Jake Sisko

Species:	Human
Occupation:	Writer Reporter
Status:	Active (2375)
Born:	2355
Father:	Benjamin Sisko
Mother:	Jennifer Sisko (deceased) Kasidy Yates-Sisko (stepmother)
Sibling(s):	One half-brother or sister (unborn, 2375)
Other Relative(s):	Joseph Sisko (grandfather) Sarah Sisko (grandmother) Judith Sisko (aunt)
Played by:	Thomas Hobson ("Emissary") Cirroc Lofton Tony Todd ("The Visitor")

"It takes courage to look inside yourself and even more courage to write it for other people to see. I'm proud of you, son."

– Benjamin Sisko, 2373 ("Nor the Battle to the Strong")

Jake Sisko was the son of the famous Starfleet Captain Benjamin Sisko and Jennifer Sisko. He chose not to join Starfleet, instead becoming a writer. He made many friends on Deep Space 9, but his closest was Nog.

Early life

Jake was born in 2355, one year after his parents met. (DS9: "Move Along Home", "Emissary", "The Abandoned")

Benjamin Sisko's first assignment after graduation in 2354 was New Berlin, which was prior to his transfer to the USS Livingston thus rendering New Berlin as Jake's likely place of birth. However, in DS9: "Valiant", Jake says he has never been on Earth's moon, where New Berlin is located. In "Emissary", Jake's birth was staged on set normally used as the USS Enterprise-D's sickbay. This could be taken to indicate the event occurred in a Starfleet facility on a starship or starbase built to similar specifications.

Jake aboard the Saratoga in 2366

In 2366 Jake was living with his parents on the USS Saratoga, where his father was first officer. Late that year, eleven-year-old Jake lost his mother at the Battle of Wolf 359, during which the Saratoga was destroyed by a Borg cube shortly after he and his father escaped the ship. Jake subsequently moved to the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards on Mars, where his father moved into a new posting. Together they frequently played baseball on the holodeck there and often went fishing at a lake on Earth. (DS9: "Emissary")

Deep Space 9

In 2369, Jake accompanied his father to his new posting, Deep Space 9 in orbit of Bajor. He was not enthusiastic about living on the space station and would initially have preferred living on Bajor. However, he gradually came to accept it after meeting Nog, who became his best friend. Jake was a good influence on Nog, who enrolled in a school run by Keiko O'Brien. There Nog learned to read and write, and Jake expanded his studies. (DS9: "A Man Alone") Jake's father became concerned with his friendship with Nog, worried that Nog would be a bad influence on Jake. When Nog was forbidden to attend school, Commander Sisko was relieved and hoped the relationship would end. But the two still spent time together and it was discovered that Jake was tutoring Nog. (DS9: "The Nagus")

Jake had many adventures on the space station. He was one of the first infected by a virus left by the resistance on the space station that caused aphasia. (DS9: "Babel") During a camping trip in the Gamma Quadrant, Jake and his father ran into the Jem'Hadar. When his father was captured, Jake, along with Nog, used the runabout to alert a search party looking for them. (DS9: "The Jem'Hadar") In 2371, Jake, his father, and Miles O'Brien became trapped in an former ore-processing unit when an old Cardassian security system was activated and the station was threatened with destruction. They were saved when they were able to reach the main control junction and shut down the program. (DS9: "Civil Defense")

During the Bajoran Gratitude Festival, Jake became enamored with Major Kira, who was in love with Vedek Bareil at the time. However, this later turned out to be a side effect of Lwaxana Troi's Zanthi Fever, which projected amorous feelings for the person who was closest to her at the time – and that was Kira. (DS9: "Fascination") He also helped his father pilot a replica of an ancient Bajoran space vessel, which Captain Sisko built, on a journey to Cardassia to prove that the Bajorans reached Cardassia without the aid of warp technology. (DS9: "Explorers")

