“Program Sisko/Got A Job To Do!/Message In Horsehide” by Jay Chattaway

Here I go back to the Jay Chattaway well again, but the fact is that I tend to find his scores to be among the most memorable of the Berman Era, especially after the departure of Ron Jones.

This selection comes at the end of one of my favorite Deep Space Nine episodes (if not my very favorite), “Call to Arms.” The station is under attack by Dominion and Cardassian forces, and Starfleet has just been forced to evacuate. The cue kicks off with a great descending motif representing the Dominion and Cardassians, led by Gul Dukat1.

While they are preparing to board DS9, Kira and Odo take steps to sabotage the station’s systems by invoking Program Sisko 197. Chattaway deploys his ever-present rising chord suspense motif here. Things quiet down for a bit as we see Quark welcoming Rom back to the bar (as a Federation spy). Rom then finds Jake has stayed behind much to the frustration of Captain Sisko.

The Dominion motif returns again as Dukat, Weyoun, Damar, and Dominion soldiers enter the station, and are greeted by Kira, Odo, and Quark 2. However, when they reach the commander’s office, Dukat finds that Sisko has left his baseball behind—a message that goes over Weyoun’s head completely, but that Dukat recognizes as Sisko telling him that he will be coming back to retake the station.

The music then turns more militaristic as we cut to Sisko and Defiant as they are joining a massive armada of Starfleet and Klingon ships, ostensively preparing to mount a counteroffensive. The final notes of the cue sound a more triumphant tone as we know that, while we are going to need to wait for the entire summer to see what happens next, DS9 isn’t likely to remain in Dominion hands for very long.

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