The Siege (episode)

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You may also be looking for the unrelated DS9 novel The Siege or the DS9 episode "The Siege of AR-558".

"The Siege"
DS9, Episode 2x03 Production number: 40512-423 First aired: 10 October 1993
←	22nd of 173 produced in DS9	→
←	22nd of 173 released in DS9	→
	{{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 173 released in DS9 Remastered
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Written By Michael Piller Directed By Winrich Kolbe
Unknown (2370)
←	Arc: Bajoran coup (3 of 3)
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Sisko tries to prevent the Circle from taking the station; Kira and Dax take proof that the Cardassians are the real force that is arming the Circle to the Bajoran government. (Part 3 of 3)

Contents 1 Summary 2 Memorable Quotes 3 Background Information 3.1 Video and DVD releases 4 Links and References 4.1 Guest Stars 4.2 Co-Stars 4.3 Special Guest Star 4.4 Uncredited Co-Stars 4.5 References 4.6 External links

[edit] Summary

As the Bajoran assault vessels approach Deep Space 9, Sisko convenes with his crew in Ops and announces his intention to stay and defend the station. He will allow anyone who wishes to leave to evacuate along with the station's civilian population. The entire crew volunteers to stay with him and fight, and various people react differently: Jake Sisko and Nog realize that they will be leaving on separate runabouts bound for two different colonies, but determine to stay friends. Keiko O'Brien urges her husband, Miles to leave with her and Molly, but to no avail. Quark decides to broker nonexistent additional seats to desperate civilians. When a flood of passengers surround the docking bay, Li Nalas steps forward to help Sisko calm them. Nalas manages to calm the crowd by making an appeal for Bajoran unity. Quark is subsequently left on the station when his seat is given to a Dabo girl by his brother Rom, who then flees the station with the girl in tow.

Once the Bajoran forces arrive, there is no sign of Federation presence, but General Krim is highly suspicious. The station's security net is disabled and the Federation crew is unaccounted for, leading him to believe they are still aboard. Jaro orders Krim to capture Li Nalas alive, knowing that Nalas' death at the hands of the the Circle would render him a martyr. When the sensor array is sabotaged, Krim's suspicions are confirmed, and the soldiers begin a sweep of the station. Odo uses his shapeshifting abilities to help the crew avoid detection and capture a number of soldiers during their search.

One of the runabouts drop Kira and Dax off on a Bajoran moon, where the Bajorans stored a number of small starfighters during the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor. They manage to get one of the craft working, but Dax is disoriented by the antiquated state of the technology, to which Kira tells her they are flying by the seat of their pants. Bajoran fighters intercept them and a dogfight ensues. Their ship is shot down over Bajor and they crash.

Krim's second-in-command, Day Kannu, corners Sisko, Li and O'Brien in one of Quark's holosuites. However, it is quickly revealed to be a trap, as Sisko and others are merely holograms. The door locks behind Kannu and his men, and Sisko's voice informs the soldiers of the Cardassians' involvement in the Circle. Kannu is beamed back to Ops so he may pass the information on to Krim, but Kannu is a sympathizer of the Circle, and lies instead. A scan for Federation communicators reveals they are somewhere in the conduits, and Odo informs Sisko that the soldiers intend to flood the conduits with fatal neurocine gas. Part of the crew distracts the bulk of the Bajoran forces, after which Li and Sisko capture Krim in an attempt to reason with him.

Although Kira was injured in the crash, Dax gets her to Vedek Bareil's monastery. She and Kira disguise themselves as vedeks to allow them to travel to the Chamber of Ministers. Once there, Jaro attempts to dismiss Kira as a troublemaker. However, she confronts him about the Cardassian involvement, at which pointna Vedek Winn insists on examining the new evidence. Jaro announces that he will cooperate with any investigation.

Upon learning of the Cardassian involvement, Krim gives control of DS9 back to Sisko. However, Day Kannu snaps and attempts to shoot Sisko; Li Nalas leaps between them and catches the phaser blast, saving Sisko. He dies from his wounds.

Sisko and O'Brien reflect on recent events after things return to normal. O'Brien questions the image that Bajorans have of Li Nalas, but Sisko interrupts him and states that Li was a hero who deserves to be remembered that way.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"Hey! Odo! You'll miss me. You know you will - say it!"
"I'll miss you, Quark."
(stunned) "You said it!"

- Quark and Odo

"Woah! What's that, is that a spider or a dog?!"

- Jadzia Dax, upon spotting a palukoo

"Has there ever been one of your kind and one of my kind who were better friends?"
"Never."
"And if our fathers couldn't break us up, no stupid coupe day... c-- coop day..."
"Coup d'état. It's French."
"Well, no stupid French thing will either."