Jake watches his father hugging his grandfather in 2372

In 2372, he accompanied his father to Earth during the Changeling scare. There he experienced a taste of martial law, with troops in the streets and everyone subject to blood tests, which was a way of verifying if one was Human or a Changeling. (DS9: "Homefront") While on Earth, he was able to spend time with his grandfather, Joseph Sisko. He also witnessed the attempt by some Starfleet members to attempt an overthrow of the civilian government. They believed that a military-run government could best meet the threat of the Dominion. (DS9: "Paradise Lost")

Professor Jennifer Sisko of the mirror universe kidnapped Jake in order to lure Captain Sisko back to her universe to help the rebellion build a copy of the USS Defiant for the rebels. She and Jake became very close, only to have Jake experience another loss when Jennifer was killed by the mirror Kira. (DS9: "Shattered Mirror")

Over time, Jake became involved in Bajoran spiritual activities. When his father began having visions of the future of Bajor and Jake learned that the visions were harmful and could kill him, he ordered Dr. Bashir to operate and repair his father's synaptic nerves. He was taken over by a Pah-wraith, an evil prophet, who wished to destroy the wormhole. He was stopped by a prophet who had taken over Kira. (DS9: "Rapture", "The Reckoning")

Jake together with a wounded Starfleet soldier on Ajilon Prime in 2373

Jake got a first-hand look at war when a Federation colony was attacked by Klingons. Amid the fighting and killing on Ajilon Prime, Jake helped out in the infirmary and was horrified to realize that war is not a romantic adventure. When trying to retrieve a generator for the infirmary, he became frightened by shelling and ran away terrified. After wandering across a wounded soldier he was unable to save or help, he returned to the infirmary and hid during another Klingon attack as the hospital was evacuated. As the Klingons entered the facility to give chase to those trying to escape underground, he grabbed a phaser and fired in panic, causing the ceiling to crash in on the Klingons, stopping their advance. At first he was hailed as a hero for having delayed the enemy and bought everyone else time to escape, but he revealed the truth and wrote an article about the fine line between courage and cowardice. (DS9: "Nor the Battle to the Strong")

The Dominion War

Jake played a prominent role in the war against the Dominion. After the Second Battle of Deep Space 9, Jake elected to stay behind as a front line reporter on the war. (DS9: "Call to Arms") Jake clashed somewhat with Weyoun, the Vorta leader of the Dominion forces aboard the station. Weyoun was disturbed by Jake's use of the word "occupation" in his reports for the Federation News Service to describe the nonaggression pact between the Dominion and Bajor and concluded that Jake was biased against the Dominion and refused to transmit his stories to the outside world for publication. When Jake insisted on freedom of the press, Weyoun smiled and replied, "Please, tell me you're not that naive." (DS9: "A Time to Stand")

Jake joined Major Kira and Rom in forming a resistance cell on Deep Space 9. They attempted to sabotage the station. (DS9: "Behind the Lines") Later they were arrested, with Rom sentenced to death. Tora Ziyal and Quark rescued them and together they took the weapons off-line, with the help of Odo, which helped lead to the retaking of Deep Space 9. (DS9: "Sacrifice of Angels") Later, after the station had been retaken by the Federation, Jake successfully published a collection of his stories about living on the station under Dominion rule. (DS9: "You Are Cordially Invited")

Jake and Nog fight the Jem'Hadar aboard the runabout Shenandoah in 2374

In 2374, Jake and Nog were attacked by a Jem'Hadar ship and rescued by the USS Valiant, manned and captained by the Red Squad. The ship was originally on a training mission, but became trapped in Dominion space at the outbreak of the war. Although Nog immediately hit it off with the crew, Jake had reservations. The captain of the ship decided to carry out the original mission, and obtained information on a new Jem'Hadar battleship. They were able to complete their mission, but then the crew decided to attack the ship. Jake believed that this was a suicide mission. Captain Watters had Jake arrested and put in the brig. The Valiant was destroyed in the attack, with all hands killed except for Jake, Nog, and one crewman, all of whom escaped and were rescued by the USS Defiant. (DS9: "Valiant")

