SDS9 – S4E18: "Rules of Engagement" (Patreon)

This episode was recorded on July 11, 2024.

Sam and Scott discuss "Rules of Engagement," in which Worf is charged with destroying a Klingon civilian transport and faces an extradition hearing in which the Klingon Empire seeks to have him tried in Klingon court.

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Transcript

[Note: Transcripts are autogenerated and may contain errors.]

We are back with Southpaw Deep Space Nine Season 4. If you don't know what SDS9 is, it's Southpaw's completest DS9 watch-along show, where we watch every episode, recap it, and analyze it. We are your hosts, Scott and Sam. Today we are discussing rules of engagement. Scott, can you recap this episode?

Worf is aboard the Defiant, wandering its corridors, and is filled with dead officers. And he sees a squad of Klingons celebrating a victory, but he also sees an area littered with the bodies of dead Klingon children. It is a night fair. He awakens in the brig. Odo advises him to get some sleep.

His trial starts in a few hours, and it's going to be a big day. What? On Deep Space Nine, Admiral Talara starts a hearing. that Worf should be extradited to the Klingon Empire. Shepak, the prosecutor for the Klingon Empire, is charging Worf with destroying a civilian transport ship near the Pentath system, which killed 441 Klingons,

and he posits that this is due to Worf's bloodlust. Ben, serving as Worf's defense, explains that the Defiant was under attack by some Klingon warships when this transport suddenly decloaked in the midst of battle, making its destruction collateral damage. Tragic, but unavoidable. Ben meets with Odo on the promenade. He hopes to find more exonerating intel.

Ben suspects that the transport captain decloaked to attack the Defiant is more than meets the eye and just feels that something is afoot and tasks Odo that he investigate everything. The crew, the ship, all of it. Shepak approaches Ben and tells him that if Worf is convicted,

the Klingon Empire will have a pretext that will allow them to escalate offenses against the Federation and will get Klingon sympathy because this is an outrageous slaughter and we'll talk about procedure over substance and that The truth must be won. And Shepak looks forward to the battle of law.

It's a very confusing conversation, but basically, Shepak is going to look at feelings over facts. Because at the hearing, Shepak accepts a Worf's account of the situation, but emphasizes the Klingons care more about the motivation that intention is everything. They will put Worf's heart on trial as to see whether duty or bloodlust informed his decision.

Motives, motives, you know what I'm saying? Talara allows that the hearing can explore Worf's motives as long as it is logical. So Shepard calls Jadzia to the stand. We know that Jadzia, when she was Curzon, was a Klingon expert. The Klingons love Dax, and she defends Worf. And she notes his ability that he refrains...

and shows intelligence in his fighting. They are known to go to a holosuite together. They do a holosuite LARP where they fight, and Shepak decides that he's going to introduce the holosuite program as evidence. Ben objects, saying that the file was taken without a search order. It's immoral. Talara considers it inadmissible that it betrays privacy.

I don't know why I said it like that. Privacy. However, Shipak appeals to Worf's honor, which as we know is a logical fallacy, and requests permission to enter it as is, and Worf feels there's nothing that he has to hide. Jadzia summarizes the Larp Hollow Suite battle in which Emperor Sompac conquered Tongvay with 10,000 warriors,

ordered the city burned, its inhabitants killed, and Shepak that he notes that Worf plays the role of the Emperor. Sompac. Holographically. giving the order to begin the massacre. Jadzia is asked the last time when Worf last ran the program, and she admits it was the day before he left, the day before all this happened,

and Worf is visibly shook. Shepard questions Ben, asks why he chose Worf for the mission to Pentath 3. you know, the Cardassian colony, they're dealing with a Redelian plague and request the Starfleet's aid due to the proximity to Klingon territory and insufficient Cardassian warships, yada yada.

Ben explains that he chose Worf because he wanted him to gain command experience and that with his background he was suited for a mission with potential to involve Klingons and emphasizes that it was made clear to Worf that the mission was meant to be humanitarian in nature.

Talara offers Ben an opportunity to end anything, but Ben chooses not to. Next, Quark testifies about an unusual visit from Worf. We do a little revisiting history, and we see Worf in good spirits. Quark mentioned in the talk that Worf was quiet but unafraid, stoic perhaps, and Quark asked the likelihood of a Klingon attack, and Worf responded,

I hope they do. This is not good. Ben receives a report from Odo that the transport captain showed no prior aggression towards Starfleet and did notice that the civilian ship's trajectory was very close to the border. Maybe it was accidentally put into the battle zone.

We need to know, why did the transport decide in front of the Defiant to decloak? So Ben instructs Odo to thoroughly investigate each passenger's background. At the hearing... Ben asks Miles to talk and testify. Miles recounts the battle. Klingon ships alternated attacks with cloaking maneuvers. The Defiant saw a tachyon surge, indicating a ship was going to decloak,

so Worf ordered torpedoes to blast and spray, only to realize way too late that it was indeed a civilian ship. Miles tries to explain that Worf is a good man, would never do violence on purpose, and would never do violence on civilians. So Chappelle cross-examines Miles.

