Warning: contains spoilers for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Dog of War #5!
IDW’s Star Trek is bringing closure to a long-standing tension between two if its greatest captains, Benjamin Sisko and Jean-Luc Picard, as Sisko’s experience with a new piece of Borg technology in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Dog of War #5 helps him forgive Picard for his actions as Locutus, which led to the death of Sisko’s wife Jennifer.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Dog of War #5 – written by Mike Chen, drawn by Angel Hernandez, colored by Nick Filardi and lettered by Neil Uyetake – features Sisko and his crew having obtained a Borg interface, which allows for communication between drones. Sisko reflects on the interface, saying he often wondered what it would be like coming back from assimilation – and this was as close as he would get.
Picard Endured Unspeakable Trauma at the Borg’s Hands
In the previous issues of The Dog of War, Sisko and his crew obtain the Borg interface – with Starfleet taking interest for its potential military applications. In Issue #5, Sisko orders the tech destroyed, fearing its power too great for anyone to wield. He then asks Worf if Picard ever talked about his time as Locutus. A stunned Worf replies Picard rarely did, and Sisko says he now understands why. Captains Picard and Sisko have long, heartbreaking, intertwined histories with the Borg. Picard was captured by the Borg and assimilated into the collective as “Locutus.” He subsequently led an attack on Starfleet at Wolf 359, resulting in mass casualties – including Ben Sisko’s wife.
Sisko Can Now Heal From His Own Borg-Induced Trauma
Picard was freed from Borg control, but the scars lingered for Sisko; he deeply resented Picard, and this resentment led to a tense confrontation between the two in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s first episode. Now, Sisko’s experience with the Borg interface has helped him on his journey toward forgiveness. Sisko used the Borg tech to outwit the Brokers, and was given a taste of how powerful it was; he experienced, partially, what a Borg drone experiences, and it was enough to convince him that the technology was too dangerous to use.Yet it also gave him a greater understanding of what Jean-Luc Picard went through as Locutus.
In Dogs of War, Sisko fought an intense internal struggle to retain control of himself while under the technology’s influence. Sisko was fortunate to have option for control – drones, including Picard during his time as Locutus, do not. This taste of the Borg collective’s raw power led Sisko to order it destroyed. Sisko saw what could happen if this technology fell into even Starfleet’s hands. He saw that using Borg technology could condemn its user to a fate worse than death. Jean-Luc Picard experienced this during his time with the Borg, and now Benjamin Sisko has a greater understanding of this trauma, allowing him to forgive Picard, cooling one of Star Trek‘s most intense dynamics.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Dog of War #5 is on sale now from IDW Publishing!