What You Leave Behind

Originally Appeared Here

Kassidy says reports of her death are great exaggeration
Like a paraphrase from Picard when he escaped assimilation(1)
Kira's waging war on Cardassia, glad to know Damar supports her
Make the Dominion machine stop like a story from E.M. Forster(2)
Weyoun makes an example of Lakarian, radicals come to realize
Who'd follow a short-sighted Vorta versus a rebel with steel eyes?

Let's finish it once and for all, the fleet's beaten them back
Strike like a d'k tahg(3) with a three-pronged attack
Standing on Cardassia, Martok says it's all poetic justice
Dad pours bloodwine on the ground 'cause cost of war disgusts us
Dukat shoulda done likewise when he accepts a poisoned chalice
While Kosst Amojan rage in the cave like fire storms on Bersallis(4)
Winn spits wack verses as if she's afflicted with aphasia virus(5)
Should fix her frame of mind in an asylum run by crazy Syrus(6)
But the Gul's their only emissary, and the Prophets sent him a gift
Fight like fools in burning house(7), they jump in to the rift
And my dad awakes in the wormhole like Arthur in Avalon(8)
Like Odo coming home, no more to roam like a vagabond
Not dead or fighting evil in another dimension
But a god who can return when we need Divine Intervention(9)

1. In Star Trek: First Contact, Picard claims, "Reports of my assimilation are greatly exaggerated", a paraphrase of a quote from Mark Twain referenced by Kasidy Yates here.
2. "The Machine Stops" is a science fiction short story by E.M. Forster.
3. Traditional Klingon warrior's knife, it has two side blades that can spring out.
4. In TNG's "Lessons", the planet Bersallis III is home to a Federation colony and subject to violent firestorms every seven years.
5. From DS9's "Babel", a booby-trap intended for Cardassians leaves the station personnel unable to process language.
6. From TNG's "Frame of Mind", Syrus was an imaginary psychiatrist in a scenario designed to brainwash Commander Riker.
7. From TOS's "Day of the Dove", which introduces the Klingon proverb "Only a fool fights in a burning house."
8. Avalon is a legendary island where King Arthur is taken to recover from his wounds. From this place he is said to to return one day to lead his people against their enemies.
9. Divine Intervention is the title of Cirroc Lofton's (Jake Sisko) announced but unreleased rap album.

The Dogs of War

Originally Appeared Here

Waiting for the Federation to send a replacement ship
Says this lateness is no way to start a relationship
By special dispensation Sao Paulo is rechristened
And Odo's upset even with his sickness in remission
Used like Yuta on Gatherers as a factor of vengeance(1)
Engineering a virus with genocidal intentions
An ethical lapse that gives the constable pause
While rushing back to aid Kira in her improbable cause(2)
Stuck away in a basement, getting sick of being sedentary
Find out they're larger than life like Li Nalas(3), status is legendary
From Damar's mountain hideaway to Quark's last outpost of avarice
His Ferenginar is gone like Tkon(4), wasted away and cadaverous
While he draws a line like Travis at the Alamo long before(5)
'Cause it's time for Crying havoc and lettin' slip the dogs of war(6)

1. In TNG's "The Vengeance Factor", Yuta was an Acamarian genetically altered to transmit a deadly microvirus targeting the Lornak clan.
2. "Improbable Cause" was an earlier DS9 episode, which marked the previous appearance of Mila, who is sheltering Kira and the other resistance members.
3. Li Nalas was a Bajoran resistance hero whose exploits took on legendary status.
4. "The Last Outpost" was the first-season TNG episode which first showed the Ferengi. The titular outpost was one of the last relics of the Tkon Empire.
5. The phrase "line in the sand" is commonly connected with Colonel William Travis at the Battle of the Alamo. The Alamo was a favorite Holodeck recreation of O'Brien and Bashir, with Bashir often playing the role of Travis.
6. From Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene 1, when Marc Antony predicts war in the wake of Caesar's murder. It was previously quoted by General Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Tacking Into the Wind

