Sisko, Benjamin (Avery Brooks). Starfleet officer who commanded station Deep Space 9 following the Cardassian withdrawal from Bajor in 2369. Shortly after his posting to Deep Space 9, Sisko made contact with the mysterious life-forms identified as Bajor’s legendary Prophets in the Bajoran Celestial Temple located in the Denorios Belt. As a result, religious leader Kai Opaka indicated that Sisko was the Emissary promised by prophecy as the one who would save the Bajoran people. Sisko was uncomfortable with his role as Emissary, but felt obligated to respect Bajoran religious beliefs. (“Emissary” [DS9]). Ben Sisko entered Starfleet Academy in 2350. For the first few weeks, he would beam back to his family home in New Orleans every night to have dinner with his parents. (“Homefront” [DS9]). During his sophomore year, Benjamin Sisko spent a field-study assignment on Starbase 137. (“The Ascent” [DS9]). Early in his Starfleet career, Ensign Sisko was mentored by Curzon Dax, a Trill who met Sisko at Pelios Station before the two served aboard the U.S.S. Livingston. (“Invasive Procedures” [DS9]). Sisko later served aboard the Starship Okinawa under Captain Leyton (SEE: Leyton, Admiral). While Sisko’s interests were in engineering, Leyton saw command potential in the young officer and promoted him to lieutenant commander, making him the ship’s first officer. (“Homefront” [DS9], “Paradise Lost” [DS9]). Aboard the Okinawa, Sisko and Leyton fought in the war between the Federation and the Tzenkethi. (“The Adversary” [DS9]). Sisko served as executive officer with the rank of lieutenant commander aboard the U.S.S. Saratoga at the time of the ship’s destruction in the battle of Wolf 359. (“Emissary” [DS9]). Sisko was subsequently assigned to the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards on Mars, where he spent three years. (“Emissary” [DS9]). One of his projects at Utopia Planitia included design work on the experimental Starship Defiant. (“Defiant” [DS9]). Sisko also worked on Earth, directing the construction of orbital habitats. (“Way of the Warrior” [DS9]). Sisko was subsequently promoted to commander and assigned to station Deep Space 9. (“Emissary” [DS9]). Among Sisko’s staff at Deep Space 9 was Science Officer Jadzia Dax, a Trill whom he had once known as Curzon Dax. Sisko initially found it difficult to relate to his old friend in the body of a beautiful woman, but the two eventually came to renew their friendship. (“A Man Alone” [DS9], “Dax” [DS9]). Commanding Deep Space 9 brought its share of difficult decisions, tempered with Sisko’s personal experiences. He was profoundly affected by his encounter with the Borg. In 2370, when a protouniverse threatened the safety of his station, Sisko refused to arbitrarily destroy the miniature cosmos, because he felt that to do so would be to act with the same indifference the Borg had shown to the Federation. (“Playing God” [DS9]). Later that year, Sisko lost his friendship with academy classmate Calvin Hudson when Hudson joined the Maquis, fighting the Cardassians in violation of Federation law. (“The Maquis, Part I” [DS9]). In 2372, Sisko was temporarily appointed head of Starfleet security when a Dominion infiltration of Starfleet was feared. Sisko was instrumental in preventing an attempted coup by Admiral Leyton. (“Homefront” [DS9], “Paradise Lost” [DS9]). Sisko’s role as Emissary of the Bajoran people sometimes put him in a difficult position with regard to his duties as a Starfleet officer. In 2373, Sisko felt obligated to oppose Bajor’s admission to the Federation. Sisko had experienced a vision, called pag’tem’far in the Bajoran language, that led him to believe that admission at that time would be unwise. The Bajoran Chamber of Ministers accepted Sisko’s recommendation, angering the Federation government and Starfleet Command. (“Rapture” [DS9]). In 2371, Sisko was abducted by Miles O’Brien (mirror) and taken to the mirror universe to help the Terran rebellion’s fight against the Alliance. Sisko was disconcerted to learn that the counterpart of his late wife, Jennifer, was still alive in the mirror universe. It was Sisko’s difficult job to convince Jennifer Sisko (mirror) to abandon her work