History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E22Valiant

Nog and Jake are heading to Ferenginar with what Jake suspects is a proposal for an alliance against the Dominion. unfortunately they stumble across a wing of Jem'Hadar attack fighters, but just before their runabout can be destroyed, they are rescued by a ''Defiant''-class starship, the USS ''Valiant''. There, they find that the crew is entirely composed of cadets from Red Squad, an [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous elite training unit]] from Starfleet Academy that [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E11Homefront Nog idolized]] and [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E12ParadiseLost wanted to join]]. The captain, Tim Watters, takes an immediate liking to Nog, as he's the only actual Starfleet officer on the ship. Meanwhile, [[EnsignNewbie Chief Petty Officer Dorian Collins]] is befriended by Jake.

* TheNeidermeyer: "Captain" Watters and [[NumberTwo executive officer]] "Commander" Farris. Farris is a [[HateSink bully]] barking orders like a bad parody of a [=Starfleet=] officer. Watters lets his ego blind him to the fact that he's ''way'' out of his depth. The crew was the best: [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous special missions, training, even their own ship]]. But they were still cadets.

* MilesGloriosus: Watters is taking stimulants to stay awake; judging by his initial reactions to Jake and Nog he's a sycophant, and 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) at Watters' urging, and some of them can't even see [[MyMasterRightOrWrong how poorly Watters led them]], even when recovering from serious injuries after being pulled from an escape pod. Watters even seems to [[BelievingTheirOwnLies believe his own bullshit]], right up until they catch their prey, when he's among the first to realise that they now have no choice but to go through with the plan, and if it goes wrong they'll all die. [[KillEmAll And they do.]]

** Justified by the fact that the ship targeted a glaring weakpoint, meaning it did a thorough scan of them and the information could still get back to a competent response force before the ship can find a way to fix the weakness they've uncovered.

After a good ol' LockAndLoadMontage and a RousingSpeech, the ''Valiant'' finds and engages the battleship. They barely launch their specially-modified torpedo, which appears to destroy the ship -- but their celebration is premature, as the Dominion ship gets to NoSell the attack and emerges unscathed. With a MassOhCrap, the cadets try to regroup, but Watters, Farris, and most of the rest of the crew are killed in rapid succession. Nog realizes the ship is lost and escapes the ship with Jake and Collins. The ''Defiant'' picks up their distress signal and rescues them. Afterward, Nog apologizes to Jake and asks what he'll write about the ordeal. Jake blames Watters for the catastrophe, but Collins insists that [[BlindObedience the crew let Watters down]]. Nog tells Jake to write it all down and let people decide for themselves, but he himself has no doubts: Watters may have been a hero and a great man, but he was a bad captain. He [[TurnInYourBadge returns his Red Squad pin to Collins]].

* AmbiguousSituation: The episode doesn't specify why exactly Red Squad's plan to destroy the Dominion warship failed and the characters aren't given a chance to ponder it before the warship retaliates. It could be that Red Squad made a miscalculation somewhere or that the Dominion had already anticipated the vulnerability and compensated for it, but it's ultimately left unsaid.

* MandatoryLine: Everyone who's not Jake or Nog appears either at the very beginning or the very end of the episode. Except O'Brien, who doesn't appear at all.

[[caption-width-right:350:Okay, so remember back in that season 4 [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E11Homefront two-]][[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E12ParadiseLost parter]] where Nog was way into this Starfleet Academy group called Red Squad? Well, here he finally gets to work with them for real! [[TemptingFate Won't that be great???]]]]

Nog and Jake are heading to Ferenginar with what Jake suspects is a proposal for an alliance against the Dominion. unfortunately they stumble across a wing of Jem'Hadar attack fighters, but just before their runabout can be destroyed, they are rescued by a ''Defiant''-class starship, the USS ''Valiant''. There, they find that the crew is entirely composed of cadets from Red Squad, an [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous 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 only actual Starfleet officer on the ship. Meanwhile, [[EnsignNewbie Chief Petty Officer Dorian Collins]] is befriended by Jake.

* WarIsGlorious: Watters seems to think so, reminiscing very fondly of the ''Valiant'''s first battle with a Cardassian cruiser.

