/note]]
** On the other hand, Watters was surrounded by a fiercely loyal crew so drunk on the Kool-Aid that even ''after'' things quite literally explode in their faces the sole survivor insists that the failure was the ''crew's'' fault, not his. Nog likely wouldn't have gotten one syllable out of any attempt to take command before being promptly escorted to the brig regardless of seniority and protocol. To say nothing of the fact that Nog was star-struck by Red Squad even at the Academy, allowing Watters to secure his loyalty with a FieldPromotion and a RousingSpeech.

* BelievingTheirOwnLies: Watters believes the Red Squad was destined for something great in the Dominion War, and taking on a battleship ten times their size is just the thing that will propel him to legendary status. Nog also starts doing this even as Jake tries to snap him out of it.
-->'''Nog:''' I am chief engineer of the starship ''Valiant''!
-->'''Jake:''' I'll have them put that on your tombstone.

* CrazyEnoughToWork: ThePlan to destroy the Dominion battleship. {{Subverted}} as it ''doesn't'' work.
* CriticalStaffingShortage: One reason why Watters is eager to have Nog as part of the crew.

* CurbstompCushion: Jake and Nog's runabout gets hammered by a Jem'Hadar fighter, however they manage to score a few hits before the ''Valiant'' arrives in the nick of time to finish off the Jem'Hadar.

** Of the entire concept of the "plucky young band that overcomes a great evil" found in so much of adventure fiction (and most particularly ''Franchise/StarWars'' or ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato'').
** Also of technobabble and hare-brained schemes saving the day.

** Captain Watters. It's dubious that the orders to gather intel on the battleship are genuine, given how close they were to Federation-held territory at the start and they could have easily returned home. He obviously doesn't want to go back to being a cadet, even though they are in a war and advancement could be quick.

* IdiotBall: Whoever was in charge of the ''Valiant'''s mission grabbed this ''hard'': staff a state-of-the-art warship to circumnavigate the entire Federation with absolutely inexperienced cadets (some of which are seventeen years old) at a 5-to-1 ratio against commissioned Starfleet officers, have them maintain strict radio silence with no exceptions, and don't require any communication from them while they are roaming Dominion space, spying on a Dominion ship during a Dominion-dominated war. No matter how good the Red Squad is -- and this seems more like an InformedAbility than anything else -- this is a mission that would be certainly given to a battle-experienced crew like that of the ''Defiant'' and not a bunch of [[EnsignNewbie wet-behind-the-ears cadets]]. And at the very least, all those cadets should really have been scattered among a multitude of ships where they would be surrounded by experienced officers. Some of this fits in to Red Squad's last appearance, where Admiral Layton assigned them to a mission no one could retrieve them from so they wouldn't be available as witnesses to his machinations. There's also the implication that Watters is deliberately misconstruing orders to keep himself in command and earn glory, rather than returning home and going back to a cadet, even though he would have plenty of other opportunities if he had the humility to earn his way into Starfleet from the ground up.

* ContinuityNod: [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E12ParadiseLost Cadet Shepard]] is still with Red Squad.

** Of course, there's the implication that their orders aren't real, that Watters is trying to win his own personal glory in this massive war, which has plenty of other opportunities if he had the humility to earn his way into Starfleet from the ground up.

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 behind enemy lines. While engaging a Cardassian cruiser, all the commissioned officers were killed, leaving [[YouAreInCommandNow the cadets in command]]. Watters reveals to Nog what are, ostensibly, their orders: to gather intelligence on [[TheDreadedDreadnought a new Dominion battleship]]. However, their inexperience has left the ''Valiant'' unable to catch up with the enemy ship. Being an Operations division ensign, Nog is immediately put in charge of engineering, even though as the only (field-)commissioned officer, he should really be taking command of the ship itself. But that is not gonna happen because Nog is still star-struck by them.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Invoked. In modern military protocol, being a commissioned officer, Nog would have immediately outranked everyone on board the ''Valiant''. However, Ron Moore based his writing on 19th century naval tradition, where an acting captain could only be removed from command by a flag officer, a tradition also followed in the TNG episode [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E20TheArsenalOfFreedom The Arsenal of Freedom]], where Geordi refused to cede command to then-Chief Engineer Logan. [[note]]This is why the original concept involving Major Kira was scrapped, as she would have ended the episode in five minutes by assuming command.[[/note]]

-->'''Website/SFDebris''': I'd tell you you're a pip shy, but most people here are a few pips shy.

