Deep Space 9

MAJOR SPOILERS
WARNING! This article contains MAJOR spoilers for the recently released novel Zero Sum Game. Caution is advised.

For the TV series, see Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. For the mirror universe counterpart, see Terok Nor (mirror).

Deep Space 9
Class:	Nor
Facility type:	Starbase
Affiliation:	Federation Starfleet
Location:	Bajoran system
Constructed:	2346
Status:	Operational (2409)

Deep Space 9 was a Federation Starbase that became one of the single most strategically, historically, and socially important outposts in the entire Milky Way Galaxy. The station was of Cardassian design, built by Bajoran slave labor between 2346 and 2351. Called Terok Nor by the Cardassians, the station was used for the processing of Uridium ore by Bajoran laborers. After the Cardassian withdrawal in 2369, the provisional government of the newly-established Republic of Bajor petitioned the United Federation of Planets for relief efforts and Federation Member status, and offered to allow the Federation Starfleet to administer the station as a starbase, prompting its new designation.

Station Layout

Deep Space Nine consists of three main areas: The central core which contains the power core, the Promenade and Ops. The Habitat ring which provides quarters for crew and visitors and is connected to the rest of the station by large bridges and the outer Docking ring (otherwise known informally as the "outer ring") which can accommodate numerous small ships and has six docking pylons to allow larger vessels to dock.

Facilities on the station include Medical D, for autopsies and the Mineral assay office. (DS9 novels: Avatar, Devil in the Sky, DS9 video game: Crossroads of Time)

History

Terok Nor

Double Helix: Vectors

See also Terok Nor

The design and construction of the station was made by the Cardassian designer Kotan Darek who worked with the unwilling assistance of the Bajoran architect Charna Sar. At the time, Darek remained in charge of the construction of the station until its completion whereupon it was targeted by the Bajoran Resistance who managed to damage it. This act weakened Darek's influence and led to the appointment of Gul Dukar who immediately took control of management of the station after relieving Kotan Darek of command. However, Kotan Darek secretly helped the Bajoran Resistance by way of Charna Sar which allowed a raid to be conducted on Terok Nor where Gul Dukar attempted to kill the Bajoran workers by ejecting them into space. The incident killed Dukar but left his son alive and allowed for Bajoran workers to continue working at the space station. (DS9 comic: "Terok Nor (comic)") In the year 2366, while the station was under the command of Cardassian Gul Skrain Dukat, prefect of Bajor during the Cardassian Occupation, Terok Nor was used as a testing ground for a new variation of the Double Helix virus created by Thallonian General Gerrid Thul. The virus crossed species and affected Bajorans, Cardassians, and Ferengi.

At the behest of Bajoran doctor Kellec Ton, Dukat allowed a small contingent of Federation medical personnel, lead by Kellec's Human ex-wife, Doctor Katherine Pulaski of Starfleet, to offer aid. With the assistance of Kira Nerys, a member of the Bajoran Resistance, who found the source of the virus on the surface of Bajor, Pulaski and her team managed to find a cure for the virus before the station was destroyed by the Cardassians in order to contain the outbreak. (TNG - Double Helix novel: Vectors)

When the Cardassians withdrew from Bajor in early 2369, they took every component of value from the station, destroyed what they could, and left behind only a confused Cardassian tailor, the exile Elim Garak, who was to act as the eyes and ears of the Cardassian Central Command. (DS9 novel: A Stitch in Time)

More about this era was revealed with the release of the Star Trek: Terok Nor series.

The Federation

At the request of the Bajoran Provisional Government, Starfleet took command, administering it as a Federation Starbase (even as the station remained Bajoran territory). Starfleet Commander Benjamin Sisko was made commanding officer, tasked with providing the Bajorans with the requisite help and stability to allow them to join the Federation. Sisko requested a Bajoran national as his first officer, and the post was given to Kira, now a major in the Bajoran Militia. The discovery of the Bajoran Wormhole leading to the distant Gamma Quadrant soon after turned the station into a port of call and a place of enormous scientific, strategic, and commercial importance. (DS9 episode & novelization: Emissary)

At first, Kira was opposed to the Federation's presence on DS9, but the deeply spiritual major slowly started to come around after learning that Kai Opaka Sulan believed Sisko to be the foretold Emissary of the Prophets of prophecy. (DS9 short story: "Ha'mara")