After a good ol' LockAndLoadMontage and a RousingSpeech, the ''Valiant'' finds and engages the battleship. They barely launch their specially-modified torpedo, which appear to destroy the ship -- but their celebration is premature, as the Dominion ship gets to NoSell the attack and emerges unscathed. With a MassOhCrap, the cadets try to regroup, but Watters, Farris, and most of the rest of the crew are killed in rapid succession. Nog realizes the ship is lost and escapes the ship with Jake and Collins. The ''Defiant'' picks up their distress signal and rescues them. Afterward, Nog apologizes to Jake and asks what he'll write about the ordeal. Jake blames Watters for the catastrophe, but Collins insists that [[BlindObedience the crew let Watters down]]. Nog tells Jake to write it all down and let people decide for themselves, but he himself has no doubts: Watters may have been a hero and a great man, but he was a bad captain. He [[TurnInYourBadge returns his Red Squad pin to Collins]].

After a good ol' LockAndLoadMontage and a RousingSpeech, the ''Valiant'' finds and engages the battleship. They flawlessly launch their specially-modified torpedoe, which appear to destroy the ship -- but their celebration is premature, as the Dominion ship gets to NoSell the attack and emerges unscathed. With a MassOhCrap, the cadets try to regroup, but Watters, Farris, and most of the rest of the crew are killed in rapid succession. Nog realizes the ship is lost and escapes the ship with Jake and Collins. The ''Defiant'' picks up their distress signal and rescues them. Afterward, Nog apologizes to Jake and asks what he'll write about the ordeal. Jake blames Watters for the catastrophe, but Collins insists that [[BlindObedience the crew let Watters down]]. Nog tells Jake to write it all down and let people decide for themselves, but he himself has no doubts: Watters may have been a hero and a great man, but he was a bad captain. He [[TurnInYourBadge returns his Red Squad pin to Collins]].

After a good ol' LockAndLoadMontage and a RousingSpeech, the ''Valiant'' finds and engages the battleship. They flawlessly launch their specially-modified torpedoe, which appear to destroy the ship -- but their celebration is premature, as the Dominion ship gets to NoSell the attack and emerges unscathed. With a MassOhCrap, the cadets try to regroup, but Watters, Farris, and most of the rest of the crew are killed in rapid succession. Nog realizes the ship is lost and escapes the ship with Jake and Collins. The ''Defiant'' picks up their distress signal and rescues them. Afterward, Nog apologizes to Jake and asks about what he'll write about the ordeal. Collins still [[BlindObedience refuses to blame her captain]] and claims the crew let him down. Nog tells Jake to write it all down and let people decide for themselves, but he himself has no doubts: Watters may have been a hero and a great man, but he was a bad captain. He [[TurnInYourBadge returns his Red Squad pin to her]].

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 -- whose grandmother is in love with the Nagus and whose father and uncle have had multiple dealings with him -- 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 composed of Red Squad, an [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous 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 [[EnsignNewbie Chief Petty Officer Dorian Collins]] is befriended by 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 TrappedBehindEnemyLines. 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, a star-struck 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.

Jake gets Collins to open up, revealing her backstory and how she misses her family. This is brought before Watters and [[NumberTwo executive officer]] Karen Farris, who lash at Jake for "emotionally compromising" a member of the crew and order him to stay away from Collins. Jake is taken aback at this, seeing that while the cadets are highly trained, they are still NewMeat and unfamiliar with how to truly handle themselves in war. Meanwhile, Nog is field-promoted to lieutenant commander and manages to solve the vessel's propulsion problems, allowing them to track the battleship.

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, [[Film/ANewHope wrong film]] ... a flawed [[MadeOfExplodium antimatter storage]] system that can be easily ruptured with the right type of attack -- forgetting that their supposed orders are to ''gather intel and bring it back'', not to engage in a risky battle. Jake tries to talk them out of it by saying that his own father, The Sisko, would not take on a mission this suicidal on his own. Of course, [[SuicidalOverconfidence 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.

After a good ol' LockAndLoadMontage and a RousingSpeech, the ''Valiant'' finds and engages the battleship. They flawlessly launch their specially-modified torpedoes, which appear to destroy the ship -- but their celebration is premature, as the Dominion ship gets to NoSell the attack and emerges unscathed. With a MassOhCrap, the cadets try to regroup, but Watters, Farris, and most of the rest of the crew are killed in rapid succession. Nog realizes the ship is lost, and escapes the ship with Jake and Collins. They are soon rescued by the ''Defiant'', which headed for the area to investigate the distress call from Nog and Jake's runabout. Afterward, Nog apologizes to Jake and urges him to tell what happened. Collins still [[BlindObedience refuses to blame her captain]] and claims the crew let him down. Nog tells Jake to write it all down and let people decide for themselves, but he himself has no doubts that it was Watters who led the crew "over a cliff", and [[TurnInYourBadge returns his Red Squad pin to her.]]