* {{Hubris}}: The whole crew succumbs to this, but Watters most especially. He's completed his mission of gathering intel, and the rational thing to do is to take this intel back to Starfleet so it can be analyzed in detail by a team of experts. Instead, Watters decides that their own quick overview of the intel is sufficient to warrant a solo attack using quickly-improvised technobabble. We've seen this sort of solution work before on ''Franchise/StarTrek'' many times -- by teams of officers with years or decades of experience in the field, many of whom have additional advantages like being a biological computer (Data), having advanced mental discipline and a brain with superhuman computational speed (Spock), access to the Borg Collective's vast technical library (Seven of Nine), a genetically-enhanced intellect (Bashir), or seven lifetimes of accumulated knowledge (Dax). This time, we see the result when a few students who haven't even graduated from the Academy yet take the "brand new {{technobabble}} on the fly" path.

* {{Hubris}}: The whole crew succumbs to this, but Watters most especially. He's completed his mission of gathering intel, and the rational thing to do is to take this intel back to Starfleet so it can be analyzed in detail by a team of experts. Instead, Watters decides that their own quick overview of the intel is sufficient to warrant a solo attack using quickly-improvised technobabble. We've seen this sort of solution work before on StarTrek many times -- by teams of officers with years or decades of experience in the field, many of whom have additional advantages like being a biological computer (Data), having advanced mental discipline and a brain with superhuman computational speed (Spock), access to the Borg Collective's vast technical library (Seven of Nine), a genetically-enhanced intellect (Bashir), or seven lifetimes of accumulated knowledge (Dax). This time, we see the result when a few students who haven't even graduated from the Academy yet take the "brand new {{technobabble}} on the fly" path.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Invoked. In modern military protocol, being a commissioned officer, Nog would have immediately outranked everyone on board the ''Valiant''. However, Ron Moore based his writing on 19th century naval tradition, where an acting captain could only be removed from command by a flag officer. [[note]]This is why the original concept involving Major Kira was scrapped, as she would have ended the episode in five minutes by assuming command.[[/note]]

* 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 and succeeding. [[RealityEnsues Unfortunately, this time the odds really were impossible.]]

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 behind enemy lines. While engaging a Cardassian cruiser, all the commissioned officers were killed, leaving [[YouAreInCommandNow the cadets in command]]. Watters reveals to Nog what are, ostensibly, their orders: to gather intelligence on [[TheDreadedDreadnought a new Dominion battleship]]. However, their inexperience has left the ''Valiant'' unable to catch up with the enemy ship. Being an Operations division ensign, Nog is immediately put in charge of engineering, even though as the only (field-)commissioned officer, he should really be taking command of the ship itself. But that is not gonna happen because Nog is still starstruck by them.

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 behind enemy lines. While engaging a Cardassian cruiser, all the commissioned officers were killed, leaving [[YouAreInCommandNow the cadets in command]]. Watters reveals to Nog what are, ostensibly, their orders: to gather intelligence on [[TheDreadedDreadnought a new Dominion battleship]]. However, their inexperience has left the ''Valiant'' unable to catch up with the enemy ship. Being an Operations division ensign, Nog is immediately put in charge of engineering, even though as the only (field-)commissioned officer, he should really be taking command of the ship itself.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: The ''USS Valiant''. Jake certainly thinks so, right until a console explodes in his face.