Battle Lines DS9: 1-12

"Away from here...  To live one life, to die in peace.  To us this is an ancient prayer that has never been answered."  

Synopsis

Kai Opaka, the Bajoran spiritual leader appears unexpectedly on DS9 and asks to be taken on a visit through the wormhole to the Gamma quadrant.  On the far side, the runabout picks up an unexplained transmission.  The Kai expresses an interest in investigating and against his better judgement Sisko agrees.   The crew traces the signal back to a moon that is protected by a network of satellites.  One of them fires on and disables the Rio Grande and the runabout crashes on the surface.

In the crash, Kai Opaka is killed.  As Mjr. Kira morns the loss of her mentor and hero, the crew is approached by the bedraggled residents of the planet, a group permanently at war with a similar group in a conflict that has lasted for decades. Learning that the residents don't control the satellites, Sisko initially surmises that they are on  penal colony. During the introduction, the equally ill-equipped opposing force attacks and kills several of the band, although Kira is instrumental in driving off the attackers.


In the aftermath of the attack, Opaka comes into the cave, in apparent good health, despite having been
declared dead by the doctor 20 minutes before.  Soon, other fighters killed in the attack begin to show signs of life and Julian surmises that artificial microbes of some kind are returning the prisoners and Kai Opaka to life after they are killed.  It is apparent, however, that this continual regeneration has become more of a curse than a blessing, dooming the residents to perpetual war, fighting and dying without progress being made on either side.  Like the warriors of Valhalla, they fight all day and then resurrect the next morning to do it all over again.

In several instances Opaka reaches out to make connections with members of the DS9 staff.  Initially she gives O'Brien her necklace, intending it for his daughter.  She also has words for Sisko and makes a more emotional connection with Kira, for whom she has always been an inspiration.  She urges Kira to let go of her life of violence, an attitude she has adopted during the Bajoran war for independence against the Cardassians.

Sisko is expecting a rescue from DS9 and offers to remove the inmates from this prison if only both sides will declare a truce and agree to cooperate.  Peace talks are arranged but it becomes apparent that neither side is willing to make peace with the other.  With help from the ship's computer, Dr. Bashir determines that the microbes that regenerate the fallen warriors can only operate on this planet, and those dependent on the microbes will die if they attempt to leave.  This includes Kai Opaka.



Searching for Sisko's missing runabout, Chief O'Brien and Dax locate the moon with the satellite sentries.  O'Brien is able to avoid their attacks and engineers a solution to communicate with the surface, and beam out the stranded team. Unaware of her situation, Opaka declares her intention to stay with the warring prisoners on the moon and perhaps bring peace to this unhappy situation.  She feels that prophecy has led her to this moment in time, and it is her destiny to help.  Lacking any other alternative, the DS9 crew are beamed away by O'Brien, leaving the Kai alive but trapped on the far side of the wormhole. 

"Prophecy can often be vague, Commander.  That's why we must test it."  Kai Opaka

Roses

This episode had both high and low points.  The Kai Opaka was a majestic figure and we could certainly believe that she was both the spiritual leader of the oppressed Bajoran people and the person inspiration of a fighter like Major Kira.  Her ultimate fate as a permanent resident on the far side of the wormhole from Bajor is an interesting choice for the storytelling of the series.

On one hand, it does make the Kai more or less immortal, being sustained by the microbes of the orbiting satellites.  But only if she stays on that world.  In a very real sense, Opaka has adopted white martyrdom made famous by Irish missionaries in the 8th century.  Their sacrifice was not to be killed for their faith, but to renounce their homelands in Ireland, never to return.  This is the very sacrifice that Opaka is making.

On the other hand, this development removes her from Bajor and potentially lessens any direct influence she might have in negotiating a peace.  This leaves the way clear for Sisko and Kira to take on the larger roles that Opaka hinted at for each of them.  At this stage in Ben Sisko's hero's journey, Opaka would be required to die (like Obi-wan or Dumbledore).  Instead, the story gets to retain a powerful and well conceived figure while freeing Ben and Kira from her influence at the appropriate time for them to develop further.  Opaka experiences both a literal and figurative death, but remains a figure to play some part in the future.

One of the gaps in storytelling from DS9 so far is that we lack any motivation or connection to the Gamma quadrant.  Yes, many cultures are interested in travel across the wormhole, but the DS9 team itself is not.  They don't have any reason to explore the Gamma quadrant.  That doesn't seem to be their job for the Federation at all.  Others will do the exploring while they wait and keep the home fires burning.

So they are perched on the edge of this vast unknown, but have no reason to travel there and must wait for the stories to come to them.  This episode, however, begins to establish ties to the Gamma quadrant.  By remaining in the Gamma quadrant, Opaka could become a pilgrimage destination for the spiritually faithful Bajorans, giving them a reason to travel to the other side.

Kira got her own chance at character building from the writers here.  In a comic moment right at the beginning of the episode, a discovered list of Bajoran activists lists Kira as a minor functionary, a designation which offends the major.  In her mind, she was a major player in the Bajoran resistance, part of how she frames her identity.  Later, the Kai asks her to compare her own understanding of the war to the warped perspective of those on the prison world.  While Kira initially rejects the comparison, she comes to understand that she, and many Bajorans like her, have some of these same attitudes. 

Thorns

On the downside, however, Benjamin Sisko continues to be an ass and a bully to his own people.  In one particular scene, Dr Bashir makes a very mild comment and Sisko launches into a tirade about the prime directive and that people had suffered enough.  In that scene Ben comes across as very insecure, as a leader.  Who was he trying to convince, Bashir or himself?  I could have felt the attitude was justified if he was responding to a challenge from Dax or Kira, but poor Julian was so innocuous that Ben's response just seemed disproportional and inappropriate.  Looking back over the past 10 episodes, I can't find a reason why Julian has become Ben's whipping boy.

I think it is part of a larger problem with Ben Sisko's character.  What does he bring to the command?  In this episode, as in many others, he has no major contribution to make, either in terms of expertise or critical decisions.  I believe that Ben is supposed to be the audience's point of identification, and such a role is often a passive one, as an observer letting the interesting elements of the scene scroll past him and reacting to them as the audience would, mirroring their responses.  But taken too far, the observer is in danger of being wholly extraneous to the scene as it unfolds, so busy watching and reacting that they fail to take part.  And when the writers want Ben to assert his own identity, it comes across as too much, too extreme.