In 2370 DS9 played host to clutch of Horta eggs, they were kept in stasis, however Jake Sisko and Nog deactivated the field resulting in the eggs hatching on the station. The baby Horta proceeded to cause havoc on the station and cause massive damage before they were beamed to a new home on the passing moon The Prodigal. (DS9 novel: Devil in the Sky)

When Klingon Chancellor Gowron briefly withdrew from the Khitomer Accords in early 2372, DS9 was the site of the first battle of renewed hostility with the Klingons. (DS9 episode & novelization: The Way of the Warrior)

Later that year, the station became the focus of events when war was briefly declared between the Republic of Bajor and the Ferengi Alliance. (DS9 novel: The 34th Rule)

The Dominion War

When war with the Gamma Quadrant power known as the Dominion, which had annexed the Cardassian Union, began in late 2373, Starfleet was temporarily forced to abandon the station. But Sisko, commanding the starship USS Defiant, eventually fought his way back, liberating the station and ending the ongoing threat of Dominion occupation of Bajor. (DS9 episode & novelizations: Call to Arms..., ...Sacrifice of Angels; DS9 - Prophecy and Change short story: "Three Sides to Every Story")

Hollow Men

In 2374, just after the Romulan Star Empire entered the war against the Dominion, the station was the site of the theft of a latinum shipment. This was a small part of a huge plot by the nefarious Section 31 to create a virus that would wipe out the Founders, the shapeshifting leaders of the Dominion. (DS9 novel: Hollow Men)

In early 2375, the station was home to a research effort attempting to cure a crew of Vulcans from the effects of a Dominion Bio-weapon that was specifically designed to infect Vulcans. The cure was found through the combined efforts of Doctors Julian Bashir and Beverly Crusher, the Emergency Medical Hologram of the USS Enterprise-E, long distance assistance from Admiral Leonard McCoy, and the notes of a 22nd century Denobulan physician named Phlox. (DS9 - Tales of the Dominion War short story: "Mirror Eyes")

After the end of the war in late 2375, DS9 was the site of the signing of the official declaration of peace between the powers of the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants. Before the treaty was signed, Sisko averted an attempt to assassinate the Female Changeling who was acting as the voice for the Dominion. (DS9 novelization: What You Leave Behind; DS9 - Tales of the Dominion War short story: "Requital")

Post-Dominion War

All dates are derived from the timelines included at the beginning of Unity, and the end of Worlds of Deep Space Nine volume three

2376

The onset of the new year found the station, now under the command of Colonel Kira Nerys, infected by the N-Vector Viroid, an agent that was created (or perhaps discovered) by Romulan scientist Mos Senay. The station was purged of the viroid, but it survived in a dormant form and may one day return. (DS9 comics: "N-Vector", "[[]]")

Avatar book one

In March, upgrades began on the infrastructure of the station as well as the USS Defiant to completely replace the stations forever uncooperative Cardassian computer system with a Federation ODN network that would no longer require makeshift patches between the two systems. The upgrades also saw additions to DS9's defenses, including quantum torpedoes. Personnel were stretched throughout the upgrades as only half of the stations usual thirty-five man contingent of Starfleet Corps of Engineers personnel remained on the station following the war.

The USS Aldebaran was assigned to defend the station while it was vulnerable. In April, the station was attacked by a trio of rogue Jem'Hadar fighters who sought to erase the shame of losing the previous war by starting a new one. The Jem'Hadar were defeated, but the Aldebaran was lost with all hands and sixty-one people on DS9 were killed. Several Jem'Hadar managed to beam to the station and attempted to overload the station's fusion core. The station was saved with the assistance of the Jem'Hadar named Taran'atar, but the core had to be ejected. (DS9 novel: Avatar)

DS9's chief engineer, Nog, came upon a solution for the station's fusion core problem. With the help of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, the abandoned Cardassian station Empok Nor was towed to the Bajor system and its fusion core transferred to DS9. (CoE eBook: Cold Fusion; DS9 - Section 31 novel: Abyss)

In May, DS9 was the center of operations in the evacuation of Europa Nova, a colony that had the misfortune of having their world contaminated by a cloud of anti-matter waste, courtesy of an Iconian Gateway and a Malon freighter in the Delta Quadrant. (DS9 - Gateways novel: Demons of Air and Darkness; DS9 - Gateways What Lay Beyond short story: "Horn and Ivory")

In late August, Bajoran First Minister Shakaar Edon was assassinated on the station's Promenade by a Joined Trill named Hiziki Gard while about to sign the paper officially inducting the Republic of Bajor into the United Federation of Planets. It was later revealed that Shakaar had been consumed by an alien Parasite, a race of sworn enemies to the Trill, who were using Shakaar for their own race's purposes. The station was subsequently locked down and quarantined. (DS9 - Mission Gamma novels: Cathedral, Lesser Evil) In early September, after the return of the USS Defiant from a three-month exploratory mission of the Gamma Quadrant, the station was cleared of the parasite threat, due in part due to the miraculous return of Captain Sisko from his stay with the Prophets.

