By Inferno's Light

Originally Appeared Here

No guard tower or stockades or electronic frontier(1)
But if you can't survive the elements, then you'd better stay in here
Like Kirk and McCoy getting stuck on Rura Penthe
But there's no Martia, Son of Mogh has Martok for a sensei
When Worf is forced into fighting like a thrall for Galt(2)
He'll mess 'em up like a Man Trap if they ain't worth their salt.(3)
Even as his ribs get tender, never give up, and never surrender(4)
Garak doesn't want to disappoint his mentor,
Or have his cowardice be what Klingons remember
Overcome his claustrophobia so they can all escape from capture
Rescued to their runabout, like they were raised up by the rapture
So they can all get back alive behind the Founder's plague of locusts
From when a dose of third-eye Retinax V(5) brought dad's future into focus(6)
Arriving back in time to reveal the doctor's fake
Man, I could've told them weeks ago if they only talked to Jake
Before he makes the star go nova, blow it up like Amorgosa(7)
Take the alpha to omega, flyin' through the sun like Dr. Reyga(8)
And defeat three fleets when he makes it burn so bright
It'll bring annihilation of the station by that inferno's light
Watch Defiant catch him in her tractor, Yukon explodes of the ship's bow
Armageddon will have to wait, there's no apocalypse now.(9)

1. First of a set of references in the opening lines to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. This comes from the  commandant at the gulag Rura Penthe. While imprisoned there, Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy are aided by the Chameloid Martia who educates them in the ways of the penal asteroid.
2. In TOS's "The Gamesters of Triskelion", the Providers force various alien 'thralls' to fight while they wager on the outcome. Galt serves as their master thrall.
3. The M-113 creature from "The Man Trap" killed humans to consume the salts in their bodies. "Worth one's salt" began as an expression in the Roman army, when soldiers were paid in salt.
4. Catch phrase from Tim Allen's character Jason Nesmith in the Star Trek parody Galaxy Quest.
5. 23rd century medication for presbyopia, mentioned in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
6. Refers to the events of "Rapture", when Captain Sisko had a vision of locusts over Bajor, which then set off for Cardassia.
7. First star destroyed by Dr. Soran in Star Trek: Generations with one of his trilitihium devices.
8. Ferengi scientist from TNG's "Suspicions". His metaphasic shields enabled ships to fly into a star's corona.
9. Refers to the 1979 film Apocalypse Now.

For the Uniform

Originally Appeared Here

He's harassing Cardassians, and getting bolder in his schemes
Says it's all because of colonists getting sold on a dream
Wipes out the memory banks because dad seeks his surrender
Tabula rasa(1) like Riker on Risa at the end of a week-long bender
Dad's so mad he goes off half-cocked on some wild-eyed adventure
Disobeying orders and risking Starfleet censure
Trying to predict, if you were him, where would you go?
Gleaning insight to his mind from a tale by Victor Hugo
Javert and Valjean chasing through the streets of Paris
Dad's never changing, he's like Chang, as constant as Polaris(2)
Figure out what he means when he's sending out a Breen rhyme
But there ain't enough time to catch him up above Quatal Prime
A choice to save lives or tracking intergalactic malefactors(3)
Captain gives the order to get the transport with the tractors
Like the Maquis are an infection, and he's the penicillin
If Eddington thinks he's Valjean, then it's time to be the villain
All the worlds in his way are where you don't wanna be
When he's determined like Sherman on a march to the sea(4)
The rebel relents, they've found Eddington's limit.(5)
Dax admits sometimes it's nice for the bad guy to win it.

1. Latin for "blank slate", the term was popularized by John Locke in the 17th century to describe the state of the human mind at birth.
2. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, General Chang quotes from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, "I am as constant as the Northern Star". The star Polaris is also known as the North Star because of its position in the sky and use in navigation.
3. From "The Forsaken", Lwaxana Troi refers to Odo's job as "tracking intergalactic malefactors"
4. The Savannah Campaign conducted by General William Tecumseh Sherman in 1864 targeted civillian infrastructure along with military targets, to destroy the Confederacy's capacity for warfare at a psychological, strategic and economic level.
5. The Eddington Limit (or Eddington Luminosity) is the point at which the outward radiation pressure will balance the inward gravitational attraction for an astrophysical body.

