DS9 Crew Manifest

By 2366 Sisko was serving as First Officer of the USS Saratoga. His wife Jennifer and son Jake both lived aboard the ship with him. When the ship joined the Federation fleet which fought the Borg at Wolf 359 it was destroyed. Although both Sisko and Jake escaped the ship, Jennifer was killed.5

After the battle Sisko was posted to the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards on Mars.5 He considered leaving Starfleet to take a job on Earth directing the construction of orbital habitats during this period, but decided that Starfleet was where he wanted to be.6

His former commander, Captain Leyton, recommended Sisko for the post of Commander of Deep Space Nine. His mission was to help the Bajorans to prepare for Federation membership after the recent end of the Cardassian occupation. Although he accepted the post, Sisko was still contemplating leaving Starfleet to take civilian work. On his arrival his attitude was hardened by a meeting with Captain Picard, whom he blamed for the death of his wife due to Picard's unwilling actions at Wolf 359 as a member of the Borg collective. The posting reunited Sisko with his old friend and mentor Dax, now hosted in the body of a young woman named Jadzia. During his first days at Deep Space Nine Sisko and Lieutenant Dax discovered the Bajoran wormhole, the first stable wormhole known to exist. He made first contact with a group of aliens who lived within the wormhole, beings who existed outside of linear time. In explaining to the aliens how Humans deal with life as linear corporeal entities, Sisko finally came to terms with the loss of his wife and put any notions of leaving Starfleet behind him for good.5

Sisko's mission was greatly complicated and expanded by the wormhole, since Deep Space Nine became a major hub for trade and travel through the wormhole. As well as supporting Alpha Quadrant ships which wanted to travel to the Gamma Quadrant, the station was host to various alien species travelling in the other direction.7 The newfound importance of the station made the Cardassians keen to reclaim it, and its former commander Gul Dukat was an occasional thorn in Sisko's side.8

He also had to contend with Bajoran politics, including one attempted coup in which a Bajoran faction captured the station.9 Religion also played a part in his mission; the Bajorans considered the wormhole aliens to be gods whom they referred to as "the prophets". Bajoran legend had it that one day somebody would travel to meet the prophets and subsequently become their representative to the Bajoran people. After Sisko's encounter he was considered to be an important religious icon by the Bajorans, referred to as "The Emissary".5 Sisko was uncomfortable with the title, and often tried to distance himself from it.10 Whilst respecting Bajoran religious beliefs, Sisko occasionally found himself at odds with specific religious figures, most notably Vedek Winn. When Winn attempted to force Deep Space Nine's school to teach Bajoran religious beliefs Sisko found himself struggling to deal with a situation which rapidly escalated out of control.11 He would clash with Winn over many other issues, most especially when she was later elected to Kai.12 Winn would eventually become a servant of the Pagh-Wraiths, actively seeking to release them to devastate the Alpha Quadrant. She was ultimately killed by Gul Dukat after he was possessed by the wraiths.13

His mission was further complicated by the creation of the Maquis, a Federation terrorist group which was opposed to a peace treaty between the Federation and the Cardassians which created a large demilitarised zone between the two powers. In theory colonies from both sides could exist peacefully in this area; in practice the Maquis claimed that the Cardassians routinely harassed them, and Starfleet was powerless to respond because of the treaty. Many Starfleet personnel sympathised with the Maquis, and some even left to join them - including one of Sisko's oldest and closest friends, Cal Hudson.14 Sisko was furious when one of his own officers, Michael Eddington, betrayed him as part of a Maquis sting operation.15 Sisko spent a year attempting to catch Eddington, finally resorting to threatening to destroy the Maquis colonies in the demilitarised zone in order to force his surrender.16

