Image in the Sand

"Image in the Sand" is the 151st episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the opening episode for the series' seventh and final season. It was first aired the week of September 28, 1998.

Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the crew of Deep Space Nine a Starfleet-run space station near the planet Bajor, guarding a wormhole that leads to Gamma Quadrant on the other side of the galaxy. The wormhole is home to the Prophets, powerful alien beings who are worshiped by the Bajorans and have made Benjamin Sisko, the human commander of Deep Space Nine, their "Emissary". The later seasons of the series follow a war between the United Federation of Planets and the Dominion, an expansionist empire from the Gamma Quadrant.

This episode continues the story that began in the finale of the sixth season, "Tears of the Prophets", in which Sisko's close friend Jadzia Dax was killed by the Pah-wraiths, the Prophets' evil counterparts, and the wormhole was sealed shut. In this episode, Sisko receives a vision from the Prophets, sending him on a new quest; Jadzia's husband Worf, along with her friends, try to cope with her death; and Kira Nerys, in charge of Deep Space Nine in Sisko's absence, negotiates the rocky relationship between Bajor, the Federation and their allies the Romulans.

Guest stars include James Darren who returns as Vic Fontaine, Barry Jenner as Starfleet Admiral Ross, J. G. Hertzler as Klingon General Martok and Megan Cole as the Romulan senator Cretak.