Statistical Probabilities

Originally Appeared Here

Getting away from their home facility
Helping out computing statistical probability
They interrupt a meeting, say hello to my dad
Saying listen, there it goes again
Buzzing like a Scalosian(1)
Why don't you fix it dear fellow before I go mad
Show infinite diversity in infinite combination
All cancels out like a path integration(2)
Bashir checks the analysis, can't find any faults
Dad says the job was well done
Forecast the future like Seldon(3)
Now they're spinning like a spaceship to the Blue Danube Waltz(4)
Further analysis borders on treasonous
Preventing loss of life, that's what the reason is
But Bashir gets released, it doesn't go as they planned
Says we can change the course of history(5)
Everyday people like you and me
Even against the odds, it's worth making a stand.

1. From TOS's "Wink of an Eye", the Scalosians experienced time at a much slower rate than the Enterprise crew. They were heard only as a buzzing similar to insects until they accelerated Captain Kirk into their time frame.
2. Richard Feynman developed the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, where quantum amplitudes are computed by integrating over all possible paths. Paths far from that of minimal action typically cancel out and the system approaches the classical trajectory.
3. In Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, Hari Seldon developed the science of psychohistory for the probabilistic prediction of future events.
4. "An der schönen blauen Donau", a waltz by Johann Strauss II commonly known as "The Blue Danube" in English and appearing in this episode, was famously used to score the space station docking sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey
5. From Afrika Bambaataa's "Renegades of Funk", the third verse begins 'Now renegades are people with their own philosophy / They change the course of history /Everyday people like you and me'

Favor the Bold / Sacrifice of Angels

Originally Appeared Here

Martok and Starfleet spring a trap on the Dominion
If only small victories could bring them away from oblivion
Nevermind a Vorta with a background in creative genetics(1)
Editing my verses with no sense of aesthetics
Fortune favors the bold, dad urges the admirals to battle
Itching like Autry to get back in the saddle(2)
Even as the man who made our minefield solution
Lies locked in Odo's office awaiting execution
Dukat boasts about Cardassian capacity for conversation
Somehow overlooks dad's tenacity in retaking the station

Coming into Quark's, that's where Damar busted me
Ordered all of our resistance taken away into custody
Meantime the Defiant's charging into the blockade
Incoming like a light brigade(3) into the fray unafraid
Now Dukat's wishing the Defiant can make it there for the occasion
Goes right into the wormhole to head off the invasion

Dad explains they're of Bajor, they should act like it mattered
Oh, they blow with their winds and Dominion was scattered(4)
Weigh the price to beat the changelings and I guess it isn't so bad
Never find rest on Bajor, will dad always be a nomad?(5,6)

1. In the episode "In the Cards", Weyoun informs Nog he has a background in creative genetics.
2. Cowboy entertainer Gene Autry's signature song was "Back in the Saddle Again"
3. Before entering the battle, Miles O'Brien and Julian Bashir quote from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade"
4. "He blew with His winds, and they were scattered" was a famous phrase from the aftermath of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, which was broken up by a violent storm.
5. With the previous line, may refer to the space probe Nomad from the TOS episode "The Changeling"
6. The acrostic refers to the secret message the resistance cell was able to send to warn Captain Sisko, via Jake's courier Morn.

Rocks and Shoals

Originally Appeared Here

They managed the destruction of the ketracel facility
But it cost the stolen ship all its warp capability
Facing off against a Jem'Hadar threat
Suspicions between Cardassian and cadet
Garak's impressed, says there may be hope for you yet
While I'm in position that makes my dad nervous
Reporting from the frontlines to Federation News Service
But where I am back on the station
They won't let me call it occupation
Weyoun says the words I choose have negative connotations
Kira tries to play along and let the past be bygone
Until Yassim's suicidal protest, she's Quang Duc in Saigon(1)
Upset by the things that she ignored before,
'Cause Bajor can't afford a war
Gonna Kick that Vorta's ass and send 'em off to Vorta Vor(2)
Meantime behind the lines my dad's crew is stranded
Communications destroyed when the ship crash landed
But Keevan says he's got a plan
He's selling out Remata'Klan
Dad stops the Jem'Hadar but not before they shot a man
Then their superior comes strolling in, saving his own hide
They're heading back for home with him along for the ride

1. Thich Quang Duc was a Buddhist monk who burned himself to death in a Saigon intersection to protest the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government.
2. Idyllic location in Romulan mythology, more akin to the Garden of Eden than heaven or an afterlife.

