So, I just watched "The Ship" again, and I'm wondering...

[Daneel]

"The Ship" was on Space today. All in all, it's a pretty decent episode, but I have to wonder -- why exactly did the Changeling die?
Yeah, I get that it couldn't hold its shape any longer, but why did it stay in that one shape the whole time? I mean, surely it could have quietly slipped away to some secluded part of the ship when no one was looking, found some sort of alcove, and regenerated? Or it could have made a run for it -- from what we've seen of Changelings, it probably could have taken out Sisko and company, left the ship, and joined up with the Dominion forces outside in no time at all. So why didn't it? Am I missing something?
Another little nit about this episode: the Klingon custom of standing guard over a body seems out of place to me. We learned all the way back in TNG's "Heart of Glory" that Klingons regard dead bodies as nothing more than empty shells. So how does this tradition fit?

Maybe I'm over-thinking this, but inquiring minds want to know!

 

[Jono]

The Changelings aren't immune to harm when in humanoid form. We've seen that they can be killed by disruptor fire, made uncomfortable enough to change shape by phaser sweeps and pushed into a warp core or whatever Odo did to kill them. We also saw one example of Odo getting knocked out. So I'd guess that the force of the impact and the loss of inertial dampeners did enough damage to the Changeling's cells that it was not possible for it to heal by itself.

Why didn't it run? It might not have known that there was anywhere to run to. It might not have had the strength to make it off the ship. Or it made a mistake and thought Sisko would give up or the Jem'Hadar would find it before it was too late.

Sisko made a good point, that if both side showed a bit of trust the changeling might have survived. If the Vorta told Sisko I doubt Sisko would have denied her entry to the ship to search for the Founder or if the Founder reveiled itself I think Sisko would have handed to the Dominion, though in exchange for passage off that rock for him and his crew. In the end either side would trust the other and it cost the life of the Founder.

I haven't watched the ep in ages, was Worf standing over a dead body or a dying one?

 

[Myasishchev]

If Dominion starship design follows the same principles as Starfleet, the changeling was likely foolishly sitting next to a bridge console.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

As for the body thing, my personal theory is that Worf made it up as a gesture to O'Brien - wasn't he rather abrasive with the dead guy, who was friends with O'Brien (or maybe it was more like the apprentice/mentor relationship)?

 

[nx1701g]

In my mind I retconned it that the changeling in that episode was the first to be infected by the Changeling virus after Odo.

 

[Jono]

In my mind I retconned it that the changeling in that episode was the first to be infected by the Changeling virus after Odo.

The virus didn't start to manifest for another 2-3 years. I can't remember Odo ever linking with any Changelings from when he was supposedly infected in "Homefront" to when he returned to the Great Link at the end of season 4.

 

[nx1701g]

^ For all we know the virus entered the link when they judged him. The Changeling killed in The Ship could have been the actual first to show symptoms and was being taken back to the Dominion to be helped.

 

[Marie1]

Doesn't Dr. Bashir figure out when he was infected? I'll need to rewatch.

I figure the Founder maybe was either ill and it only changed shapes when it melted and couldn't hold form any more, or more likely it was afraid to move in its weakened state since it couldn't do it well, an knew that they'd taken blue prints of the ship (Dax said it out loud) so it didn't want to risk moving- especially since there was always someone in the bridge.

The Klingon tradition seemed to be more on the battle field where there were predators, and seemed only necessary for brief period, he just used it as an excuse to try and make amends with O'Brien.

 

[Daneel]

Yes, I suppose it's possible that the Changeling was either ill or injured. It crossed my mind, but since nothing was stated on-screen, I was curious to see what ideas others might have.

And yeah, Changelings aren't immune to phaser fire, so perhaps it was just being cautious, but that doesn't seem likely to me -- there were only four Starfleet officers on the ship, one of which was seriously wounded. If I were the Changeling, I think I could risk an escape attempt, especially with my shapeshifting abilities. Besides, it took a fair number of disruptor blasts from a multitude of Klingons to destroy the Martok-Changeling in the previous episode -- Changelings appear to be made of strong stuff!

Maybe the answer is simpler than I think; in an extension of Marie1's theory, maybe it was too weak to shapeshift extensively because it was approaching its regeneration period, and therefore it felt too vulnerable.

