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.

Ties of Blood and Water

Originally Appeared Here

Tekeny Ghemor ship is docking at the station
Explains he escaped before the Dominion invasion
But he has to tell Nerys it doesn't matter what you thought
He can't run their resistance, play De Gaulle(1) to Gul Dukat
'Cause he knows he's gonna shuffle off before they get too far
Sooner if someone slips some poison in his bottle of Kanar
It runs a little thicker than the ties of blood and water
And the Major's the closest thing Tekeny's got to a daughter
'Cause recall she was altered like Rakal of Tal Shiar(2)
And if we can't trust our memory how do we know who we are
Running deep cover, an implanted past like Arissa(3)
And told she was Cardassian instead of Bajoran Militia

Now the Legate's gone Leggatt, 'cause he's gotta be a Secret Sharer(4)
And the Major runs away when his history starts to scare her
But no one deserves that in the end, from a legate down to clerk(5)
Unless you've always known you'll die alone like your name was Captain Kirk(6)
So by his side they converse, 'til he takes a turn for the worse
While Dukat's playing sick games and his pleasure is perverse
Twist Ghemor for his own purpose before there's rigor mortis(7)
But Kira's got the body on Bajor, we're talkin' habeas corpus.(8)

1. Charles De Gaulle opposed the surrender of France to the invading Nazis, and later led the Free French Forces during World War II.
2. In TNG's "Face of the Enemy", Counselor Troi was altered to appear as a Romulan, much like Major Kira in "Second Skin".
3. From "A Simple Investigation", Arissa was the alias of an Idanian investigator who had her memories erased for an undercover operation. A similar tactic was used when Ghemor's daughter Iliana infiltrated the Bajoran resistance. 
4. In Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Sharer", a man named Leggatt sneaks aboard a ship at night and confesses a murder to the captain.
5. May refer to Aamin Marritza, the Cardassian file clerk from "Duet" who formed a bond with Major Kira.
6. In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Captain Kirk tells Spock and McCoy that he's always known he'll die alone.
7. Rigor mortis is a chemical change in the muscles after death, causing limbs to become stiff and difficult to manipulate.
8. Latin for literally, "may you have the body", it is a writ preventing people from being imprisoned without a trial.

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.