Rules of Engagement ( episode ) The Klingons try to extradite Worf after he accidentally destroys a transport full of Klingon civilians . Summary . Teaser . Worf is in the . He wanders the halls , which are filled with dead Starfleet officers , and sees a squad of Klingon warriors raising their " bat ' leths " in triumph . Worf then finds himself in front of the door leading to the bridge and he forces it open . Worf looks around and notices that the bridge is littered with many dead Klingon children . Worf wakes up with a scream to find that his vision was only a dream , and he is in a holding cell awaiting a hearing . Odo tells him to get some sleep as he has a big day ahead of him . Act One . Aboard Deep Space 9 , Admiral T ' Lara calls the hearing to order . Ch ' Pok , the prosecutor and representative of the Klingon Empire , charges Worf with destroying a civilian transport ship and killing all 441 Klingons aboard . He requests that Worf be extradited to the Empire . Captain Sisko , Worf ' s defense advocate , explains that the " Defiant " was under attack by Klingon warships , when the transport suddenly decloaked in the midst of the battle , and that its destruction was an unavoidable accident . Sisko meets with Odo in an attempt to find more exonerating evidence . Sisko ' s hunch is that the transport captain decloaked to attack the " Defiant " , so Odo ' s task is to find out everything he can about the crew of the transport . Odo leaves , and Ch ' Pok approaches Sisko . Ch ' Pok tells him that , if Worf is convicted of this massacre , the Klingon Empire will have a pretext to escalate its offensives against the Federation . The hearing reconvenes . Ch ' Pok accepts Worf ' s account of the situation , noting that , to Klingons , what matters is Worf ' s motivation , and whether duty or bloodlust informed his decision . T ' Lara allows the hearing to move towards understanding Worf ' s motives , and Ch ' Pok calls his first witness , Commander Jadzia Dax , to the stand . Dax serves as a cultural expert on the Klingons , largely due to the experiences of Dax ' s previous host Curzon Dax , and Ch ' Pok tries to get her to define Klingons as a predatory , violent people . She defends Worf , noting that he is excellent at restraining his passions in the name of duty . Ch ' Pok then enters into evidence a holosuite program , " The Battle of Tong Vey . " Sisko objects as the file was taken from Worf ' s database without a search order or permission , and T ' Lara is willing to render it inadmissible as evidence due to the violation of privacy . Ch ' Pok plays to Worf ' s sense of honor and requests permission to enter it as evidence . Sisko urges Worf not to , but Worf feels he has nothing to hide and allows it . Dax summarizes the battle , in which Sompek conquered the city of Tong Vey with ten thousand warriors , then ordered the city burned and its people – men , women , and children – killed . Ch ' Pok notes that Worf plays the role of Sompek in the holographic reenactment of it , and that he ended it by giving the historical order to begin the massacre . He then asks Dax when was the last time Worf ran the program , and she is forced to admit that it was the day before Worf left on the convoy mission . Act Two . Ch ' Pok examines Sisko , asking him why he chose Worf for the mission . The Cardassian colony on Pentath III was experiencing an outbreak of Rudellian plague and had requested Starfleet assistance , since the system bordered Klingon territory and the Cardassians didn ' t have enough warships to protect the convoys from raids . Starfleet agreed due to the humanitarian aspect of the request , with the " Defiant " being one of the ships assigned to the fleet . Sisko explains that he wanted Worf to have more command experience , and , as a Klingon , he would be well - suited for an escort mission that might involve an altercation with Klingons . He clarifies that it was clear to Worf that he was being sent on a humanitarian mission and not sent looking for combat . T ' Lara gives Sisko the chance to add anything else to the record since he ' s also acting as defence counsel , but Sisko declines . Next , Quark testifies about how Worf came into his bar in a good mood ( which he notes was unusual for Worf ) and the two talked . The convoy mission came up , and Quark mentioned that the Klingons would likely attack and Worf said " " I hope they do " " . Worf is embarrassed , as the one statement brings all of his motives into question . Act Three . Odo reports to Sisko that the transport captain was not at all the kind of person who would attack the " Defiant " and that the civillian ship ' s course was very close to the border , so it would