“The Dogs of War” is episode twenty-four of season seven of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Sisko is in Ops asking where ‘she’ is. According to Chief O’Brien, ‘she’ is running a little late. Sisko comments that this is no way to start a relationship. Julian is talking to Ezri about Odo. The cure Julian got in the previous episode, “Extreme Measures”, worked and Dr. Bashir plans to discharge Odo that day. O’Brien comments to Worf that their relationship is not getting anywhere (and there is more awkwardness between the two during the episode) and then announces that ‘She’s here.’
‘She’ is a new Defiant-class warship, to replace the Defiant which was lost at the Battle of Chin’toka in “The Changing Face of Evil”. Admiral Ross hands over command of the new ship (Julian says that he hates the carpet), the Sao Paulo to Sisko. And there’s a special dispensation from Starfleet to change the name of the Sao Paulo to Defiant. Chief O’Brien comments that the ship is immune to the Breen’s energy-dampening weapons, and the crew take a look around the new ship.
Garak, Damar and Kira are on a Jem’Hadar warship heading to Cardassia Prime. They are going to meet with several commanders who can bring 600,000 troops onto the side of the resistance. Kira is accompanying them as proof that the Federation is providing support. The three beam down to the meeting point to find those they are meeting being slaughtered. Gul Revok has betrayed them. In orbit, their ship is also under attack and is destroyed, leaving them stuck on Cardassia. Damar’s contacts on Cardassia are either dead or captured, but Garak knows someone who can help. His former housekeeper. The resistance has big problems as well.
When Odo is discharged, Julian tells him that he was deliberately infected by Section 31, and that Odo was the one who spread the infection to the rest of the Changelings. Odo is not happy about this, nor is he terribly happy that the Federation is going to go along with Section 31’s plans.
Quark receives a very poor quality transmission from Grand Nagus Zek on Ferenginar. The Nagus is retiring and moving to Risa with Quark’s mother. Zek is coming to DS9 to name his successor. Which looks to be Quark. Unsurprisingly, Liquidator Brunt also arrives on the station, and things do not go quite the way Quark expected.
General, now Chancellor, Martok is seen for the first time since “Tacking into the Wind” when Worf challenged Gowron to a duel. Gowron was putting the entire Alpha Quadrant at risk, simply to eliminate Martok as a political enemy. Worf tried convincing Martok to challenge him, but the general refused. Worf, after talking to Ezri – who said the Klingon Empire was dying, due to corruption at the highest levels – decided to challenge Gowron himself and, when he won, declined the office of Chancellor, passing it to Martok.
Things are starting to heat up, leading into the two part series finale, “What You Leave Behind”, and Sisko gets a bit of a surprise at the end.