Captain Ben Sisko was forced into morally untenable situations. He’s launched chemical weapons on a planet to force an enemy to evacuate; he’s committed espionage; he’s been a war general. Like no other captain before or after, Ben Sisko has known the harsh realities of foreign policy and of having not only the lives of his crew riding on his decisions, but the entire Alpha Quadrant. Hundreds of billions of lives. And he won. How badass is that?

DS9 never received the mainstream attention it deserved, so we’re going to give the series and Cap Sisko some of the love it deserves. Here are 15 Things You Didn’t Know About Ben Sisko.

15. He’s Part God…

Okay, so we'll freely it that season 7 of DS9 had some creative problems. One of the issues was finding out that Ben Sisko’s mother was a woman who was possessed by the Prophets to seduce his father and give birth to him. It’s meant to be mythic, but instead, it just takes away from the naturalistic feel of the character. Thankfully, this plotline is quickly dropped and never mentioned again.

That being said, it’s worth noting because in some way, it does make a bit of sense. No regular human could be that much of a badass without help. He’s backhanded Gul Dukat, Elim Garak, Jem’Hadar soldiers and told Captain Picard where to stick his Ressikan flute. The man is concentrated awesome.

14. …And He Punched Another God in the Face

If you’ve ever watched the series, you know where we’re going with this. Q, the omnipotent god-like entity from TNG, showed up on DS9. He played Mr. Mxyzptlk-like tricks and jokingly challenged Ben Sisko to a fight, suddenly turning Quark’s bar into a boxing arena. Then, to the surprise of nobody but Q, Sisko decked him. Let’s meditate on that. A god-like being with unlimited power and poor impulse control was punched in the face by Benjamin Lafayette Sisko.

The episode itself—the aptly titled “Q-Less,” is a tedious mess that exists to bring the TNG fans over to the station. Despite the script, John De Lancie and Avery Brooks do deliver in their scenes together.

Q: “You hit me! Picard never hit me!”

Sisko: “I’m not Picard.”

And suddenly, every man on Earth realized just how weak they really were.

ittedly, this is a well-known scene in the fandom, but we added it here because it is simply awesome.

13. Sisko After the Series Finale

Pocket Books continued the Star Trek titles as books after the series went off the air. Taking place post-Nemesis, we learn that Sisko returned from the Prophets to be there for the birth of his daughter. The DS9 relaunch books were mostly great until David R. George took over and character assassinated Sisko by having him disown his entire family to protect them from a vague prophecy and starts treating his crew like crap. Not only is the reasoning thin, but it's also antithetical to Sisko’s character. He’s a family man who is open with the people around him. The ive-aggressive martyr act is beneath him.

Also, Kira as a Vedek is terrible.

Now, if you want a good Star Trek book, check out Peter David’s New Frontier series and Andrew J. Robinson’s A Stitch in Time (Garak’s history written by Garak himself!).

12. iral Sisko

At the beginning of season 6, the Dominion War was out of control and the Federation/Klingon Alliance was losing every major confrontation. Despite being a captain, Ben Sisko was given control of the entire Alliance. He was the most experienced in fighting the Dominion and a brilliant strategist—so much so that his profile is required reading for all Dominion commanders. So, it makes sense that in taking on such an important role in the war, Sisko would be promoted to iral. And that was the plan. Showrunner Ira Steven Behr wanted to do something audacious and new, but in the end, he kiboshed the idea because he felt that making him an iral, even temporarily, would make him a less accessible character to the audience.

Naturally, making him part-god next season wouldn’t make him inaccessible. So, for those of you keeping score, a promotion is a step too far, but apotheosis is perfectly reasonable.

11. The Hair Issue

Prior to being cast as Ben Sisko in 1993, Avery Brooks played Hawk on Spenser: For Hire and its spinoff, A Man Called Hawk from 1985-1989. In both series, Brooks sported his preferred look: bald with a goatee. Paramount felt that fans would identify him as Hawk, so they had him grow his hair and shave his face for Trek (this was also done because they were worried about having two consecutively bald captains).