have only taken a small error to cause it to be caught up in the battle . What still isn ' t understood is why the transport decloaked in front of the " Defiant . " Sisko tells Odo to look into the background of each passenger on the transport ship on the extreme off - chance that someone aboard may have taken control and intended to attack . Back at the hearing , Sisko calls Chief O ' Brien . O ' Brien explains the battle – in which a Klingon Bird - of - Prey and a battle cruiser would alternate attacking the " Defiant " and the convoy . The Klingon ships would fire , then cloak , then decloak and fire again . The " Defiant " was pursuing the Bird - of - Prey when it cloaked . They projected its course and followed it when O ' Brien picked up a tachyon surge signalling that a ship was decloaking . Without hesitation , Worf ordered quantum torpedoes to be fired at it , only for the crew to realise to their horror that the target was simply a civilian transport . O ' Brien reaffirms that he stands by Worf ' s decision and that Worf is an honorable man . Ch ' Pok cross - examines O ' Brien . He points out that O ' Brien has served during 235 combat encounters and has been decorated by Starfleet fifteen times , and asks that he be declared an expert on starship combat . Ch ' Pok asks O ' Brien if he had been in command instead of Worf , in the middle of a battle with an unknown ship decloaking , would he have given the order to fire . O ' Brien objects that the question is unfair as he " wasn ' t " in command at the time , but Ch ' Pok persists and asks if he would fire at an unknown target . O ' Brien admits that he would not have fired , but stresses that it reflects his opinion made now , weeks after the incident , not the heat of the moment . In the Replimat , Sisko is drinking coffee when Ch ' Pok takes a seat next to him . They reveal that Worf is scheduled to testify next . Ch ' Pok offers to defend Worf himself if Sisko concedes now and allows him to be extradited . Sisko counters that Ch ' Pok is still only after grounds to invade the Pentath system . Sisko replies that Ch ' Pok has revealed one thing - - he is worried . Ch ' Pok responds to Sisko that it is he who should be worried . Act Four . Odo informs Sisko that none of the passengers had any connection to Worf or Starfleet or any perceivable motive whatsoever , but that he will keep looking . In the hearing , Worf is testifying , explaining the mission and the battle . The attack happened suddenly and without warning , and admits he was excited by the opportunity to do battle , but notes that it typical of many Klingons and he doesn ' t allow his desire to fight to stand in the way of his duties and responsibilities . He also notes that he respects O ' Brien and his opinion that he wouldn ' t have fired , but points out that he was not in a position to make such a command decision and he is looking back at a decision after the fact . Worf tells Sisko that although he knew the convoy was passing through shipping lanes , he felt the chances of running into a civilian ship were negligible and had decided not to hesitate to fire if a ship started de - cloaking . Sisko then asks if Worf woud make the same decision if given the chance , and Worf responds that he would as he had a duty to protect the ship , the crew and the convoy . Ch ' Pok cross - examines Worf . He begins by trying to establish that Worf is angry at the Empire because of his discommendation . Worf says he is hated by his people because of this , but Ch ' Pok asserts that they hate him on a more basic level , because he is more Human than Klingon . Ch ' Pok establishes that Klingons are now his enemies , but Worf says he is not happy with killing civilians because there is no honor in it . Ch ' Pok counters that a true Klingon relishes killing all of his enemies , armed or not , and would be happy for the dead children now in Sto - vo - kor , not grieved . Ch ' Pok says Worf lives with Humans out of fear of Klingons , to which Worf replies with a martial challenge . T ' Lara threatens to hold both parties in contempt of court . Ch ' Pok continues , arguing that Worf was eager for the Klingons to attack because he wanted to prove himself to other Klingons , and that one day Alexander will grow up to find out his father is a coward who killed innocent people to prove his own courage . At this , Worf gets up and attacks Ch ' Pok with a series of blows . Sisko gets up to restrain him , as Ch ' Pok closes his examination with the proof that Worf will attack an unarmed man if he is angry or has something to prove . Act Five . The hearing is placed in recess as T ' Lara considers her decision , and Sisko sits in his office not very hopeful