
According to accounts from behind-the-scenes documentaries and retrospectives, Deep Space Nine co-creator Michael Piller gave Ira Steven Behr full creative control of the show. Knowing it was the third live-action Star Trek series, Behr aimed to move beyond the optimistic vision established by Gene Roddenberry. This level of creative consistency was unprecedented, even compared to The Original Series. Now, Starfleet Academy is the first story to explore what happened to Captain Sisko after the events of the Deep Space Nine finale, and it handles his story with great care. It turns out Starfleet doesn’t know any more than the fans do. The series follows SAM, a 217-day-old artificial lifeform, as she tries to uncover the truth, drawing parallels between herself and Sisko as an emissary. With assistance from two beloved Star Trek characters, she finds some answers and provides fans with a satisfying resolution.