Ultimate Wager

Ultimate Wager is the sixteenth episode of the fifth season.

Tagline
With Ulduar holding a vendetta against Pilerk, a Lyran captain, he coaches his hockey team, the Praetorians, in preparation for something no one has expected, with unexpected consequences due to the hockey game being played on Christmas day.

Act One
The day before the hockey game, some bankers came to Catherine Giltia's cabin, with a business proposal for her bank. The Kzinti banker stated that, although it was illegal to do so if the bank was Lyran-controlled, his banking consortium would wager the entire business on the Wildcats winning the hockey game, while Catherine wagered her bank on the Praetorians winning it. Meanwhile, Dhiemm is in the cabin of a Lyran referee, assigned to the game by Pfrizzek because he feared that he would turn the game to the Romulans' advantage. He is warned by Perrzear that the Wildcats would play hockey viciously.

Act Two
The Subytt redshirt ponders his strategy for the game; since the Lyrans were going to shut him down, he, along with Kadama, wanted to have his team learn how to body-check. Kadama's wish was granted as he was to train body-checking in the final practice, with Brianna being unable to body-check effectively because of her lower mass, although Tama, who has been woefully inept at every other aspect of the game, could body-check better than most other people. Ulduar commits his team to a final scrimmage before the game could begin, while realizing that Mizarh had Montreal Canadiens hockey sticks.

Act Three
Upon looking at the duranium-made sticks, Vaebn Mairex decides to go straight to the dressing room to have a supply of spare sticks replicated, and the team was told to avoid the Lyrans when on the ice. Pfrizzek takes on the role of the home announcer while the opening face-off was made. Zama shoots on the goal but fails to do so. When the play resumes, Pilerk orders three of his players to charge Zama, but relented, scoring a goal instead. On the next playing sequence, these same players speared and charged at Zama, resulting in a flurry of penalties and a dual power play, with a player ejected from the game.

Act Four
Due to the power play in question, Zama was able to pass the puck to Mizarh, scoring the first Romulan goal. With Brianna Reiss in play, who missed a shot on goal, she was able to make the play that allowed Mizarh to score the 2nd power play goal. With Vaebn being penalized, the score was tied as the Lyrans scored another goal, and Dhiemm saying "Play ball!" like a baseball umpire in every face-off, they were taking the game to an 8-8 score when, while preventing a puck from entering the net, Brianna was hit by a puck. Since the play leading to Brianna's hit was an accident, no penalty was called.

Act Five
Once regulation time ends, the game is still tied 8-8 and overtime has been called, with four players on the ice. Ulduar scolds as the buzzer rang, with Neleras on the rink and three other players, Mizarh, Tama and another player duking it out with mere minutes to go. Tama deflects Neleras' shot to score the goal allowing the Praetorians to clinch the game with a score op 9-8, with Tama keeping the puck. Mizarh revealed that he previously gave up hockey because he feared the injuries caused by pro hockey. With this game won, Bouteina Holdings gained access to both the Kzinti and the Tzenkethi markets.

Production notes
The hockey game, as depicted in this episode, was inspired by articles in past editions of. It was initially intended to have the final score of the game to be 9-7 but an overtime showdown was more dramatic so it was decided to have the final score to be 9-8 instead. Nevertheless, the score was much higher than in many hockey games.