On September 26, 2376, the crews of Deep Space Nine, past and present, attended the ceremony on Bajor that officially inducted that world into the United Federation of Planets. (DS9 novel: Unity)

On the final day of the year, Taran'atar, who was being mind-controlled by an outside source, attacked and severely injured Captain Kira and Lieutenant Ro Laren. (DS9 - Worlds of Deep Space Nine novel: The Dominion: Olympus Descending)

2377

Shortly after the attack on Kira and Ro, Nog and Major Cenn discovered evidence implicating Intendant Kira Nerys in directing Taran'atar's actions.

In sickbay, Dr. Bashir saved Captain Kira's life by replacing her heart, which had been pierced by Taran'atar's Kar'takin, with an artificial replacement, and Dr. Tarses used an innovative technique to repair Lieutenant Ro's spine. (DS9 novel: Warpath)

The saga of Deep Space Nine will continue in Fearful Symmetry by Olivia Woods available in 2008.

Residents

Station Personnel

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Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow: The following content contains spoilers!

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For a full personnel listing see: Deep Space 9 personnel.

• Commanding officer:
  • Commander/Captain Benjamin Sisko (2369 - 2375)
  • Colonel/Captain Kira Nerys (2376 - by 2382)
  • Captain Elias Vaughn (by 2382)
  • Captain Ro Laren (by 2382 - )
  • Captain James Kurland (by 2409 - )
• First officer:
  • Major/Colonel Kira Nerys (2369 - 2375)
  • Commander Tiris Jast (2375 - 2376)
  • Commander Elias Vaughn (2376 - by 2382)
• Liason to the Bajoran Government:
  • Major/Colonel Kira Nerys (2369 - 2375)
  • Major Cenn Desca (2376 - )
• Science officer:
  • Lieutenant/Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax (2369 - 2374)
  • Ensign Thirishar ch'Thane (2376)
• Tactical officer:
  • Lieutenant Commander Worf (2372 - 2375)
  • Lieutenant Sam Bowers (2376 - )
• Chief Medical Officer:
  • Lieutenant j.g./Lieutenant/Lieutenant Commander Julian Bashir (2369 - )
• Chief Engineer:
  • Chief of Operations Miles O'Brien (2369 - 2375)
  • Lieutenant Nog (2376 - )
• Chief of security:
  • 'Constable' Odo (2365 - 2375)
  • Lieutenant Nog (2376)
  • Lieutenant Ro Laren (2376 - )
• Counselor
  • Lieutenant j.g./Lieutenant Ezri Dax (2375 - 2376)
  • Commander Phillipa Matthias (2376 - )

(A note on ranks: for the most part, all characters have the rank that they were last seen with in the post-finale 'Deep Space Nine' fiction set in early 2377, a year after the show ended.)

The stations personnel typically included a thirty-five man Starfleet Corps of Engineers team which was supplemented by nearly the same number of Bajoran Militia technicians. (DS9 novel: Avatar)

Civilians

• Quark
• Jake Sisko
• Kasidy Yates
• Elim Garak
• Keiko O'Brien
• Rom
• Leeta
• Tora Ziyal
• Taran'atar
• Treir
• Morn
• Kaga

Support Vessels

Active (2377)

• USS Defiant (NCC-75633) (2375-)
• USS Rio Grande (NCC-72452) (2369-)
• USS Rubicon (NCC-72936) (2371-)
• USS Platte (2371-)
• USS Volga (NCC-73196) (2372-)
• USS Brahmaputra (2376-)
• USS Yolja (NCC-75353) (2376-)

Destroyed

• USS Yangtzee Kiang (NCC-72453) (2369)
• USS Ganges (NCC-72454) (2369-2370)
• USS Mekong (NCC-72617) (2370-2371)
• USS Orinoco (NCC-72905) (2370-2372)
• USS Defiant (NX-74205) (2370-2375)
• USS Yukon (NCC-74602) (2372-2373)
• USS Shenandoah (NCC-73024) (2374)
• USS Gander (NCC-72311) (2375)
• USS Sungari (2376)
• USS Euphrates (2376-2377)

Appendices

Background

DS9 in D-A-C

• In the video game D-A-C (a tie-in to the movie Star Trek), in the background of the map "cryophobe" a structure of similar design to Deep Space 9 can be seen.

