The Way of the Warrior (Season 4, 1995/96) was the next 2 part Star Trek DS9 episode I watched today. As a child it was one of my favourites that I originally owned on VHS mainly for it’s extensive ship battles at the time.
In this episode Worf from The Next Generation makes his debut as a cast regular. The Klingons invade Cardassian territory out of fear the Dominion have installed a puppet government. Captain Sisko uses the Defiant to rescue and gives refuge to Cardassian government officials at the station from the Klingons. This prompts the Klingons to attack Deep Space Nine but leads to their withdrawal when Sisko calls in reinforcements.
In hindsight this episode conveys the Federation as making strategic blunders given that eventually they would need to ally with the Klingons to defeat the Dominion and Cardassian alliance. This operation by the Klingons has similarities between the Russian “Special Operation” in Ukraine and the US “War on Terror” in Iraq.
Worf was placed in the difficult position of choosing to side between his kind or by the Federation that adopted him. This made me think of many Ukrainian that found themselves in a similar predicament of having links to home that wants to join the EU and of being part of the former USSR where much cultural ties link with Russia. Ultimately I like to think Worf chose what he felt was right rather than the uniform.
As a born British Citizen who lived in Australia and later became an Australian citizen. Only to return to the UK. I too found I observe Britain, Australia and it’s shared history differently. Sometimes like Worf I feel I don’t belong and felt like quitting as he did in this episode. As Worf I have found my own acceptance and more identify as a global citizen despite the increasing tribalism of this age. Though I also appreciate my Anglo heritage and bias too. Autism only compounds it.