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If Star Trek ever had a black sheep in the franchise, it was Deep Space Nine. The follow-up to The Next Generation premiered in 1993 and delivered a brilliant story that spanned for seven seasons. While most fans knew Star Trek to take place on a starship that explored different planets, aliens, and cultures, Deep Space Nine proved it could be something more. The series followed Commander Benjamin Sisko, a Starfleet officer who lost his wife in a Borg attack before taking command of the space station Deep Space Nine.
While Sisko was the star of the series, he wasn't the only one. Deep Space Nine focused on a core group of characters, and they weren't all part of Starfleet. Some were officers of the Bajoran military, and others were Ferengi. The writers and directors gave each character a rich history with intriguing stories, all with war occurring in the backdrop. The main antagonist of the series was the Dominion, a trio of alien races from the Gamma Quadrant, accessed through a stable wormhole next to the station. The Deep Space Nine finale brought that war to an end along with each character's story.
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How did Deep Space Nine End?
The final episode of Deep Space Nine saw the war between the Federation and the Dominion come to an end. Legate Damar, Kira, and Garak thought they had the upper hand against the Dominion, until they received a report that the Dominion had discovered and wiped out of their resistance cells. However, Damar didn't let that setback get him down. Instead, it inspired him to get the people of Cardassia Prime to fight back.
Meanwhile, out in space, the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire join Starfleet in battle against the Dominion. With the Breen on the Dominion's side, the battle didn't favor the Federation and its allies. Just when Sisko and his forces were about to retreat, the Cardassian ships stopped firing on them and turned on the Dominion. Damar's speech to Cardassians everywhere opened their eyes to the tyrannical ways of the Dominion, prompting even military leaders to turn against the overlords.
This forced the Breen and Jem'Hadar to fall back to Cardassia Prime, where they set up an impenetrable defense. Admiral Ross advised Sisko and their allies to fall back, but Captain Sisko and Chancellor Martok outnumbered him, voting to push forward out of fear that the Dominion would rebuild their forces. The Admiral conceded and ordered everyone to push to Cardassia Prime. Unfortunately, things weren't going so well on the surface.
After learning of the Cardassian uprising, the female Changeling ordered the Breen and Jem'Hadar to bomb the Cardassian population, forcing Damar, Kira, and Garak to break into Dominion headquarters. Damar lost his life, but Kira and Garak took the Female Changeling captive. However, she refused to stop the genocide until Odo arrived and linked with her. Their brief interaction changed her mind, and she ordered Dominion forces to stand down.
Aftermath of the Dominion War
Thanks to Dumar's resistance, the Dominion couldn't survive in the Alpha Quadrant for much longer. It took a while for the Cardassian Legate to come around, but by the end, his redeeming qualities shined through.
Deep Space Nine managed to accomplish something few shows succeed at when they come to their natural conclusion. It successfully wrapped up the story of every main character, and there were a lot of characters.
Worf
Worf saw the most combat of Deep Space Nine's Starfleet officers, thanks to his position with the Klingon Empire and Starfleet alike. He bounced between joining General Martok on his Bird of Prey and Captain Sisko on the Defiant. Deep Space Nine put Worf in a leadership position, where he learned to be more diplomatic. Martok, seeing firsthand what Worf was capable of, decided it was time for a promotion. For his bravery and experience, Martok and Sisko made Worf the new Federation diplomat to Qo'nos.
Fans who watched Nemesis and eventually Picard know diplomacy didn't suit Worf, unfortunately, and he returned to Starfleet. After working as Picard's Number One for a short time, the Klingon would find himself in the ranks of Starfleet Intelligence, where he served as a case officer.
Kira and Odo
Kira served the Bajoran military and Captain Sisko for seven years aboard Deep Space Nine. She remained on board the space station and took command of it after Captain Sisko disappeared. According to Lower Decks, Kira remained in command as Colonel of Deep Space Nine years after the Dominion War. After a short time together as a couple, Kira brought Odo to his people where he would rejoin the Great Link.
Throughout the series, Odo was curious about his people, the Changelings. When he learned about them and the Great Link, he longed to join them, but their superiority complex and treatment of other alien races prevented him. That changed when the Dominion War ended. The female Changeling agreed to go into Starfleet's custody if Odo joined the Great Link. Joining his people gave him the opportunity to heal them from Section 31's manufactured disease, but it also allowed him to learn about his people and, in turn, teach them about tolerance toward others. Besides a few appearances as holograms in Prodigy and season three of Picard, Odo makes no further appearances.
O'Brien
Miles O'Brien, according to Lower Decks, "was the most important person in Starfleet history." After serving on Deep Space Nine for seven years, he and his family relocated to Earth after the Dominion War. He served as an engineering professor at Starfleet Academy, teaching cadets everything he knew. His time on DS9 had given him intimate knowledge of Cardassian technology, beneficial for anyone operating in deep space.
Julian & Dax
After flirting with every woman who passed through Deep Space Nine and pining over Jadzia Dax for six years, Dr. Julian Bashir finally settled down. Ezri Dax and Bashir would continue serving aboard Deep Space Nine for years after the Dominion War. Unofficially, lead story developer Ira Steven Behr divulged in What We Left Behind: Looking Back At Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that Ezri would go on to Captain her own starship, with Julian serving as its primary physician. The two stay together all their lives. However, with Dax being a Trill, her symbiont would continue living long after Julian and Ezri pass away.
