"A Time to Stand" is the first episode of the of the television series , and the 125th episode overall. This episode was broadcast on television starting on September 29, 1997. This continues the story of the previous season finale "Call To Arms" taking us several months into the war, with the Dominion-Cardassian forces stationed at Deep Space Nine, and Sisko leading raiding party mission deep into Cardassian territory
Plot
Three months after the events of "Call to Arms", the Federation-Klingon alliance is badly losing the Dominion War. After hearing news that the Seventh Fleet was almost obliterated, Captain Benjamin Sisko and his command crew are assigned to pilot a captured Jem'Hadar attack ship into Dominion/Cardassian territory and destroy a valuable stockpile of Ketracel White. This would kill many of the Dominion's Jem'Hadarfoot soldiers. The Federation hopes that this strike would stem the tide of the war. The crew encounter several setbacks. First, the navigational eyepieces used on the Jem'Hadar vessel induce headaches among humans who use them, including Captain Sisko. Elim Garak notes that Gul Dukat was previously seen using such an eyepiece without apparent ill effects, and so volunteers to wear the eyepiece and be the crew's "eyes and ears" in space. In a second incident, Sisko's ship is fired upon by the USS Centaur, which is unaware that Sisko's ship is staffed by fellow Federation officers. Both ships escape but the danger is not over yet: the Starfleet officers are now deep behind enemy lines. They accomplish their mission but the ship's warp engines are heavily damaged. It will take them seventeen years to get back to Federation territory at the speeds they can manage... if they even survive. Meanwhile, on Terok Nor, Kira, Odo, Quark, and Jake adjust to living under the Dominion but suffer hardships. Jake stayed to write about the occupation for the Federation News Service, but Weyoun is withholding all of his articles, and will only broadcast his articles if he sees there is "open-mindedness" of the Dominion. Odo no longer has his Bajoran security deputies. Kira recalls memories of living under the Cardassians. Quark, however, is making the most of it and states that this occupation is not nearly as bad as the Cardassians. Dukat boasts how well the war is going for the Dominion-Cardassian Alliance, though he has failed in his attempts to dismantle the minefield. Friction begins forming between Dukat and Weyoun; Dukat is egotistically optimistic that they will conquer the Federation while Weyoun knows they are vulnerable without reinforcement and resupply from the Gamma Quadrant. Kira convinces Odo to use his status as a Founder to get what he wants. Genetically programmed to see him as a god, Weyoun instantly accepts Odo's request to reinstate his deputies. He is also offered a seat on the station's Ruling Council, giving him a voice in station policy. He accepts.
Related
The captured Dominion ship is the same vessel recovered in the fifth-season episode "The Ship |The Ship". "A Time to Stand" was one of the recommended episodes by Geek.com in their condensed Deep Space Nine binge guide for this season, along with 4, 5, 6, 10, 18, 19, 26.
Reception
A 2015 binge-watching guide for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine by W.I.R.E.D. recommended not skipping this essential episode. In 2015, Geek.com recommended this episode as "essential watching" for their abbreviated Star Trek: Deep Space Nine binge-watching guide. In March 2019, SyFy rated Martok and Worf as the #1 and #2 greatest Klingons of the Star Trek franchise respectively. In 2016, The Hollywood Reporter rated "A Time to Stand" with the first 6 episodes of the season, collectively the 38th best episode of all Star Trek television episodes. In 2016, The Hollywood Reporter also rated "A Time to Stand" along with six following episodes as the among the 20 greatest episodes in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. This six-episode arc is noted for its serialized format compared to shorter two-episode pair stories that had been more common to the Star Trek franchise up to that time. The six-episode arc:
In 2018, SyFy recommend this episode for its abbreviated watch guide for the Bajoran character Kira Nerys. They also recommend watching it as a sequence including previous episode "Call to Arms," then "A Time to Stand," followed by "Rocks and Shoals |Rocks and Shoals," "Sons and Daughters |Sons and Daughters," "Behind the Lines |Behind the Lines," "Favor the Bold," and "Sacrifice of Angels"; this includes from the season finale of season 5 and the first six episodes of season 6 of the show for a total of seven episodes.
Watch Guides
It has been suggested that this is part of a seven episode story arc, that continues with the first six episodes of the next season.