When Captain Sisko took an indefinite leave of absence and left Deep Space 9 after the death of Jadzia Dax and the closing of the wormhole by a Pah-wraith who entered into the body of Gul Dukat, Jake returned to Earth with his father to stay with his grandfather, Joseph Sisko. (DS9: "Tears of the Prophets") After an assassination attempt on his father by a Pah-wraith cultist and a reunion with Ezri Dax, he helped his father find the Orb of the Emissary on Tyree, which reopened the wormhole, freeing the Prophets. Jake then returned with his father to Deep Space 9, where he remained until the conclusion of the war. (DS9: "Shadows and Symbols")

Hobbies

Writing

Jake Sisko signing the title page of his novel Anslem

Jake did not follow in his father's footsteps to enter Starfleet, contrary to the latter's initial expectations. (DS9: "Shadowplay") Though he did inherit his father's love for art, surprising his father with the fact that he wrote poetry. (DS9: "The Abandoned") Eventually developing a fondness and talent for writing, he considered enrolling at the Pennington School in New Zealand on a writing fellowship. He started at least two works: Anslem, a novel, and the short story "Past Prologue". Later, Jake joined the Federation News Service as a war correspondent, remaining on Deep Space 9 while it was under Dominion control, placing himself in considerable danger. He was present on the USS Defiant during the invasion of the Chin'toka system. Jake was a gifted writer but a horrible speller. (DS9: "The Muse", "The Ascent", "Call to Arms")

Cooking

Like his father, Jake had been taught cooking from an early age by his grandfather and regularly enjoyed cooking, his skills gaining the surprised admiration of his mirror mother, calling his family's expert cooking skills the "cooking gene" which supposedly all Siskos shared. (DS9: "Shattered Mirror") Jake frequently impressed residents of Deep Space 9, including his father, with his abilities in the kitchen. (DS9: "Rapture")

Sports and games

Jake and his father shared a fondness for baseball, a fondness shared by Kasidy Yates; the pair or trio often visited the holosuites on Deep Space 9 and re-enact famous historical matches. Jake also enjoyed playing dom-jot with Nog.

Personal relationships

Friends

Nog

"Noh-Jay Consortium" negotiating

Upon arrival at Deep Space 9, Jake quickly became friends with Nog despite the differences between their cultures, even teaching the young Ferengi how to read and encouraging him to attend Keiko O'Brien's school. This friendship endured, and Jake and Nog eventually moved in together when Nog returned from Starfleet Academy on Earth. He encouraged Nog to apply to Starfleet. (DS9: "Heart of Stone")

Jake and Nog occasionally sat on the Promenade and watched "the women" arriving on the station. (DS9: "Move Along Home", "The Storyteller", "The Maquis, Part I")

When Nog was wounded during the Siege of AR-558 and lost a leg, Jake tried to help him adjust. Nog was spending a lot of time in the Vic Fontaine holoprogram. When Jake came into the holosuite, Nog became enraged and punched Jake, but Jake continued to try to help his friend. (DS9: "It's Only a Paper Moon")

Quark

For a short time while Nog was on a mission with the Defiant, Jake hung out with Quark and observed him as he was conducting a "nefarious deal." (DS9: "The Sound of Her Voice")

Family

File:Ben&JakeSisko2375.jpg

Jake (right) with his father in 2375

Jake and his father enjoyed a strong relationship. They especially shared a love of baseball, and regularly played the game together in Quark's holosuites. Jake and Nog even went to great lengths to acquire an original Willie Mays baseball card for his father as a "cheering up" present. (DS9: "In the Cards")

Jake introduced his father to his second wife, Kasidy Yates, despite some initial reluctance, and served as best man at their wedding. (DS9: "'Til Death Do Us Part")

Jake Sisko's family came from New Orleans, Louisiana, with ancestry from Africa. His father kept several African masks on the wall in his quarters, after retrieving them from storage on Earth. (DS9: "The Search, Part I")

Jake's paternal grandfather was Joseph Sisko. Whenever Jake visited his grandfather's restaurant, Sisko's Creole Kitchen, the latter made him scrub oysters or peel potatoes. When Jake was young, Joseph would tell him that the alligator that hung off of his restaurant's ceiling came down at night and guarded the restaurant, and that during the day it was in stasis. (DS9: "Homefront")

