Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 2.10

Sanctuary

A group of people come through the wormhole in a badly damaged ship. Commander Sisko orders them beamed off their ship and aboard the space station. They are Skrreeans. The universal translator has some trouble with their language. Sisko and Major Kira learn, once the translator issue has been resolved, that the four people they rescued are just the tip of the iceberg. There are another three million Skrreeans hoping to come through the wormhole and get away from something known as the Dominion.

Deep Space Nine helps more Skrreeans make their way through the wormhole. Haneek, the leader of the first small group to come through the wormhole educates Sisko and Kira about their ways. The Skrreeans are farmers. Their society is run by women. They are looking for a new home, a planet that they call Kentanna.

Haneek, despite not being a leader before, becomes the leader of the Skrreeans aboard Deep Space Nine. She decides that Bajor must be Kentanna. She makes an appeal to the Bajoran government to allow them to settle in an uninhabited region of Bajor. The request is denied. Haneek is offended. Dax has found another planet that is suitable for settlement, Draylon II, but Haneek isn't willing to listen until one of her sons is killed while trying to land the small but damaged vessel in which he, Haneek, and his brothers arrived in the Alpha Quadrant.

Haneek was hurt when Kira didn't agree with her that it would be best for her to settle on Bajor. Haneek decides that Draylon II must be Kentanna. The Haneek and the other Skrreeans leave but not before letting Kira know exactly how she feels.

Thoughts

Jake, Nog, and Rom all appeared in this episode. This is the only episode of Star Trek in which the Skrreeans appeared.

There is a little bit of padding in this story involving a Bajoran musician named Varani who very recently arrived on Deep Space Nine. His presence in Quark's bar drives Quark nuts because people are stopping to listen to Varani play, rather than gamble and drink.

The message in this episode came off a little heavy handed. It also felt rushed. This sort of story might have worked better as a two-parter but I also fear that might have been too much space for this story and that it would have been padded.

Notes

William Schallert played the part of Varani. This is the first and only episode of this series in which he appeared but he also appeared in one episode of Star Trek (1966). I saw him vert recently in an episode of The Six Million Dollar Man, 1.07 Eyewitness to Murder. He has been in plenty of episode of television and movies that I have seen over the years.

Deborah May played the part of Haneek. This is the only episode of this show in which she appeared. She also appeared in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager but playing a different character. 

Andrew Koenig played the part of Haneek's son who dies trying to land on Bajor. He played a recurring character on Growing Pains which I watched from time to time in the 1980s. He was the son of Walter Koenig who played Ensign Pavel Chekov Star Trek (1966).

Les Landau directed this episode. This is the fourth of 14 episodes of this show that Landau directed. He also directed episodes of The Next Generation, Voyager, and Enterprise. The most recent episode he directed prior to this one was 2.10 Invasive Procedures.