One Little Ship ( episode ) O ' Brien , Dax , Bashir , and their runabout are reduced in size while investigating an anomaly . Meanwhile , the Jem ' Hadar attack and commandeer the " Defiant " , leaving the runabout crew with no choice but to take their miniature ship inside the " Defiant " and help Sisko and the others recapture the vessel . Summary . Teaser . Captain Benjamin Sisko and his crew are taking a break from being on the front lines in the Dominion War . Instead , the is investigating a recently - discovered subspace compression anomaly . Unmanned probes sent into the anomaly shrunk in size , and gaining an understanding of the principles behind the compression could give Starfleet a significant tactical advantage over the Dominion . The runabout is being sent into the anomaly , tethered to the " Defiant " by a tractor beam to gather data and deliberately be shrunk down to a miniscule size . On the bridge , Major Kira Nerys finds it hard to keep a straight face at the idea . Before entering the anomaly , Jadzia Dax calls her husband and checks on the progress of his poem , which he promises to read to her when she returns . Off the curious looks of the bridge crew , Worf sheepishly explains that it is a Klingon tradition to commemorate a momentous event by composing verse , and Jadzia has made him promise to do so on this occasion . A short while after the experiment ' s start , the " Defiant " is suddenly attacked by a Jem ' Hadar attack ship . The anomaly masked the Jem ' Hadar ' s approach until they were within weapon range , giving them the opening shot , and because the " Defiant " must remain tractored to the " Rubicon " , it is unable to raise its shields , and is soon disabled and boarded by a squad of Jem ' Hadar . The tractor beam fails and the " Rubicon " is lost inside the anomaly . Act One . Aboard the " Rubicon " , Dax , O ' Brien , and Bashir are unhurt , but many systems are damaged . On the " Defiant " s bridge , the Jem ' Hadar assess the damage to the ship ; the impulse engines will be repaired soon , but the warp drive has been heavily damaged , and the vessel is still in enemy space . First Kudak ' Etan nonetheless declares victory for himself and his men – most of whom are the first generation of a new breed of Jem ' Hadar bred to operate in the Alpha Quadrant . Kudak ' Etan believes " Alphas " superior to the original " Gamma " Jem ' Hadar , and frequently overrules his Gamma Second , Ixtana ' Rax ( despite the latter ' s status as an Honored Elder , with at least twenty years of combat experience ) . Kudak ' Etan reports to their Vorta supervisor , Gelnon , who congratulates them and orders them to repair the warp drive with all possible speed and make their way to the nearest Dominion outpost , while their attack ship continues on its mission to the Coridan system . The " Rubicon " hones in on the " Defiant " s transponder signal . When the blast shutter s are finally repaired , a surprise is awaiting them : having left the anomaly by a different path , the " Rubicon " has not returned to its normal size . It is now less than a foot in length , and each of the crew is barely one centimeter tall . Act Two . Bashir reassures O ' Brien that they should be able to restore themselves by retracing their path , but first they have to reestablish contact with the " Defiant " . Since their communication system is still down , they decide to enter the " Defiant " through the aft plasma vent , hoping to have a better chance of drawing attention from the inside of the ship . Kudak ' Etan has Sisko brought to the bridge and orders him help repair the warp drive , but Sisko says he will need help from some of his crew . Ixtana ' Rax urges the First to refuse , saying that giving Sisko access to the engine room will only give him the chance to retake the ship , and giving his officers access will only increase the risk . He is overruled again , and ordered to take Sisko and four officers to Engineering . In the turbolift , Ixtana ' Rax grabs hold of Sisko and warns him not to try anything ; Sisko says he is helpless to do anything , but Ixtana ' Rax snarls that he is not the fool Kudak ' Etan is , and if he were in command , as he was until two days ago , Sisko would already be dead . Sisko asks what happened , and Ixtana ' Rax bitterly says that Kudak ' Etan and the other " Alphas " have been specially designed to fight in that Quadrant , and the Founders believe that makes them better soldiers than the Gammas , who have been unceremoniously pushed aside , even those of Ixtana ' Rax ' s experience . The tiny " Rubicon " is navigating the impulse drive conduits , when the Jem ' Hadar start up the engines . O ' Brien warns that if they don ' t find a way out of the conduit