The entrance to the Fire Caves.
The Fire Caves are caverns on the planet Bajor in which the Pah-wraiths were imprisoned by the Prophets after their attempt to seize control of the Bajoran wormhole. The Bajoran civilization were wary of the caves and some regarded them as being haunted and others as the entrance to hell. However, they were a popular attraction for non-Bajorans. (DS9 episode & novelization: What You Leave Behind)
History[]
Early history[]
Thirty-four thousand years before the 24th century, during the war involving the Perikian Republic, the Endtree, the Bajora and the Lerrit, the entrance to the Fire Caves collapsed. The city of Yvrig was destroyed in the disaster, of which survivors said was caused by a blue fire. Kira Nerys thought this was caused by the Prophets imprisoning the Pah-wraiths there. (DS9 - Gateways- What Lay Beyond short story: "Horn and Ivory")
Not all of the Pah-wraiths were imprisoned in the Fire Caves as others entered Jalkaree and Jalbador. (DS9 - Millennium novel: The Fall of Terok Nor)
24th century[]
The Cardassians found the Bajorans fear of the Fire Caves to be amusing, but never mounted an expedition during the Occupation. (DS9 episode: "What You Leave Behind")
Jake Sisko wanted to see them when he and Benjamin Sisko arrived on Deep Space 9 in 2369. He had the opportunity to visit them later that year with his father, but chose to help Nog study instead. (DS9 episode: "The Nagus")
Over the course of their efforts to damage and eradicate a fringe cult from the Bajoran faith that venerated the Pah-wraiths, terrorists from the Kahl-taan — an extremist movement which sought to eradicate heretics to the mainstream religion - condemned those believed to harbour allegiances to the organisation, such as Kira Nerys, who fought them to defend their unnamed victims. Over the course of the conflict, a number of the Kahl-taan wished that the pagh of the infidels would burn inside the Fire Caves. (DS9 video game: The Fallen)
Keiko O'Brien visited the Fire Caves in 2373 and was possessed by a Pah-wraith who was not imprisoned with the others. (DS9 episode: "The Assignment")
2375[]
Kai Winn Adami and Skrain Dukat began plotting to release the Pah-wraiths from the Fire Caves in late 2375. (DS9 episodes: "The Changing Face of Evil", "When It Rains...")
The Pah-wraiths are freed in the Fire Caves.
After finding out how to do so with the Book of the Kosst Amojan, they travelled to the Fire Caves where Winn read from the Book, making the caves burst into flames.
Some time later, Winn poisoned Dukat, giving the Pah-Wraiths the sacrifice they needed to be freed. However, Dukat was the Pah-wraiths' Emissary who they had stopped from dying and restored him to his Cardassian self.
Benjamin Sisko later travelled to the Fire Caves where he confronted Dukat. Sisko's nemesis killed Kai Winn, who had attempted to destroy the Book. As Dukat was distracted, Sisko managed to throw himself and his enemy into the flames, destroying the Book and sealing Dukat away with the Pah-wraiths. (DS9 episode & novelization: What You Leave Behind)
Exactly what transpired in the Fire Caves between Sisko, Dukat and Winn was not widely known. Ro Laren thought Dukat could still be alive and anywhere but there. (DS9 - Mission Gamma novel: This Gray Spirit)
Tourism[]
The Federation Department of Interstellar Travel highly recommended a visit to the Fire Caves in its information on Bajor it included in the United Federation of Planets Passport. (ST reference: Federation Passport)
Rebecca Emmanuelli had visited the Fire Caves sometime before 2380. (ST novel: Articles of the Federation)
Appendices[]
Connections[]
References[]
- DS9 episode & novelization: What You Leave Behind
- ST - Sons of Star Trek comic: [citation needed]
- DS9 - Gateways- What Lay Beyond short story: "Horn and Ivory"
- DS9 - Millennium novel: The Fall of Terok Nor
- DS9 episode: "The Nagus"
- DS9 video game: The Fallen
- DS9 episode: "The Assignment"
- DS9 episode: "The Changing Face of Evil"
- DS9 episode: "When It Rains..."
- DS9 - Mission Gamma novel: This Gray Spirit
- ST reference: Federation Passport
- ST novel: Articles of the Federation
External link[]
- Fire Caves article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.