The Visitor

Originally Appeared Here

Listen- Benny Sisko has come unstuck in time(1)
And me, I'm just left standing here too dumbstruck to rhyme
About what happened to my captain right in front of my eyes
What was a routine expedition ended in a rude surprise
*     *     *
So with out dad's mediation the Alpha quadrant situation
Undergoes deterioration and I have to leave the station
Where we're visited by the dead like we were orbiting Solaris(2)
'Cause it's so swarming with Klingons it would stun Mr. Baris(3)
And in one instant I see the futility of resistance(4)
And I'm left watching DS9 diminish in the distance
*     *     *
Once the Klingons claim the station by the right of artillery
I'm sure that we'll get over it, as Norgay said to Hillary(5)
And when I finally feel that I've put the past behind
Dad shows up behind the sofa and it come crashing back to mind
Then he's gone again, but the afterimage lingers
And the more I tighten my grip the more he slips between my fingers(6)
*     *     *
So now I'm dropping english and picking up some science(7)
Call in some favors to the crew and see if the Defiant's
Up to stopping dad slipping in and out of this phenomenon(8)
Moving back and forth in time like an electron and a positron
I figured out we're tied together in a chrono-synclastic infundibulum(9)
And sometimes that elastic snaps back toward equilibrium
Periodically like Halley's comet, reconverging like the Twain(10,11)
And I've figured out when from subspace he's emerging once again
*     *     *
We're reunited in supspace as father and son,
But dad seems upset with everthing that I've done
He thinks something stinks about my change of profession
Like a dikironium cloud that reeks of Captain Kirk's "Obsession"(12,13)
Cared for what I lost more than the joy a wife could bring
Says if I ain't a got Korena, life don't mean a thing(14)
*     *     *
One last time for everything, glad I had the opportunity
To tell one last story, now that I have you with me
Come tromping through the bayou in the middle of the night
Try to crack the riddle of how little I did write.
She's leavin' and I'm grieven over ties I have to sever
Wait until it's at its tightest, and then I cut the tether

*     *     *
I can spare those years of pain from a kid already lost his mom
I'm gone like tears in the rain(15) and dad comes home like Major Tom(16)
'Cause I didn't only do it for the sake of my dear dad
But also for the Jake I was to live the life I never had

1. A reference to the first sentence of the second chapter in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five
2. In Stanislaw Lem's Solaris, (and the 1972 Andrei Tarkovsky film of the same name) an astronaut on a station orbiting the planet Solaris is contact by an alien intelligence in the form of his dead wife.
3. In "The Trouble With Tribbles", Nilz Baris of Station K-7 complains to Kirk that his station is "swarming with Klingons"
4. A reference to the Borg's repeated line, "Resistance is futile"
5. Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary were the first two people to summit Mount Everest.
6. A reference to Star Wars: A New Hope, where Princess Leia tells Governor Tarkin, "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.
7. In N.W.A.'s "Express Yourself", Dr. Dre raps, "Some drop science, but I'm dropping english"
8. A reference to Liquid Liquid's "Cavern", most famous as the basis for Grandmaster Melle Mel's "White Lines (Don't Do It)"
9. From Kurt Vonnegut's The Sirens of Titan, where Winston Niles Rumfoord encounters such a phenomena and has his wave function spread across the solar system. He appears and disappears at his old home much as Captain Sisko does.
10. Mark Twain was born during and died immediately after a visit to earth by the comet. He makes mention of it when brought onboard the Enterprise-D in "Time's Arrow".
11. A reference to Thomas Hardy's "The Convergence of the Twain"
12. In the TOS episode "Obsession", Kirk tries to destroy an energy cloud (characterized by a 'sickly sweet' smell) that killed his crewmates on the U.S.S. Farragut twelve years prior.
13. A reference to the fragrance Calvin Klein's Obsession
14. From Bob Dylan's "Corrina, Corrina"
15. A reference to Roy Batty's final speech in Blade Runner before he dies
16. Character from David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and Peter Schilling's later sequel-song "Major Tom (Coming Home)"

The Way of the Warrior

Originally Appeared Here

You know I get stuck when I try to ad lib this
Paint myself into a corner between Scylla and Charybdis(1)
That's right, I'm talking about a place and a hard rock
Or the space between Cardassia and that General Martok
While the crew is on alert running drills on the station
Trying to prepare for any Changeling infiltration
The Klingons show up and uncloak their armada
That was lurking in the darkness like the Vashta Nerada(2)
They say that they're there to protect the order in the sector
But something about it sets of dad's bullshit detector
So he gets Worf to use bloodwine as liquid persuasion
And uncovers the plan for a massive invasion
It's too late to stop 'em, it's already begun
Defiant rescues the Detapa(3) and now dad's on the run
Makes it back to the station racing like a Corvette
Gowron gives up the fight, but he won't forgive or forget.

1. Idiom from Greek mythology, involving the two sea monsters on either side of the Strait of Messina
2. Flesh-eating carnivores from Doctor Who that exist in microscopic swarms hiding in shadows.
3. Cardassian governing body which had just overthrown the military Central Command.