Both his father and grandfather would call Jake by his nickname, Jake-O, from time to time. (DS9: "Homefront", "The Visitor")

His aunt, Judith Sisko, lived in Portland. (DS9: "Past Tense, Part I")

Romances

Jake went on his first date in 2370, with a young Bajoran woman named Laira. (DS9: "The Homecoming") Following the end of that relationship, Jake started going out with another Bajoran, this time a dabo girl named Mardah, until 2371, believing he was in love. (DS9: "Sanctuary", "Playing God", "The Abandoned", "Fascination") Following their break-up, Jake began dating a Human woman named Leanne. (DS9: "Life Support", "Explorers") By 2375, Jake was dating a Bajoran woman named Kesha. (DS9: "It's Only a Paper Moon")

Miscellaneous

In 2373-2374, Jake's quarters were in Section M of the habitat ring. He shared them with his friend Nog. Prior to this he lived in his father's quarters. (DS9: "The Ascent")

Alternate future

Jake Sisko in his thirties

Jake Sisko in the mid-25th century

In an alternate timeline, Jake was a great writer who retired at the age of forty. He revealed to a young admirer who visited him in his New Orleans home that he retired because of the death of his father, when Jake was eighteen years old. Captain Sisko was "killed" when he and Jake were on the Defiant to view the inversion of the wormhole. Sisko was killed when a bolt of energy from the warp core hit him as he pushed Jake out of its way.

After his father's death, Jake was visited several times by his father who, it turned out, was not actually dead. His father's temporal signature had been altered and he was appearing and disappearing due to the fluctuations of the signature. Attempts by the crew to save him failed and he dematerialized.

During this timeline, the station was turned over to the Klingon Empire, and Jake returned home, where he married a Bajoran woman named Korena and began writing.

In his thirties, however, his father appeared to him again, and, obsessed with trying to find a way to save him, Jake abandoned his writing and devoted his life to trying to free his father from the subspace field in which he was trapped. All attempts to free his father failed; it was only near the end of his life that Jake realized that the only way to save his father was for Jake to die, at the moment when his father returned and was with him in normal space, so the bond between the two would severed and the elder Sisko would be returned to the time of the accident. He poisoned himself to ensure that he would die when his father was with him; as he died, his father was returned to the Defiant, and dodged the energy burst, thereby avoiding the accident and giving Jake a second chance at life with his father. (DS9: "The Visitor")

Appendices

Appearances

• DS9:
  • "Emissary"
  • "A Man Alone"
  • "Babel"
  • "Move Along Home"
  • "The Nagus"
  • "The Storyteller"
  • "Progress"
  • "If Wishes Were Horses"
  • "In the Hands of the Prophets"
  • "The Homecoming" (Season 2)
  • "The Circle"
  • "The Siege"
  • "Second Sight"
  • "Sanctuary"
  • "The Alternate"
  • "Whispers"
  • "Shadowplay"
  • "Playing God"
  • "The Jem'Hadar"
  • "The Search, Part I" (Season 3)
  • "The Search, Part II" (only as part of the Dominion-induced hallucination)
  • "Equilibrium"
  • "The Abandoned"
  • "Civil Defense"
  • "Fascination"
  • "Life Support"
  • "Heart of Stone"
  • "Explorers"
  • "Family Business"
  • "Facets"
  • "The Adversary"
  • "The Visitor" (Season 4)
  • "Indiscretion"
  • "Little Green Men"
  • "Homefront"
  • "Paradise Lost"
  • "Hard Time"
  • "Shattered Mirror"
  • "The Muse"
  • "For the Cause"
  • "Apocalypse Rising" (Season 5)
  • "Nor the Battle to the Strong"
  • "The Assignment"
  • "The Ascent"
  • "Rapture"
  • "Doctor Bashir, I Presume"
  • "Business as Usual"
  • "Blaze of Glory"
  • "In the Cards"
  • "Call to Arms"
  • "A Time to Stand" (Season 6)
  • "Rocks and Shoals"
  • "Sons and Daughters"
  • "Behind the Lines"
  • "Favor the Bold"
  • "Sacrifice of Angels"
  • "You Are Cordially Invited"
  • "Far Beyond the Stars"
  • "The Reckoning"
  • "Valiant"
  • "The Sound of Her Voice"
  • "Tears of the Prophets"
  • "Image in the Sand" (Season 7)
  • "Shadows and Symbols"
  • "Afterimage"
  • "Take Me Out to the Holosuite"
  • "Once More Unto the Breach"
  • "It's Only a Paper Moon"
  • "Penumbra"
  • "'Til Death Do Us Part"
  • "What You Leave Behind"