Appearances and references

2369

• A Stitch in Time - Part Three: Chapters 3; 5
• Inferno - Cardassian withdrawal from Terok Nor
• The Fall of Terok Nor - Chapter 1
• Emissary
• "Ha'mara"
• Stardate 46257.8: "Stowaway" (DS9 comic)
• "Past Prologue"
• "A Man Alone"
• The Siege
• "Babel"
• "Captive Pursuit"
• "Q-Less"
• "Dax"
• "The Passenger"
• "Move Along Home"
• "The Nagus"
• "Vortex"
• Bloodletter
• "Battle Lines"
• Warped
• "The Storyteller"
• "Progress"
• "If Wishes Were Horses"
• "The Forsaken"
• "Dramatis Personae"
• "Duet"
• "In the Hands of the Prophets"

2370

• Warchild
• Valhalla
• Betrayal
• "The Homecoming"
• "The Circle"
• "The Siege"
• "Invasive Procedures"
• The Big Game
• "Cardassians"
• "Melora"
• "Rules of Acquisition"
• Stardate 47237.8: Fallen Heroes (DS9 novel)
• Stardate 47268.4: The Landmark Crossover: "Prophets and Losses" (DS9/TNG comic)
• Stardate 47269.1: The Landmark Crossover: "The Wormhole Trap" (DS9/TNG comic)
• Stardate 47270.9: The Landmark Crossover: "Encounter with... the Othersiders!" (DS9/TNG comic)
• The Landmark Crossover: "The Unseen Enemy" (DS9/TNG comic)
• Stardate 47282.5: "Necessary Evil" (DS9 episode)
• Stardate 47295.3: "Requiem" (DS9 comic)
• Stardate 47295.4: "Hearts and Minds: Prelude" (DS9 comic)
• Hearts and Minds #1: "For the Glory of the Empire" (DS9 comic)
• Stardate 47295.9: Hearts and Minds #2: "On the Edge of Armageddon" (DS9 comic)
• Stardate 47295.9: Hearts and Minds #3: "Into the Abyss" (DS9 comic)
• Hearts and Minds #4: "Masters of War" (DS9 comic)
• Stardate 47329.4: "Second Sight"
• Devil in the Sky
• "Sanctuary"
• "Rivals"
• "The Alternate"
• "Armageddon Game"
• "Whispers"
• "Paradise"
• "Shadowplay"
• "Playing God"
• "Profit and Loss"
• "Blood Oath"
• "The Maquis, Part I"
• "The Maquis, Part II"
• Antimatter
• "The Wire"
• "Crossover"
• "The Collaborator"
• "Tribunal"
• The Second Artifact
• "The Jem'Hadar"

2371

• "The Search"
• Proud Helios
• "The House of Quark"
• "Equilibrium"
• Stardate 48244.5: "Second Skin" (DS9 episode)
• Stardate 48273.5: "Dax's Comet" (DS9 comic)
• Stardate 48301.3: "The Abandoned"
• Stardate 48388.8: "Civil Defense" (DS9 episode)
• "Meridian" (DS9 episode)
• "Defiant" (DS9 episode)
• "Fascination"
• The Laertian Gamble
• "Past Tense"
• "Life Support"
• Stardate 48511.1: "The Looking Glass War" (DS9 comic)
• Prophecy and Change: "The Orb of Opportunity" (DS9 short story)
• Stardate 48521.5: "Heart of Stone" (DS9 episode)
• Stardate 48543.2: "Destiny" (DS9 episode)
• "Prophet Motive" (DS9 episode)
• Stardate 48573.3: The Maquis: Soldier of Peace #1: "Vacation's Over" (DS9 comic)
• The Maquis: Soldier of Peace #2: "Rats in a Maze" (DS9 comic)
• The Maquis: Soldier of Peace #3: "Victims of Deceit" (DS9 comic)
• Stardate 48576.7: "Visionary" (DS9 episode)
• Stardate 48597.4: "Mudd's Pets" (DS9 comic)
• "Distant Voices"
• "Through the Looking Glass"
• "Improbable Cause"
• "The Die is Cast"
• "Explorers"
• "Family Business"
• "Shakaar"
• "Facets"
• The Long Night
• "The Adversary"
• Station Rage
• Objective: Bajor
• Time's Enemy
• Stardate 48979.1: "Sole Asylum" (DS9 comic)

