Synopsis: During a supply run to AR-558, Sisko finds the defending Starfleet unit with over two thirds of the troops dead and the remaining soldiers’ morale extremely low. When the Defiant comes under attack, Sisko, Bashir, Dax, Nog, and Quark choose to remain on the planet, which is about to come under attack by a much larger contingent of Jem’Hadar soldiers.

Memory Alpha Summary: Break a leg, Nog

Review: We have another “war sucks” episode, though this one is done better than most. There’s real tension in the silence. However, I was left feeling at many points they could have done it better. 

1)Leave Quark at home. Whenever he is on the front lines it feels contrived and this is no different. For most of the episode he just gets in the way. Saving his nephew is a decent moment, though it’s not like this will significantly grow his character. 

2)How about not killing off every new character we just started to like. 

3)Have one of the DS9 crew do something truly horrific in the name of war.  They tried to play this up with what they did with the subspace mines (sidenote: awesome concept, great visual effects); perhaps if we had seen the damage they had done it would have hit home.  Perhaps the mines worked to kill most of them, then the crew comes upon them horribly disfigured or showing fear for the first time.  As it stands, it was not much different than phaser fire. 

4)Not have Sisko give yet another banal speech to end the episode. Brooks is really good at showing his emotions without spouting predictable phrases.