In late 2370, Sisko made first contact with the Dominion when he was abducted by the Jem'Hadar whilst in the Gamma Quadrant. The Dominion attacked various assets on their side of the wormhole, including the destruction of the USS Odyssey.17 In response Sisko requisitioned the USS Defiant, a warship Starfleet had begun constructing in response to the Borg encounter in 2365. Work on the Defiant had been abandoned when the Borg threat became less urgent, but although flawed in some respects the ship remained a powerful military vessel.18 Sisko would tangle with the Dominion repeatedly over the next two years as they tried various tactics to infiltrate and dominate the Alpha Quadrant. In 2373 the Dominion finally sent warships through the wormhole in force, but instead of attacking the station the fleet headed straight to Cardassia - where Gul Dukat had agreed to serve as the head of the Cardassian government as a member of the Dominion.19 In the aftermath more fleets continued to reinforce the Cardassian forces on a regular basis, and Sisko became determined to prevent the Dominion build up. He mined the exit from the wormhole with cloaked self-replicating mines, effectively isolating the Dominion forces in the alpha quadrant from their home, but the action provoked an attack on Deep Space Nine which led to the Dominion's capture of the station and initiated the Dominion war.20

Sisko was a major figure in several important operations during the war; indeed such was his importance that his psychological profile was required reading for Vorta operatives.21 He commanded a captured Jem'Hadar attack ship on a mission to destroy a ketracel white manufacturing facility in 2374.22 Relieved of command of the Defiant, Sisko was made adjutant for Vice Admiral Ross at Starbase 375.23 He convinced Starfleet to mount a major effort to recapture Deep Space Nine.24 When the minefield was destroyed during the operation Sisko contacted the wormhole aliens and convinced them to destroy the Jem'Hadar forces attempting to come through.25

Back in command of the station, Sisko was able to convince the Romulans to join the war against the Dominion with the help of Garak. The operation involved an elaborate scheme to trick the Romulans into believing that the Dominon planned to attack them after the Federation and Klingons had been defeated. Sisko struggled with the moral implications of his actions, as several people were deliberately murdered by Garak as a result.26

In 2374 Sisko commanded the first allied offensive into Cardassian space. Although the mission was a success, whilst he was away Gul Dukat sealed off the entrance to the wormhole, cutting Bajor off from their gods. He also mortally wounded Jadzia Dax when she tried to stop him. Devastated at the loss, Sisko returned to Earth to take a leave of absence.27

He returned to Starfleet early in 2375 after having found a way to reopen the wormhole.28 The tide of the war was by now turning in the allies favour, with steady progress into Cardassian space. This changed when the Breen joined the war on the Dominion's side, using a unique energy dampening weapon to neutralise Federation and Romulan ships. The Defiant was destroyed at the second Chin'Toka battle in a massive defeat for the allies.29 In the aftermath Sisko was given command of the Defiant class USS São Paulo, which was renamed to USS Defiant.30 With the Breen weapon successfully countered, Sisko led an all out assault on the Dominon forces. The battle was a success, in large part because the Cardassian forces switched sides as a result of the Dominion's brutal repression of a rebellion on their home world. With allied forces surrounding Cardassia itself, the Dominion was prepared for a final cataclysmic battle; the Founders hoped they would so damage the allies that the victory would be strictly a pyrrhic one. Fortunately Odo managed to beam down to the surface and meet with the Founder in command of the Dominion. He convinced her that the Federation was not her enemy and posed no threat to her people, and she agreed to end hostilities and surrender herself.31

Afterwards Sisko met with Admiral Ross, and Chancellor Martok in the ruins of Cardassia to celebrate the end of the war. Although Martok was overjoyed, both Sisko and Ross were horrified at the cost of the war and declined to join him in toasting the victory.31

In the aftermath of the war Sisko travelled to Bajor to prevent Gul Dukat from releasing the Pagh-wraiths. He was successful, imprisoning Dukat in the fire caves of Bajor for all eternity. The wormhole aliens, considering Sisko's purpose fulfilled, took him to their realm. In a brief visit to his wife Kassidy, Sisko promised that he would one day return from the wormhole.13

Dax's first host was Lela, with whom it joined in the early twenty first century. Lela became one of the Trill home worlds leading politicians41, and remained joined to the symbiont for nearly a century before finally dying in 2135. The next host was Tobin41; a brilliant engineer and mathematician, Tobin discovered one of the most original known proofs of Fermat's last theorem.41 He was an introverted and deeply shy individual who never had much success with relationships9, but he also carried the Dax symbiont for nearly a century before his death in 2230.

