Benjamin Sisko quotes from Deep Space Nine

I have my orders.

Benjamin Sisko

Keevan doesn't deserve the unwavering loyalty you're giving him.

He does not have to earn my loyalty, Captain. He has had it from the moment I was conceived. I am a Jem'Hadar. He is a Vorta. It is the order of things.

Benjamin Sisko

Do you really want to give up your life for the order of things?

It is not my life to give up, Captain. And it never was.

That (the Dominion reinforcements) is a corporeal matter. Corporeal matters do not concern us.

Benjamin Sisko

The hell they don't. What about Bajor? You sent the Bajorans orbs and emissaries. You even encouraged them to create an entire RELIGION around you. So don't you tell me corporeal matters don't concern you. You even told me once that you are of Bajor. You don't want me to end my life? Well, fine, neither do I! You want to be gods, then be gods. Look, I need a miracle here. Bajor needs a miracle. Stop those ships!

We are of Bajor.

But what of the Emmissary?

He is intrusive—

Belligerent—

Adversarial.

He tries to control the game.

A penance must be exacted.

We agree.

You are the Sisko.

The Emissary is of Bajor, but he will find no rest there.

His pagh will take another path.

Benjamin Sisko

And what path would that be?

Benjamin Sisko

I haven't met Worf's son yet. What's he like?

Martok

Well, he's a fine boy—dedicated, eager. He has the heart of his father. But he's not the best soldier I've ever seen.

—but when he ordered me to bring the system back on line, I thought he was still talking about the hydrostatic system, so—

Jadzia Dax

You didn't engage the pumps while the check valves were open?

Worf

He did.

I flooded the entire deck with superheated hydraulic fluid. It took me three days to clean up! But I swear, it still smells like burned dog hair in there.

Benjamin Sisko

What do you think you're doing?

Miles O'Brien

The wedding's been called off.

Martok

It's back on! Worf is apologizing to Jadzia at this very moment.

Benjamin Sisko

Quark, take it all away! No food for those on the path to Kal'Hyah!

Quark

No refunds for those on the path to Kal'Hyah, either. Sorry.

Sisko

May I help you gentlemen?

Rom

[to Quark] I was following you.

Quark

Must have taken a wrong turn.

Sisko

[deadpan] It looks that way.

Benjamin Sisko

Now, let me get this straight: you're not responsible for what happened during the occupation, the Bajorans are, hmm?

Gul Dukat

Yes! Yes, exactly!

Sisko

So, why do you think they didn't appreciate this rare opportunity you were offering them, hmm?

Dukat

Because they were blind, ignorant fools. If only they had cooperated with us, we could have turned their world into a paradise! From the moment we arrived on Bajor, it was clear that we were the superior race. But they couldn't accept that. They wanted to be treated as equals when they most certainly were not. Militarily, technologically, culturally, we were almost a century ahead of them in every way! We did not choose to be the superior race! Fate handed us our role! And it would've been so much easier on everyone if the Bajorans had simply accepted their role. But no. Day after day, they clustered in their temples and prayed for deliverance, and night after night, they planted bombs outside of our homes! Pride. Stubborn, unyielding pride. From the servant girl that cleaned my quarters, to the condemned man toiling in a labour camp, to the terrorist skulking through the hills of Dahkur Province. They all wore their pride like some twisted badge of honour.

Sisko

And you hated them for it.

Dukat

Of course I hated them! I hated everything about them! Their superstitions, and their cries for sympathy, their treachery and their lies! Their smug superiority and their stiff necked obstinacy! Their earrings and their broken wrinkled noses!

Sisko

You should've killed them all, hmm?

Dukat

Yes! Yes! That's right, isn't it? I knew it! I've always known it! I should have killed every last one of them! I should have turned their planet into a graveyard the likes of which the galaxy had never seen! I should have killed them all...

Sisko

And that is why you're not an evil man.

Sisko

Sometimes life seems so complicated; nothing is truly good or truly evil. Everything seems to be a shade of grey. And then you spend some time with a man like Dukat, and you realize that there is such a thing as truly evil.

Jadzia Dax

To realize that is one thing. To do something about it is another. So what are you going to do?

Sisko

I'll tell you what I'm not going to do. I'm not going to let him destroy Bajor. I fear no evil. From now on, it's him or me.

It's just a photo.

I'll try to remember that.

Joseph Sisko

The question is, what are you going to do?

Benjamin Sisko

The only thing I can do. Stay here and finish the job I started. And if I fail...

Joseph

"I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith."

Benjamin

I've never known you to quote from the Bible.

Joseph

I'm full of surprises, aren't I? And so are you. Sounds like that dream you had helped you sort things out.

Benjamin

I suppose it did. But I have begun to wonder: what if it wasn’t a dream? What if this life we’re leading, all of this -- you and me, everything -- what if all of this is the illusion?

Joseph

That’s a scary thought.

Benjamin

I know, I know. But maybe, just maybe, Benny isn’t the dream. We are. Maybe we’re nothing more than figments of his imagination. For all we know, at this very moment, somewhere far beyond all those distant stars, Benny Russell is dreaming of us.

Sisko

What's the word?

Worf

She is still in surgery, but Doctor Bashir is hopeful she will make a full recovery.

