the vessel and successfully hits the targeted area, but the ship remains undamaged. The Valiant is assaulted by the battle cruiser, which critically damages the ship and kills much of the remaining crew. Nog, Collins and Jake leave the Valiant in an escape pod before it explodes; the sole survivors, they are rescued by Jake's father's ship, the Defiant. Nog states that the Valiant was a good ship with a good crew, whose only mistake was blindly following Watters' disastrous orders. To Collins' pleas that Watters was a great man, Nog replies, "He may have been a hero, he may even have been a great man, but in the end, he was a bad captain." Reception The episode received Nielsen ratings of 4.6 points corresponding to about 4.5 million viewers. See also Starfleet Academy The First Duty (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (also focuses on Starfleet cadets) Coming of Age (Star Trek: The Next Generation) References External links Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (season 6) episodes 1998 American television episodes Television episodes written by Ronald D. Moore