Synopsis: While conducting trade negotiations in the Gamma Quadrant the Defiant is attacked by Jem’Hadar warships.
While the above is the plotline of this episode from the external point of view, there is a lot of psychic growth that is happening on the U.S.S. Defiant as the crew struggles to live through the aftermath of the Jem’Hadar attack and return to Deep Space Nine. The psychic growth that allows the crew to make the trip back home safely is the dropping of projections that they have placed upon others. Projections being one of the ways in which the Logos-driven rational conscious ego is made aware of bits of material from the Eros-driven unconscious by projecting these traits onto others. If the traits are those that the ego considers positive, superficial friendships or romances are the initial step; if the traits are ones that the ego perceives as negative, feelings of animosity are the result.
In “Starship Down” shortly after welcoming Minister Hanor of Karemma aboard to discuss a conflict in trade policies with the Ferengis, the Jem’Hadar attack the Defiant. The vessel is badly damaged and communications are down. Captain Benjamin Sisko, who has suffered a head injury, is on the bridge with Major Kira Nerys, who is talking to him to keep him from losing consciousness. She explains to Sisko that she has had difficulties speaking to him because she cannot help but think of him with reverence in his role of Emissary to the people of Bajor. Meanwhile, while Quark and Hanor are arguing over the differences between the ways of doing business of the Karemma and the Ferengi, a torpedo gets stuck in the hull of the ship in the room in which they are talking. They need to put aside their differences and disarm the torpedo before it explodes. They do, and the ship is able to return safely to Deep Space Nine.
Here, the ability to work together can be seen as analogous to when an individual’s conscious ego withdraws a projection of unconscious material from an individual psyche that it has placed upon another. On the bridge, Kira must let go of her projection of reverence that she has placed upon Sisko and needs to see him as the mortal man he is and treat him as such in order to save his life. Elsewhere on the ship, Quark and Hanor need to remove their projections of their shadows that they have each placed upon the other, and trust the disparate skills and modes of operating that each of them brings to the situation in order to disarm the torpedo. In doing so, everyone not only is able to do what they need to do to survive, but they also learn more about each other and themselves in the process. This can be compared to how the conscious ego acknowledges and integrates bits of unconscious material into itself to become stronger and the psyche more whole.
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