# Accession (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

"Accession" is the 89th episode of the syndicated American science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the 17th episode of the fourth season.
Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures on Deep Space Nine, a space station located near a stable wormhole between the Alpha and Gamma quadrants of the Milky Way Galaxy. The wormhole is the home of powerful non-corporeal beings, known as the "Prophets", who are worshiped by the natives of the nearby planet Bajor as gods; the Bajorans consider Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), the human commanding officer of the space station, to be the Prophets' chosen "Emissary". In this episode, Sisko is given a much-appreciated opportunity to relinquish the title of Emissary, but soon comes to regret it.
A subplot in this episode involves Keiko O'Brien's return to the station after a research expedition to Bajor and her husband Miles re-adapting to life with her after her extended absence.

## Plot

An archaic Bajoran spaceship emerges from the wormhole. Its passenger, Akorem Laan, is a revered Bajoran poet who disappeared 200 years ago. Akorem claims to have been chosen by the Prophets as their Emissary—a role thought to belong to Captain Sisko. Sisko, who never felt comfortable being the Bajorans' messiah figure, immediately cedes the title.
Akorem believes the Prophets brought him back to restore Bajor's traditional caste system, abandoned during the 50-year Cardassian occupation of Bajor. Porta, a Bajoran priest who supports Akorem, tells Major Kira that she must resign her military commission and become an artist, which is the traditional profession of her caste. Sisko warns that caste-based discrimination would disqualify Bajor from membership in the United Federation of Planets, but Akorem is adamant.
Sisko has a dream where Kai Opaka, a former spiritual leader of Bajor, tells him that he has lost sight of who he is. Doctor Bashir believes that Sisko has experienced an "orb shadow", a type of hallucination that Bajorans believe are reminders to people who ignore the Prophets' will. Sisko accepts treatment to make the visions stop.
Porta murders a fellow priest whose caste is considered spiritually unclean. Sisko realizes that Akorem's influence is bad for Bajor and challenges him for the role of Emissary. To settle the matter, they go to the wormhole and ask the Prophets themselves what they want. The Prophets tell them that Sisko is in fact their Emissary and that he is "of Bajor", and that they brought Akorem to the present to remind Sisko of the responsibility he bears. Akorem is sent back to his own era with no memory of what happened to him in the future.
Once again recognized as the Emissary by the Bajorans, Sisko accepts the role happily, newly appreciating the positive influence he has on the Bajoran people. Major Kira notices that Akorem's epic poem The Call of the Prophets—which had, up to that point, been incomplete—now exists in its entirety, suggesting that Akorem was able to complete his masterwork after returning to the past.
In a side plot, Keiko O'Brien and her daughter Molly return from a research trip to Bajor; Miles is glad to have his family back on the station, but he misses the free time he had to spend with Bashir. Keiko notices this and arranges for the two to keep spending time together.

## Production

Akorem's spacecraft is represented by computer-generated imagery produced by Industrial Light & Magic. They also did a similar spacecraft in the episode "Explorers".

## Reception

In 2018, SyFy recommended this episode for its abbreviated watch guide for the character Kira Nerys. They praised this episode for not only having a "beautiful scene" but also establishing how much Kira values her job on the space station, and her relationships there.
In 2020, Io9 said this was one of the "must watch" episodes from the series.