The Way of the Warrior (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

A Klingon armada led by General Martok arrives at Deep Space Nine; Martok tells Captain Sisko they are there to defend their Federation allies against potential invasion from the Dominion, a hostile empire led by the shape-shifting Changelings. As the Klingon soldiers spread throughout the station, they cause disruptions, and beat up the Cardassian tailor and former spy Garak. A Klingon ship detains Kasidy Yates's freighter to search the ship for Changelings. It takes a show of force from Sisko in the Defiant to convince the Klingon commander to back off; but the Klingons continue detaining ships just outside Deep Space Nine's jurisdiction.

Sisko sends for the sole Klingon in Starfleet, Lieutenant Commander Worf, to help deal with the Klingons. Although Worf is considering resigning from Starfleet, he investigates the Klingon fleet and discovers its true purpose: the Klingon Empire plans on attacking Cardassia. The Cardassian military government has been overthrown in favor of the civilian Detapa Council, but the Klingons believe that the coup was engineered by the Dominion as a way to take control of Cardassia. Sisko warns Martok that such an attack would jeopardize the Federation's alliance with the Klingons, but Martok orders the invasion to proceed. Sisko allows Garak to overhear news of the invasion; he in turn warns Cardassia. Once the Federation condemns the invasion, the Klingon Empire withdraws from the Khitomer Accords, ending the alliance with the Federation. Klingon chancellor Gowron invites Worf to join the invasion, but Worf refuses out of loyalty to Starfleet, jeopardizing his family's social status in the Klingon Empire.

Sisko convinces the Detapa Council to flee Cardassia and seek refuge at DS9, escorted by the Defiant. At the rendezvous point, the Cardassians are attacked by Klingon ships; the Defiant joins the battle, rescuing the Council. When the Defiant returns to DS9, Sisko informs Gowron that the council members are not Changelings, but Gowron orders his fleet to attack DS9 anyway. DS9 defends itself with newly upgraded weapons systems, destroying many Klingon ships; Klingon boarding parties beam into DS9, but the crew fights them off and regains control of the situation.

With Starfleet reinforcements on their way, the Klingon ships have no choice but to retreat. Over Martok's protest, Gowron calls off the invasion of Cardassia, but refuses to cede the outlying Cardassian planets the Klingons have already seized. Worf decides to remain in Starfleet and accepts the post of Strategic Operations Officer on DS9.

• Worf joins the crew of Deep Space 9.[1]
• The Klingon Empire abandons the Khitomer Accords, from the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
• Gowron was made Klingon Chancellor in The Next Generation episode "Reunion".
• A Negh'Var warship is also seen, albeit different from the one seen in The Next Generation episode "All Good Things...".

A new spacecraft design model is shown in the episode, the very large Negh'Var, which is the flagship of the Klingon fleet.[3] Other ships shown include the Vor'cha, which was first seen in "Reunion" on The Next Generation.[3] The Vor'cha was designed by Rick Sternbach and the physical model was built by Greg Jein according to The Star Trek Encyclopedia by Okuda and others.[4] Although the shots are often brief, there are spacecraft from the Cardassians, Klingons, and Federation shown in this episode, especially a wide range of Klingon spaceships.

In 2015, Geek.com recommended this episode as "essential watching" for their abbreviated Star Trek: Deep Space Nine binge-watching guide, remarking that "This episode contains one of the coolest space battles in the entire series" and a plot involving the Klingons and Deep Space Nine.[5]

Hollywood.com rated "The Way of Warrior" among the best of the Klingon-centric episodes in Star Trek, highlighting the Star Trek Klingon characters Worf and Gowron.[6] In March 2019, SyFy rated Worf as the 2nd greatest Klingon of the Star Trek franchise behind Martok.[7] In 2018, Vulture rated "The Way of the Warrior" the 5th best episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, calling the introduction of Worf (played by Michael Dorn) the perfect addition to the show.[8] In 2017, The Daily Dot recommended this as a Star Trek Klingon alien themed episode to prepare for Star Trek: Discovery.[9]

In 2018, CBR ranked "The Way of the Warrior" as the 7th best episodic saga of all Star Trek.[10] Io9's 2014 listing of the top 100 Star Trek episodes placed "The Way of the Warrior" as the 38th best episode of all series up to that time, out of over 700 episodes, noting the focus on the franchise's Klingon aliens in this episode.[11]

In 2016, Empire ranked this the 22nd best episode of all the 700 plus Star Trek television episodes.[12]

In 2016, Vox rated this one of the top 25 essential episodes of all Star Trek.[13]

In 2016, Radio Times ranked the attack of the Klingons in this episode as the 40th greatest moment in all Star Trek, including films and television up to that time.[14]

In 2017, CBR ranked Gowron's flagship, the Negh'Var warship, the third most powerful spacecraft of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.[15] CNET ranked it the among the most powerful and important fictional spacecraft of the Star Trek franchise.[16]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: "The Way of the Warrior"

• "The Way of the Warrior" on IMDb

• "The Way of the Warrior" at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)