Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Season 5
Season 5 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 4.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 5 Progress Shield
Apocalypse Rising
Sep 30, 1996
Stardate: Unknown. With the war between Klingons and Federation intensifying, Sisko must make a plan to expose Gowron as a changeling. Odo is still having trouble with becoming a s
The Ship
Oct 7, 1996
Stardate: 50049.3. The crew find a crashed Jem’Hadar ship and work to repair it and capture it for the Federation, but are confronted by a Dominion force determined to recover the
Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places
Oct 14, 1996
Stardate: Unknown. While Worf helps Quark to pursue his former wife Grilka, O'Brien and Kira grow uncomfortably close to each other.
Nor the Battle to the Strong
Oct 21, 1996
Stardate: Unknown. Jake, reporting from the front lines, sees what war truly is.
The Assignment
Oct 28, 1996
Stardate: Unknown. An alien entity has possessed Keiko's body and is holding it hostage until O'Brien completes an assignment for it.
Trials and Tribble-ations
Nov 4, 1996
Stardate: 4523.7. In this celebration of the 30th anniversary of The Original Series, the disgraced Klingon spy Darvin travels back in time to undo his century-old defeat by James
Let He Who Is Without Sin...
Nov 11, 1996
Stardate: Unknown. While vacationing on Risa, Worf and Dax meet a group of fundamentalist protesters who claim that the Federation has gone soft.
Things Past
Nov 18, 1996
Stardate: Unknown. Sisko, Dax, Odo and Garak find themselves in the past when the Cardassians controlled the station, and a crime that Odo investigated may be the key.
The Ascent
Nov 25, 1996
Stardate: Unknown. When Odo and Quark crash land, they must put aside their differences to climb a mountain to signal for help. Jake and Nog try to be roommates, but their differen
Rapture
Dec 30, 1996
Stardate: Unknown. After a brain injury, Sisko begins experiencing powerful visions through time. He dives fully into the role of the Emissary, while becoming obsessed with finding
The Darkness and the Light
Jan 6, 1997
Stardate: 50416.2. A mysterious assassin begins wiping out all the members of Kira's old resistance cell.
The Begotten
Jan 27, 1997
Stardate: Unknown. The discovery of an infant Changeling gives Odo a chance to put right the trauma of his own upbringing, while his “father” Dr. Mora insists on a more clinical ap
For the Uniform
Feb 3, 1997
Stardate: 50485.2. When the traitorous Eddington returns, Sisko will go to any lengths to capture him.
In Purgatory's Shadow (1)
Feb 10, 1997
Stardate: Unknown. A coded message from the Gamma Quadrant leads Garak to believe his mentor, Enabran Tain, is still alive. He and Worf seek him out, only to discover something muc
By Inferno's Light (2)
Feb 17, 1997
Stardate: 50564.2. The station readies for a Dominion attack. Worf and Garak meet some unexpected friends in a Dominion Prison camp.
Doctor Bashir, I Presume?
Feb 24, 1997
Stardate: Unknown. Dr. Bashir is selected to be the model for the next-generation of Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH). But he balks when his parents are invited to the station to b
A Simple Investigation
Mar 31, 1997
Odo helps a woman hiding on the station from organized criminals, but quickly develops a personal interest in the case.
Business As Usual
Apr 7, 1997
Stardate: Unknown. Quark must wrestle with his conscience when he becomes involved with arms merchants.
Ties of Blood and Water
Apr 14, 1997
Stardate: 50712.2. When a Cardassian official that thinks of Kira as his daughter is dying, he agrees to reveal all he knows to her. But the experience dredges up Kira's memories o
Ferengi Love Songs
Apr 21, 1997
Stardate: Unknown. Quark doesn't know whether to be panicked or overjoyed when he learns that his mother is the new lover of the Grand Nagus.
Soldiers of the Empire
Apr 28, 1997
Stardate: Unknown. Dax and Worf accompany Martok on his first command since being held by the Dominion. But the ship they are given hasn't seen victory in months and the crew is ne
Children of Time
May 5, 1997
Stardate: 50814.2. The DS9 crew discovers a colony that, due to a time travel accident, turns out to be inhabited by the crew's own descendants.
Blaze of Glory
May 12, 1997
Stardate: Unknown. Sisko learns that the Maquis are planning a devastating attack on Cardassia, and must rely on the traitor Eddington to help him prevent it.
Empok Nor
May 19, 1997
Stardate: Unknown. While salvaging components from DS9's sister station, the crew run afoul of a "surprise" left behind by the Cardassians.
In the Cards
Jun 9, 1997
Stardate: 50929.4. Jake has his heart set on a vintage Willie Mays baseball card as a present to cheer up his father, whose spirits are flagging from the ongoing conflict.
Call to Arms
Jun 16, 1997
Stardate: 50975.2. Sisko decides to mine the wormhole to prevent further Dominion ships crossing into the Alpha Quadrant. This provokes an attack by the Dominion and the Cardassian