** 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.[[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 and wouldn't have taken any crap from a bunch of uppity cadets.[[/note]]
** Also note we actually have the precedent of Wesley Crusher, who Captain Picard commissioned to a full Ensign, with the command authority and position of the Enterprise-D's chief helmsmen before he even went to the academy. Which tracks with Watters having the genuine command authority as 'acting Captain' at least 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) arrived. Which Nog was not.
** In-Universe. Nog is "promoted" by Watters to Lieutenant Commander, but only has the insignia of a junior-grade lieutenant.

* ContrivedCoincidence: The cadets outnumbered the training officers five-to-one, so of course only the inexperienced cadets survived their first battle while the officers were KilledOffscreen.

** Of the entire concept of the "plucky young band that overcomes a great evil" found in so much of adventure fiction (''Franchise/StarWars'' or ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato'', just to name a couple). The cadets are inexperienced and overworked, leading to a series of poor decisions that gets almost all of them killed.
** Also of technobabble and hare-brained schemes saving the day. This time, the Dominion evidently anticipated the problem and the ship survives the failure of that specific component.

* 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 still ''are'' inexperienced cadets.

* InformedAbility: One could make a case about this regarding Red Squad, as both times we've seen them, being "the best of the best" is just hype to make them act like they can do everything, when they are sadly inexperienced and full of SuicidalOverconfidence.

* MightyGlacier: The Dominion battleship is much larger and slower than their battlecruisers, but has much greater firepower. The ''Valiant'' starts off this way, unable to go at a reasonable warp factor, because the engines aren't configured properly for the ship type; doing so actually breaks quite a few Starfleet regulations, but Nog points out the necessity, and also points out that the ''Defiant'' hasn't had any problems due to this configuration.

* PlotArmor: It may seem that the escape pod carrying Jake, Nog and Collins surviving to be picked up by the ''Defiant'' is a ContrivedCoincidence when three others were much more unlucky, but it's actually fairly well justified, as all the debris left behind and scattered in all directions by the explosion of the ''Valiant'' would have been an effective screen to protect the escape pod from the Jem'Hadar battleship's sensors.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** A single ''Defiant''-class ship goes against a massive, heavily-armed, heavily-armored battleship and is completely obliterated. Contrary to what some may think, the ''Defiant'' wasn't designed to fight and defeat the Borg entirely ''on its own''.
** Furthermore, a bunch of untested rookies, no matter how good they supposedly are, aren't going to successfully pull off an impossibly dangerous mission that even more experienced officers wouldn't consider doing. Especially not with an exhausted and stressed captain who's been overdoing the stimulants for months (and he may not have been the only one).
** There are times when CrazyEnoughToWork plans not only don't work, they get everyone killed for no purpose.

* TagalongReporter: Jake, who initially tries to get the scoop on what Nog's "secret diplomatic mission" is about (in a really idiotic way). Watters initially wants him to sit back and watch Red Squad fulfill their destiny, at least until Jake tries to convince them that their attack plan is suicidal.

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

* WellTrainedButInexperienced: ZigZagged with Red Squad. They have clearly been in combat since the beginning of the war, but they are still not experienced enough to take on impossible odds like the crews of the ''Enterprise'' or the ''Defiant'' have been able to do.

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, [[Film/StarWarsANewHope wrong film]] ... a flawed [[MadeOfExplodium antimatter storage]] system that can be easily ruptured with the right type of attack -- forgetting that their supposed orders are to ''gather intel and bring it back'', not to engage in a risky battle. Jake tries to talk them out of it by saying that his own father, The Sisko, would not take on a mission this suicidal on his own. Of course, [[SuicidalOverconfidence 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.

* AlphaBitch: Commander Farris, [[{{Jerkass}} very much so]], though somewhat subverted as she is still the NumberTwo to Captain Watters.

* BreakTheCutie: Dorian Collins gets this from start to finish. By the time Jake and Nog come aboard, she's already depressed and deeply homesick. By the end of the episode, she's had what confidence she had as a Red Squad member [[BrokenPedestal downright pulverized]], while all of her shipmates were killed around her and the ''Valiant'' itself, presumably her first space assignment, was blown to pieces in a CurbStompBattle.

** Subverted with Collins. Even after all that happened, she [[BlindObedience refuses to blame Watters]], claiming ''they'' all failed ''him''.

* MandatoryLine: Everyone who's not Jake or Nog appears either at the very beginning or the very end of the episode. [[AbsenteeActor Except O'Brien, who doesn't appear at all.]]

