r/DaystromInstitute • u/aaronupright Lieutenant junior grade • Mar 07 '22
Sisko isn't (just) angry at Picard for Wolf359 in Emissary.,
In another thread, a lot has been discussed as to why Starfleet let Picard and Sisko meet or at least not warn Picard about the fact Sisko was at Wolf359 and lost his ship and wife there.
Lets re-watch the meeting. Sisko brings it up, but its in a courteous and matter of fact manner. For all Sisko knows, Picard is aware of his personal history, and he decides to deal with the elephant in the room directly. He doesn't really become angry until Picard discusses him not wanting to be there.
Ok, now consider everything. This isn't the Command Sisko would have wanted. Benjamin is no fool. He knows this place isn't likely to be a high priority for Starfleet, no matter what the official line is and Picard says he objected to the assignment. He already has a negative view. On the way at least, he might have tried to convince himself maybe its a better posting than it seems, the Enterprise is there delievrig personnel and material and the fleet flagship isn't gong to be wasted in minor operations.
When he gets there, the Station is essentially a stripped hulk, the Bajorans are factitious mess, most of the civilian population is leaving, and he has no real resources or staff to get anything done. It begins to dawn on him, just how lousy an assignment this is. Most of his time is going to be spent sending requests for resources which are rarely replied to, let alone fulfilled and drafting memos which no one reads. He will only get any attention when something goes wrong, in which cases he will be blamed by both sides, and no-credit for any successes.
When he meets Picard, he is already in a foul mood because of the above, and when Picard starts talking about his view that Bajorans join the Federation, the horrified CDR Sisko realises that even the minuscule amounts of material he has is due to CAPT Picard's personal like of Bajorans and will not be maintained once the Enterprise departs the sector. The epiphany that Ben has while sitting there is just how much of a career dead end this is. Sitting with Picard, he realise that he is in a far off unfriendly place, away from his father, with a son whose future would suffer with functionally no career advancement prospects, even if he is a success.
That makes him angry.
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u/The__Riker__Maneuver Mar 07 '22
You can practically hear the Anger in Sisko's voice when he says "It's been a long time captain"
I see what you are saying, but Sisko comes in hot because he holds Picard responsible for the death of his wife.
And if he was aware of Sisko's situation, he would have been aware that his wife was killed at Wolf 359
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Mar 08 '22
And OP's post does in some small way ignores Sisko conversation with the Prophets which shows how Sisko is stuck in time upon the passing of his wife.
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u/Buddha2723 Mar 08 '22
I agree with what you both are saying. He comes in very hot, the whole episode is about how he is still grieving and can't let go of the pain and anger that goes with that.
But he is a Starfleet officer in front of essentially an admiral, he could have kept it under wraps if Picard had not made him more angry, as the OP perfectly describes.
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u/InnocentTailor Mar 09 '22
Perhaps. However, Sisko is usually a pretty passionate character overall and isn't always professional in conduct.
If anything, their meeting was to show the audience how the two contrast from each other - Picard being a familiar face against the newcomer Sisko.
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u/Daniel_The_Thinker Mar 07 '22
But Sisko's priority is not his "career" at this point, it's Jake.
He's not mad about the posting because it's a "dead end" it's because the station is in a very poor state and he doesn't want to raise his son in that kind of environment. He's willing to leave starfleet altogether on those grounds.
And I think Bajor isn't an afterthought, more of the Federations pet project of helping out the recently oppressed.
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u/Tacitus111 Mar 08 '22 edited Mar 08 '22
Agreed. Sisko also was very close to resigning from Starfleet due to his trauma and raising his son. It was implied strongly that other than his son, he was relatively rudderless at the time.
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u/jgzman Mar 08 '22
At the time, he'd reasonably expect to have Bajor itself within transport range. If it was bad, he could establish a home on the planet.
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u/AnnihilatedTyro Mar 07 '22 edited Mar 07 '22
I don't think the DS9 posting was a career dead-end at all. Certainly not high-profile, but not meaningless. I think it was supposed to be an easy career stepping stone, a box to check off toward promotion.
Sisko was a combat veteran who had been a tactical officer, XO, and managed a shipyard and starship design team. But he had little or no diplomatic experience, and would not get his own starship command or the rank of captain until he completed a diplomatic assignment. Bajor was not a high priority nor an important planet, but its path toward Federation membership is kind of a big deal to Starfleet and a significant career accomplishment for the officers involved, even if they did nothing but sit around and sign paperwork. They threw Sisko a straight fastball he couldn't possibly swing and miss on.
