Star Trek Bio: Deep Space 9's Captain Benjamin Sisko
Star Trek: Deep Space 9's Captain Benjamin Sisko-Personnel Profile
Benjamin Lafayette Sisko is a highly regarded Starfleet Officer best-known for his commanding position on the station Deep Space 9 for seven years in the Bajor sector and his crucial role in the Dominion War.
He was born in 2332 in New Orleans, North America on Earth. Although he was born to his human parents, Sarah and Joseph Sisko, his mother was possessed by a member of the alien species known as The Prophets (that inhabited a previously undiscovered Wormhole near the planet Bajor) to make sure she gave birth to him, because of his later important role as Emissary to the Prophets.
Early Childhood
On Earth and before Starfleet Academy, Sisko was brought up with his half-sister Judith and two half-brothers (the names of which have not been recorded) and was taught how to cook by their father from Sisko’s Creole Kitchen, his restaurant, as he believed the popular replicated food of the time was lacking.
The Kitchen often just referred to as Sisko’s is where Benjamin and his siblings would work during summertime. His father believed that they should all eat together and nicknamed Sisko and his siblings as “taste-testers”.
Time at Starfleet Academy
Sisko enrolled in Starfleet Academy in 2350 and studied there to become an engineer. Every night for the first week of his time there, he felt homesick and beamed back to have dinner at home with his family in New Orleans.
In his sophomore year at the Academy, he participated in a field study on Starbase 137 and even considered it to be one of the best experiences he had in his entire life
He forged friendships with Laporin and Calvin Hudson at the Academy and was the captain of the wrestling team in 2351. One night at The Launching Pad, he challenged Solok, a Vulcan to a match, lost, and then held resentment towards Solok for many years.
When Ben and Hudson graduated and were wearing their Starfleet officers’ uniforms for the first time, they swore they would both be captains of starships by 30 and admirals by 40.
Meeting Jennifer
Following his graduation in 2354 and while he was waiting to be given his first assignment, he was at Gilgo Beach when he met a woman called Jennifer. They became good friends, fell in love, and then eventually married and moved to New Berlin where he was posted. One fun fact of their time there is that he and Jennifer, along with Cal and his wife Gretchen went to the Mazurka Festival were Sisko danced in lederhosen.
His Son Jake
The year after Sisko married Jennifer, they had their only child Jake. His wife and son joined him when he was assigned to the fateful USS Saratoga.
Mentored by Curzon Dax
At the time when he was still very much ‘a raw young ensign’ at Pelios Station, Sisko met Curzon Dax who became his mentor. Many years later, Sisko spoke highly of Curzon, noting that he taught him to appreciate life differently than he had before. He taught him all about art, science and diplomacy. Sisko was also quick to note that any sense of honor he had was nurtured by Dax.
The Battle of Wolf 359 and Jennifer’s Death
Sisko served as the first officer for the USS Saratoga. During early 2367 while the starship was located within proximity to Earth, it was called upon to join up with a fleet of ships defending the Sol System from the Borg. Sadly, for Ben and Jake, during what became known as the Battle of Wolf 359, Starfleet suffered a disastrous defeat with many casualties.
Of the 40 ships stationed there to defend, the Borg destroyed 39 and severely damaged the Saratoga. While the crew was in the course of abandoning the ship, he found Jake and Jennifer, but Jennifer was dead.
Two years later, in 2369, Sisko continued to harbor an understandable grudge against Captain Jean-Luc Picard and blamed Picard for the death of his wife as in his assimilated form of Locutus of Borg, Picard was responsible for the Wolf 359 attack and massacre.
Single Parenthood, Recovery from Grief and Commanding Deep Space 9
Sisko, still suffering heavily due to the grief over Jennifer’s death and facing a life as a single parent to Jake, almost resigned his commission with Starfleet. His plan was to work on Earth, building orbital habitats. Before he was given the position at DS9 he took on a new post on Mars at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards. He spent his time there working on the USS Defiant, the first of a special class of warships designed to defend against the Borg.
As work on these ships slowed and design flaws were becoming more and more evident, it was not long after that Leyton, his former Captain put forward Sisko’s name for the position of commander. Upon his promotion, he was assigned to the station that was once called Terok Nor when the Cardassians had occupied the nearby planet of Bajor. When the Federation took over the station after the Cardassian occupation ended, it was given the name Deep Space 9 and it became Sisko’s new job as the commander of the station to ease the Bajoran people into becoming members of the Federation.
Commanding Deep Space 9
In 2369 as his crew slowly arrived onto the station, he met a lot of the people who would become his friends, such as Chief of Operation Miles O’Brien, Doctor Julian Bashir, Security Chief Odo, and second-in-command Kira Nerys. He was also delighted to meet his old friend and mentor Dax, who had a new host in the form of Jadzia.