fast , they ' ll be vaporized by superheated plasma . Act Three . Speeding ahead of a rush of plasma , the " Rubicon " nudges its way out of an access hatch near the engine room . From a nook in the engine room , they watch as Sisko , Kira , Worf , and Nog go about making repairs to the warp drive . After O ' Brien finishes restoring the visual sensors , he , Dax , and Bashir are able to figure out Captain Sisko ' s plan : Kira is the only one making actual repairs , while Sisko and Worf surreptitiously reroute systems to delay the Jem ' Hadar , and Nog tries to override the bridge security codes to take control of the ship from the engine room . Nog is smart , O ' Brien explains , but under normal circumstances it will take him weeks to override the security codes . So , they can go to the bridge and try to override the controls from there , but first they need to get out of the engine room without being spotted . Ixtana ' Rax is keeping a close eye on Sisko and the others , ordering them to instruct the Jem ' Hadar engineers as they go along . Kudak ' Etan enters the engine room and complains about the delay , ordering Ixtana ' Rax to stop interfering and let the Starfleet officers go on working alone . When he exits the engine room , he inadvertently allows the " Rubicon " to follow him out the door and to the bridge , without him noticing . Act Four . Back in Engineering , Sisko and Co . are trying to get the job done as best as they can , pressed by time and constant Jem ' Hadar surveillance . Ixtana ' Rax has assigned several Jem ' Hadar troops to help with repairing the warp drive , and Kira warns Sisko that she can only head - fake them for so long . When Nog says that he has still made no progress , Sisko orders Worf to plant a computer virus in the system that will destroy the ship if the warp drive is engaged . In another part of the ship , the " Rubicon " slips onto the bridge literally right under Kudak ' Etan ' s nose , and the crew considers how best to reroute the bridge codes . O ' Brien says he could reroute the encryption subprocessor s manually , but he ' d have to leave the ship to do it . He isn ' t fond of the idea , and Bashir adds that it would be impossible for him to breathe : the oxygen molecules inside the processor housing are far too large to be absorbed by O ' Brien ' s blood . Dax has the bright idea of beaming a bubble of the runabout ' s compressed air into the airtight circuitry compartment , which would allow them to work inside the compartment with a limited air supply for about twenty minutes . O ' Brien insists on Bashir coming with him . When they beam inside the processor housing , they look at the size of the computer chips and wiring , and conclude that the job might take a little longer than they thought . Act Five . At first , O ' Brien is lost ; he can diagram the circuitry housing in his sleep , but the change in perspective is confusing him . Bashir calms him , telling him to close his eyes and imagine where they are – which works . O ' Brien and Bashir barely manage to reroute the processing lines before their air runs out , and they are beamed back to the " Rubicon " . Just as Nog cracks the security codes ( thanks to O ' Brian and Bashir ) , Ixtana ' Rax orders their four captive officers to step away from the consoles . Kudak ' Etan appears in Engineering , and Ixtana ' Rax angrily reports that the warp drive has been operational for at least an hour , and the Federation officers have been stalling them . On the bridge , Dax , O ' Brien , and Bashir wonder why Sisko hasn ' t acted yet ; seeing that the First has been called to Engineering , they realize trouble and fly down . Kudak ' Etan orders the officers locked up again , and orders the bridge to set a course for the Dominion outpost . Yet again , Ixtana ' Rax objects , saying they need to check the system for possible sabotage , and yet again , Kudak ' Etan overrules him , saying they have lost too much time already . As the warp drive is powered up , Sisko and Co . ' s only satisfaction is that they will take the Jem ' Hadar with them when the ship blows up . But as Kudak ' Etan leaves Engineering , the " Rubicon " flies into the room . The Jem ' Hadar are taken by surprise by the tiny ship and open fire , but it is too small and too fast for them to hit , while it fires photon torpedo es , which , though tiny , are still powerful enough to kill two of the soldiers . The rest of the Jem ' Hadar are overpowered by the crew – Kudak ' Etan is too busy trying to draw a bead on the " Rubicon " to notice Worf , until the Klingon steps up to his side and snaps his neck . Ixtana ' Rax takes aim at Sisko as he wrestles with another Jem ' Hadar , but Kira shoots him in the chest with a stolen