Background information

• Jake was played by Cirroc Lofton. The young Jake seen in "Emissary" was played by Thomas Hobson. The middle-aged and the elderly Jake in "The Visitor" were played by Tony Todd.
• The original 1992 Writer's Bible for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine [1] gave this biography for the character:

Jake Sisko, the commander's son. An Army brat who doesn't remember life on Earth, has been aboard four different starships, and stationed on two planets. This transient life style has taught him how to scope out a new terrain and assimilate quickly. At the same time he has an inner fear of forming new friendships because he loses them so easily. He dreams of going to live on Earth. He collects holodeck programs of various places on Earth that he uses to try to fulfill his fantasy. Deep inside he knows that his mom would still be alive if they did not live in space, and he has a suppressed bitterness about it. His father promised there would be other kids on the station; as it turns out there are only a handful of various alien species. Only one is his age, Nog, a Ferengi teenage boy who is a bad influence. Jake is close with his dad; they are buddies. The boy has no technical expertise at all. He struggles with his homework but is dedicated to doing his best.

• Ronald D. Moore has commented, "Until we hit on Jake as a writer (in "The Abandoned" as I recall) we didn't really have a role for him within the context of the show. No one wanted to go down the Wesley Crusher super-genius road again, and it just took a while to find Jake's niche on the station." (AOL chat, 1997)
• Speaking in 1999, shortly before filming finished on "What You Leave Behind", Cirroc Lofton said, "Jake, like most children, was finding himself, and trying to see where he was going to be in the whole overall scheme of things, and I believe that he just really grew up on the show, he went from adolescence to manhood, where he's now discovering himself, on his own, and coming into his own self, so he knows what he wants to do, he's found things that he's interested in, and he went from being a kid to being this young man ready to face the world, and ready to take on new challenges. I think that's really the evolution of this character, he was just there to show you there are children, and there are ways to cope with this lifestyle in space, and you can mature, and you don't have to be a Starfleet officer necessarily." ("Crew Dossier: Jake Sisko", DS9 Season 7 DVD, Special Features)
• Despite being a regular cast member throughout all seven seasons of the show, Jake Sisko was only in 71 of the show's 173 episodes. In season 7, despite being a regular for the whole season he was only in 9 episodes of the season, less than two recurring characters, Nog (11) and Damar (11). Another recurring character, Morn, appeared in 92 episodes across the series.
• Jake is the only member of the main DS9 cast to not have a mirror universe counterpart as the mirror counterparts of his parents, Benjamin Sisko and Jennifer Sisko, separated before his counterpart could be born.
• Jake is one of only two main characters since TNG to not have appeared as a hologram. The other is Ezri Dax.

Apocrypha

• In the Pocket DS9 series novels, Jake's full name is given. His full first name, Jacob, is mentioned in the novel Emissary, and his middle name, Isaac, in Avatar, Book One.
• In Rising Son, he travels into the wormhole looking for his father and becomes lost in the Gamma Quadrant. He joins a ship of treasure hunters and eventually discovers Kai Opaka. He helps bring her home and unwittingly participates in finding a lost civilization in the Idran system.
• In the Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Volume 2, Jake meets and marries a Bajoran woman called Azeni Korena (Rena for short), whom Benjamin Sisko met in the alternate timeline of the "The Visitor".
• In the 1990s, several Star Trek: Deep Space Nine young adult novels featured several adventures of Jake and Nog.

External links

• Template:NCwiki
• [2]
• Jake Sisko at Wikipedia