“Soldiers of the Empire” is episode twenty-one of season five of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
General Martok is trying to return to form after spending two years in a Dominion prison camp, from which he was rescued in “By Inferno’s Light”. He has injured himself in what he says was a holosuite accident but was actually during a training fight with Worf. He receives new orders from the Klingon High Council, to take command of a Bird of Prey (the first time he has led men into battle since his imprisonment) to go look for a Klingon battlecruiser that has gone missing near the Cardassian border, and he wants Worf to join him as his first officer. Back on DS9, the rest of the senior staff have to fill in for Worf’s various duties – except Dax, who is accompanying them as the science officer.
The Bird of Prey in question has not had any victories for the past seven months. So morale is a bit of a problem, and the crew desperately need a victory. Some even believe the ship to be cursed. General Martok is also not being as aggressive as a Klingon would normally be, which doesn’t help, and the situation on the ship is deteriorating. The crew believe Martok left more than an eye behind in the Dominion prison camp; being a prisoner of the Jem’Hadar seems to have broken him. Worf has to resort to extreme measures – or, in Klingon terms, pretty standard ones – to restore the crew’s faith in Martok, and Martok’s faith in himself.