 " Trials and Tribble @-@ ations " is the <unk> episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek : Deep Space Nine , the sixth episode of the fifth season . It was written as a tribute to the original series of Star Trek , in the 30th anniversary year of the show ; sister series Voyager produced a similar episode , " Flashback " . The idea for the episode was suggested by René Echevarria , and Ronald D. Moore suggested the link to " The Trouble with Tribbles " . The pair were credited for their work on the teleplay , with the story credit going to Ira Steven Behr , Hans <unk> and Robert Hewitt Wolfe . 