disruptor pistol . Swiftly rerouting command functions to Engineering , Sisko floods the rest of the ship with anesthezine gas to incapacitate the remaining Jem ' Hadar , while ordering Kira to disable the virus before someone on the bridge tries to engage the warp drive . As Ixtana ' Rax lies dying , Sisko commiserates : he was right about Sisko , and Kudak ' Etan should have listened to him . A loyal Jem ' Hadar to the end , Ixtana ' Rax asserts that Kudak ' Etan was the First , and did not need to listen to anyone : " Obedience brings victory , and victory is . . . " are his last words , dying before he finishes , " life . " The tiny " Rubicon " hovers in front of the victorious crew , with a miniature Jadzia blowing kisses to her husband through the viewport . With the " Defiant " back under control , the " Rubicon " re - enters the anomaly by its original path and returns to normal size . Back on Deep Space 9 , inside Quark ' s , Jadzia asks Worf to read her his poem . He warns her that he is only partly done , and makes her promise not to laugh , since he worked very hard . He reads from a datapad , " this is the story of a little ship that took a little trip . . . " and that is it . Jadzia struggles for a diplomatic response , then sees a look in her husband ' s eyes and grabs the pad , which is blank . Worf grins , and she bursts out laughing . At the bar , O ' Brien and Bashir are regaling M ' Pella and Morn with their adventure . Odo gives them a quizzical look and asks them if they ' re sure they both returned to their normal size ; as a shapeshifter , he notices such things , and they both look a couple of centimeters off . Quark confirms this , and demonstrates by showing that they are considerably shorter than M ' Pella . Exchanging an alarmed look , Bashir and O ' Brien rush to the infirmary . Quark and Odo step down from the level of the tables . Quark says to Odo , " " and they say you don ' t have a sense of humor , " " and the two share a laugh . Memorable quotes . " " I don ' t " feel " any smaller . " " " " I do not see what is so humorous about being small . " " " " Neither do I . " " " " Chief . . . you ' re not going to like this . " " " " Are you telling me I ' m gonna be " ( holds two fingers up , about five centimeters apart ) " this bloody tall for the rest of my life ? " " ( Holds two fingers up , about half a centimeter apart ) " " This bloody tall , actually . " " " " This conduit is filthy , chief . Don ' t you ever clean up in here ? " " " " All right , all right . Let ' s not badger the chief . " " " " Thank you . " " " " I ' m sorry . It was very small of me . " " " " Don ' t hit it too hard . . . you ' ll shatter the control panel . " " " " Don ' t worry , I have a light touch . " " " " Not according to Worf . " " " ( as Bashir starts to sit down ) " Julian , stop ! That chip behind you is carrying twenty microamps of electric current . Now that ' s not very much . . . " " " " . . . But it ' s enough to fry every synapse in my tiny body . Thanks for the tip . " " " " All right . Stay right behind me , and don ' t touch anything without asking first . " " " " Believe me , I won ' t . " " " " Obedience brings victory , and victory is . . . " " " " Mr . Worf , I think your wife is here . " " " " This is the story of a little ship , that took a little trip . " " " " Are you sure you ' ve returned to your normal size ? " " " " Of course . " " " " Why ? " " " " Well , you both appear to be a couple of centimeters shorter than you were the last time I saw you . A Changeling notices that sort of thing . " " " " I didn ' t want to say anything , but . . . you do look a little on the petite side . " " " " Infirmary ! " " " " And they say you don ' t have a sense of humor . " " Links and references . References . accretion disk ; s ; Alpha Quadrant ; anesthezine ; auto - destruct ; Auxiliary Control ; Bajoran s ; Bajoran wormhole ; Benzite s ; bipolar flow junction ; blast shutter s ; bloodwine ; centimeter ; class - 7 warp drive ; ; dabo girl ; ; Dominion ; Emissary of the Prophets ; engineering team ; ; eyeball ; Federation ; gamma ray flux ; s ; Gamma Quadrant ; heuristic subprocessor ; Honored Elder ; humor ; hypoxia ; Immelmann turn ; interlink shunt ; isolinear chip ; Jem ' Hadar ; Jem ' Hadar attack ship ; ketracel - white ; Klingon s ; lateral microbrace ; magnetic plasma guide ; meter ; miniaturization ; " Old Man " ; Operation Return ; operations console ; plasma ; plasma relay ; plasma vent ; postcard ; Quark ' s ; reconnaissance probe ; rectilinear expansion module ; ; runabout ; shield generator ; Seltan carnosaur ; subspace compression anomaly ; suffocation ; tesla ; tracking subroutine ; transponder ; transwarp corridor ; tricorder ; warp signature ;