Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Benjamin Sisko
3. The Missing Years
Emissary is critical for the character of Benjamin Lafayette Sisko. It defines his perspective on life even though it is several years after the loss of his wife at Wolf 359.
That event leaves a three year gap in his life, briefly covered in The Search and Homefront/Paradise Lost. The whole of that period has never been fully explored. He was involved with the development of his future ride, the USS Defiant. During this time, Admiral Leyton was responsible for ear-marking him to the DS9 position.
Appearing in just two episodes of the fourth season, Robert Foxworth (who was considered for the role of Odo), appeared as Sisko's former commanding officer on the USS Okinawa, most likely his assignment before the ill-fated USS Saratoga.
His years before Wolf 359 are equally hazy with only links to Cal Hudson and Trill Curzon Dax ever being explored in the show.
The recent Autobiography of Benjamin Sisko by Derek Tyler Attico has gone to some lengths to expand not only on this narrative but also significantly around his early life and career in Starfleet.