Dax was them transferred to Emony, a professional gymnast.41 Emony met with Lenoard McCoy shortly before he entered Starfleet medical school, and the two had a brief affair.42 In 2245 Emony died, passing the symbiont on to Audrid. Initially a scientist specializing in Trill physiology, Audrid eventually became an administrator and rose to the head of the Symbiosis Commission, one of the most renowned positions in Trill society. She died in 2284,41 Dax's last female host for over eighty years.43

After Audrid's death the Dax symbiont was joined with Torias, a test pilot. Something of a daredevil, Torias was only joined for a few months before he was killed in a shuttle accident. The Dax symbiont was subsequently placed into Joran, a musician. However, Joran proved to be mentally unstable and was responsible for several murders while joined. The fact that such an unstable mind was able to successfully join with a symbiont would have proved to the Trill population a fact that the symbiosis commission had secretly known for years; namely that more than half of all Trills are suitable for joining, rather than the tiny fraction generally claimed. Fearful that the relatively rare symbionts would become commodities to be bought and sold if this information leaked, the symbiosis commission placed a memory block in the mind of Dax, blanking out all knowledge of the Joran host, and joined it with Curzon.44

Curzon was one of the most well known of the Dax hosts; a Federation negotiator, he was very fond of the Klingon lifestyle and immersed himself in their traditions and culture - even becoming Godson to a Klingon child.45 He was a notable figure in the Khitomer peace conference of 2293, and went on to play a crucial role in many of the various treaties and alliances between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.

Like many joined Trill, Curzon served as a mentor in the initiate program where he was assigned to Jadzia. Curzon was secretly in love with Jadzia, and fearing that she would discover this and reject him he forced her out of the programme altogether. Jadzia later reapplied and successfully completed the initiate programme, the first person to do so after being rejected. Regretting his actions, Curzon later requested that the Dax symbiont be passed on to Jadzia when he died, q and this was done in 2367.46

A Starfleet officer, Jadzia was assigned to Deep Space Nine as science officer in 2369.5 She served there for five years, participating in many of the important events in which the station was involved.8 In 2371 the memory block imposed on Dax by the symbiosis commission began to degrade, and the memories of Joran began to reassert themselves. Under the guise of treating hallucinations, Doctor Renhol of the symbiosis commission attempted to murder Jadzia in order to keep the secret but Captain Sisko was able to uncover the truth and threatened Renhol with exposure if Jadzia didn't survive.44 Jadzia subsequently decided to keep the fact that most Trills where eligible for joining a secret in order to preserve Trill society.

In 2373 Jadzia was murdered by Gul Dukat during his attempt to destroy the Bajoran Wormhole.27 The Dax symbiont was rushed back to Trill, but a medical emergency occurred during the voyage. Faced with the death of Dax if it failed to join with another host, the doctors talked an unprepared Trill, Ezri Tigan, into a joining she was unprepared for. The joining caused great confusion for Ezri, who was often unaware of her own age or gender, but she eventually settled down somewhat.28 Her family also found it difficult to accept the transition when Ezri returned home in 2375 to enlist their help in finding Chief O'Brien, who had vanished on their planet whilst investigating the Orion Syndicate.47

Ezri retained some of Jadzia's romantic feelings for Worf, but the two eventually decided to go their separate ways.48 She became involved with Doctor Bashir, and the two became a couple shortly before the end of the Dominion War.13 She remains on Deep Space Nine as a Counselor.

Early in his career O'Brien served on board the USS Rutledge under Captain Maxwell while that ship was involved in the Setlik massacre. Whilst on Setlik, O'Brien was in a room full of survivors when a Cardassian soldier entered. A woman in the room threw him a phaser which he fired at the Cardassian; unfortunately, the phaser had been set to kill and O'Brien vaporized the man. Up to this time O'Brien had never purposely harmed anything - he was even squeamish about killing insects - and the trauma of the event left him with a deep-seated dislike of the Cardassians who had forced him to become a killer.70 It was at Setlik that Miles first found that he had an aptitude for engineering; with the Cardassians advancing on his position he managed to repair a field transporter in less than ten minutes and evacuate thirteen men.71 Miles also displayed his tactical skill when he led two dozen men in a counter-attack against the Barrica encampment, driving out an entire regiment of Cardassian troops.72

