Star Trek: Deep Space Nine created their own version of Captain Rachel Garrett (Tricia O'Neil) from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Garrett was the tragic captain of the USS Enterprise-C in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3, episode 15, "Yesterday's Enterprise". Captain Garrett's crew escapes a deadly Romulan attack through a temporal rift that takes the Enterprise-C 22 years into the future, triggering a dark Star Trek timeline where the Federation-Klingon War never ended. Garrett encounters Captain Jean-Luc Picard's (Patrick Stewart) USS Enterprise-D, and learns the Enterprise-C crew must face their tragic destiny to ensure the Federation's bright future.
The USS Defiant crew picks up a distress call from Captain Lisa Cusak (Debra Wilson) in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 6, episode 25, "The Sound of Her Voice". Captain Cusak's USS Olympia was destroyed after scanning the energy barrier of an inhospitable planet, leaving her stranded. Cusak is alone and running out of time, so the Defiant crew keeps talking to Lisa during the 6-day journey to rescue her. Upon arrival, Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) finds that the energy barrier has been filtering their subspace communications through time—and Captain Cusak has been dead for 3 years.
Star Trek: DS9’s Version Of TNG’s Captain Garrett Explained
DS9's Lisa Cusak Is Also A Tragic Starfleet Captain Out Of Time
Captain Lisa Cusak is Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's version of Star Trek: The Next Generation's Captain Rachel Garrrett — a Starfleet captain from the past. Both Cusak and Garrett reach through time to their respective show's present day and connect with a starship crew that promises to help them recover from a disaster. In return, both captains are ready to help fight, Garrett with firepower, and Cusak with perspective, in the Star Trek wars that they will never see, because both Cusak and Garrett are starship captains of the past who are doomed before their distress calls are even answered.
Captain Lisa Cusak is a different kind of tragedy from Captain Rachel Garrett because the narrative is inverted. Cusak was dead before the USS Defiant picked up her distress call, but Captain Sisko, Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig), and Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) didn't know that. They each befriended Captain Cusak, hoping to meet her, and spoke well of Lisa at her funeral. Meanwhile, the Enterprise-D crew believed Rachel Garrett was already dead, but Captain Garrett didn't die until after Picard convinced Garrett that the Enterprise-C needed to go back to prevent the current war by defending the Klingons in 2344.
Why TNG’s Rachel Garrett Is Still Popular But DS9’s Version Is Forgotten
Rachel Garrett Made A Bigger Impact In Her Single TNG Episode
Despite their commonalities, Star Trek: The Next Generation's Captain Rachel Garrett is still more popular than Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Captain Lisa Cusak. Rachel Garrett interacted directly with the USS Enterprise-D crew, faced the tough decision of staying to fight or sacrificing her crew to defend a Klingon outpost in the past, and memorably died on-screen. Lisa Cusak had already lost her life and her crew by the time Sisko, O'Brien, and Bashir started talking to her. Cusak never met the Defiant crew face-to-face, so DS9's audience didn't make the same connection to her that TNG's did to Garrett.
Cusak's Deep Space Nine episode, "The Sound of Her Voice", is the penultimate of DS9's 6th season; while it's an excellent story, its tragedy is overshadowed by Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax's (Terry Farrell) death in the DS9 season 6 finale, "The Tears of the Prophets".
Ultimately. Captain Rachel Garrett's legacy has bigger impact than Captain Lisa Cusak's does. Captain Garrett is one of the few people who has been Captain of the Starship Enterprise. Rachel Garrett's life and death made her a historical figure in Star Trek: Picard and a younger Lieutenant Garrett is a major character in Star Trek: Section 31. The Defiant crew spoke to Captain Cusak regularly for 6 days; she's remembered fondly at her wake, but never mentioned again. Captain Lisa Cusak is still Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's starship captain out of time, very much like TNG's Captain Rachel Garrett.