Shortly after Sisko’s arrival on the station, the Bajoran situation became crucial to the Federation when he met with Kai Opaka, the spiritual leader of the Bajoran people. She informed him that he was destined to become the Emissary of the Prophets and would find the Celestial Temple. He then, with Dax’s help, studied the prophesies of the Bajoran people which eventually led him to the Denorios Belt and the stable wormhole (known as the Celestial Temple) where he met the Prophets.
Sisko’s Years In Command of DS9
In late 2370, Sisko made first contact with the Dominion (who’s ruthless soldiers known as the Jem’Hadar, were led by the Vorta and The Founders) launched Sisko on a path that would define his career.
Sisko returned to Earth to brief Starfleet on the Dominion situation and realizing that Deep Space 9 was to be the first line of defense from a Dominion attack, convinced Starfleet Command to finish work on the mothballed USS Defiant. Sisko returned to DS9 with the new warship, and entered the Gamma Quadrant on a mission to find the Founders to try to avoid a war. During this mission, it was discovered that the Founders were in fact Changelings, the same species as Sisko's security chief, Odo.
In late 2371, after being instrumental in defining the Dominion threat to the Alpha Quadrant, Commander Sisko was given a promotion to Captain. Soon afterward, Sisko discovered that the Founders had begun infiltrating the Federation, posing as high-ranking officials.
Sisko and his crew were successful in stopping the Founder's attempts of overthrowing the Federation government, but it became apparent that there were now Changeling infiltrators throughout the Alpha Quadrant.
Fears of Dominion infiltration swept the quadrant, and when the Cardassian government was overthrown by the civilian Detapa Council in 2372, the Klingon Empire feared Changeling involvement. A large Klingon task force docked at Deep Space 9, bound for Cardassian space. Klingon Chancellor Gowron asked Sisko for Starfleet's help in invading Cardassia Prime. Sisko rejected their call for help, and the Klingons withdrew from the Khitomer Accords, ending decades of peace. Sisko now had to help the new Cardassian government survive the Klingon attack. He contacted his long-time adversary, Gul Dukat, and arranged to rescue him and the new Council. He made sure, however, to test the members for possible Changeling impostors. Sisko then faced a Klingon fleet in the First Battle of Deep Space 9 until Starfleet reinforcements arrived. Faced with a war on two sides, the Klingons backed down. However, the balance of power in the Alpha Quadrant was changing, which played right into the hands of the Dominion.
The Dominion formed an alliance with the Cardassian Union, gaining a foothold in the Alpha Quadrant. They attempted to destroy Deep Space 9 and Bajor and cripple the Klingon and Federation fleets in one action, but Sisko discovered their plan and thwarted it. This new turn of events convinced the Klingon government to reinstate the Khitomer Accords, and Sisko allowed a permanent Klingon presence on the station. However, with the new Dominion presence in the Alpha Quadrant, war was inevitable.
In 2373 war with the Dominion broke out in the Alpha Quadrant. Although Allied forces scored several minor successes in single-ship duels and in small groups, the unrelenting Dominion advance compelled the Federation to continually retreat. Morale sunk lower, with even the Klingons doubting they could defeat the Dominion.
By the latter half of 2374, the Allies were perilously close to defeat. In a decisive battle though, outnumbered two to one, Starfleet engaged the Dominion fleet. With the timely arrival of Klingon forces, the Dominion fleet of ships was broken but not defeated. With 2,800 Dominion ships entering the wormhole to join the Dominion invasion and with no options remaining to successfully end the battle, Sisko took the Defiant into the wormhole, and was able to strike a bargain with the Prophets to remove the Dominion forces to protect Bajor. With two hundred Allied ships approaching Bajor, and their reinforcing fleet now gone, the Dominion position on Deep Space 9 became untenable. The Dominion withdrew all forces to Cardassian territory, giving the Allied forces a decisive victory that ultimately helped win the war in the Federations favor.
The Dominion War significantly shifted the power dynamics of the Alpha Quadrant though, as the Cardassian Union had collapsed as a major power in the quadrant; over eight hundred million civilians had been killed by the Jem'Hadar in mere hours, in addition to over seven million troops during the war, and Cardassia Prime had been severely devastated. The Klingon Empire suffered heavy casualties in conflicts as well. Other Alpha Quadrant species such as the Breen had shown both impressive military and technological capabilities as allies to the Dominion and a desire for violent expansion.
Sisko’s Legacy
Sisko fulfills the Prophets' destiny for him in 2375 by confronting the Kosst Amojan-possessed Gul Dukat. They fight, and Dukat seems to be the winner, but in a last ditch effort, Sisko throws himself and Dukat into the fiery abyss of the Bajoran Fire Caves, and Sisko is pulled into the Prophets' plane of existence to live with and learn from them. Sisko imparts a farewell to his new—and pregnant— wife, Kasidy Yates, informing her that although he does not know when, he will eventually return to her.