- Nog and Jake

"I may have overbooked, slightly."

- Quark, after selling seats on the evacuation ships

"All right, let's see if we can get out of here without bouncing off any walls."

- Kira Nerys

"'Can you see any openings where we can put down?"
"Six kilometers ahead at 2 o'clock."
"Uh, see anything a little closer?"
"How much closer?"
"How about... right here?"

- Kira Nerys and Jadzia Dax

"I've done everything I can to help. I'd die for my people, but--"
"Sure you would-- dying gets you off the hook. Question is, are you willing to live for your people-- live the role they want you to play? That's what they need from you right now."

- Li Nalas and Benjamin Sisko

"Off the hook, after all."

- Li Nalas, last words

[edit] Background Information

• Richard Beymer (Li Nalas) and Frank Langella (Minister Jaro Essa) are the only actors, besides the regulars, to appear in all three episodes in the Bajoran trilogy ("The Homecoming", "The Circle", and "The Siege").
• This episode concludes the first ever Star Trek three-parter. The next was the Augment arc (ENT: "Borderland", "Cold Station 12", "The Augments") during Star Trek: Enterprise Season Four eleven years later. This was subsequently followed by two others: the Vulcan Civil War arc (ENT: "The Forge", "Awakening", "Kir'Shara") and the Romulan arc (ENT: "Babel One", "United", "The Aenar").
• Dax speaks about her second host Tobin.
• Referenced Ferengi Rules of Acquisition: #31 ("Never make fun of a Ferengi's mother")
• Producer Peter Allan Fields disagreed with the killing of the character Li Nalas, and he felt that it trivialized the events of the "The Homecoming"; "It seemed to me that killing him would just send us back to square one. Why spend three episodes with this guy, and then let him die? You've back as if he'd never been around. We could have written the whole thing without him." Writer Ira Steven Behr counters this by saying there were two primary reasons for killing the character: 1) to complete his arc there had to be a moment of true sacrifice and heroism ("I just felt that this was a man who was living a lie, and at the end there needed to be a form of redemption, one that involved some self-sacrifice."), and 2) the producers didn't want to make Li a recurring character because they weren't sure if they would be able to afford to bring back actor Richard Beymer in the future. As a result of this, the character of Shakaar was introduced in the third season to perform a similar function as that performed by Li in the Circle Trilogy. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
• Director Winrich Kolbe felt that the storyline of the show didn't warrant a third episode, and he felt it would have been better to condense the overall plot, and handle it as a two-parter; "It really appeared to me at times almost like, 'Well, we've got two-and-a-half hours here - let's make it three'." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
• The scene where Quark attempts to escape aboard the Rio Grande along with his heavy, money packed suitcase bears a striking semblance to a scene in the 1877 novel Off on a Comet by French author Jules Verne. In chapter 17 of Off on a Comet, as the characters embark their balloon attempting to return to the Earth during a close pass of the comet, the Jewish merchant Isaac Hakkabut tries to bring along a sixty-six pound girdle packed with gold. Only at the threat of being left behind - the additional weight being more than the balloon can carry - does he reluctantly leave if behind. For the record, it should be noted that the depiction of the Hakkabut character in the novel spawned a controversy over Verne's use of an antisemitic stereotype.

[edit] Video and DVD releases

• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 12, 5 April 1994.
• As part of the DS9 Season 2 DVD collection.

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Guest Stars

• Rosalind Chao as Keiko O'Brien
• Steven Weber as Day Kannu
• Richard Beymer as Li Nalas
• Stephen Macht as Krim
• Max Grodénchik as Rom
• Aron Eisenberg as Nog
• Philip Anglim as Vedek Bareil

[edit] Co-Stars

• Katrina Carlson as a Bajoran officer
• Hana Hatae as Molly O'Brien

[edit] Special Guest Star

• Louise Fletcher as Winn Adami

[edit] Uncredited Co-Stars

• Sam Alejan as a Starfleet medical officer
• Brian Demonbreun as a Starfleet science officer
• Frank Langella as Jaro Essa

[edit] References

Alliance for Global Unity; anesthizine; Antican; Bajoran assault vessel; Bajoran interceptor; Bajoran raider; Bilecki; Coup d'état; Dax, Tobin; emergency rations; Hanolan colony; Korat system; latinum; Lunar V base; palukoo; Rio Grande, USS; Starfleet Medical Academy; vole

[edit] External links

• "The Siege" script at TwizTV.com

Previous episode: "The Circle"

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 2

Next episode: "Invasive Procedures"