The Darkness and the Light

Originally Appeared Here

That's one, that's two, that's three, that's four
Someone's out to settle a score from the Cardassian war
Friends Furel and Lupaza recalls the way she impressed 'em
Young and eager to please just like poor Peter Preston(1)
A little resistance fighter with the heart of a sinoraptor(2)
But another raptor would describe the tactics of her captor
When he attacks from the side and lets the hologram distract her(3)

Complains that he lost half his face and all his inner monologue
And patiently explains it to the Major like a pedagogue
How his surgical precision makes him somehow less heartless
A terminator separating the light from the darkness(4)
A difference he thinks makes his executions legitimate
But Kira's heard enough and she won't have a bit of it
Innocence was an excuse, Cardassian guilt is indiscriminate

1. Montgomery Scott's nephew from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, described as "crazy to go into space". He is killed during the Enterprise's skirmish with Khan.
2. A fierce animal presumably native to Bajor
3. In Jurassic Park, the velociraptors are depicted hunting in pairs, with one providing a distraction while the other attacks from the side.
4. Refers both to the Arnold Schwarzenegger character who hunts down human targets and the terminator line that separates the night and day sides (the darkness and the light) on a planetary body.

Rapture

Originally Appeared Here

Dad's working on a mystery when he gets an ancient painting
While Quark suggests some programs that would be more entertaining
Works out a reconstruction, like knees connected to a shin bone
Demanding answers from the obelisk like a Paradise Syndrome(1)
'Cause it contains the information of where they placed B'hala
Scrutinizing symbols like Kara Thrace with a mandala(2)
A surge shocks his synpases and affected his sight
And now it's like he never saw the sun shining so bright(3)
Uncovers the lost city, and he never felt so focused
Takes a turn for the worse- he prophesies a plague of locusts

"They'll come to do harm, and they'll come from the stars
They'll eat up your farms like the man from Mars
Then they'll go back up to space
To go off and hassle the Cardassian race"(4)

He can see it all stretched before him, hope it won't end the same way
As crossing the threshold and getting eft up like Janeway(5)
Walkin' with the prophets, side by side with Jeremiah(6)
I feel like all of this has happened before with Onaya(7)
When she was burning out my brain and I was in denial
Winn will ride him into the ground- remember Vedek Bariel(8)
They ask my advice, I have to think twice
I get to keep my dad, they keep the champagne on ice

1. In TOS's "The Paradise Syndrome", the Native American society is protected by a deflector shield controlled through an obelisk on the planet's surface. Kirk must figure out how to use it to save the people.
2. From Battlestar Galactica, the Eye of Jupiter was a symbol in a temple that appeared in the thoughts of Lt. Kara Thrace and helped guide the surviving humans to Earth.
3. From Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies", sung by Data in Star Trek: Nemesis
4. References the rap verse of Blondie's "Rapture", about a man from Mars eating cars, bars and guitars. Near the end, Debbie Harry raps, "And now he's gone back up to space where he won't have to hassle with the human race"
5. From Voyager's "Threshold", after breaking the Warp 10 barrier, Tom Paris sees all of the universe at once and has a revelatory moment akin to Captain Sisko in "Rapture". He later takes Captain Janeway in the Warp 10 shuttle, where they evolve into newt-like creatures. An eft is a baby newt.
6. Old Testament prophet.
7. Refers to "The Muse" where Onaya stimulates Jake's creativity, but at the price of overloading his brain.
8. Refers to the events of "Life Support", where Kai Winn pushes Vedek Bariel to complete the negotiations even as his health is failing.