Originally Appeared Here

Gowron's messin' up, at least from what I can tell
Sends his men to their death and if they don't die well
It'll be a black matter for the Klingon that led them to it(1)
Martok throws himself into the battle just 'cause he said to do it
Just a commoner or yeoman, comin' from the Ketha Lowlands(2)
Doesn't wanna rock the boat and so the status quo stands
So Worf throws down the gauntlet, opposes him, dauntless
Fights with Gowron for the throne, but he doesn't want this
Best him with a broken Bat'leth, but he still gets his say
May have saved the Empire, but you will not have this day

1. From Shakespeare's Henry V, Act IV, Scene 1, "Now if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the king that led them to it." This was quoted by Captain Picard in the episode "The Defector".
2. Impoverished region on Qo'noS, where General Martok grew up.

When It Rains...

Originally Appeared Here

Damar thought he'd gain a lot more from taking over Dukat's war
Everything that he fought for just to take orders from Thot Gor
So now Kira and Odo are off to offer assistance
Help an old enemy run the Cardassian resistance
Against Breen weapons, Klingons are the only line of protection
Gowron takes charge of the fleet against all objection
'Cause he's a statesman sans Kolrami's skill with a stratagem(1)
Prophets' side needs protection 'cause Winn Adami is mad at them
A fake farmer filled her mind, sowing seeds of dissent
Cardassian lover disguising his face and his intent
A killer under cover like Anton Karidian(2)
Plans decimation of population like Odona down on Gideon(3)
Restore the Pah-wraiths like Titans to where Hyperion sat(4)
Only to find they've made him blind as a Tiberian bat.(5)

1. Sirna Kolrami was a Zakdorn master strategist and a grand master of the game Strategema.
2. In TOS's "The Conscience of the King", the former governor of the Tarsus IV colony, known as Kodos the Executioner, is living under the new identity of Anton Karidian.
3. In TOS's "The Mark of Gideon", a severely overpopulated planet attempts to introduce a virus (carried by Captain Kirk) to reduce their number.
4. Hyperion, meaning "The High One", was one of the twelve Titans that ruled in Greek mythology before being overthrown by the Olympians. The aftermath of this battle was the subject of an unfinished poem by John Keats.
5. Blind, winged mammal referenced in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Penumbra

Originally Appeared Here

Son of a prophet doing some personal reappraising
When he sees himself in the mirror, half man, half amazing(1)
He found a couple hecapates to set up a homestead
Let his hands shape the landscape like he was Frederick Law Olmsted(2)
And Kasidy finds out she's a part of my Dad's plans
When he gets back from searching for Worf in the Badlands
Dax tracks him down when she decides to take a Gander(3)
But she can't talk about Jadzia, or ask of Alexander
Caught unawares and thrown in a Breen prison
While back on the station the Prophets send a vision
Hope the Emissary gettin married still if he can
'Cause in the ceremony, I'll be the best man(4)

1. From "It Ain't Hard to Tell" on Nas's debut album Illmatic, referenced in his later song "Nas Is Like".
2. Regarded by many as the father of American landscape architecture, Olmsted designed New York City's Central Park, among other works.
3. "Take a gander" can both mean "to take a look", and refer to the runabout U.S.S. Gander taken by Ezri Dax.
4. Paraphrase of lyrics from Young MC's "Bust a Move",  "Your best friend Harry has a brother Larry / In five days from now he's gonna marry / He's hopin you can make it there if you can / Cause in the ceremony you'll be the best man"

Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges

Originally Appeared Here

Garak wants to know the way of stoppin' this
How Bashir's an eternal optimist
Wakes up in his quarters and he knows he's not alone
Running through the hall to catch up to Luther Sloan
Finds Ezri Dax, she says relax
Too late anyway because Sloan covered his tracks
Now in the Bellerophon mess he's attending a reception
Sloan intercepts him, says he needs to practice his deception
Afraid their allies find a separate peace like John Knowles' tale(1)
Recalling Romulans with doctor, he remembers them wholesale(2)
And now Sloan got vaporized but he never said die
Confronts the admiral with allegations, demands to know why
It benefited Starfleet but their ways are awful violent
Ross just makes excuses, in times of war the law falls silent(3)

1. American novelist best known for the novel A Separate Peace.
2. Sloan praises Bashir's eidetic memory, or "total recall". The film Total Recall was based on the Philip K. Dick short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale".
3. English translation of the Latin episode title.

