The Siege

***** (5 stars out of 5)

DS9's civilian families are evacuating by runabout. Jake the Human and Nog the Ferengi realize they are about to go their separate ways like some cartoon Fox & Hound. Nog refuses to be defeated. "Has there ever been one of your kind and one of my kind who were better friends? And if our fathers couldn't break us up, then no stupid coop de... coup d... Well, no stupid French thing will either!"

Quark's ticket sales methods (familiar to anyone who attended Calgary's recent Comic Cons) lead to panicked crowds at the airlocks and Sisko throttling him. "I may have overbooked, slighty," gasps the Ferengi. But comeuppance arrives instantly as Quark and his gold-pressed suitcase are left behind because Rom sold his seat to a dabo girl.

Bajoran General Krim and the ne'er-do-well brother from Wings seize the station.

The insurrectionists are holed up in the conduits, living on the combat rations that only O'Brien seems to like. They start catching Krim's militia alive in traps (little signs reading 'Free Bacon For Bajorans' next to tripwires and such). I love the guy in bright white parachute pants! He planned his off-duty wardrobe for Hammer Time, not Clobbering Time.

Kira must fly Odo's proof implicating Jaro to the Chamber of Ministers. With no available ship, she must patch up a derelict sub-impulse raider. Turns out the second Dax host, Tobin, barely had a sex life but he was great with old spaceships. So Jadzia Dax tags along with an Allen key. The intrepid ladies brave dog-size spiders and a space ship that literally seems to have Venetian blinds for a hatch.

But Holy Wormhole, do I love those shuttle combat effects! It's like a mini-movie. Kira and Dax may be the Lucy and Ethyl of fighter pilots, but you never saw Troi and Crusher quite this bad-ass.

Kira has only to limp in with the proof and Vedek Winn flips on Jaro like a light switch. Krim's man Colonel Day does not surrender honourably: Noble Nalas jumps between Day's phaser blast and Sisko.

"The Siege" brings the first three-episode-long story arc in Trek history to a successful conclusion. A noble experiment that will lead to more. Military SF, and fun, to boot. The crew fighting to keep the station they hated last year, working to prove themselves to a twitchy planet that can't admit it needs them. I really like this. They've got me on board at last.