Introduction

“The Search” is an installment of the science fiction television show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The show is set in the late 24th century in the Star Trek universe, aboard the Bajoran space station Deep Space Nine, that is administered by Starfleet.

During this period the station commander, Federation Commander Sisko, played by Avery Brooks, is trying to understand the nature of alien forces in the region.

It is a two-part episode consisting of the first and second episodes of the third season, the 46th and 47th episodes overall. It has also been linked with preceding episode “The Jem’Hadar“, to form a full three episode trilogy.

It marks the first appearance of the fictional spacecraft USS Defiant, which plays a large role throughout the rest of the series. It also marks the first appearance of the redesigned communicator badge after it was designed for Star Trek Generations.

Outline

The previous episode marked the first occasion that anyone from the Alpha Quadrant had met the Jem’Hadar and lived to tell the tale, as the Dominion made a very blunt demonstration of both their abilities and their intentions – chiefly by destroying a Galaxy-class starship making its way out of the Gamma Quadrant.

This episode starts with Major Kira leading a discussion in Ops about how best to prepare, should the Dominion launch an attack through the wormhole. While the team comes to the depressing conclusion that Deep Space Nine could only hope to resist being taken over for at best two hours, an unusual starship decloaks three hundred meters from the docking ring. Commander Sisko has returned from Earth in the newly commissioned USS Defiant.

The Commander tells the crew all about the new ship in the conference room. An overpowered prototype originally designed to combat the Borg, the Defiant has been brought out of the warehouse and fitted with a Romulan cloaking device. Sisko introduces two new officers: a Romulan Sub-Commander, there to supervise the proper use of the cloaking device, and Lieutenant Commander Michael Eddington, from Starfleet Security. Odo is immediately suspicious of the high ranking security officer. As the briefing concludes he confronts Sisko and after an antagonistic conversation promises Sisko his resignation as Head of Station Security within the hour.

The entire command crew, including Doctor Bashir, Chief O’Brien and Lieutenant Dax, as well as Odo and Quark (but curiously not Lt. Commander Eddington) set out in the Defiant the next morning on a mission to find the Founders, leaders of the Dominion, to establish peaceful terms for the Federation’s exploration of the Gamma Quadrant. During this mission, Odo develops an apparently inexplicable fascination with the Omarion Nebula. The crew are at first successful with the new cloaking device in evading Dominion patrols, although Jem’Hadar vessels seem capable of detecting something while the Defiant travels at warp speed.

The investigations of the crew lead them to an isolated and apparently undefended communications relay. Chief O’Brien and Lt. Dax are sent on an away mission to learn what they can from the relay’s memory banks. As they transmit coordinates of where the relay station sends on 80% of its communications traffic, the pair are assaulted and communications jammed. With three Jem’Hadar ships also on course to intercept, Commander Sisko makes the hard decision to keep the Defiant cloaked and leave his two officers to their fate.

While the crew adjust to this loss, and as Odo’s obsession with the Omarion Nebula deepens, a Jem’Hadar patrol manages to detect the Defiant through its cloak, and launch an attack. The crew manage to destroy one of the Dominion vessels before main power is forced offline and the Defiant loses shields. Dozens of Jem’Hadar troops then board the ship. In the ensuing combat, the Romulan Sub-Commander is knocked unconscious and Major Kira apparently shot by a Jem’Hadar beam weapon.

Odo rescues Kira, escaping in a small shuttlecraft. Odo informs Kira that they are currently en route to the Omarion Nebula. She is dismayed, reminding him she did not consent to being placed in her current situation, and arguing that they should have headed straight back to the Alpha Quadrant. Using the vessel’s sensors, Kira detects an M-class rogue planet inside the Omarion Nebula. Odo resolves to land on the planet. There, Odo and Kira encounter an apparent lake of shapeshifters, as a group of them solidify and welcome Odo home.

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Production & Filming Details

• Director(s): Kim Friedman.
• Writer(s): Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe.
• Release Date: 26 September 1994.
• Running Time: 45 minutes.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.