- For the mirror universe counterpart, see Opaka Sulan (mirror).
Opaka Sulan was a Bajoran female and the Kai of Bajor towards the end of and for a short period after the Cardassian occupation. She had a son named Opaka Fasil who was killed during the Occupation.
Biography[]
Early life[]
When Opaka was a Prylar, she visited New Sydney to raise funds for Bajor.(DS9 - Millennium novel: Inferno)
As a vedek, Opaka advocated between 2346 and 2348 for the abolition of the D'jarra, the Bajoran caste system. Kai Arin expelled her from the Vedek Assembly in retaliation, but was eventually assassinated by his Obsidian Order minder Pasir Letin after changing his mind. (TLE - Terok Nor novel: Night of the Wolves)
- It is implied that Opaka succeeded Arin as kai, which would in turn indicate that it was her administration that abolished the D'jarra.
As Kai[]
During the Occupation Opaka revealed the location of a resistance cell in Bajor's Kendra Valley, which her own son was a member of, resulting in the deaths of her own son and the 42 other members of the resistance cell. This was in order to keep the Cardassians from killing over 1,000 other Bajorans. Years later, Vedek Bareil Antos felt compelled to protect her memory by trying to take the blame for the deaths of the resistance cell himself. (DS9 episode: "The Collaborator")
At the end of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, Opaka was living in seclusion, and rarely saw anyone. Shortly after Commander Benjamin Sisko took command of Deep Space 9, Opaka met with Sisko, and presented him with an orb to assist him to discover the location of the Celestial Temple. (DS9 episode & novelization: Emissary)
Later that year the Redemptorists leader Hören Rygis set his plan to murder Kira Nerys in motion. The plan resulted in both Doctor Julian Bashir and Major Kira Nerys being cut off from assistance from the station. Kira was trapped on a substation with Hören on board, and Doctor Bashir was trapped in the Bajoran wormhole. The Redemptorists had sabotaged the cargo shuttle carrying the substation so that the engines would harm the inhabitants of the wormhole, and they caused the engines to fire in the wormhole. The Prophets responding by collapsing the Alpha Quadrant end of the wormhole, cutting off Bashir and Kira from assistance. During this time, Commander Sisko visited with Opaka to learn if she had any insights into the situation. Opaka advised Sisko that Hören's obsessions and hatred had swept away Hören's sanity. Doctor Bashir was able to convince the Prophets to send him into a distant future where the universe was dead so that he could use the shuttle's engines without harming them. Opaka's meditations had enabled her to visit this realm and she was able to help lead Julian Bashir back from that realm. (DS9 novel: Bloodletter)
Exile in the Gamma Quadrant[]
In 2369 Opaka died in a runabout crash on a moon in the Gamma Quadrant, the moon was in fact a prison holding two warring tribes - The Ennis and the Nol-Ennis - who were left to fight forever thanks to microbes in the moons atmosphere with the ability to bring the dead back to life. These microbes allowed Opaka to come back from the dead but also resulting in her having to stay on the moon as leaving would kill her again. Opaka took this as a sign from the Prophets and stayed on the moon to reconcile the warring factions. (DS9 episode: "Battle Lines")
In her first year, on the moon Sulan learned the language of the tribes and talked with both tribes a great deal. When that tactic proved unsuccessful in her second year, she took to meditating in the battlefield, allowing herself to be killed many times to illustrate the futility of the war. This eventually lead to truces and eventually peace with the uniting of the tribes.
A month after the unification of the tribes, a ship piloted by an Ascendant named Raiq crashed. As a reward for healing her, Raiq destroyed the satellite network over the planetoid which had previously prevented anyone leaving the moon and controlled the microbes. With the microbes deactivated, Sulan could leave the lunar prison. A month later, a survey ship assisted in the repair of ships on the moon and Opaka left with about thirty of her followers from the tribe.
They went to the Ool'sp hospice on Syll8 to help care for last hevgin test victims, then to the colonies at Arshiv and Arshiv Prime, where they established civil-war orphanages. They also went to Beras to pray with refugees and finally went to the trade planet Ee to help develop rights for the underprivileged locals.
In July 2376, she was found by Jake Sisko, a Trelian named Wex, and a Tosk on Ee who took her to a planet in the Idran system. There, working with Jake, she activated a mechanism that brought back the Eav'oq species from millennia hiding in subspace and simultaneously moved the Idran System three light-years back to its position when the Eav'oq first went into hiding.
Some days later, when Sulan, Jake and Wex set out for the Bajoran wormhole in the Tosk's ship, the ship began to break apart. They were transported out by a Jem'Hadar ship commanded by a new clone of Weyoun. From there, they were quickly transported to the USS Defiant and returned to the Alpha Quadrant. (DS9 novel: Rising Son)
The fact that Opaka was still alive was withheld from the Bajoran populace. Some of her people believed she had died, while others believed she been transfigured to another plane of existence. All Bajorans believed Opaka had answered the call of the Prophets. (DS9 novel: Warped)
Return to Bajor[]
Shortly after arriving back in the Alpha Quadrant, Vedek Yevir Linjarin arrived at Deep Space 9 to escort Sulan back to Bajor. Once back she spent much of her time in the monastery at Ashalla. Also at Ashalla for sometime was Elias Vaughn on medical leave, Sulan watched over Elias in his second orb experience and cared for him when that experience was interrupted by parasite-infected monks. She and Elias along with the Sisko family were held hostage by the monks, in that time as a hostage she served as midwife for Kasidy Yates at the birth of her daughter.
Opaka did not resume the office of Kai following her return, feeling that the Prophets had shown her that to do so was not in her path.
Towards the end of September 2376, Opaka Sulan was amongst the many dignitaries at the signing ceremony for Bajor's admittance into the Federation. (DS9 novel: Unity)
In 2381, Sisko thought about seeking out Opaka, whom he hadn't seen in some time. (ST - Typhon Pact novel: Rough Beasts of Empire)
Alternate Versions[]
While Elias Vaughn was experiencing his second orb experience, he took on the persona of Eli Underwood, a patient at the mental hospital that housed Benny Russell. Sue-Lyn, a nurse at the asylum, was the representation of Opaka in that reality. (DS9 novel: Unity)
Alternate timeline[]
In an alternate timeline in which the Cardassian Union did not withdraw from Bajor in 2369, Kai Opaka was executed on the orders of the Changeling posing as Gul Dukat prior to 2373. Her death turned her into a martyr and Bajoran Resistance attacks increased as a result. (TNG - Myriad Universes novel: A Gutted World)
Appendices[]
Appearances[]
- TLE - Terok Nor novel: Night of the Wolves
- TLE - Terok Nor novel: Dawn of the Eagles
- DS9 episode: "Emissary" (First appearance)
- DS9 short story: "Ha'mara"
- DS9 novel: Bloodletter
- DS9 video game: Crossroads of Time
- DS9 episode: "Battle Lines"
- DS9 episode: "The Collaborator"
- DS9 episode: "Accession"
- DS9 novel: Rising Son
- DS9 novel: Unity
- DS9 - Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel: Bajor: Fragments and Omens
- DS9 novel: Fearful Symmetry
External link[]
- Opaka Sulan article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
Connections[]
Kais of the Bajoran faith | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Dava Nikende • Taluno • Shesa • Meressa • Arin • Opaka Sulan • Winn Adami • Pralon Onala • Kira Nerys • Opaka Sulan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kais of the Bajoran faith in the mirror universe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dava Nikende • Opaka Sulan |