2372

• Saratoga
• Wrath of the Prophets
• The Way of the Warrior
• "The Visitor"
• The Tempest
• "Hippocratic Oath"
• "Broken Oaths"
• "Indiscretion"
• "Rejoined"
• "Starship Down"
• "Little Green Men"
• "The Sword of Kahless"
• "Our Man Bashir"
• "Homefront"
• "Paradise Lost"
• "Reflections"
• Armageddon Sky
• "Crossfire"
• "Return to Grace"
• The Heart of the Warrior
• "Sons of Mogh"
• "Bar Association"
• Trial by Error
• "Accession"
• "Rules of Engagement"
• "Hard Time"
• "Shattered Mirror"
• "The Muse"
• "For the Cause"
• The 34th Rule
• "To the Death"
• "The Quickening"
• "Body Parts"
• "Broken Link"

2373

• "Apocalypse Rising"
• "The Ship"
• "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places"
• "...Nor the Battle to the Strong"
• "The Assignment"
• Honor Bound
• "Trials and Tribble-ations"
• "Let He Who Is Without Sin..."
• Vengeance
• "Things Past"
• "The Ascent"
• The Mist [flashback]
• "Rapture"
• "The Darkness and the Light"
• "The Begotten"
• "For the Uniform"
• "In Purgatory's Shadow"
• "By Inferno's Light"
• The Badlands, Book Two
• The Conquered
• The Courageous
• The Liberated
• "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?"
• "A Simple Investigation"
• "Business as Usual"
• "Ties of Blood and Water"
• "Ferengi Love Songs"
• "Soldiers of the Empire"
• "Children of Time"
• "Blaze of Glory"
• "Empok Nor"
• "In the Cards"
• "Call to Arms"

2374

• "A Time to Stand"
• "Rocks and Shoals"
• "Sons and Daughters"
• "Behind the Lines"
• "Favor the Bold"
• "Sacrifice of Angels"
• "You Are Cordially Invited..."
• "Resurrection"
• "Statistical Probabilities"
• "The Magnificent Ferengi"
• "Waltz"
• "Who Mourns for Morn?"
• "Far Beyond the Stars"
• "One Little Ship"
• "Honor Among Thieves"
• "Change of Heart"
• "Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night"
• "Inquisition"
• "In the Pale Moonlight"
• Hollow Men
• "His Way"
• "The Reckoning"
• "Valiant"
• "Profit and Lace"
• "Time's Orphan"
• "The Sound of Her Voice"
• Millennium
• "Tears of the Prophets"

2375

• "Image in the Sand"
• "Shadows and Symbols"
• "Afterimage"
• "Take Me Out to the Holosuite"
• "Chrysalis"
• "Treachery, Faith, and the Great River"
• "Once More Unto the Breach"
• "The Siege of AR-558"
• "Covenant"
• "It's Only a Paper Moon"
• "Prodigal Daughter"
• "The Emperor's New Cloak"
• "Field of Fire"
• "Chimera"
• "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang"
• "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
• "Penumbra"
• "'Til Death Do Us Part"
• "Strange Bedfellows"
• "The Changing Face of Evil"
• "When It Rains..."
• "Tacking Into the Wind"
• "Extreme Measures"
• "The Dogs of War"
• What You Leave Behind

2376

• The Left Hand of Destiny
• "... and straight on 'til morning"
• N-Vector
• Avatar
• Abyss
• Demons of Air and Darkness
• "Horn and Ivory"
• Twilight
• This Gray Spirit
• Cathedral
• Lesser Evil
• Rising Son
• Unity
• "Trill: Unjoined"
• "Bajor: Fragments and Omens"
• "Andor: Paradigm"
• "Ferenginar: Satisfaction is Not Guaranteed"
• "Cardassia: The Lotus Flower"
• "The Dominion: Olympus Descending"

2377

• Warpath

External links

• Deep Space 9 article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
• Deep Space 9 article at Star Trek Expanded Universe wiki, the wiki for fan-authored Star Trek.