O'Brien's best friend, Raymond Boone, was captured by the Cardassians during Setlik. Unknown to Starfleet, Boone was actually killed and replaced with a Cardassian agent who had been extensively altered to resemble a human and given a false identity. This Boone later joined the Maquis and framed O'Brien for the theft of photon warheads from DS9. O'Brien was convicted of the crime under the Cardassian legal system, but was released when Commander Sisko threatened to reveal Boone's true identity in order to embarrass the Cardassian government.73

O'Brien was a member of the Enterprise-D crew when the ship was launched.67 He served in various departments, including the conn position74 and tactical58 - but he was most commonly found in the transporter room.75

His dislike of the Cardassians would rise to the surface when the Enterprise assisted the Cardassians in locating the USS Phoenix after Captain Maxwell began launching unprovoked attacks on their shipping. Maxwell had finally given in to his own hatred of the Cardassians, who he believed were preparing to start another war with the Federation. Miles finally began to deal with his own feelings when he talked Maxwell out of further action.70

Whilst aboard the Enterprise Miles met Keiko Ishikawa, a civilian botanist. The two married in 236776 and had their first child the following year.77

In 2368 O'Brien transferred to Deep Space Nine as Chief of Operations.5 Shortly after arriving he received a black mark on his record when he helped a Tosk to escape captivity on the station, violating the Prime Directive.7 On a visit to Bajor he found himself being forced to assume the position of Sirah, religious leader of a Bajoran village community, when the previous holder of the title died whilst he was visiting. Fortunately he was able to quickly pass the post on to somebody else.78

In 2370 Miles was abducted by the Paradans whilst assisting in the setting up of a peace conference. An identical replicant was substituted for him whilst he was held captive. The replicant had all of O'Brien's memories and personality, and actually believed he was the real thing. The Deep Space Nine crew engaged in an elaborate deception to play along with the substitution whilst they investigated, but the replicant became suspicious. Thinking that everybody else had been subverted in some way he made his way back to the Paradan home world where he managed to find the original Miles before being killed.68

O'Brien is one of the few Starfleet personnel to maintain a successful marriage, although his relationship with Keiko has often been strained badly by the pressures of living and working on Deep Space Nine.79 Keiko eventually accepted a position on a botanical survey team on Bajor, and the two lived apart for some time.80

Like many Deep Space Nine personnel, O'Brien initially disliked Doctor Bashir. In 2370 the Kellerun and T'Lani attempted to murder the two after they helped to destroy the Harvester weapons which the species had developed. Both sides hoped to destroy the knowledge of how to build the weapons by killing all those involved with both their original construction and their eventual destruction. O'Brien and Bashir grew closer during the incident.81 They eventually grew to be good friends, sharing many hours playing racquetball82 and darts83 and recreating events such as the Battle of Britain6 and the Battle of the Alamo in Quark's holosuites.84

O'Brien was killed in 2371 when a bizarre set of circumstances caused him to repeatedly jump through time. Another, apparently identical O'Brien from an alternate timeline took his place and has continued to serve on the station ever since.85

Miles' second child was almost killed before birth when Keiko suffered an accident whilst in a Runabout. Doctor Bashir was able to save the child by beaming it to Major Kira's womb, where it gestated38 before being born in 2373.39 In 2374 O'Brien was holidaying with his family on the planet Golana when his daughter Molly fell through an ancient time portal. He was able to get her back through the portal, but inaccuracies in the device meant that the Molly who returned was ten years older. Molly found it impossible to readjust to life on the station, so O'Brien returned her to the portal and sent her back through again. She emerged just an instant after her earlier self arrived, and sent the child straight back through. The original version of Molly was thus returned, but the older version erased herself from history with this action.86