Sisko

Lasaran's dead. Starfleet Intelligence intercepted a transmission saying that he'd been killed trying to re-enter the base at Soukara. Could you have made the rendezvous?

Worf

Yes.

Sisko

Yet you turned back to save Jadzia?

Worf

Yes.

Sisko

Were you aware that the information that man had could have saved millions of lives?

Worf

Yes.

Sisko

So what happened?

Worf

You may not understand.

Sisko

Try me.

Worf

You were at my wedding. You heard the story of the first two Klingon hearts and how nothing could stand against them, and how they even destroyed the gods that created them. I have heard that story since I was a boy but I never understood it, I mean really understood it, until I was standing in the jungle with my heart pounding in my chest and I found that even I could not stand against my own heart. I had to go back and it did not matter what Starfleet thought or what the consequences were. She was my wife and I could not leave her.

Sisko

As your captain, it is my duty to tell you that you made the wrong choice. I don't think Starfleet will file any formal charges. Even a secret court martial would run the risk of revealing too much about their intelligence operations. But this will go into your service record, and to be completely honest, you probably won't be offered a command on your own after this.

Worf

I understand.

Sisko

I have also issued new orders. You and Jadzia are not to be assigned to a mission on your own ever again. And one last thing. As a man who had a wife, if Jennifer had been lying in that clearing, I wouldn't have left her either.

Kira

I've always hated collaborators. I mean, what could be worse than betraying your own people? During the occupation, if I ever had doubt about what their fate should be, all I would think of my mother, how she gave her life for Bajor. She was a hero, they were traitors. It was that simple. Or so I thought.

Sisko

She did what she had to do to save her family. To save you.

Kira

It doesn't make it right.

Sisko

Maybe not, but it was her decision to make.

Kira

I did some checking. She died in a Cardassian hospital seven years after she met Dukat. Seven years. Do you know how many Bajorans died in labour camps during that time? Died, while my mother sat sipping kanar with Dukat.

Sisko

Tell me something, Nerys. If you hate her that much, why did you save her life?

Kira

Believe me, there's a part of me that wishes that I hadn't. But the fact is, no matter what she did, she was still my mother.

Benjamin Sisko

Welcome aboard, Senator, I'm Captain Benjamin Sisko.

So... you're the Commander of Deep Space Nine and the Emissary to the Prophets, decorated combat officer, widower, father, mentor, and oh yes, the man who started the war with the Dominion. Somehow, I thought you'd be taller.

Benjamin Sisko

Sorry to disappoint you.

To be honest, my opinion of Starfleet Officers is so low, you'd have to work very hard indeed to disappoint me.

Benjamin Sisko

Who's watching Tolar?

I've locked him in his quarters. I've also left him with the distinct impression that if he attempts to force the door open, it may explode.

Benjamin Sisko

I hope that's just an impression.

It's best not to dwell on such minutiae.

Benjamin Sisko

You killed him.

That's right.

Benjamin Sisko

That's what you planned to do all along, isn't it? You knew the data rod wouldn't hold up to scrutiny: you just wanted to get him on the station so you could plant a bomb on his shuttle!

It wasn't quite that simple. I did have hopes that the rod would somehow pass inspection, but I suspected that Tolar might not be up to the task.

Benjamin Sisko

And what about Tolar? Did you kill him too?

Think of them both as tragic victims of war. [a furious Sisko strikes Garak again] If you could allow your anger to subside for a moment, you'll see that they did not die in vain! The Romulans will enter the war!

Benjamin Sisko

There's no guarantee of that!

Oh, but I think that there is. You see, when the Tal Shiar finishes examining the wreckage of Vreenak's shuttle, they'll find the burnt remnants of a Cardassian optolithic data rod which somehow miraculously survived the explosion. After painstaking forensic examination, they'll discover that the rod contains a recording of a high level Dominion meeting at which the invasion of Romulus was being planned.

Benjamin Sisko

And then they'll discover that it is a fraud!

Oh, I don't think that they will! Because any imperfections in the forgery will appear to be a result of the explosion! So, with a seemingly legitimate rod in one hand, and a dead Senator in the other, I ask you, Captain—what conclusion would you draw?

Benjamin Sisko

[sighs] That Vreenak obtained the rod on Soukara, and that the Dominion killed him to prevent him from returning to Romulus with it.

Precisely! And the more the Dominion protests its innocence, the more the Romulans will believe that they're guilty because it is exactly what the Romulans would have done in their place. [pauses]That's why you came to me. Isn't it, Captain? Because you knew I could do those things that you weren't capable of doing. Well, it worked. And you'll get what you want—a war between the Romulans and the Dominion. And if your conscience is bothering you, you should soothe it with the knowledge that you may have just saved the entire Alpha Quadrant. And all it cost was the life of one Romulan Senator, one criminal, and the self-respect of one Starfleet officer. I don't know about you, but I'd call that a bargain.

Major Kira Nerys

[discussing Kai Winn] In a way, I feel sorry for her. She spends her whole life in service to the Prophets, and then one day, after years of self-sacrifice and commitment, she gets her reward – she's elected Kai. It should've been the greatest moment of her life.

Benjamin Sisko

But my being the Emissary spoiled it for her.

Major Kira Nerys

The Kai has always been the spiritual leader of Bajor, but Winn has to share that role with you. And to make matters worse, you're an outsider, a non-Bajoran – that's something she can never forgive you for.