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: A charismatic cadet in command of an elite squad of cadets, who through his overconfidence gets people killed. Didn't we see this kind of guy expelled from Starfleet in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' Season 5 episode "The First Duty"? Or for that matter, wasn't a similar guy on ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''? (Played by the same actor, Robert Duncan [=McNeill=], no less.)[[note]]The latter two were intentional; Tom Paris was indeed [[WhatCouldHaveBeen supposed to be]] Nick Locarno, but the ''Voyager'' writers didn't want to have to pay royalties to the writer of "The First Duty" every time ''Voyager'' aired, so they concocted Tom Paris as a more sympathetic {{Expy}} and cast [=McNeill=] in the role anyways.[[/note]]

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: When Shepard and an unnamed fellow officer arrive outside the engine room to arrest Jake, both of them point their hand phasers right in his face. Not only is this dangerous in the event of a misfire, but ''[[Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry The Undiscovered Country]]'', released a few years prior, also established that even when set on stun, a point-blank phaser hit to the head is fatal.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Jake and Nog's original mission to Ferenginar, an important but far less dangerous mission that the ''Valiant'' could still carry out, is never mentioned after the first act.

* 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]]. As noted above, this one is likely justified by the fact that their mission was just a pretext for Layton to hide them from scrutiny; a mission of practically indefinite length that he could terminate at his leisure but no one else could.

* TheWorfEffect: The ''Defiant''-class ship was specifically built to kick ass, and the ''[[FanNickname USS Ben Sisko's Motherfucking Pimp Hand]]'' has consistently done so. This episode, however, proves that this breed of PintSizedPowerhouse is not, in fact, invincible. While its crew manages to take down a Jem'Hadar fighter with minimal damage, against the much larger battleship, they get obliterated in minutes.

After a good ol' LockAndLoadMontage and a RousingSpeech, the ''Valiant'' finds and engages the battleship. They flawlessly launch their specially-modified torpedoes, which appear to destroy the ship -- but their celebration is premature, as the Dominion ship gets to NoSell the attack and emerges unscathed. With a MassOhCrap, the cadets try to regroup, but Watters, Farris, and most of the rest of the crew are killed in rapid succession. Nog realizes the ship is lost, and escapes the ship with Jake and Collins. They are soon rescued by the ''Defiant'', which headed for the area to investigate the distress call from Nog and Jake's runabout. Afterward, Nog apologizes to Jake and urges him to tell what happened. Collins still [[BlindObedience refuses to blame her captain]] and claims the crew let him down. Nog tells Jake to write it all down and let people decide for themselves.

** Also of technobabble and hare-brained schemes saving the day. This time, the Dominion evidently anticpated the problem and the ship survives the failure of that specific component.

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

* TheNeidermeyer: "Captain" Watters and [[NumberTwo executive officer]] "Commander" Farris. Farris is a [[HateSink bully]] barking orders like a bad parody of a [=Starfleet=] officer. Watters lets his ego blind him to the fact that he's ''way'' out of his depth. The crew was the best: [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous special missions, training, even their own ship]]. But they were [[RealityEnsues still cadets]].

* RealityEnsues:
** A single ''Defiant''-class ship goes against a massive, heavily-armed, heavily-armored battleship and is completely obliterated. Contrary to what some may think, the ''Defiant'' wasn't designed to fight and defeat the Borg entirely ''on its own''.
** Furthermore, a bunch of untested rookies, no matter how good they supposedly are, aren't going to successfully pull off an impossibly dangerous mission that even more experienced officers wouldn't consider doing. Especially not with an exhausted and stressed captain who's been overdoing the stimulants for months (and he may not have been the only one).
** There are times when CrazyEnoughToWork plans not only don't work, they get everyone killed for no purpose.

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 -- whose grandmother is in love with the Nagus and whose father and uncle have had multiple dealings with him -- 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 composed of Red Squad, an [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous 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 [[EnsignNewbie CPO Dorian Collins]] is befriended by 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 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, a star-struck 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.

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, [[Film/StarWarsANewHope wrong film]] ... a flawed [[MadeOfExplodium antimatter storage]] system that can be easily ruptured with the right type of attack (forgetting that their supposed orders are to ''gather intel and bring it back'', not to engage in a risky battle). Jake tries to talk them out of it by saying that his own father, The Sisko, would not take on a mission this suicidal on his own. Of course, [[SuicidalOverconfidence 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.

* MrFixIt: Nog can get the ''Valiant'''s engine working properly because he's had field experience working with Chief O'Brien on the ''Defiant'', whereas the rest of the engineers haven't had that opportunity.