Chimera

Originally Appeared Here

O'Brien and Odo don't come back empty-handed
Dad releases the changeling like the constable demanded
Thinks that Odo is denying his true self out of shame
Tells his friends, these solids, they all seem the same
And it's crazy how they just gaze in amazement
As they raze all the forests and phase in the pavement
Disrupt balance of nature, but he agrees to stay as a favor
Knows Odo won't leave the Major, now Laas takes the form of a vapor
Menacing mist on the promenade like the moors of Caldos II(1)
Klingon tries to start a fight so Laas runs him through
Now he's awaiting arraignment when Kira sets him free
Lay low, look for Odo in a mine on Koralis III
Laas admits he wouldn't stay on the station, mutatis mutandis(2)
Odo says because he's never known love he can't understand this

1. Federation colony from TNG's "Sub Rosa", with an environment similar to the Scottish Highlands.
2. Latin phrase meaning "changing only those things which need to be changed".

Field of Fire

Originally Appeared Here

Ezri's uneasy 'cause there's a killer on the station
Thinks there's another man who can aid investigation
Nestled inside her kinda like a Kurlan Naiskos(1)
Joran always stays close while she's detective in plain clothes
As the shooter strikes again with clinical precision
Got an exographic sensor enhancing his vision
Turns out he's a sniper with a hell of a scope(2)
Takin' out other officers just because he can't cope
When they blew up the Grissom and Chu'lak was traumatized
Friends and crew, know he miss 'em, maybe drove him to homicide
Now Chu'lak's in custody, to her quarters she heads back
Understands that Joran's gonna lurk inside her like Redjac(3)

1. Hollow ceramic figures containing many smaller replicas inside. Captain Picard was given one by his old mentor Richard Galen in TNG's "The Chase".
2. From MC Ren's verse in N.W.A.'s "F--- The Police", "I"m a sniper with a hell of a scope / Taking out a cop or two because they can't cope with me"
3. Non-corporeal entity from TOS's "Wolf in the Fold", it possessed physical beings to commit murders, including those attributed to Jack the Ripper.

It's Only a Paper Moon

Originally Appeared Here

Nog's stepping out the airlock and leaning on his cane
They say there's no real pain, it's all in his brain
He's driving me insane, and I insist he escapes our room
Check the night life at Vic's even if it's only a paper moon
Soon he tells his counselor this is where he'd rather be
Live out his life like Captain Pike in Talosian menagerie(1)
He starts throwin punches, Vic says it's time for Nog to take five
Reminds him living with holograms ain't being alive(2)
He'll wake up in fake Vegas where neon lights seem duller
Photonic Shape without form, shade without colour(3)
And he's gotta live life, all the skinned knees and bruises(4).
Play the cards that you're dealt, even if he wins or loses.

1. In "The Menagerie", Christopher Pike has been crippled in a training accident and is brought by Spock to live in an illusory world created by the Talosians. He had previously rejected this life in "The Cage".
2. Paraphrase of John Wayne's character Ethan in The Searchers, "Livin' with Comanches ain't being alive". Nog and Vic discuss this film in the episode, which incidentally stars Jeffrey Hunter, who portrayed Captain Pike.
3. From T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men"
4. In "The Cage", Christopher Pike said, "You either live life – bruises, skinned knees and all – or you turn your back on it and start dying"