Call To Arms

Originally Appeared Here

Sometimes I feel I've spent too long hanging out on the periphery
Need to get down in the thick of things and practice my word-smithery
And hang out on the front lines, 'cause there's a war on the horizon
Even when some days I wanna run away, and would rather be a Risan(1)
Realized was was unavoidable when talking with the Vorta
About blocking the wormhole, making deadly mines like a Horta(2)
And like a solid tunnel, he ain't cavin' in, won't be another Chamberlain(3)
Make the same story of appeasement even if it's not the same Berlin
But they'll have to get by without Starfleet reinforcement
So the non-aggression treay gets the emissary's endorsement
It's a sure way to save the planet he's pledged to protect
In case the war with the Dominon goes worse then they expect
Like the race to the swift or the battle to the strong(4)
But he left behind his baseball, Dukat knows my dad'll be along

1. Federation pleasure planet, far removed from most of the problems facing Starfleet.
2. In TOS's "The Devil in the Dark", the Horta is a silicon-based lifeform that killed miners on Janus IV when her eggs were threatened.
3. Neville Chamberlain was the Prime Minister in the early days of World War II, known for his policy of appeasement in response to German aggression.
4. From Ecclesiastes 9:11, the verse was referenced in the DS9 episode title ",,,Nor the Battle to the Strong".

In the Cards

Originally Appeared Here

If starfleet doesn't act soon, there won't be any ships left
While Odo sees an increase in small crime and petty theft
I hit upon an idea, man, I gotta get that card
Just cast my bid at the auction, can't be that hard
Drink at the bar, play dom jot or we wait
'Til Quark is crying out our Lot Forty-Eight(1)
Nog's instincts kick in as bidding goes higher
All instilled in youth, "Acquire, Brak, acquire!"(2)
Giger's won and babbling 'bout some orthodoxy jargon
Finally hears us out and for the box, we bargain
Says his clarion call of destiny was muted like a post horn(3)
By a bunch of soulless minions, to secrecy we're both sworn
Explains it some, like Jameson, he tries to fight his aging(4)
Items he requires, against the dying light he's raging(5)
Great material continuum runs like a river through the station(6)
Shoot the rapids like O'Brien, or try some water reclamation
Do it for my dad because we care, Nog's retrievin' Kukalaka(7)
While I crack jokes like Fozzie Bear for Kira, goin' Wocka wocka(8)
But I gotta bear in mind that the soul of wit is brevity(9)
Make like your species is an Elysian(10) and try to bring some levity
Giger's underneath Weyoun, he gives his new machine a try
That guy is one unlucky loonie(11), and I blame it on the Kai
So an emcee, son of emissary, harasses her eminence
Flings wild accusations without any evidence
Under dad's orders, we're confined to our quarters
Now we're getting picked up by the vorta's transporters
Nog says I need perspective, get my eye on the ball
But maybe this will be our chance to get away from it all(12)
Tell Weyoun the truth, he doesn't believe our situation
Until he sees it's not just an excuse for a lack of imagination(13)
Something happened in background in the midst of all our schemin'
Managed to decrease disorder on the station like a Maxwell's demon(14)
Cummulative effect of setting a lot of small things right
Find a something that'll make you smile even in the darkest night

