"The Best Defense" is a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine short story by John Takis. It was published in the Strange New Worlds III anthology in 2000.

Julian Bashir and Miles O'Brien take part in their holographic simulation of the Battle of the Alamo, but this time attempt to win the battle.

Summary

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References

Characters

Julian Bashir • Davy Crockett (hologram) • Kira Nerys • Nog • Keiko O'Brien • Odo • Quinn • Miles O'Brien • Quark • Benjamin Sisko

Referenced only

Jim Bowie • Sam Houston • Antonio López de Santa Anna • William B. Travis

Locations

Alamo • Deep Space 9 • Quark's • Mexico • Texas

Starships

USS Defiant (Defiant-class)

Referenced only

Jem'Hadar fighter

Races and cultures

Bajoran • Changeling • Ferengi • Human

Referenced only

Jem'Hadar

States and organizations

Bajoran Militia • Starfleet • United Federation of Planets

Referenced only

Mexican Army

Science and technology

biosynthetic limb • holodeck • holosuite • hypospray

Other references

baseball • Battle of the Alamo • Battle of San Jacinto • betting pool • cannon • chapel • colonel • Dominion War • sickbay

Appendices

Background

• "The Best Defense..." takes place at a point after the DS9 episode: "The Siege of AR-558".
• Bashir and O'Brien first mooted the idea of an Alamo holosuite program in the DS9 episode: "Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night".

Related media

• DS9 episode: "Once More Unto the Breach"
• DS9 episode: "It's Only a Paper Moon"
• DS9 episode: "Prodigal Daughter"
• DS9 episode: "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang"
• DS9 episode: "The Changing Face of Evil"
• DS9 episode: "Extreme Measures"
• DS9 episode & novelization: What You Leave Behind

Connections

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine collected short stories, novellas and short novels
The Lives of Dax	"Second Star to the Right..." • "First Steps" • "Dead Man's Hand" • "Old Souls" • "Sins of the Mother" • "Infinity" • "Allegro Ouroboros in D Minor" • "The Music Between the Notes" • "Reflections" • "... and straight on 'til morning"
Prophecy and Change	"Revisited" • "Ha'mara" • "The Orb of Opportunity" • "Broken Oaths" • "... Loved I Not Honor More" • "Three Sides to Every Story" • "The Devil You Know" • "Foundlings" • "Chiaroscuro" • "Face Value" • "The Calling"
Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	Volume One ("Cardassia: The Lotus Flower" • "Andor: Paradigm") • Volume Two ("Trill: Unjoined" • "Bajor: Fragments and Omens") • Volume Three ("Ferenginar: Satisfaction is Not Guaranteed" • "The Dominion: Olympus Descending")
Strange New Worlds	I ("Life's Lessons" • "Where I Fell Before My Enemy") • II ("Research" • "Change of Heart") • III ("Ninety-three Hours" • "Dorian's Diary" • "The Bottom Line" • "The Best Defense..." • "An Errant Breeze") • IV ("Captain Proton and the Orb of Bajor" • "Isolation Ward 4") • V ("Fear, Itself") • VI ("Fabrications" • "Urgent Matter" • "Best Tools Available") • VII ("Infinite Bureaucracy" • "Barclay Program Nine") • 8 ("Trek" • "Gumbo" • "Promises Made" • "Always a Price") • 9 ("Shadowed Allies" • "Living on the Edge of Existence" • "The Last Tree on Ferenginar: A Ferengi Fable From the Future" • "The Tribbles' Pagh") • 10 ("So a Horse Walks into a Bar..." • "Signal to Noise") • 2016 ("The Façade of Fate" • "The Manhunt Pool" • "The Dreamer and the Dream")
Star Trek: Explorer	"A Night In" • "By Special Request" • "The Mission" • "Things Can Only Get Better" • "Frontier Medicine" • "The Victim" • "You Can't Buy Fate" • "Lost and Founder" • "A Year to the Day I Saw Myself Die" • "Academy Acquisition" • "The Snake and the Worm" • "The Needs of the Many"
Misc. short stories	"The Badlands, Part IV" • "The Second Artifact" • "Mirror Eyes" • "Requital" • "The Officers' Club" • "A Terrible Beauty"
Misc. novellas & short novels	"Horn and Ivory" • "Saturn's Children" • "Seeds of Dissent" • "A Gutted World"

Timeline

published order
Previous story: The Bottom Line	Strange New Worlds III	Next story: An Errant Breeze
Previous story: The Bottom Line Strange New Worlds III	DS9 short stories	Next story: An Errant Breeze Strange New Worlds III
Previous story: first Star Trek story	Stories by: John Takis	Next story: A Girl for Every Star Strange New Worlds V
chronological order
Previous adventure: The Monster Hunters Strange New Worlds III	Pocket Books Timeline	Next adventure: The Secret Heart of Zolaluz Distant Shores
Previous adventure: Chimera	Deep Space Nine Adventures	Next adventure: Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang