Wormhole relay station The wormhole relay station was a subspace relay station that allowed communications from the Alpha Quadrant to pass through the Bajoran wormhole into the Gamma Quadrant between stardate s 48543 . 2 and 50564 . 2 . Historical background . Although communications through the wormhole were possible , it was unreliable and required the wormhole to be open while the transmissions occurred . Some attempts were made in 2370 to produce a reliable communications network that traversed the wormhole , but due to the wormhole ' s high interference , which consisted of unstable subspace carrier wave s and high phase variance s , the signal was not strong enough to pass through . Subspace communication s that bypassed the wormhole could take over twenty years to reach the Gamma Quadrant . ( ) The disastrous first contact between the Dominion and the Federation created a growing need to have a reliable communications conduit to the Gamma Quadrant so that Dominion activity could be monitored . In 2371 , the Bajoran s put behind fifty years of hatred towards the Cardassian s when Vedek Bareil , under the auspices of Commander Benjamin Sisko , brokered an historic peace treaty between the Cardassian Union and Bajor which was signed by Legate Turrel and Kai Winn . This treaty paved the way for the wormhole relay station to be built . ( ) Construction and deployment . The first joint Federation - Bajoran - Cardassian effort under the new peace treaty , called the " Wormhole Comm Relay Project " , was to create a Gamma Quadrant relay station to aid communications between the two distant quadrant s . The Cardassian government sent three of its scientist s , Ulani Belor , Gilora Rejal , and Dejar , to participate in the effort . However , former Vedek Yarka warned the Emissary of the Prophets , Benjamin Sisko , that the Cardassian involvement in the project would lead to the destruction of the wormhole according to Trakor ' s Third Prophecy , which predicted that three vipers would destroy the Celestial Temple . Despite his objections , though , Commander Sisko ordered the project to proceed because the kai and Vedek Assembly had already agreed on the project . In accordance with the project plans , the positioned the signaling satellite at the Bajoran end of the wormhole and deployed the relay station on the Gamma Quadrant side . While testing the relay station , the crew discovered a comet whose trajectory would pass close to the wormhole . Major Kira saw this as a support to Yarka ' s claim about the prophecy . When the first test of the relay produced no results , the team conducted a second test using a different subspace frequency . However , the second test inadvertently opened the wormhole , which increased its gravity and set the comet on a collision course with the wormhole . Simply destroying the comet could have created multiple fragments , so Chief O ' Brien modified the phaser s of the " Defiant " to generate a wide beam that would encompass the entire comet and destroy it evenly . When the " Defiant " fired her phasers , however , a standard burst was fired instead , causing the comet to split into three pieces , all still on course for the wormhole . O ' Brien ' s examination of the weapon system suggested he made a mistake , one that even a first - year engineering student wouldn ' t make . Gilora then informed him that Dejar was a member of the Obsidian Order and that she had sabotage d the phasers in an effort to undermine Cardassian - Bajoran relations by trying to let the relay project fail . It seemed the prophecy would be fulfilled just as Yarka had said . To save the relay project from a disaster , Sisko positioned a shuttle between the three comet fragments in an attempt to contain them while they passed through the wormhole . Except for a small amount of silithium leakage from the comet , he and Kira successfully contained the fragments and kept the wormhole intact . More importantly , the silithium that was inadvertently released during the procedure created a small subspace filament in the wormhole , large enough for the wormhole relay station to work . Sisko had fulfilled the prophecy , although not in the way Yarka explained it , and ensured that the wormhole would never close again . ( ) Logistics . The wormhole relay station consisted of a Starfleet - produced signaling platform and was positioned two kilometer s from the wormhole entrance . It also contained a Cardassian transceiver , devised by Ulani , that was powered by a Starfleet power grid . The transceiver assembly sent a subspace carrier wave through the wormhole to a second transceiver , located on Deep Space 9 . The transceiver used soliton pulses , carefully tuned to eliminate any phase variance below 0 . 