Shakaar

Originally Appeared Here

Now it's time to move aside, for a bona fide microphone rocker
Never off-key, tell Tarkovsky, O'Brien's in the zone like Stalker(1)
Throwing darts that hit the mark, my boy has got the golden shoulder
While Kira's in her quarters with a spark meant for a votive in a holder
When my dad gives Nerys the news, that there's a new First Minister
And worse yet it's Winn, you know she's up to something sinister
It's about a bunch of reclamators, Kai says Shakaar has stole 'em
And if Kira doesn't sort it out then she'll send Lenaris Holem
But they talk to the colonel about when their enemies were foreign
Instead of all internal, just Bajoran on Bajoran
So they reach an agreement and return to Winn Adami
Say Shakaar will be in charge and she folds like origami.

1. 1979 film from Andrei Tarkovsky, about a mysterious and dangerous site known as the Zone.

Family Business

Originally Appeared Here

When I come back to the quarters and smell the paprika
I know dad's in a good mood and that's when I say eureka
'Cause I know he's a catch but he hasn't had many dates
So I maybe I can hook him up with Captain Kasidy Yates
While Quark gets hit like a stun from a phaser
When his bar receives a visit from Brunt the appraiser
And says his mom's been dealing beetles like Monopoly properties
But a female making profit goes against their popular hypotheses
She won't back down and she stands in defiance
Says they need a new society in the Ferengi Alliance
She thinks the way they get offended by ladies who speak
Stinks like a second-hand stillsuit from Paul Atreides' Boutique(1)
Rom gets his mom to relent, but after Quark leaves,
She admits she put on a shirt so she could hide some up her sleeves
Meantime I'm making matches like Metrons with the Gorn and Kirk(2)
Call me crazy, but I think it might work
when he and Kasidy catch the ball game over on Cestus III(3)
I gotta say it looks like a success to me.

1. A reference to both Paul Atreides of the Dune series, and the Beastie Boys' 1989 album Paul's Boutique.
2. Aliens who forced Kirk and the Gorn captain together to settle their differences in the episode "Arena"
3. Federation colony where Kasidy's brother plays baseball, attacked by the Gorn in the aforementioned episode "Arena".

Explorers

Originally Appeared Here

Dad's coming back from Bajor with a beard and a plan
Take a light ship to Cardassia just to prove that he can
So we set sail for adventure, just father and son
Quarters are cramped  but it don't bother us none
Three nights and days, we sail the space(1)
Without any warp, going at a snail's pace
So I show my dad some stories, he says they have potential
But if I want it to be real, more experience is essential
For now I hit the hammock, 'cause it's time that I was crashin'
Dreaming of some yamok sauce(2) to flavor up these rations
Suddenly we're swept up by a tachyon eddy
Starts tearing our sails while we try to hold steady
Dukat's on the line, says they just found the scene
Of feet in ancient time on Cardassia's mountains green(3).

1. From "Louie, Louie", one of Miles O'Brien's favorite sea shanties.
2. Cardassian condiment first mentioned in "Progress"
3. A reference to the William Blake poem, "And did those feet in ancient time", which became the lyrics to the anthem "Jerusalem" sung by Bashir and O'Brien in the episode.

Destiny

Originally Appeared Here

There's a cleric waiting outside of the ops office, he
Has got an urgent need to tell my pops of a prophecy
About three vipers comin' home to their nest in the sky
But dad thinks his request would best be handled by the Kai
Won't get wrapped up in religion like Picard on Mintaka(1)
Though it's a part he has to play, it's his mask of Masaka(2)
So he works with Cardassia on a joint operation
To set up a relay for cross-quadrant communication
They find when they scanned that sword made of stars
Left a silithium strand to keep the wormhole ajar
Yarka says the prophets had this planned the whole time,
So now the other quadrant can hear me beaming out my rhymes.

1. In TNG's "Who Watches the Watchers?" Captain Picard is mistaken for a deity by the people of Mintaka III.
2. In "Masks", an alien probe forces Data and Picard to act out an ancient mythological story.

Life Support

Originally Appeared Here


Making plans with Leanne, she's my cute little vixen
While Winn's making inroads to Cardassia like China and Nixon(1)
She suspects her ships been sabotaged and calls for a medic
Stimulating his synapses and revivin' the Vedek
There's hope for recovery, though it's too early to tell
Still in no condition to negotiate with Legate Turrel
They're overridden by Winn, his old rival who wants
Bariel to advise her on legalism and nuance
While I'm double-dating with Nog, and my boy's being rude
Last straw's when he asks his girl to cut up his food
Got a disrespect for women that his uncle and Rom taught
I'd have seen better manners if we had stuck with the Dom Jot
And spent the evening with Naussicans who stab through the heart(2)
But you know I couldn't fall in love with an artificial part
Like the Vedek on vasokin, Bashir as his modern Prometheus(3)
Replace him bit by bit like he was the U.S.S. Theseus(4)
Winn doesn't give a damn once she's satisfied her vanity
Let him die with dignity while he's got a shred of humanity

1. Much as Commander Sisko says Winn is the last person he expected to make a peace effort with Cardassia, the ardently anti-communist Richard Nixon surprised many by improving relations with China. It was later quoted as a Vulcan proverb by Spock in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
2. A reference to events in Picard's youth shown in "Tapestry"
3. "The Modern Prometheus" is the alternate title to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
4. Refers to the paradox of the ship of Theseus, which has over its lifetime, had every single board replaced, yet is still considered the same ship.