Synopsis: Captain Sisko and an away team help a depleted troop of Starfleet officers hold a captured Dominion communications array.
This episode can be seen as an illustration of James Hillman’s acorn theory, that just as an acorn has everything inside it to become a tree, we all have an inner daimon that has all the information we need to become who we are meant to be. Although sometimes, as it is here, the path to fulfilling one destiny can be difficult and painful.
In “The Siege of AR-558” Captain Benjamin Sisko leads an away team delivering supplies to Starfleet officers that captured and are now holding a Dominion communications array. Once the team lands Sisko learns that only 43 of 150 officers are still alive, and those that have survived have been waiting over five months for troop replacements. When a Jem’Hadar vessel attacks Defiant, Sisko orders the ship to safety while he and the rest of the away team will try to hold off Jem’Hadar soldiers on the planet until Defiant can return. Quark is part of the away team, because the Grand Nagus wanted him to bring back news from the front lines. Ensign Nog, his nephew and the first Ferengi Starfleet officer, is also part of the team, and Quark is not happy about this. Quark wants him to act like a Ferengi. Quark tells Nog the Ferengi would have negotiated a deal, not joined in a battle. After sensors are knocked out, Nog is sent on a scouting party because of his keen hearing ability. Nog is badly wounded and winds up losing a leg due to his injury. But, with the help of the intelligence that Nog obtained, the Starfleet officers held off the Jem’Hadar soldiers until reinforcements arrived.
In this episode Nog, who has had to fight to become the first Ferengi Starfleet officer, continues to remain true to his inner calling. This is in spite of his uncle, Quark, who has been continually at odds with his decision to do so. It is also because of his Ferengi hearing abilities that he is sent out on the scouting mission and injured. But even lying injured in a make-shift infirmary, he does not doubt his choice to join Starfleet. This can be seen as an illustration of how when one follows the wisdom of one’s inner daimon, even when it is painful, one will become who one is meant to be.
mydailysoultrek 