Star Trek: 10 Starfleet Crews That Totally LOST IT
9. Deep Space Nine: Dramatis Personae
When a Klingon ship explodes and the only survivor beams into Ops, growling the word 'victory' on his dying breath, it's clear that shenanigans are about to ensue.
It doesn't take long for the senior staff of Deep Space Nine to start behaving strangely. An ongoing disagreement between Kira and Sisko becomes uncharacteristically tense. Odo's head splits open for no apparent reason, and by the time he's recovered, everyone is not-so-subtly picking sides.
Even their personalities seem a little off. Dax is distracted by ditzy daydreams, Bashir's scheming would put a Cardassian to shame, Kira embraces the inner badass we always knew she was (but in a bad way), and Sisko just...locks himself away, obsessing over a clock.
The well-timed recovery of the Klingon vessel's logs indicates they also fell victim to some kind of power struggle following the discovery of a telepathic archive. Detective Odo puts two and two together, saving the day by ridding his colleagues of the alien imprints...but not before Kira came dangerously close to killing both Sisko and O'Brien.
Dramatis Personae isn't so much about character revelation or testing resolve as highlighting just how fragile the status quo is on the station. Between Bajoran, Federation, Klingon, Cardassian and civilian interests, keeping the peace is a delicate balancing act. One that might well have failed in someone else's hands.