Star Trek: ...Nor the Battle to the Strong

Episode: "...Nor the Battle to the Strong"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 5, Episode 4

Original Air Date: October 21, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Jake Sisco tags along with Dr. Bashir to a medical conference, hoping to find an interesting story to write about.  Instead, the story finds him.  During the return journey, they receive a distress call from Ajilon Prime where a Federation colony is under attack by the Klingons.  Reluctantly, in light of the danger he would be putting Jake in, Bashir heads down to help the medical staff.  In what feels more like a M*A*S*H battalion aid station episode than Star Trek, Jake gets far more material than he bargained for.

Was it not just a couple episodes ago that I wrote about DS9's frankness regarding the horrors of war?  "...Nor the Battle to the Strong" is the roughest, most intimate example.  The writers drew heavily from literary classics: Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, Erich Maria Remarch's All Quiet on the Western Front and, most extensively, Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms.  The episode title comes from Ecclesiastes 9:11.

It's worth nothing that at this late stage of the series, Jake Sisko, who because of child labor limitations has had by far the least material among the principals, is the central character for two of of the best episodes so far: this one and "The Visitor."  While Tony Todd did most of the heavy lifting in the earlier story, it's all on 18-year old Cedric Lofton this time.  It represents a major step forward for the character, too.  Most Jake stories - even "The Visitor" - had been framed within the context of his relationship with his father.  This time, he's a young man out on his own - a very young man.  

18.  In 2026, we still send 18-year-olds to the battlefield as professional soldiers.  All of the fear, confusion and guilt we watch Jake endure would be perfectly understandable for someone twice his age, particularly for one with zero previous military or medical training.  I and most of the people who are likely to read this have only ever experienced or even considered war from a great distance and thank goodness for that.  I expect the same is true for most Star Trek fans.  

Though other stories have had hints, no Trek episode has ever come anywhere near war with comparable personal intensity either before or, honestly, since.  Yes, there has been death, pain, injury and recovery.  But nothing like this.  It was a one-shot deal and for my money, they did it right.

Food Notes

There isn't much levity in "...Nor the Battle to the Strong" but we do get a little in the beginning of Act One as Quark makes an attempt at creating a decaffeinated raktajino:

Acting Notes

via Criminal Minds Wiki

Andrew Kavovit played the role of Kirby, an orderly at the battlefield hospital.  Kavovit was born in the Bronx, July 19, 1971.  He was only 25 himself and a young-looking 25 at that.  The script called for an actor not much older than Jake, a more worldly-wise mirror for our naïve hero.  

Kavovit was a genuine soap opera star, playing Paul Ryan on As the World Turns from 1986-91, winning a Daytime Emmy in 1990.  He also had a principal role on The Magnificent Seven TV series.  Guest appearances include Full House, My So-Called Life and Married... with Children.