“Valiant” is episode twenty-two of season six of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
It’s busy in Quark’s and his drink replicator is not working. Apparently Quark submitted an emergency repair request to Chief O’Brien. Who said that Rom would fix it. Rom then said that Nog would fix it. And he hasn’t. Dax then arrives and says that she will fix it. Nog has apparently gone to Ferenginar, and Dax promised to cover for him – because she owed Nog a favour. Quark isn’t happy about Dax fixing the drink replicator – he thinks she’s above such things. So Odo decides that Quark is in love with Dax.
Jake is going to Ferenginar along with Nog. Nog has been given a diplomatic message, by Starfleet, to personally deliver to the Grand Nagus. Jake believes that it’s a proposal for an alliance. After all, Nog is the only Ferengi in Starfleet. They are leaving Starbase 257 in a runabout, the Shenandoah. Jake is supposedly along as a tourist, not a reporter, but his explanations do not sound very convincing. So he admits that he said that he would get an exclusive interview with the Grand Nagus.
They aren’t far out of the starbase when they run into problems – a wing of Jem’Hadar fighters heading for the starbase. The Shenandoah is no match for the Jem’Hadar ships, so Nog gets them out of there. Unfortunately, one of the Jem’Hadar ships decides to follow them and their comms are being jammed as a result. Fleeing the Jem’Hadar takes them into Dominion space. Nog takes the Shenandoah out of warp, but they aren’t really equipped to deal with the Jem’Hadar. Then another ship arrives. Jake thinks it’s the Defiant, but it’s not, it’s a similar class of ship, the USS Valiant.
The Valiant beams them out of the runabout. By a cadet, who is an Acting Chief Petty Officer. In fact, all the crew looks really young. Nog recognises the crew as being Red Squad from Starfleet Academy – the best of the best who were given special training and equipment (Red Squad were previously encountered in “Homefront” and “Paradise Lost”). Not starships though. The current captain was given a battlefield command and promotion by the late captain of the Valiant, and has done similar to the rest of Red Squad.
The cadets were on a training run with 35 cadets and 7 officers. Instead of being given an obsolete starship, the Republic, they were sent out on the Valiant, on a mission supposed to last three months and circumnavigate the Federation. They were caught behind enemy lines when war broke out and, on the way back home, they encountered a Cardassian battle cruiser. Four regular officers were killed and the other three critically injured. The Valiant got main power back on before the Cardassians and destroyed it. Since then, they have spent eight months behind enemy lines. The young captain recruits Nog as chief engineer – the Valiant has problems with the warp drive – and promotes him to lieutenant commander.
According to the Valiant‘s captain, Waters, they have orders to collect data on a new Dominion battleship that’s operating in the area, but they can’t currently catch it. They also haven’t contacted Starfleet since the war broke out, and the orders came to the now-dead captain.
Captain Waters seems a little obsessed with his mission – and the mission seems more than a little dangerous. Suicidal, in fact. Waters is probably only still captain because they are still behind enemy lines and out of contact with Starfleet. So, is he deliberately remaining out of contact? Jake is concerned.