He explains the many ways in which Miles is an expert and asks hypothetically if he would fire on a decloaking ship. And Miles says, no, but again, this is all hindsight, so I don't know what I would do. What we think we would do is not always what we do. In the replamant, Shepak joins Ben,

who is drinking coffee, as they discuss that Worf is going to testify next in the morning. And Shepak proposes, look, If you let Worf be extradited, I will defend Worf on Kronos. Just agree to the extradition. Ben refuses. He posits that Shepak's motive to justify invading the Pentat system and that, according to Ben,

Shepak is afraid of what Worf will say. And Shepak says, nah, just be ready. In the hearing, Worf testifies. He recounts a sudden attack during the mission and admits that while he was eager for battle, a sentiment shared by many Klingons, he insists that he prioritized his duties over his desires.

Worf respects Miles' view, but also notes that it is hindsight. Worf acknowledges knowing that the convoy would go through civilian shipping lanes, but believed that the chances of encountering a civilian ship was very unlikely. Worf asserts that if he were to make this decision again, he would have done it again.

He believes that his decision was a smart decision. So Worf gets cross-examined by Shepak, and initially he suggests that Worf's anger stems from his exile and that Klingons hate him. And Worf admits that Klingons hate him. Basically, he is a persona non grata amongst the Klingon people, and that his schism with Gowron has made his life uncomfortable,

especially when dealing with the Klingons, for whom he loves and for whom they hate. Shepak argues that Worf's alignment with humans reflects a fear of his heritage. And Worf argues that Shepak lacks honor. And so Worf responds with what anyone would do, an honor battle. Trial by combat, if you will.

Talara intervenes and warns contempt of court if Shepak persists and if things could keep on going. But Shepak says that his son Alexander will disown him for killing kids in the name of honor. Enraged, Worf attacks Shepak, prompting Ben to restrain them. I have a feeling that this is what Shepak wanted, and he concludes that,

alleging that Worf's willingness to attack an unarmed opponent, a lawyer if you will, in anger, a need to prove themselves, shows what he's capable of. But it's clear that Shepak was antagonizing Worf. As Talara deliberates, Ben stands pessimistically, and as he contemplates, Odo arrives with encouraging news and hands him a Star Trek iPad.

As the hearing resumes, Ben presents new evidence and calls Shepak to testify as an expert of Klingon practice and law. Ben asks Shepak about the current relationship with the Federation and the Klingons. Shepak says that they're neither friend nor foe. Ben says that they are strange bedfellows and they are no longer allies and because

of that there is a healthy distrust while they are not enemies either. So then Ben passes the space iPad to Shepak. asking to identify all of the people on this transport who pass away. And Chappelle confirms them that these are victims of worse attack. Aha!

Ben reveals that this list is actually a list of victims from a separate accidental transport. There was a crash that happened way before the convoy. which puts into question whether the transport involved in Worf's case even had anyone in there. It could have been an empty ship manipulated to falsely incriminate Worf.

So he asked Chepauk as an expert, is this stage to create more political upheaval? And Chepauk acknowledges it's possible. The hearing concludes. Worf is not extradited. Later, as you remember, Worf is just living on the Defiant, not the actual Deep Space Nine. Ben enters, and Worf reflects that in retrospect, he probably should have not accepted the mission.

He sometimes does have bloodlust and shouldn't put himself in circumstances where where he might have to act on it. He admits that it was his fault to fire on a decloaking ship that did not have proper identification, and he should have known better that civilian ships were in the vicinity. Ben is stern and agrees,

and emphasizes that Starfleet should never risk the lives of civilians, even at the cost of their own ship or crew. However, Ben reassures Worf, you know, no civilians died. And believes that Worf could potentially be a great captain one day. So Ben invites Worf to a gathering in Quarks. Saying that he needs to maintain morale.

And despite the challenges, sometimes you have to smile when you don't want to. And Worf, you see that he reflects the life that he's chosen. And Ben says it's only going to get more murky as you get promoted more and more.

So this is an episode about war crimes. Yeah. And the thing about DS9 is whether the decisions of the crew or viewpoint of the crew or Starfleet is radical or not, The situations that come up in DS9 are topics radicals always talk about and care about and want to explore.

So this show allows for so many radical discussions. Chipak says in this episode, the truth must be won. That is how things become truth. Truth always has a standpoint. And in our current timeline and reality, The U.S. has a monopoly on the truth. It felt a challenge to that through social media and TikTok.

So look what it's doing to social media and TikTok. More control, more censorship, more attacks. Stepping back, this episode is meta. It has many layers to it because it's like a teleplay. It mostly takes place in one room and with a handful of actors.