Once More Unto the Breach

Originally Appeared Here

In his quarters Worf receives an unexpected visit from Kor
Complains the Klingon Empire has no place for him in war
Worf instates him as an officer over objections from Martok
Hear him regale them with tales that would dispatch the Dal'Rok(1)
Like Picard being forced to relive a battle by Bok(2)
Starts to imagine that they've turned back the clock
To before at Caleb IV or attacking at Klach D'Kel Brakt(3)
He's outlived his usefulness(4), says the fruit of life is bitter
But he can still prove crucial when he's shooting with a graviton emitter
Sacrifice himself to save the rest, the lessons that war teaches
It's why they practice ordering La Forge once more unto the core breaches(5)
Died a death worthy of Kahless but he won't reappear
Reunite Kor, Kang and Koloth- kings of the final frontier(6)

1. In DS9's "The Storyteller", the Sirah uses a story to unite the village and repel the Dal'Rok.
2. In TNG's "The Battle", Daimon Bok uses a thought-maker to make Captain Picard relive the Battle of Maxia.
3. Site of a memorable victory for Kang, which he recreated in a holosuite in "Blood Oath".
4. In Star Trek VI, Spock suggests he and Kirk may have outlived their usefulness.
5. A reference to the title of the episode, from the play Henry V, and to the Bridge Officer's Test in TNG's "Thine Own Self" where Counselor Troi must order Geordi La Forge to make repairs while exposed to deadly radiation.
6. Refers to Kor's old comrades from "Blood Oath" and the popular "Ballad of Davy Crockett", referred to as the 'king of the wild frontier'. Crockett's presence at the Alamo was discussed by O'Brien and Bashir earlier in the episode.

Take Me Out to the Holosuite

Originally Appeared Here

Solok claims the humans are irked by his precision
Throws down the gauntlet, dad makes a quick decision
Says his team will take them on if they can practice for a minute
Vulcans have strength and smarts, but their hearts just aren't in it(1)
Pulls a few strings to bring Kasidy to the bat(2)
Explains that this rivalry dates back to a spat
He had with Solok when he was back at the Academy
So now the crew takes the game as serious as my dad and me.

Watchin' Worf at the plate, wishin' he was Willie Hawkins(3)
Before Odo calls ball four the Klingon takes off walkin'
The ump rings him up, sends dad to the stand sulkin'
Recovers his enthusiasm seeing Nog tag all the Vulcans
That's what he loves about the game, that it's so unpredictable
Looks over to Rom and decides there's one more trick to pull
Rom brings the bat square, the bunt stays fair
Drives Nog home, and the Niners lift him in the air.
We manufactured a triumph over Solok, so conceited
Just had no idea what that shape is until it was completed.(4)

1. Quote from Dr. Soran in Star Trek: Generations after torturing Geordi La Forge.
2. Reference to the famous baseball poem "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Thayer.
3. Fictional 1950's New York Giants outfielder, portrayed by Michael Dorn in the episode "Far Beyond the Stars".
4. In the pilot episode "Emissary", Benjamin Sisko uses the example of a baseball game to explain linear time to the Prophets, and how he does not know what will happen next.

Shadows and Symbols

Originally Appeared Here

Coming from Exile on Bourbon Street(1) and dad just wants to see a face(2)
Says he hope we can endure the heat, 'cause Tyree is the place
Comb the desert like the Spaceballs, but you know we ain't found shit(3)
Until Ezri throws his baseball, dad starts digging where it hit
Meantime on DS9, it's another case of Cuban Missile Crisis(4)
Keep weapons out of commission like Gary Seven and Isis(5)
Romulans are early, or maybe Cretak's math is wrong
And Worf's upset his better half is gone,
But vengeance isn't cold like in the Wrath of Khan(6)
Mercury line, it climbs as the temperatures get higher
With an attack like K'ratak and The Dream of the Fire(7)
Annihilate like Ensign Taitt(8), solar ejection at Monac
Say a prayer, he's outta there, try to outrun the blowback
While Benny Russell writes the words and the wormhole reopens
Bajorans lost to despair now find reasons for hopin'.