005 % to minimize the impact on the wormhole . Ulani and Gilora improved the station ' s signaling array so it could accommodate the new transmissions ( and removed O ' Brien ' s secondary backup of the station ' s system in the process ) ; however , the simulations showed that transmission frequencies in the delta band would not work , and the theta band frequencies could create a subspace inversion . In essence , it was the subspace filament that allowed transmissions to occur ; the filament ( created when the comet ' s silithium reacted with the wormhole ' s ambient radiation ) was a thin trail that acted like a subspace carrier wave and helped to carry transmissions through the bends of the wormhole . ( ) Service record . The subspace relay station played an important part in communications while Starfleet explored the Gamma Quadrant . In Julian Bashir ' s coma - induced reality created by the Lethean Altovar , a simulation of Chief O ' Brien managed to communicate to the outside using the relay station . It revealed the voices of Jadzia Dax and Sisko in the real world , trying to revive Bashir from the telepathic damage caused by the Lethean . ( ) When Enabran Tain was about to destroy the homeworld of the Founder s , Starfleet ordered Sisko to stay put and protect Bajor . Sisko , though , wanted to rescue Odo , who was being held captive by Tain , and decided to pursue him . If Sisko found any Dominion forces coming through the wormhole , he would warn the Alpha Quadrant using the communications relay . ( ) Before General invaded Cardassia and started the , he was ordered to protect Deep Space 9 in event of an attack by the Dominion , who had placed Changelings throughout the Alpha Quadrant . Captain Sisko politely refused the offer for help , citing the fact that the communications relay picked up no Jem ' Hadar activity near the wormhole . ( ) Lieutenant Arriaga , under orders from Admiral Leyton , attempted to mislead Starfleet into thinking the Dominion was sending cloaked ships to the Alpha Quadrant . He did so by attaching a subspace modulator to the communications satellite . The modulator had the effect of making the wormhole open and close at random . ( ) When O ' Brien was convicted of spy ing on the Argrathi government , the Argrathi communicated to the station via the wormhole relay . ( ) Bashir used the relay station a number of times during his individual missions in the Gamma Quadrant , such as when he tried to cure the Jem ' Hadar of their ketracel - white addiction on Bopak III , and when he cured the Teplan s of the Blight . ( ) When Sisko , Worf , Jadzia Dax , Muniz , and O ' Brien were trapped in a Jem ' Hadar attack ship on Torga IV , Sisko used the communications relay to request the services of the " Defiant " . ( ) The relay station ' s most useful mission came when Worf and Elim Garak took a runabout to locate Tain , who was captured by the Dominion after his failed attempt to destroy the Founders ' homeworld . When they found a Dominion fleet hiding in a nebula close to the wormhole , Worf managed to send a message to the relay and warned Deep Space 9 of the impending invasion . The relay ' s primary mission ( to detect when the Dominion would invade the Alpha Quadrant ) had been fulfilled . With the message received , the wormhole relay station ( and its associated outposts ) were disabled by the Dominion fleet . ( ) Background information . The relay station was introduced in as a B - story the producers had been looking to include for some time . " " It just took us a while to figure out how to do it , " " explained Ronald D . Moore . " " We wanted to deal with the Emissary , we wanted to do a Bajoran - orientated show . We also wanted a communication relay in the Gamma Quadrant anyway , and since it was following , we could make the Cardassians integral to it and include the peace treaty . It all just started to come together for us . " " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 92 ) The relay is a reuse of the Amargosa observatory model from . Gary Hutzel also had the job of adjusting it to appear in " Destiny " . As he explained , " " In the feature , it has extremely long extensions on it . So basically , I took a saw to it ! We cut off the extentions and redesigned a couple of elements and did a new paint job . " " The script describes it as being " " the size of a runabout , with high - tech antennae and communications gear . " " ( " " , p . 212 ; ; )