The director was LeVar Burton, and the major players in this episode were all black. Wait, the judge was a logical Vulcan played by a white woman. Poetic. I don't know if this was the case in The Next Generation, but in DS9, I think all the Klingons have been played by black actors. But this court trial episode,

the main argument used by the Klingon advocate, Chapak, was based on race science. And the actor who played Chapak and the character's self was fantastic. Chapak weaponized Starfleet and the Federation's race science and racial stereotyping of Klingons against one of their own, against the Federation, to ultimately undermine the Federation. That's deep.

This also puts Worf, a fan favorite, in an uncomfortable situation. There were things about this episode that reminded me of 90s copaganda or gang movies or 90s military movies. The black cop has to police his own community because he knows it so well. but also because black people are bad and need policing. This isn't what I believe.

That was the implicit message of those movies of propaganda. And then the black cop feels guilt because his community guilt trips him and tells him he's a traitor. Likewise, a brown soldier has to serve the U.S. empire because brown people are dangerous and they also guilt him. An indigenous person has to help the U.S.

Cavalry because indigenous people are dangerous. And the indigenous people also guilt him. The good guys are the real victims. I remember growing up on this messaging, and the liberal narrative was, well, it sucks we have to say this, but it's true. It sucks we have to do this, but it has to be done.

Very Bill Clinton-type liberal politics, which is the Democrats' politics. And let me make an aside for a second. But Blue MAGA is 100% a real thing. Liberals and some Republicans believe MAGA was the Tea Party and the most conservative wing of the Republican Party taking over the party. And that's true.

So they understand that Republicans are not a monolith, but a spectrum. And the most conservative faction took over. Yet Democrats act like Democrats are a monolith when it's not. It also has different factions. It's a spectrum. And Blue MAGA is about how the most conservative wing of the Democratic Party took over the party. And it has.

And it has so much absolute power, it denies its existence and pretends Democrats are just one kind of thing. It's weird how Democrats are the ones who are so anti-spectrum about their politics. So this sort of propaganda, the good black cop or brown soldier story, is not necessarily a Republican story,

but very much also part of liberal American storytelling. Like right now, if you told me some reactionary gibberish that came out of Trump or Biden, I would not be able to tell it apart. I would not know who said it. They're the same.

Yeah, I mean, that's something that's very difficult for people to believe. Sometimes people at my job will try to do a gotcha. Be like, oh, you like Biden? I'm like, man, who are you talking to? I'm not that kind of left dude. Check it out, my friend. Joe Biden, by every metric.

take away abortion and and we could talk about that too is a is a centrist republican at the very best if you look at his politics based on george w bush's politics again you take away the wedge issue of abortion they are pretty much the same interventionalism um Partisanism, foreign policy, they are so close.

We always talk about our differences, but look how people are the same. Joe Biden and also Barack Obama, again, are by many looks centrist or moderate Republicans. which is considered by many people to be an acceptable version of republicanism. To me, that's not how I stand, but if you put Rudy Giuliani's before his tremendous fall of grace,

for which I lose no tears... 2005, you put Joe Biden's face on Rudy Giuliani, they're saying the same exact thing. Except for wedge issues. That's my two cents.

Perfect. I couldn't stop thinking about the history of justifications of police violence in this episode. If there was a massacre by the military or police murder, it of course is an accident. They start out with the assumption that it has to be an accident and then they have to prove it, right?

That's not how it's supposed to work, but that's how it works. And this episode very much had that type of motivated reasoning. The good guys would never intentionally do the harm. In the end, what Worf did was wrong. Cisco finally admits that. Worf admits that. But being a good guy means doing stuff like that. It's a responsibility.

So go smile and drink. That's also your responsibility. Worf feels uncomfortable. He's kind of a little bit... feels fake. He has some kind of moral feeling about it. He has some kind of conviction against it, but... He needs to learn the ways of the human rules-based order.

Worf doing the wrong thing for the right thing makes him captain material rather than the opposite. And that is how it is, right? When people do bad things, Colin Powell, he was part of a coverup of a massacre in Vietnam. Those kinds of things get you promoted. Whistleblowers, your life is destroyed.

So there is a type of U.S. legacy through line that even affects media that we enjoy. Scott, how important was this episode for mythology and how do you rate it?

It's important because we're starting to realize that Worf is really part of this show now.

Yes.

So we need to understand that Worf, whether the Klingons like it or not, is intrinsically Klingon. And his challenges are intrinsically that of someone who is both Klingon and not. It hearkens to a lot of complicated ideas, which I don't think I'm best to describe or explain, but there is a complexity to Worf's character,

which we are only going to get more of. So it's important to the mythology because we're starting to see what Worf is all about and some of his misgivings and some of his doubts. But the specific episode is minorly important as far as a mythology episode.

However, when you can make an episode so strong, despite being pretty much in one room, you get me going. As a court procedural, it's a good episode. So I got to give it a 3.5.

It was a banger for a middle episode. Absolute banger. Scott, can you tell us about the next episode? Miles.

Until then...