Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Commander Benjamin Sisko arrives at the damaged Cardassian station to help Bajor rebuild after the occupation, bringing his son Jake and a crew that includes Bajoran officer Kira Nerys, security chief Odo, and engineer Miles O'Brien. When Sisko and Jadzia Dax discover a stable wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant, its inhabitants, the Prophets, and Bajor’s declaration that Sisko is their Emissary make the outpost a religious and political crossroads as well as a Starfleet post.
The station’s daily disputes keep the occupation close. In “Duet,” Kira detains Cardassian Aamin Marritza because his illness links him to the Gallitep labor camp. Her investigation exposes that he was a file clerk who altered his face to pose as Gul Darhe’el, hoping his trial would force Cardassia to acknowledge its crimes. Kira refuses to execute that fiction; as she and Odo escort Marritza toward a ship home, a Bajoran kills him. Elsewhere, Odo’s investigations and Quark’s business expose how many competing interests now share the station.
Vedek Winn challenges Keiko’s scientific teaching about the wormhole, encouraging Bajoran families to boycott the station school. When the empty classroom is bombed, the religious dispute conceals an assassination plot against Winn’s rival, Vedek Bareil. O’Brien and Dax connect Ensign Aquino’s murder and tampered security controls to Neela, a Bajoran engineer working with Winn. Sisko stops Neela from shooting Bareil, but she claims to have acted alone, leaving Winn’s involvement unproved. Kira apologizes to Sisko for doubting his commitment to Bajor.