about Worf ' s chances . As he considers this , Odo brings in a PADD . The hearing reconvenes and Sisko enters this new evidence , and asks Ch ' Pok to testify as an expert on the Klingon Empire . Sisko asks Ch ' Pok what the current relationship is between the Federation and the Klingon Empire , and Ch ' Pok replies there isn ' t one and the two powers can neither be called friends of enemies at this point . Sisko replies that , given the lack of any formal relationship , it is hard for either power to trust the other and leaves open the possibility for deception from either side . Sisko then hands Ch ' Pok the PADD and asks him to identify the list of names . He answers that they are the victims of Worf ' s alleged attack . Sisko then explains that this is " actually " a list of the victims of an accidental transport ship crash that occurred three months before the convoy incident . Sisko asks Ch ' Pok whether it would be possible that the transport was empty and was giving off false sensor images to make it appear that Worf had committed a massacre , as the fallout of an officer accidentally killing hundreds of civillians would force Starfleet to stop protecting Cardassian convoys , and Ch ' Pok admits that it is . The hearing is over . Worf is in his quarters on the " Defiant " , lost in thought , when Sisko enters . Worf admits that he should not have accepted the mission , understanding now that he did have something to prove when he took command and , just like when Ch ' Pok was goading him during the trial , he was hoping for an excuse to fight and is prone to want vengeance . Worf also understands that he should not have fired on a decloaking ship regardless of the circumstances . Sisko agrees , and sternly reminds Worf that he knew there were civilian ships in the area , but still fired on a target he hadn ' t identified . Sisko lectures him on taking a command with such a predicament , and reaffirms that a Starfleet officer should never even take a chance of endangering civilians , even if it means the lives of the Starfleet officers will be lost . Nonetheless , Sisko says , this time there are no dead civilians on his conscience , and Worf will make a great captain one day . Sisko invites Worf to a party at Quark ' s ; Worf is reluctant , but Sisko reminds him that a command officer must sometimes smile even when it ' s the last thing they want to do , in order to keep the troops happy . Worf muses that his life has become a lot more complicated since he started wearing the red uniform , but Sisko tells him it ' s nothing compared to when he gets four pips on his collar . The two then leave for Quark ' s . Memorable quotes . " " It ' s an interesting system of justice you have , captain . It does have its flaws however . It emphasizes procedure over substance . . . form over fact . " " " " I ' m sorry if you feel it puts you at a disadvantage . " " " " On the contrary , I look forward to fighting on your terms . " " " " This is not a fight . It ' s the search for the truth . " " " " The truth must be won . I ' ll see you on the battlefield . " " " " I say this : You live with Humans because you ' re afraid to live with Klingons . " " " " I fear nothing . And if you would like to pick up a " bat ' leth " and face me with a weapon instead of words , I will prove it to you . " " " " He is one of us . A killer . A predator among sheep . " " " " Objection ! " " " " 441 people somehow survived a crash on Galorda Prime . And then a few weeks later , they all decide to take another trip . On the same day . On the same transport ship . Under the same captain and crew . And then that ship is destroyed too . This is a very unlucky group of people , wouldn ' t you say ? " " " " I am not an expert on luck . " " " " Life is a great deal more complicated in this red uniform . " " " " Wait ' til you get four pips on that collar . You ' ll wish you had gone into botany . " " Links and references . References . advocate ; Alpha Quadrant ; annexation ; Bajoran sector ; Bajoran wormhole ; " bat ' leth " ; Battle of Tong Vey ; botany ; cake ; Cardassia ; cloak - and - run maneuver ; commanding officer ; Constable ; dabo girl ; convoy ; ; death wish ; defense counsel ; ; Earth ; emperor ; ; Ferengi ; Galorda Prime ; Gowron ; holosuite ; House of Mogh ; humanitarianism ; imagination ; Klingon s ; Klingon Bird - of - Prey ; Klingon - Cardassian War ; Klingon civilian transport ship ; Klingon Empire ; Klingon High Council ; ; Kurn ; luck ; Pentath III ; Pentath system ; Promenade ; prune juice ; quantum torpedo ; Quark ' s ; ; ; ; Rudellian plague ; sensor log ; sheep ; Sompek ; Sto - vo - kor ; tachyon ; Tong Vey ; witness Unreferenced material . Golar Province