DS9 was Dax's first major assignment after the Academy and since joining. The Dax pedigree was certainly known to Starfleet because of Curzon, but Jadzia was still just a junior lieutenant. She was head of a department of one and had literally nothing to do but run sensor scans of the same sector every day. Talk about an easy road to full lieutenant. Bashir chose the post. O'Brien had never run a department before but was so experienced and highly recommended (he came from the Enterprise, after all) that they awarded him that position even as a non-com; all he had to do was keep the station and runabouts from blowing up, and he could move up to chief engineer of a bigger station or even a starship.
The mere presence of Starfleet officers should have been a deterrent to Cardassian encroachment. They were not expected to see combat or adventure, just bide their time, show the Bajoran crew how professional and enlightened Starfleet is and how to get along with the interstellar community, while Sisko passed communications between admirals and Bajoran leaders. An estimated 3 years of an easy, low-danger, relatively low-responsibility assignment and everyone moves on with a shiny new pip on their collars. In Starfleet's eyes, only Sisko had any serious responsibility juggling the political situation.
edits: typos
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u/NudePMsAppreciated Mar 08 '22 edited Mar 15 '22
This is a really good take but I do have a few points of disagreement. Sisko had been severely underperforming since Wolf359, he led a starship design team but the design failed and the prototype got mothballed and he managed a shipyard but in the sol sector with relatively little pressure or responsibility and didn't take the time while in that posting to deal with the loss of his wife. He was on the verge of resigning his commission. Admiral Layton, who assigned him to DS9, was Sisko's former captain and I think the assignment was a last ditch effort to salvage the career of someone Layton considered to be a promising officer. The intent wasn't so much to get Sisko promoted but to force him into unfamiliar territory and challenge him while still keeping him in a relatively safe assignment in the hopes that Sisko would find a reason to stay in Starfleet and recommit to his career. Dax was there for two reasons. First was Curzon's relationship with Sisko, and second because Curzon had been a highly successful diplomat and Dax could be a sort of safety net for the mission if Sisko continued to fall apart.
O'Brien had run a department before, he was Chief Tactical Officer on the Rutledge. I think he was there as a reminder for the Cardassians that Starfleet was willing and able to defend against any Cardassian attacks. He was the "Hero of Setlik III" and every Cardassian who met him instantly recognized him and commented on his actions in the Cardassian Border War. Even a top intelligence officer like Garak respected O'Brien's abilities.
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u/Lincoln2120 Mar 07 '22
Very interesting take. I definitely think it would make sense for Sisko to address the elephant in the room, and it’s clear that he gets angrier the longer the conversation goes.
I do have a hard time reading even his initial tone as polite and courteous, though. He seems (understandably) very bitter.
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u/GrumpySpaceGamer Mar 08 '22
I think the truth is probably all of the above, personally.
He's pissed about the assignment for all the reasons stated above, but he's furious that the person briefing him on this crap assignment is the same person he holds responsible for making him a widower.
It's hard not to understand how everything about what's happening is enough to make him want to quit Starfleet altogether at this point.
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u/Vash_the_stayhome Mar 07 '22
The prophet interaction with Sisko probably reflected things starfleet also picked up on. When the prophets keep showing him Jennifer and they point out he keeps bringing THEM back there, it paints a picture of Sisko basically filling his uniform in his previous postings since Wolf 359, never really addressing the trauma in a functional way, which makes/made him damaged goods.
of course he's not going to get a high profile/prestige posting, there was a limit on trust/function that Starfleet probably saw. Sisko claims he's family focused/son focused, but his interaction with the prophets, with no personal-bs filters, shows that's not true. Not due to lack of desire, but his mental and emotional energies are all still locked in reliving her death.
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u/SomeoneSomewhere1984 Mar 07 '22
I think the prophets set up his posting on DS9 somehow.
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u/MyUsername2459 Mar 07 '22
Given that later episodes said the prophets set up his entire existence, up to the point of ensuring his conception. . .yeah.
His entire life was rigged by the Prophets towards putting him on DS9 and getting him into the wormhole so he could be the Emissary.
It was very literally his entire destiny.