Quark
Quark had a unique position on Deep Space Nine as an entrepreneur and bartender. While the Federation and the Dominion duked it out, he simply wanted to earn a profit in peace. After the war, Quark continued his success well into the 25th Century. A brief moment in Picard reveals that the Ferengi branched out, creating a chain of "Quarks'" across the quadrant. In the penultimate episode of Deep Space Nine, Quark thought Grand Negus Zek was going to name him the next Grand Nagus, but those hopes dissolved when Zek arrived.
Nog & Rom
Instead of naming Quark the next Grand Nagus, Zek passed on the title and position to Quark's brother, Rom. This couldn't have happened to a better Ferengi. Rom was a trailblazer, as he encouraged his son to become the first Ferengi to join Starfleet. As Grand Nagus, Rom instituted many progressive policies, pulling away from Ferenginar's tradition misogyny and unimpeded capitalism. He even brought Ferenginar into the Federation in Lower Decks.
Nog continued his Starfleet career well after Deep Space Nine ended. The apocryphal season eight of DS9 from What We Left Behind envisioned Nog as a Starfleet Captain 20 years later. Unfortunately, Aron Eisenberg, the actor who played Nog, passed away in 2019. Discovery honored his legacy with an Eisenberg-class starship, the USS Nog.
Garak
Since the Dominion unwittingly killed off any Cardassian that cared about Garak's exile, Garak returned home once the war ended. He helped rebuild Cardassia Prime and ushered in a new age for the Cardassian Empire. In fact, he established a democratic government for his people. Even though he found it most inefficient, it was better than the totalitarian regime that annihilated most of the population. With the first election, the Cardassians elected him their head of state, a Castellan.
Jake & Kasidy
Jake, Captain Sisko's son, became a writer and reporter, and reported on the Dominion War throughout the campaign. While he didn't stop writing after the war, he definitely searched for ways to see his father. Kasidy Yates and Benjamin Sisko married before the series finale, with the intention of moving to Bajor. Actor Cirroc Lofton, who played Jake, told ScreenRant his thoughts on Jake after the series ended:
Yeah, I have thought about it. And because there's no real closure to how Sisko leaves from Jake's life, I would imagine that Jake would be seeking that kind of closure [...] If that meant, you know, studying the Bajoran faith, if that meant trying to have an experience with the Orbs and seeking those Orbs to find contact The Sisko, I think he would do something to that effect.
Kasidy learned she was pregnant with Jake's child shortly before the war's end. However, that didn't stop her from continuing her career as a freighter pilot. The Picard series gave a brief glimpse of a billboard advertising her company, "Kasidy Yates Interstellar Freights."
Captain Sisko Fulfilled his Destiny
After the Dominion signed a treaty with the Federation and the female Changeling allowed Starfleet to take her into custody, Sisko learned about Gul Dukat's ploy to free the Pah-Wraiths from the Fire Caves on Bajor. He took a runabout down to the planet's surface and arrived just after a Pah-Wraith possessed Dukat, and he killed Kai Winn. After a brief exchange between the two Emissaries, Sisko rushed Dukat and pulled him off a ledge with him, seemingly tumbling to their doom.
The people of Bajor knew Captain Benjamin Sisko as the Emissary since he first arrived on Deep Space Nine. A group of incorporeal aliens in the wormhole near the station manipulated events to create Benjamin Sisko. These aliens, known as the Prophets to Bajorans, sent one of their own to Earth to form a relationship with Benjamin's father, in order to bring about the birth of the future Starfleet Captain. Starfleet assigning Sisko to Deep Space Nine was by the design of the Prophets.
They knew about the war to come, and Gul Dukat's eventual plan to release the Pah-Wraiths. They needed Sisko to stop it all and protect the Bajoran people. Unfortunately, that required him to make some sacrifices. He didn't understand everything at first, but when he pulled Dukat off the ledge in the Fire Caves of Bajor, Sisko understood everything. He fulfilled his destiny. There was nothing left for him outside the Celestial Temple. Thus, when he defeated Dukat, the Prophets transported Sisko to the Celestial Temple. There, he would transcend mortality, becoming a god himself.
The Emissary joining the Prophets in the Celestial Temple granted him abilities beyond his imagination. He no longer saw things in a linear manner. Instead, Sisko saw everything happening at once. He also had the ability to see his family and friends whenever he wanted, just as he informed Kasidy when he visited her at the end of the series.
Deep Space Nine was not the most likedStar Trek series during its time. Fans saw Star Trek as a series about exploration and one-off episodes. Deep Space Nine changed all that with its character-driven stories and semi-serialized format. It was a tough pill for fans to swallow. The show suffered during its time on the air because of this. The Next Generation making movies and the premiere of Voyager didn't help it either. However, as time went on, the series gradually garnered the success and admiration it rightfully deserved from the beginning.
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Although most iconic Deep Space Nine episodes revolve around the Dominion War, these underrated episodes also had their own charm.