1. The velvet painting introduced by Quark immediately after auctioning he box containing the Willie Mays baseball card was numbered Lot Forty-Nine, in reference to Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49.
2. Ferengi character in stories similar to Dick and Jane, Quark used to read Brak stories to Nog as a young child.
3. A second reference to The Crying of Lot 49, the muted post horn was a symbol of a secret, underground postal service.
4. From TNG's "Too Short a Season", Admiral Mark Jameson self-administered an unstable age-reversing medicine.
5. From Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night", a villanelle containing the repeated line, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
6. Ferengi spiritual concept, of binding force of life that flows like a river through everything.
7. Julian Bashir's teddy bear, introduced in "The Quickening".
8. Fozzie Bear is a muppet character who tells (often painfully bad) jokes, followed by his catchphrase "Wocka wocka wocka!"
9. From Hamlet, Act II, Scene 4, Polonius tells Gertrude that "brevity is the soul of wit".
10. Elysia was an alternate universe introduced in TAS's "The Time Trap". However, it may be more likely a typo of Elaysian, the low-gravity race introduced in DS9's "Melora", which would fit with the use of levity as the opposite of gravity.
11. In "Blaze of Glory", Michael Eddington asked Captain Sisko about his "lucky looney", an antique coin he had left behind with his other belongings when he defected to the Maquis.
12. From Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, when Kirk and McCoy use the last coordinates in the Regula One transporters to find Dr. Marcus.
13. Quote from Elim Garak in "Improbable Cause", that "The truth is usually just an excuse for a lack of imagination."
14. Thought experiment from physicist James Clerk Maxwell, the demon is an entity that preferentially allows fast molecules to pass in one direction, lowering entropy. Here it parallels Jake and Nog's efforts to increase happiness by redistributing items on the station. It also figures in the previously referenced The Crying of Lot 49.

Blaze of Glory

Originally Appeared Here

Quark creates a panic when Morn stops in to wet his whistle
While dad gets a transmission that Maquis launched the missles
So he turns to his old opponent, offers a chance for atonement
Michael says it ain't worth it, his life's already forfeit
Can't catch invisible missiles when you know  they fly so fast
It's impossible, they're unstoppable, as they say, the die is cast(1)
But even if the conversation doesn't really go as dad planned
Eddington's out of incarceration and they set off for the Badlands
Turns out it was all ruse and dad did just what he expected
While here Klingon are acting rude and Nog is disrespected
Says I'm spreading lies that are scurrilous and scandalous
General Martok's in our spot, Nog's sure he can handle this
He's either stupid or brave, earns a grudging admiration
Just like the man who saved dad from a deadly situation
Held off the Jem'Hadar, make sure everyone gets back alright
At the cost of his own life, another never-ending sacrifice(2)
Just a couple days before, he refused to do what needed getting done
Gone out in a Blaze of Glory, like Seyetik shot into the setting sun(3)
Now dad's left alone to ponder on the mystery of Mr. Eddington

1. Idiom used to refer to Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon, meaning he had passed the point of no return. It was also the title of a season three episode.
2. Cardassian novel, recommended to Dr. Bashir by Garak.
3.  Gideon Seyetik was a terraformer who piloted a shuttlepod into a dead star he hoped to reignite.

Children of Time

Originally Appeared Here

If they make it through the barrier, it'll be smooth sailing
But they find familiar faces from the surface now are hailing
Say they've made some calculations, can create a quantum duplicate
Until Jadzia wonders if he wants them to go through with it
You think you trust Yedrin, but Dax predicts he tricks us
And all along planned to strand them on a planet like Alixus(1)
Kira says that's how it's gotta be, maybe the prophets are testin' me
Folks on the Defiant can't be afraid to face their destiny
Not worthy of warriors to wait for their slaughter like cattle
Worf says he can lead Mogh's sons and daughters to battle
Tells them time is their enemy, a beast stalking an El-Aurian(2)
Fade 'em out like McFly in fifty-five with a souped-up Delorean(3)
But while they're sowing seeds, decide against the course correction
Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra, cooperation forming a connection(4)
Instead of Children of Tama, now it's the Children of Time
They can't face erasing, Picard mucking up primordial slime(5)
Someone overrode the autopilot, constable's other self was liable
But for saving Nerys, the older Odo thought it was justifiable

1. From Season Two 's "Paradise", where Alixus stranded a ship of colonists to force them to live by her anti-technology philosophy.
2. From Star Trek: Generations, the El-Aurian scientist Dr. Soran tells Picard that time is like a predator, stalking its prey.
3. Refers to Back to the Future, when Marty McFly's actions in 1955 nearly cause him to erase himself from the timeline.
4. In TNG's "Darmok", Captain Dathon fights a common enemy with Captain Picard, so they will learn to understand each other. The Tamarians in the episode are also referred to as the Children of Tama.
5. In TNG's "All Good Things...", an anti-time anomaly created by Captain Picard threatens to erase all life on earth from the timeline.