1. Famous street in New Orleans, near Joseph Sisko's restaurant.
2. "I Just Want to See His Face" is a song from the Rolling Stones album Exile on Main St. This refers to the face of Sarah Sisko previous episode "Image in the Sand".
3. When ordered to literally comb the desert in the sci-fi parody Spaceballs, one of the troopers replies with this line. He is portrayed by Tim Russ, who would go on to portray Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager.
4. 1962 confrontation between the USA and Cuba, arising when the USSR attempted to place nuclear missiles on the island, similar to Romulan efforts to arm their facility on Derna with plasma torpedoes.
5. In the TOS episode "Assignment: Earth", Gary Seven and his cat Isis intervene to prevent the United States from launching a nuclear weapons platform in 1968.
6. In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Khan famously quotes the Klingon proverb "Revenge is a dish that is best served cold."
7. Classic Klingon novel, once given to Data as a gift by Worf.
8. Junior Enterprise-D officer and expert on solar dynamics. In the TNG episode "Descent, Part II" she triggered a solar eruption to destroy a Borg ship, much as Martok's crew does here.

Tears of the Prophets

Originally Appeared Here

In the ward room dad's awarded a medal for valor
Suggests they set off for war at some ungodly hour
But he's warned against this path in dangerous visions(1)
Ross thinks the Prophets shouldn't guide his decisions
Seems that they've trapped him
Choose between being emissary or captain
Puts the fleet first when he picks his course of action

With Defiant launching an attack across Cardassian border
I ask to come along as a front line reporter
While Dukat hatches a scheme to release that Kosst Amojan(2)
And when he cracks the artifact, thrown back by the explosion
Tells 'em concern is touching but dispensible
He's off to do something reprehensible
Committing murder random, senseless and incomprehensible

Dad stops in battle, fears something terrible has happened(3)
When the wormhole is closed and the orbs have all blackened
Worf catches Dax's dying words when we return to the station
Behind Dominion lines, Weyoun doesn't share Dukat's elation
Put the prophets to sleep, and they may never awaken
Left the people of Bajor feeling lost and forsaken
And their Emissary's on earth, even his faith is shaken

1. Science fiction anthology edited by Harlan Ellison, the writer behind "The City on the Edge of Forever".
2. Pah-wraith (or group of pah-wraiths) that first appeared possessing Jake Sisko in "The Reckoning"
3. Quote from Obi-Wan Kenobi on the destruction of Alderaan.

Valiant

Originally Appeared Here

Promise I'm not with the press on our way to Ferenginar,
Shenandoah's in distress before we're getting very far
Rescued by a children's crusade(1), straight out of the crib
Watters takes a shine to Nog, likes the cut of his jib
Puts him in charge of engineering, the whole kit and kaboodle
Says they can turn Dominion viterium into a wimpy wet noodle
Plan goes awry, crew is punished for his recklessness
Followed him blindly as he led them past a precipice
Like a previous Valiant, when a magnetic storm carried her(2)
To the edge of the galaxy and over the barrier
And Mitchell and Dehner(3), delusions of godhood, too
Tin-plated dictator overrated(4) what his squad could do
But some say it was his crew that cost him his objective
Like a trial at Tanuga(5), I'll present them both perspectives.

1. Disastrous 13th century crusade to convert Muslims in the Middle East to Christianity
2. Early exploration starship that was lost in 2065. Their disaster recorder was recovered by the Enterprise in the second TOS pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before".
3. In the aforementioned "Where No Man Has Gone Before", Captain Kirk's friend Gary Mitchell acquires god-like powers and turns on the crew.
4. When attempting to provoke the Starfleet crew members in "The Trouble With Tribbles", Korax describes Kirk as "a swaggering, overbearing, tin-plated dictator with delusions of godhood."
5. In TNG's "A Matter of Perspective", Commander Riker is put on trial and both sides use the holodeck to present their version of events.