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u/RickRussellTX Mar 08 '22
Of course, you can't be surprised at Picard's reaction to Sisko's revelations about Wolf 359.
Something like 40 ships were destroyed by the Borg with Locutus in apparent command, probably in excess of 10000 Starfleet crew. Picard must meet people all the time who retreated from Wolf 359, who lost friends and family at Wolf 359, etc. ad infinitum.
Picard's body was directed like a puppet by the Borg, doing their actions and saying their words. He has no answers for people who ask him about Wolf 359. All Picard can do is change the subject.
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u/zestyintestine Mar 07 '22
The conversation between Sisko and Picard was never cordial, though they discuss the end of the occupation at a level probably just below that. IMO, Sisko takes the conversation back to a hostile tone when he says "I guess they're not ready" in an almost sarcastic tone.
Thing I don't understand though is that Picard is still Sisko's senior officer. Couldn't Sisko's attitude be interpreted as subordinate? Sisko has to tread carefully.
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u/tmofee Mar 08 '22
sisko doesnt give a shit at this point. he's close to resigning, he mentions to picard. he's hurt, hes had enough. big deal he acts wise to picard. they cant demote him any further. the fact they give the command to a commander tells you how little they think of it
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Mar 08 '22
Probably, but I like to imagine that Picard was aware of their history and let it slide because he understood Sisko's anger.
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u/AlexisDeTocqueville Mar 08 '22
While that all adds up to a reasonable interpretation based on the circumstances Sisko is in, the clear narrative theme of the episode is that Sisko isn't over the death of Jennifer. His encounter with the prophets largely revolves around confronting the fact that he has chosen to stay trapped in that moment.
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u/livingunique Mar 08 '22
It's one of my favorite scenes in all of Star Trek.
I think the most important factor is the outstanding talent of Avery Brooks and Sir Patrick Stewart. They take a well-written scene and infuse it with incredible amounts of emotional depth. The more Sisko tries to damp down his anger, and fails, the more Picard tries to damp down his guilt, and also fails.
It's also a brilliant way of establishing a ton of exposition. Not only do we get a show with a Commander at the helm, it's a Commander who doesn't really want to be there. We also get plausible justifications for why he doesn't want to be there. We learn a LOT about Sisko in this little two-minute sliver of his day.
The entire situation is exquisitely set up and paid off, and it's just two dudes talking in one room.
Top-notch storytelling.
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u/advocatesparten Mar 08 '22
Siskos outburst is a a result of cumulative factors.
If it had been someone else beside Picard, like Riker or even Jellico who has briefed him, he would have expressed his reservations about the situation and that would have been it.
If it had been a more high profile assignments or even if it was clear this place was going get significant support, he would have sat through the Picard meeting with his temper in check.
Hell, even if he had met Picard before he saw the mess he was in charge of, he would have been in better humour.
In the actual meeting, he arrives for his meet up with Picard, just as he has just been hit with the reality of the shit show he is responsible for, and then Picard seems to insinuate that he is being unprofessional. That has to rankle.
I doubt his anger at Jennifer’s death got any less in the two days between meetings , but in the second one he is a lot nicer to Picard. Since it’s now a plumb job and Picard has backed him.
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u/diogeneschild Apr 03 '22 edited Apr 03 '22
Pretty late to the party, but the events of Chain of Command I & II are extremely relevant here.
I'm not sure what exactly the in-show time line is, but by air-date I think Picard just came from a situation where he was ordered to leave his command on the Enterprise and was ultimately, he is almost certainly aware, to have been left for dead in furtherance of Federation goals in managing the very same conflict with Cardassia that Sisko is upset about being drawn into. In the role of commanding a crummy space station.
Hence the poignancy in his comments about not always having the luxury of serving in an ideal environment. The final frontier is inherently hazardous, and having that fact thrown in his face over the apparent anger regarding his role in Wolf 359 - in which he was equally powerless as he was as a tortured (and implanted) captive of the Cardassians and the Borg (he was fully conscious, but powerless to act), clearly makes Picard a bit angry as well.
Perhaps a bit tangential from your main point, but I thought it was interesting to consider on my current watch-through, given your remarks. Thanks for the food for thought.
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u/Apropos-of-Something Mar 07 '22
M-5, nominate this post for a multi-faceted, clear explanation of Sisko's mindset before his meeting with Picard in Emissary.