One Little Ship

"One Little Ship" is the 138th episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It is the 14th episode of the sixth season.

In order to investigate a rare subspace phenomenon, Dax, O'Brien, and Bashir board the Runabout USS Rubicon, which is shrunk to four inches (10 cm) long. However, while investigating the phenomenon, the Defiant is boarded by Jem'Hadar.

Plot

The USS Defiant is sent on a mission to investigate a subspace compression anomaly. Probes which are sent into the anomaly are being shrunk down in size, and so the decision is to send the runabout USS Rubicon in, with Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell), Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) and Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig), in order to take readings. After sending the smaller vessel into the anomaly while attached on a tractor beam, the Defiant is attacked by a Jem'Hadar attack ship. Unable to raise their shields without disconnecting the tractor beam, the Defiant is disabled and boarded by Jem'Hadar soldiers. The tractor beam is disconnected, leaving the runabout in the anomaly where the Jem'Hadar cannot detect it.

Aboard the Defiant, the Jem'Hadar discover that the engines are damaged and the ship is unable to get underway to the nearest Dominion outpost. The Jem'Hadar leading Kudak'Etan (Scott Thompson Baker) celebrates victory, declaring that the new generation of Jem'Hadar born in the Alpha Quadrant are superior to those in the Gamma Quadrant. He overrules his Gamma-born second in command Ixtana'Rax (Fritz Sperberg), despite his status as an "honored elder" and greater experience. Kudak'Etan reports in to his Vorta superior, Gelnon (Leland Crooke), who orders him to prioritize repairs to the Defiant's warp drive and get underway to the Dominion outpost, while the Jem'Hadar ship departs for an attack on the Coridan system. Meanwhile, the three crew aboard the Rubicon set course for the Defiant, but as they approach the ship they discover that they have not resumed their previous size; the entire length of the runabout is now less than one foot long.

The runabout attempts to hail the Defiant, but the larger ship's communications systems are not yet repaired. The three crew decide to take the Rubicon down the Defiant's aft plasma vent, figuring that they have a better chance of attracting attention from inside. Kudak'Etan has Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) brought to the bridge and demands that he helps the repair efforts on the warp drive, to which Sisko responds that he will need additional members of his crew. Ixtana'Rax interjects, believing that it is a trick to try to take back the ship, but Kudak'Etan overrules him once more and orders him to escort Sisko to the engineering department. While in the turbolift, Ixtana'Rax threatens Sisko, and criticizes the Founders for creating the Alpha-Gamma split in the Jem'Hadar ranks. Meanwhile, the Rubicon has worked its way into the impulse engines and barely escapes being destroyed by superheated plasma when the Jem'Hadar attempt to start up the engines.

The Rubicon crew observe the Starfleet crew members in engineering, and realize their plan. While Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) conducts repairs, Sisko, Worf (Michael Dorn) and Nog (Aron Eisenberg) are attempting to sabotage the ship. O'Brien sees that Nog is attempting to override the security codes on the ship so that they can take control of the ship from engineering, but knows that it will take him weeks to do so, and suggests that they take the Rubicon up to the bridge so that they can try to release the codes from there. Kudak'Etan enters engineering and complains that Ixtana'Rax's presence is slowing down the Defiant's crew, and orders him back to the bridge. As the Jem'Hadar departs, the Rubicon follows him without him noticing.

Sisko and his team are having to stall the Jem'Hadar in engineering, and come to the conclusion that they won't get access to the control codes in time and so he orders Worf to install a computer virus that will destroy the ship should the warp drive be activated. The Rubicon sneaks onto the bridge, and O'Brien determines that he needs to leave the ship and reroute the encryption processors by hand, but Bashir warns that the oxygen molecules on board the Defiant would be too big for him to breathe. Dax suggests using the transporter to beam a volume of the Rubicon's air into the space housing the processors along with O'Brien; Bashir responds that he will be going along as well to help.

The two are transported over and after O'Brien's initial confusion by the change in perspective, they manage to reroute the processor before the air runs out. At the same time in engineering, Nog believes he has cracked the codes but Ixtana'Rax returns and orders the Defiant crew all away from the computer consoles. Kudak'Etan arrives and demands to know about the delay, with his second in command reporting that the warp drive has been operational for an hour and that Sisko's crew have been delaying them. Kudak'Etan orders the Starfleet crew to be locked up, and that the ship make way to the outpost. He overrules his second once more, when concerns about sabotage are raised. As Kudak'Etan leaves engineering, the Jem'Hadar are attacked by the Rubicon, which kills two of the soldiers with photon torpedoes. The rest of the Jem'Hadar are overpowered by Sisko's crew, with Worf snapping Kudak'Etan's neck and Kira shooting Ixtana'Rax in the chest. Sisko floods the ship with a gas to knock out the remaining Jem'Hadar and orders Kira to disable the virus before the ship is destroyed.

After subduing the Jem'Hadar and taking back the ship, the Rubicon re-enters the anomaly and is returned to its normal size. Once it and the Defiant return to Deep Space Nine, O'Brien and Bashir go to Quark's Bar for a drink. There they are met by Quark (Armin Shimerman) and Odo (René Auberjonois), who joke about O'Brien and Bashir having not yet returned to their proper size. As the Starfleet duo rush to the medical bay, Odo and Quark step down from the extra step they were standing on and enjoy a laugh together.

Reception

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: One Little Ship

• "One Little Ship" at the Internet Movie Database
• "One Little Ship" at TV.com

• One Little Ship at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• One Little Ship at Memory Beta

• One Little Ship at StarTrek.com