Fans, of course, still recognized Brooks as Hawk, because, wouldn't you know, it was the same actor. Regardless, Avery Brooks wanted his look back and negotiated making changes over time, first growing the goatee back and then shaving his head. And—surprise, surprise—fans did not leave the series in droves. This isn’t Voyager, after all.

10. Started Wars to Save Lives

Every day, Sisko had to watch from the station as more Dominion warships poured out of the wormhole and toward their Cardassian allies. War was inevitable, but impotent Starfleet was too terrified to be the ones to throw the first punch. Sisko realized that if the ships kept coming in, the Dominion would topple them. So, he sabotaged the wormhole so they couldn’t get reinforcements. The Dominion weren’t pleased, and Starfleet had no choice but to man up and save the day.

Later, Starfleet needed to get the Romulans on their side, so Sisko falsified evidence to make them enter the war on their side. These actions were morally reprehensible but necessary, and it led to the Alliance winning the war. In return, Sisko had to live with his decisions. It served to underline his distaste for war—especially because he was so good at it.

9. He Slept with Kira and Dax (Sorta)

The thing about Star Trek captains is that they usually need a good dose of penicillin after “exploring some strange new worlds.” However, by season 3, Sisko still hadn’t seduced any aliens. The reasoning was that he was still mourning the death of his wife, but Avery Brooks was frustrated for the character, so Ira Behr made it up to him.

They made an episode where Sisko was kidnapped and sent to the mirror universe. In his attempt to escape, he slept with the alternate universe incarnations of Dax and Kira. Having a captain take two lovers in one episode had never been done before (or since) and never with other characters from the main cast (or since). This satisfied Avery Brooks’ demands and jump-started Sisko back into the dating world.

8. Avery Brooks Also Wanted Sisko to Sing

Movie stars and rock stars have their weird little quirks they want in their contracts or little suggestions to add to their characters. For instance, Patrick Stewart wanted Captain Picard to quote Shakespeare and that was added; it worked out well. Great addition to the character. He also wanted “more sex and shooting” and we ended up with “Captain’s Holiday.” You can’t win them all. Avery Brooks wanted Sisko to get laid, as we've mentioned, but he also wanted Sisko to sing.

Brooks’ grandfather, father, and uncle were singers, and his mother had a Master’s in Music from Northwestern. In season 7, he finally got his wish, and Sisko sang “The Best is Yet to Come” alongside James Darren. And it was a great rendition. Thank god for that, because the episode—“Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang”—was…well, it was season 7.

7. The USS Saratoga

The Saratoga has a strange legacy in Star Trek. The name has been used for a variety of ships, and almost all of them have been otherwise disabled (The Voyage Home) or destroyed (“The Emissary”). Yet, they keep coming back as different ship types and with different registries. It’s kinda like the Kenny McCormick of Star Trek. You know death is coming, but you also know it’ll just come back again.

Sisko was the XO on one of these voyages of the damned when they encountered the Borg at Wolf 359. Faster than you can say “foreshadowing,” the damn thing gets destroyed by a combination of a Borg cutting beam and a warp core explosion. Why both? Because Star Trek hates this ship. But the real mistake? The Borg destroyed that ship, which had Sisko’s wife on it. What did he do in reply? Found out next!

6. Expert on the Borg—Never Faced Them

Sisko was First Officer on the Saratoga when the fleet fought the Borg at Wolf 359. All of the ships were easily dispatched by the Borg, and Sisko’s wife was killed. This led him to seek revenge, of course. So what does the baddest man in the Alpha Quadrant do? He creates Starfleet’s first warship that is better armed than most starbases, throws an illegal cloaking device on it, and calls it Defiant. Naturally.

The 1997 film Star Trek: First dealt with the Borg returning, and the Defiant made a brief cameo…so Worf can the fight. Nobody else from DS9. Not even Sisko. This is a creative misstep, but not a plothole. If you look at the stardates, it matches up to the DS9 episode “Blaze of Glory,” where he was stuck in the Badlands and unaware of the situation.

Regardless, the fact that Sisko and the Defiant were created with the Borg in mind and never did anything with them is a giant head scratcher.