Things Past

Originally Appeared Here

The way that Odo's lauded by Bajorans is impressive
But there's a secret in his past like the Enarans and regressives(1)
Cast his memory back to things past, and his predecessor Thrax
Now they're cleaning tables for Quark while Dukat talks to Dax
Calls 'em misbehaving children, setting off a bomb with a bang
Just one more paternal ruler in the line of Ramkhamhaeng(2)
Dad winds up in prison, but Dax has found the key to freedom
Askin' whether y'all don't know a jailbreak when you see one?(3)
Then they make a break and evade the station's armed guards
Only to awake back at the start like Peyton Farquhar(4)
They all turn to the constable and demand an explanation
'Cause at this point he should run security on the station
Truth will set you free unless your name is Simon Tarses(5)
But there's no strength from the sharing(6) or an iota of catharsis.
Doc says morphogenic enzymes, man, they must be the way
They could see inside his mind like he was Captain Boday(7)
Kira can't believe he'd just wash his hands like the Pilate(8)
Quickly close the case, just so he can stamp and file it
Let Cardassians make a mockery of justice like the Bluths(9)
Now he knows the First Duty(10) ain't to order, but the truth

1. From the Voyager episode "Remember", where the Enarans exterminated the Regressive minority and tried to cover it up.
2. Pho Khun Ram Khamhaeng ruled in what is now Thailand from 1278 to 1298. He introduced the concept of paternal rule when he ascended to the throne.
3. In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Scotty springs Kirk, Spock and McCoy, and greets them with this line.
4. From Ambrose Bierce's short story, An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge. A man believes he has escaped from his execution and returned to his family, only for it to be revealed these are his final thoughts in the moments before his hanging.
5. From TNG's "The Drumhead", Tarses is a young medical technician whose Romulan heritage is  uncovered in an unrelated inquiry and threatens to end his career.
6. Again from Star Trek V, Sybok invites a man to share his pain and gain strength from the sharing.
7. Frequently mentioned Gallamite captain with a transparent skull.
8. Refers to Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect who authorized the execution of Jesus despite his own doubts about Jesus's guilt.
9. In the Arrested Development episode "Fakin' It", the Bluth family participates in a mock trial for patriarch George Sr.
10. From TNG's "The First Duty", Picard reminds Wesley that the first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth.

Trials and Tribble-ations

Originally Appeared Here

Picking up a strange passenger on a trip to Cardassia Prime
Sends them on an adventure when he activates the Orb of Time
Carried by chronitons, they quickly recover their cloak
See the Enterprise brought by Baris, thinking Priority One Is a Joke
'Cause He's acting on Fear of a Planet of Klingons(1)
A foothold in his sector and everything it would bring on
So paranoid he's afraid to even let Cyrano sell gems
Out here near the border, they're already close enough to smell them(2)
Maybe catch a whiff of lilac, or something earthy and peaty
While they compete for Sherman's Planet under the Organian Treaty(3)

Turns out Barry Waddle was an old Klingon agent
Harboring resentment from grievances ancient
Disowned by his empire, no acknowledgement written or verbal
Left in human form, worse than being cursed, Oh, to be a Blobel(4)
Traveled in his life to set wrong what once went right(5)
But my dad and his crew won't let it go without a fight
Me, I would've panicked if I had to put on a red shirt
And I hate temporal mechanics(6), it all makes my head hurt
Like inventing transparent aluminum just to hold some cetaceans(7)
Or meeting your own ancestor in a bit of predestination
O'Brien rolls his eyes, Bashir says he'll wish they had trysted
When the chief comes back to the present to find he never existed

Rendezvous with Worf and Odo in the bar on the station
While waitress wishes Klingons from a different generation
Would stop requesting raktajino 'cause she ain't ever heard of it
Korax compares humans to blood worms and other invertebrates
Calls out Captain Kirk as a Denebian slime devil
Thinking "Maybe Starfleet's top engineer will climb down to my level"
But Scotty don't care 'til his ship's reputation is tarnished
And he's told the whole thing should be hauled off as garbage
This kind of incident was against all Kirk's orders
Until they tell him the instigator, they're confined to their quarters
Just when the living legend can't approach any closer
O'Brien has to lie to his face and say "I don't know, sir"

But the situation grows urgent when new information is emergent
Explosives among the goods from an interstellar merchant
No calming effect, like the peace of mind you get from a swibble(8)
When there's a bomb, and you gotta check every last tribble
Their population's expanding according to an exponential law
Growing faster than the grains of rice at Ambalappuzha(9)
The find it in a storage bin where it's been gorging on the grain
Beaming into space in this case ain't inhumane(10)
Just one last item of business, not many times to meet a legend
At an important juncture in history like you were named Gary Seven(11)
But even humorless agents who can't seem to have a laugh
Admit they understand when dad went back for an autograph.