for the Alliance, and to persuade her to instead join the Terran rebellion. (“Through the Looking Glass” [DS9]). Ben Sisko was a devoted family man who grew up in New Orleans on Earth. (“Family Business” [DS9], “Explorers” [DS9]). His father, Joseph Sisko, was a gourmet chef who ran a small bistro called Sisko’s in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The elder Sisko insisted the family dine together, so that his “taste testers” could sample his new recipes. (“A Man Alone” [DS9], “The Visitor” [DS9]). Benjamin met Jennifer, his future wife, at Gilgo Beach on Earth, around 2353, just after Sisko’s graduation from Starfleet Academy. (“Emissary” [DS9]). Ben and Jennifer subsequently married, and had a son, Jake, in 2355. (“Move Along Home” [DS9]). Ben and Jennifer served together aboard the Starship Saratoga, until Jennifer’s tragic death in the Battle of Wolf 359 in early 2367. A single parent, Sisko raised their son, Jake, first at Utopia Planitia, then at station Deep Space 9. (“Emissary” [DS9]). Ben had a sister, Judith Sisko (“Homefront” [DS9]) who lived in Portland, Oregon, on Earth. (“Past Tense, Part I” [DS9]). After Jennifer’s death, Sisko was reluctant to form another relationship. It was not until late 2371 that he took an interest in freighter captain Kasidy Yates. (“The Adversary” [DS9]). Sisko’s relationship with Yates was put to the test in 2372 when it was discovered that she was a Maquis smuggler. He continued to have feelings for her despite her conviction for arms running. (“For the Cause” [DS9]). One of Ben’s favorite recreational activities was a holosuite program of Earth’s famous baseball players, such as Buck Bokai, Tris Speaker, and Ted Williams. Using this program, Ben and his son, Jake, enjoyed playing with these greats. The program also allowed Ben to cheer his hero, Buck Bokai, in the sparsely attended 2042 World Series that spelled the end of professional baseball. (“If Wishes Were Horses” [DS9]). Ben was something of an aficionado of 21st-century Earth history (“Past Tense, Part I” [DS9]), and he enjoyed collecting ancient African artifacts. (“The Search, Part I” [DS9]). Sisko also enjoyed wrestling and was captain of the wrestling team at Starfleet Academy in 2351. (“Apocalypse Rising” [DS9]). One of Sisko’s most remarkable recreational activities was his construction of a Bajoran solar-sail vessel of ancient design, in 2371. Along with Jake, Sisko piloted it to Cardassia, a dramatic demonstration of how ancient Bajorans accomplished the same feat some eight centuries ago. (“Explorers” [DS9]). Sisko was an admirer of legendary starship Captain James T. Kirk. Sisko actually had a chance to meet Kirk when the Defiant traveled back in time to 2267, where he met Kirk aboard the original Starship Enterprise. In a breach of Starfleet Regulation 157, Section III, Paragraph 18, Sisko even greeted Kirk and got his autograph. (“Trials and Tribble-ations” [DS9]). Benjamin Sisko was promoted to the rank of captain on stardate 48959.1, in late 2371. (“The Adversary” [DS9]). Sisko was injured in a Jem’Hadar attack in early 2372 aboard the Defiant, during a trade conference with the Karemma. Sisko suffered a blow to his head, resulting in a concussion with subcranial bleeding. (“Starship Down” [DS9]). (Ben Sisko was believed killed in early 2372 in an accident aboard the Defiant. In fact, Sisko had vanished from our time continuum, but reappeared periodically, somehow tied to his son, Jake. After several decades, Jake sacrificed himself to allow his father to return to the time of the accident, thereby excising this future timeline.) (“The Visitor” [DS9]). Ben Sisko first appeared in “Emissary” (DS9). Addendum: Starfleet officer and Emissary to the Bajoran Prophets. Ben Sisko, son of Joseph Sisko and Sarah Sisko, was born in 2332. (“Image in the Sand” [DS9]). In addition to excelling as an explorer, diplomat, and leader, one of Sisko’s personal passions was the ancient Earth game of baseball, an interest he shared with Kasidy Yates. SEE: Niners. (“Take Me Out to the Holosuite” [DS9]). Perhaps Benjamin Sisko’s greatest challenge was the Dominion war, which began in late 2373. In his role of the Emissary to the Bajoran