It’s ONLY LOGICAL that I don’t leave Season 3 out in the cold (vacuum of space) as the only Star Trek: DS9 season for which I haven’t written one full episode recap. I gotta. And it’s gotta be ‘Civil Defense’, because like, have you seen ‘Civil Defense’? Here let me tell you every fantastic thing that happens in
Season 3, Episode 7: ‘Civil Defense’
‘Civil Defense’ — a Season 3 episode! — begins with Chief O’Brien hard at work converting an old ore processing unit into a deuterium refinery with the help of his engineering intern, young Jake Sisko.
…It is actually only just now in this moment that I’m realizing this ore processor from the Terok Nor days was probably that same godawful Metropolis factory they sent Bashir to, that time he and Kira ended up in the Mirror ‘Verse of Evil Pansexual Manic Doppelgängers. Hah, neat.
And yes I realize I got all of 30 words into this recap before sidebar-ing about continuity like a fucking nerd, but hey you choose to sit around this internet campfire.
WHERE WAS I. Oh ok, so Commander Sisko has shown up because O’Brien has kept his kid past dinnertime. I would now like everyone to keep in their mind for the remainder of this episode the fact that it was the end of the workday and everyone was ready to kick off and head home.
But before they can do that, Jake is having trouble deleting one of the old operating files from the computer, some mysterious unnamed thing that O’Brien can’t make heads nor tails of either. O’Brien tries to transfer it to a central system and deal with it later, but the computer is like ho ho ho, not today buddy, not on your life, threat intended. With headspinning quickness, the computer is already announcing they have just five seconds to enter the correct access code.
Jake: “Or what?!”
O’Brien: “Well I dunno, but I better stop it—”
Alarms: “BLARE. BLARE.”
THAT’S RIGHT: IT’S A STATION BOOBYTRAP ENSEMBLE EPISODE, AND YOU’RE ALL INVITED.