Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Opaka, born during the
Cardassian occupation of
Bajor, rose to the office of
kai during a period of great opression for her people. Her struggles to protect the people of Bajor and her reverence of the
Prophets made her a greatly revered figure in Bajoran history.
After the occupation was over, Kai Opaka went into seclusion to avoid the taking a side in the political turmoil that the Cardassians left in their wake on Bajor. However, she agreed to meet with Commander
Benjamin Sisko while he was attempting to unite the various Bajoran political factions. When she met him, she declared him to be the
emissary of the prophets. Shortly afterwards, he discovered the
Bajoran wormhole and met with the prophets.
Several months later, Kai Opaka was compelled by the prophets to travel to the
Gamma quadrant. While investigating a subspace signal, the
runabout she was on with Sisko,
Major Kira, and Doctor
Julian Bashir crashed on a moon there, and Opaka was killed. She did not stay dead for long, though. The moon was a prison planet, and artificial microbes brought the Kai back to life. The moon was home to two warring alien factions, and the
microbe condemmed them to fight, die, and be ressurected for eternity. If anyone who was infected with the microbes was removed from the planet, they would die. Kai Opaka made the decision to stay on the planet and attempt to mediate between the two warring factions.
During the election to decide who would succeed Opaka as Kai,
Kira Nerys discovered that Opaka was resonsible for feeding the Cardassians information that resulted in the Kendra Valley massacre. Opaka allowed 42 members of the
Bajoran resistance to die, including her own son, in order to save the 1,200 other inhabitants of the valley.
Prylar Bek killed himself shortly after, and in his suicide note, he took responsibility for the massacre to protect the Kai. Vedek Winn had evidence that
Vedek Bareil was actually responsible for the massacre, and during the investigation, Major Kira learned that it was truly Opaka. She told Bareil, but, rather than allowing the discoverey to be revealed, he withdrew from the
election for Kai to protect Kai Opaka's repuation. The newly-elected Kai Winn never learned the truth behind the massacre.
Kai Opaka was played by
Camille Saviola.