people, Sisko felt compelled to recommend that the  Bajoran government sign a nonaggression treaty with the Dominion, despite Starfleet objections. Shortly thereafter, Sisko and all other Starfleet personnel were ordered to abandon station Deep Space 9, and the facility was returned to Cardassian control. (“Call to Arms” [DS9]). Sisko was subsequently stationed at Starbase 375. He was assigned to a covert mission to pilot a captured Dominion spacecraft into Cardassian space to destroy a Dominion ketracel-white storage facility, the first major Starfleet victory in the brutal Dominion war. (“A Time to Stand” [DS9]). Sisko subsequently led a daring offensive into Dominion territory to recapture station Deep Space 9 in a successful effort to prevent a huge Dominion fleet from invading the Alpha Quadrant. Sisko’s role as the Emissary was of unexpected value when he was able to convince the Prophets to intervene on behalf of the Bajoran people to destroy the Dominion fleet in the wormhole. (“Sacrifice of Angels” [DS9]). During the following months, Starfleet casualties in the conflict reached horrific proportions, prompting Sisko to believe that survival of the Federation depended on persuading the Romulan government to enter the war against the Dominion. Sisko, with the assistance of Elim Garak, effected the Romulan entry by falsifying evidence that the Dominion was planning to invade Romulan territory. Sisko regretted his illegal acts in the operation that cost at least two lives, but he firmly believed it necessary to the survival of not only the Federation, but the Klingon and Romulan empires as well. SEE: Vreenak. (“In the Pale Moonlight” [DS9]). Over the years Sisko grew to love Bajor. He began to think of it as a paradise and said that he hoped to make a home there someday. (“Favor the Bold” [DS9]). In the midst of the Dominion war, Sisko experienced an intense Orb-shadow vision, becoming a science-fiction magazine writer on Earth during the 1950s. Sisko, as author Benny Russell, wrote a remarkable novella about a future space station commander named Ben Sisko. Neither Sisko nor Russell was entirely sure of who was the dreamer, and who was the dream. (“Far Beyond the Stars” [DS9]). Sisko was honored with the Christopher Pike Medal of Valor for his role in the recapture of Deep Space 9 from Dominion control. He was subsequently instrumental in planning the daring attack on Cardassian forces that liberated the Chin’toka System from Dominion control. During that battle, his close friend Jadzia Dax was killed by Gul Dukat and a Pah-wraith. Sisko, who had seen the death of literally thousands during the terrible war, found it difficult to endure yet one more death, and he took a leave to return to Earth to visit his father. (“Tears of the Prophets” [DS9]). Sisko spent three months on Earth until a vision from the Prophets sent him to planet Tyree to search for the heretofore-unknown Orb of the Emissary. Sisko’s search was made more urgent by the fact that his vision also contained the image of a mysterious woman named Sarah Sisko, whom Ben’s father, Joseph, revealed was Ben’s real mother. (“Image in the Sand” [DS9]). Sarah had in fact been controlled by a Bajoran prophet who had seen to it that Benjamin was born to become the Bajoran Emissary. When Benjamin became engaged to Kasidy Yates in 2375, the Sarah prophet warned him that he would know nothing but sorrow if he married Kasidy. Although Sisko took the prophet’s warning seriously, he nevertheless married Kasidy in a quiet civil ceremony held aboard station Deep Space 9. (“‘Til Death Do Us Part” [DS9]). Ben Sisko’s remaining weeks as a corporeal human were dominated by the conclusion of the Dominion war. Shortly after the surrender of the Dominion, Benjamin Sisko returned to the fire caves on Bajor to confront Kosst Amojan. The evil Pah-wraith had seduced both Kai Winn and Gul Dukat, but neither was able to prevent Sisko from trapping the Pah-wraiths in the fire caves, thus ensuring the survival of not only the Bajoran people, but the Prophets themselves. His destiny fulfilled, Benjamin Sisko left the realm of linear existence and became one with the Bajoran Prophets. (“What You Leave Behind” [DS9]).