Could it have been the virus? It's not impossible, but it does seem a bit early for that. I doubt the writers had even thought of it yet. As for when the other Founders contracted it, the only other Changeling that might have been infected before Odo returned to the Link was the one that impersonated Admiral Leyton in "Homefront" -- Odo suspected he was a Changeling and briefly linked with him. Assuming Odo had already been infected by Section 31 (and it did happen sometime in this episode), he might have passed it on then, and from that point it could have been transmitted to any number of Changelings.

We'll never know, but it's fun to speculate, yes?

 

[nx1701g]

^ Which brings up a point though I didn't think of earlier - wouldn't LeytonShifter have known about the virus? Presumably he would have been monitoring Odo's examinations in some form or another.

 

[Daneel]

^^^^^^^
Perhaps he would have been, but it could have just as easily been the real Leyton monitoring Odo's examinations; I didn't get the sense that the Changeling had been impersonating him for very long -- when he was caught by Odo, that may have been the first and only time the Changeling had taken that form.

As for whether or not Leyton knew of the virus... well, he might have, if he was part of Section 31 -- an idea that's not completely implausible (although, despite his subterfuge, he didn't seem to fly under the radar to the extent that Section 31 operatives usually do).

 

[Timo]

Doesn't Dr. Bashir figure out when he was infected? I'll need to rewatch.

Yeah, it's traced back to the time Odo was helping out Leyton. And yeah, I like to think it was the real Leyton, not his Changeling impersonator.

But Bashir probably overlooks one thing: Odo was also cured of the disease almost at once. When he was taken in "Broken Link", he both filled his job as a vector for the disease, AND was turned into a solid who was immune to the disease. As far as we know, the disease in him died in this process.

Thus, Odo only began showing symptoms when he got the infection back from a Founder, apparently the female one during the Dominion occupation of DS9...

Maybe the answer is simpler than I think; in an extension of Marie1's theory, maybe it was too weak to shapeshift extensively because it was approaching its regeneration period, and therefore it felt too vulnerable.

But we don't even know if adult Founders regenerate.

Odds are that they don't, or their attempts at impersonating Klingon or Romulan leaders would quickly be foiled.

It doesn't sound too implausible to assume that the jolt that killed all the Jem'Hadar also pulped the Founder so badly that it could no longer impersonate anything much, nor move or otherwise act.

As for Leyton's position vis-á-vis the Founders, I don't think he really was part of an effort to actively fight them. If he had been closer to the real threat, I doubt he would have worked so hard to falsify it for personal gain. Hell, I seriously doubt the Founders had anything to do with the Antwerp explosion - it was much more probably Leyton's own doing, with the evidence of Founder presence forged by him onto the surveillance tapes after the fact. Otherwise, the timing of the bombing would have been far too convenient, coming right after Leyton had started his "cloaked ships coming through the wormhole" fakery.

Then again, I somewhat doubt if there was any Section 31 involvement in the creation of the disease, or if indeed any "Section 31" ever existed. It sounds just like a mere deniability ruse devised by Starfleet Intelligence to cover its tracks, in case somebody found out that SFI had plotted genocide. The guy calling himself Sloan might have been a knowing part of that ruse, but probably was but a pawn, a madman easily lured into thinking he was involved in a secret powerful cabal to save the universe...

And yeah, I think Worf made the "tradition" up of whole cloth. He's such a caring guy, deep down.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[SoM]

It was injured when the inertial damper failed - an event which killed every "solid" on-board the ship (30 or so Jem'Hadar and a Vorta).

 

[Marie1]

Maybe the answer is simpler than I think; in an extension of Marie1's theory, maybe it was too weak to shapeshift extensively because it was approaching its regeneration period, and therefore it felt too vulnerable.

But we don't even know if adult Founders regenerate.

Odds are that they don't, or their attempts at impersonating Klingon or Romulan leaders would quickly be foiled.

Actually, I think they do, though maybe not as often. Something Weyoun said in season 7, that the Founder should stop trying to hold her form and just revert (plus the fact that they prefer to be a liquid) and though she wanted to, she couldn't. Its at least relaxing to them or something. Klingons, humans etc. need to sleep, so its not too much of a stretch, you just do it on breaks and when a human/klingon etc. would be sleeping.

 

[Timo]

Yeah, I guess they do it when they can. It almost appeared that the Female Founder had been holding her shape for months at an end, so the usual regeneration interval of adult Changelings might be weeks or months long before there were symptoms of fatigue there.

Timo Saloniemi