Miles and Dax implemented Rom's idea for a field of cloaked self-replicating mines to prevent Dominion ships from coming through the Bajoran Wormhole in 2373, an action which sparked the Dominon war. He fought many battles during the war, either aboard the Defiant or in ground combat. Miles was frustrated by the Dominion's initial success in the war and was glad to be able to strike a blow against the Founders by destroying a Ketracel White production facility using a captured Dominion warship.22 He would go on to participate in many of the decisive battles of the war, most notably including the mission to retake Deep Space Nine25, the invasion of the Chin'toka system27, the attack on the Monac shipyards87, the later retreat from that system29, and the eventual advance on Cardassia itself.31 He also served at least one mission for Starfleet Intelligence in which he penetrated the Orion Syndicate on Farius Prime thanks to a friendship he struck up with Liam Bilby. The Syndicate was working with the Dominion to assassinate the Klingon ambassador, a mission O'Brien was able to prevent. He also uncovered a Dominion agent within Starfleet thanks to information from Bilby.88 Miles would eventually travel to New Sydney to locate Bilby's widow, worried that the Syndicate might blame her for her husband's failure. He fell foul of the Syndicate himself whilst on the planet, but Ezri Dax was able to use her family connections on the planet to secure his release.47

Miles felt that his friends had drifted apart during the conflict, distancing themselves as a way of protecting against the possibility that they might lose friends. The death of Lisa Cusak made him rethink this, and he appealed to his friends to provide more emotional support to one another.89

In 2375 Miles was offered a teaching post at Starfleet Academy once the war ended. He accepted, and soon after the final battle of the war the O'Brien family left Deep Space Nine for good.13

Alteration of mass is rather more difficult and how this apparently impossible feat is accomplished remains something of a mystery. Some have suggested that the Changelings are multi-dimensional beings who exist mostly outside our own space-time. According to this theory the being we see as a Changeling would comprise only a small portion of the whole; by moving more of less of itself into this universe the Changeling would be able to alter its apparent volume and mass. In theory this would allow them to withdraw themselves from our universe completely, giving them effective invisibility and the ability to pass through walls or other barriers. In fact, Changelings have never demonstrated this ability and so if the theory is true there must be some inherent limitation on the degree of this multidimensional ability.

In 2371 Odo accompanied the USS Defiant on a mission to the Gamma Quadrant. Whilst there he found himself irresistibly drawn to the Omarian Nebula, where he discovered the home world of his people.18 It transpired that the Changelings were the infamous Founders of the Dominion, which they had created in order to insulate themselves from the prejudice they had encountered from those they call "The Solids". Odo refused to join the Founders100, although during the Dominions occupation of Deep Space Nine he did waver in his loyalties considerably.23

Odo has long held a romantic attraction for Colonel Kira, but for many years he kept this a secret because he feared rejection.8 In 2373 his feelings were finally revealed during the Defiant's encounter with an alternate timeline version of Odo101, but he still made no attempt to pursue a relationship until the following year when the hologram Vic Fontaine pushed the pair into confronting their true feelings. Odo and Kira finally became involved40, and remained a couple until the end of 2375.13

In 2375 Odo began to display signs of a serious illness. Doctor Bashir discovered that he had been deliberately infected with a terminal disease by Section 3197; during his time in the Great Link Odo had passed the disease on to the rest of the Founders, infecting the entire species.13 Bashir was able to develop a cure for the disease98, and in the final stages of the war Odo passed the cure onto the female Founder in order to convince her that solids could be trusted. She agreed to stand trial for her crimes, and in return Odo agreed to go back through the wormhole and cure the rest of the Great Link. This marked the end of Odo's relationship with Colonel Kira.13

Nog returned to Deep Space Nine for field study in 2373.108 He was awarded a battlefield promotion to Ensign during the war24, during which he frequently served aboard the Defiant.8 He briefly served as Chief Engineer aboard the Defiant class USS Valiant due to the great shortage of regular crewmembers aboard that vessel.109 Later on he became a helm officer aboard the Defiant itself, gaining much combat experience in the last stages of the war.8

When Defiant crewmembers helped to support a Federation force at a captured Dominion relay station on AR-558 Nog acted as a scout, his superb Ferengi hearing a useful tool in that role. Unfortunately he was shot by a Jem'Hadar weapon and had to have his leg amputated.110 Nog struggled with the trauma he had undergone, but thanks to advice from the hologram Vic Fontaine he managed to come to terms with his injuries and return to active duty.111

Nog performed so well during the final battles of the war that Captain Sisko ordered him promoted to Lieutenant as one of his final actions before joining the prophets in the Bajoran wormhole.31