1. Refers to the Public Enemy song "911 is a Joke" on the album Fear of a Black Planet.
2. Quote from Chekov in the original episode
3. The terms under which Sherman's Planet is being developed were a result of the treaty which emerged from the episode "Errand of Mercy".
4. A reference to the Philip K. Dick story, "Oh, to be a Blobel", about a human who spends part of his days as an alien Blobel as a result of his time as a spy.
5. A reversal of the introduction to the show Quantum Leap, where Sam Beckett must "Put right what once went wrong".
6. A reference to the episode "Visionary", when Chief O'Brien has a confusing discussion with a temporally displaced version of himself.
7. In Star Trek IV, Scotty gives a man in the 20th century information on how to make transparent aluminum to build a whale tank. McCoy suggests he'll disrupt the timeline, and Scotty suggests the man may be the inventor.
8. From another Philip Dick story, "Service Call", swibbles are an artificially-evolved organism that subtly adjust people's minds to ensure they remain at peace with each other.
9. The legend concerning the Ambalappuzha Sri Krishna temple holds that the god Krishna, in the form of a sage, defeated the king in a game of chess. As a prize, he requested a grain of rice on one square of the chess board, and twice as many on the next square, and so on for every square of the board.
10. In the original episode, Kirk asks how Scotty has rid the ship of Tribbles, and is briefly concerned Scotty has beamed them into space. Scotty says this would be inhuman.
11. In "Assignment: Earth", the agent Gary Seven is sent to avert a nuclear holocaust on Earth.

Broken Link

Originally Appeared Here

Gowron's rattlin' the sabre and claiming Archanis
Acting reckless with his empire in a way that is heinous
Can't think about it now, 'cause the Constable's infected
And he'll be left as a liquid if it goes uncorrected
They can't use the transporter but he'll manage to walk
Have Garak regale him with stories like Fred Savage and Falk(1)
'Cause if there's one area where he excels, he says it's conversation
The tales that he tells will keep Odo's mind off his situation
The distraction's enough to ensure that he stays alive
Until he links with a founder and his condition is stabilized
Garak asks for a word once she's done helping Odo,
Is told the Cardassian race will be as dead as the dodo
That threat must be why he can justify genocide
Drop death from above while dad and the doctor are planet-side
Nuke it from orbit-it's the only way to be sure(2)
Says they've been afforded a chance to avert a whole war
Winds up disappointed when Worf won't support his vengeance
While down on the surface they wait for the sentence
There isn't any precedent, like ape has never killed ape(3)
They come up with the punishment- he'll be stuck in his shape
But they leave him his face, a mark he'll carry like Cain(4)
Say killing him would be kinder, but that's what they mean by "To the Pain"(5)
At least a little good may have come from his encounter
'Cause in the link he learned they've swapped Gowron for a Founder

1. From The Princess Bride, which uses the framing device of the grandfather (Peter Falk) telling the story to his ill grandson (Fred Savage)
2. From Ellen Ripley in Aliens, outlining the most thorough way to deal with the aliens that have taken over the colony.
3. From Battle For the Planet of the Apes, where "Ape must never kill ape" is the most sacred law of the new ape society, and what they believe separates them from the barbaric humans.
4. The Mark of Cain comes from the Book of Genesis, after Cain is punished for murdering his brother.
5. Again from The Princess Bride, when Westley is devising a punishment for Prince Humperdink and threatens to disfigure him, but leave his ears to remind him of what he has lost.