What We Left Behind - The Defiant: DS9’s Answer to the Dominion ----------------------- In the documentary What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the creators reveal one of their boldest moves: ending Season 2 by blowing up a ship that looked like the Enterprise-D, then facing the Dominion with nothing but runabouts. That gamble led to the birth of the USS Defiant—a warship some thought didn’t belong on DS9, but ultimately became one of the show’s most iconic additions.