My Heroes: A Thousand Burdens To Bear

Today on this My Heroes segment, we head towards the final frontier. The Borg have attacked the Federation with only one cube, decimating Star Fleet. The planet Bajor has recently been freed from Cardassian occupation, leaving behind deep space station Terok Nor, renamed Deep Space Nine. In the middle of such chaos comes one man ordered to handle it all:

 

"So you're the commander of Deep Space 9. And the Emissary of the Prophets. Decorated combat officer, widower, father, mentor and... oh, yes, the man who started the war with the Dominion.- Senator Vreenak expounds on Sisko's accomplishments.

Commander, and later Captain, Benjamin Sisko.

I only got into Deep Space Nine( and Star Trek as a whole) well after the franchise left the went on to the second start to the right in 2005, not to return until 2009.  I also never figured that Deep Space Nine would be as good as it was, figuring it was lumped in with Voyager and Enterprise as mediocre to absolute terrible. How naive I was. Thanks mostly to good writing and a healthy respect for character continuity and tense storylines, I've come to love most of the cast of DS9, but Benjamin Sisko especially (given the fact he was the main character, that shouldn't really be a surprise).

"Hey Dad, you think the writing staff will ever give me better character development?"

" Just be glad they gave you The Visitor, Jake"

The journey of Ben Sisko, from a lieutenant commander who lost his wife at Wolf 359 to captain who spearheaded the defeat of The Dominion, Sisko demonstrated his various layers. He was a hands on leader, involving himself in high risk conflicts from Cardassian politics to confrontations with the Dominion. Tough on all his subordinates, expecting the best from all officers under his command but paradoxically fair, patient and understanding of going against protocols (unless you try to commit murder or are slightly over-zealous and blow up a ship, but that's beside the point). He was an excellent father and loyal friend.  He was a man of passion and pride, taking his position and  and the Federation's ideals with the up-most seriousness.

Sisko's loyalty towards the Federation is of possibly greater note than any else, since it would lead the man to certain dark places within his soul. His hunt for Eddington in "For the Uniform" showed Sisko lumped into an Inspector Javert type villain role, ultimately forcing Eddington the surrender by dogging the Maquis forces he cared for so much. And we cannot forget his actions from the episode  "In the Pale Moonlight".( I wont expound upon them here. Go watch the episode and experience the peak of Star Trek storytelling for yourself).

While Sisko is a well written character, none of his power could have come across half as well if it were not for Avery Brooks. The man gave it his all from day one, giving Sisko a grandeur and humanit that made him one the best captains Starfleet had to offer. In fact to close out this entry, I'll leave you with possibly his best performance on the show: