Deep Space 9



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.

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. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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. 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. Later that year, the station became the focus of events when war was briefly declared between the Republic of Bajor and the Ferengi Alliance.

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. 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. 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. 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.

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. 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'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. 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. 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.

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. 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.

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.

2383
In 2383, Deep Space Nine became a hub of commerce once more following the decision by President Nan Bacco to open the Bajoran Sector and the Gamma Quadrant to exploration and trade missions within the region. During this time, however, life aboard the station was severely strained resulting from the turmoil that had engulfed the Federation in the secession of Andor and the effects it had upon the station's Andorian crewmembers. During this time Chief of security Jefferson Blackmer discovered evidence that Andorian terrorists were planning to destroy Deep Space Nine. He launched an investigation, however, he was uncertain whom he could trust. The danger came to a head when DS9 came under attack shortly after the return of the Breen freighter Ren Fejin which was being escorted by the Valdore class warbird Eletrix. Additional Tzenkethi and Breen warships decloaked a short time afterward and also began an attack during a mass evacuation of DS9 following the discovery of multiple antimatter charges attached to the Fusion Core. After a series of detonations, which were initially believed not to be threatening to the station, Deep Space Nine lost the ability to eject its fusion reactors and it was believed that the station would have only a few moments left before it would be destroyed. Captain Ro Laren ordered that they transfer all available power to structural integrity to try to safeguard the 2,000 lives still aboard the station. Explosions were still observed to occur by the USS Robinson following its arrival at the battle scene.