While en route to Ferenginar in a runabout, Jake Sisko and Nog are attacked by a Dominion vessel, but are rescued by the Federation starship Valiant. They find that the crew are all members of Red Squad, an elite squadron of Starfleet cadets. Red Squad was on Valiant for a training mission when the ship was attacked by Dominion forces, resulting in the loss of the entire commissioned staff. Before dying, the late captain transferred command to now–acting Captain Tim Watters.

Watters says the late captain was ordered to seek intelligence on a new Dominion battleship, and the Valiant has continued to pursue that mission under Watters's command, but its damaged warp drive has prevented it from getting close enough to observe the Dominion ship. Nog has the expertise to repair the engine, and Watters appoints him Chief Engineer; but Jake is seen as an outsider. When Jake talks to Collins, one of the cadets, about her personal life, she breaks down emotionally, and Watters orders Jake not to talk to her further.

With Nog's help, the Valiant is able to scan the battleship. Watters informs the crew that their mission has been carried out, and they could go home now, but he wants them to attempt to destroy the Dominion vessel, using a weak point in its design they believe the scan has revealed. Jake tries to tell them that his father Benjamin Sisko, one of the finest battle commanders in Starfleet, would never engage in such a foolhardy attack, but the cadets are won over by Watters' enthusiasm and the lure of becoming heroes.

When Jake attempts to warn Nog and Collins that the mission is too dangerous to succeed, Watters has Jake thrown in the brig. The Valiant attacks the vessel and successfully hits the targeted area, but the ship remains undamaged. The Valiant is assaulted by the battleship, 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' protestation 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."

The episode received Nielsen ratings of 4.6 points corresponding to about 4.5 million viewers.^[2]

• Starfleet Academy
• The First Duty (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (also focuses on Starfleet cadets)
• Coming of Age (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

• "Valiant" at IMDb  
• Valiant (episode) at Memory Alpha
• Valiant at Wayback Machine (archived from the original at StarTrek.com)