"A Time to Stand" (season six, episode one; 29 September 1997): Wikipedia-link.
Commentary: "A Time to Stand" stands in a unique place, as Star Trek entered a new phase of serialized storytelling. Serialization is all the rage now, to what I perceive as an excessive & damaging extent, but in the 1990s, in first-run syndication, serialization was bold & controversial. The Dominion War spans the whole of seasons six & seven, but within that wider framework the last episode of season five & the first six episodes of season six form a multi-episode arc. "Call to Arms" did not end with a "To be continued…" card, but "A Time to Stand" begins with the typical second-part-of-a-duology narration, "Last time on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine…," which then ends with, "And now, the continuation," instead of, "And now, the conclusion." The only other time, "And now, the continuation," was used was "The Circle," the second part of the unprecedented trilogy that began season two ("The Homecoming," "The Circle," & "The Siege"), which ended with the "To be continued…" card. Not so "A Time to Stand." "Call to Arms" & "A Time to Stand" are not a The Next Generation- & Voyager-style season-bridging duology (e.g., "The Best of Both Worlds, Parts I & II" or "Basics, Parts I & II"), but the first two chapters of a seven-part arc.
Plot-wise, Captain Sisko & crew (minus Major Kira, Odo, Quark, & Jake Sisko, who remain on the Dominion-occupied space station) go behind enemy lines to destroy a ketracel-white storage facility using the salvage Jem'Hadar ship from "The Ship" (season five, episode two).
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