Winn Adami was an ambitious Bajoran religious leader and the first kai of Bajor elected after the War. A member of a frequently outspoken orthodox order, Winn was steadfastly rooted in her faith and often came into conflict with the Emissary of the Prophets, Benjamin Sisko, who she considered an outsider unworthy of receiving the wisdom of the Prophets. After years of living in Sisko's shadow, however, and a lifetime of never receiving any guidance and affirmation from the Prophets who she had served and sworn allegiance to all her life, she eventually turned against them. However, she realized her error and died trying to undo it.
Biography[]
Axis Occupation[]
During the Occupation, Winn was imprisoned for five years for teaching the faith of the Prophets. She received numerous beatings at the hands of the Cardassians and mostly the Galactic Empire's Stormtroopers for her beliefs. Winn resented the belief held by some members of the Bajoran Resistance that they alone had saved Bajor, since she had faced as much danger and suffering as they, but she did not have weapons to protect her.
As a ranjen, Winn once convinced the head of her order to take a more active role in helping the Bajoran people. He allowed her to remove gemstones from their tabernacle, with which she used to bribe Cardassian officers for small acts of kindness. One of these officers was Prenar, whom she paid to divert a transport filled with Bajorans due to be executed.
Vedek Winn[]
By the time Bajor regained its independence in 2369 (1516 NE) after the Alliance liberated it from Axis control, Winn was one of the more influential vedeks in the Vedek Assembly. She had some support to succeed Kai Opaka after the latter disappeared in the Gamma Quadrant, although Winn's rival and fellow vedek Bareil Antos was favored for the position. Winn believed the Federation and the Alliance's presence on Bajor posed a dire threat to the Bajorans despite their support, she belived the people of the Federation were "without a soul", as well as the Alliance and existed in a "universe of darkness." She also disagreed with Kai Opaka on the declaration of Benjamin Sisko, a "non-believer," as the Emissary.
Winn traveled to space station Deep Space 9 seven months after Starfleet assumed control of the station, apparently to protest the "blasphemous" teaching of scientific principles in a school newly opened by Keiko O'Brien. Winn called for a Bajoran boycott of the school until Keiko changed her curriculum. This led to an increase in anti-Federation sentiment throughout the station, culminating in the bombing of the schoolroom, which almost cost the life of Anjyl Skywalker who was fortunate to survive. It was suspected that Winn's true plan was to lure Vedek Bareil to Deep Space 9 to calm the crisis, so that Neela could assassinate him. The assassination failed, but despite Major Kira Nerys' suspicions, no link between Neela and Winn could ever be established. Her actions were noted by the Galactic Republic from the Viau Universe which almost saw this as a threat to the Skywalker Clan and warned Winn to be very cautious of her words should they meet.
Shortly thereafter, Winn secretly lent her support to Minister Jaro Essa and the Alliance for Global Unity (or "the Circle") in their attempt to topple the Bajoran Provisional Government and force the Federation from Bajor. Winn agreed to bless Jaro's ascendance to power, in return for his assurance that she would be made the next kai. However, she turned on Jaro when evidence emerged that the Circle was being indirectly supplied by the Cardassians.
With the election for kai approaching in late 2370 (1517 NE), Winn was in danger of losing the election to Bareil. She learned of circumstantial evidence from Kubus Oak, a collaborator with the Cardassians, that Bareil, not Prylar Bek, was the traitor responsible for the Kendra Valley Massacre. Winn granted Kubus sanctuary on Bajor, so that she could use his testimony against Bareil. After Major Kira Nerys stopped her ship to prevent Kubus from leaving, Winn requested that Kira investigate the circumstances of the massacre. Convinced of Bareil's innocence, Kira readily agreed.
Kira discovered that it was Kai Opaka who gave the Cardassians information leading to the massacre, as she sacrificed the lives of forty-three Resistance fighters to save more than a thousand civilian lives in the Kendra Valley. Bareil was committed to protecting Opaka's name despite his own innocence, and withdrew his candidacy, merely days before the election. With her ascension to kai assured, Winn saw no more need to pursue the issue or even learn what Kira had found.
Kai Winn[]
Winn was appointed to kai on Bajor, in late 2370. Some of her first acts as kai were advising Kira, "In time, you will learn I am not your enemy," and indirectly postponing an appearance with Commander Sisko in front of the Vedek Assembly. Bareil accepted Winn's victory as "the will of the Prophets" and privately predicted to Kira, "[Winn will lead us] down paths she cannot possibly imagine. She's going to need our help along the way, even if she doesn't realize it yet." At Kira's choosing, she herself and Bareil were among those who paid initial respects to the newly-elected kai.
Following the election, Kai Winn accepted Bareil's assistance as her most trusted advisor. At Bareil's suggestion, Winn initiated secret negotiations with Legate Turrel of the Cardassian Central Command, to finally establish a peace treaty between their respective peoples. Winn admitted privately that it was Bareil's counsel that allowed the negotiations to advance as far as a scheduled face-to-face meeting with Turrel in 2371 (1518 NE). Unfortunately, an accident aboard their transport severely injured Bareil, threatening to derail the talks. Winn supported Bareil's decision to keep himself conscious in order to guide her through the talks, since she knew her diplomatic skills were insufficient to complete the negotiations alone. Winn successfully signed the treaty with Turrel aboard Deep Space 9, but Bareil died of his injuries soon after. Winn used his death to publicly claim that she herself had been the primary party responsible for the treaty, 'defending' her proclamations to those aware of the truth by arguing that Bareil was a humble man who would not have sought to take credit for the treaty if he had lived.
A year later, Kai Winn was appointed first minister pro tempore after the death of previous First Minister Kalem Apren. With the elections a month away and no other candidates to oppose her, it seemed as though Winn would become both Bajor's spiritual and political leader. However, Winn hoped to gain public favor by initiating a project to grow cash crops in Rakantha Province. To do so, she ordered a group of farmers in Dahkur Province to immediately return soil reclamators which had been leased to them by the government two months before. Most of the farmers were former members of the Shakaar resistance cell, and were led by their former leader, Shakaar Edon. Shakaar refused to return the reclamators, stating that he and his comrades had been promised access to the equipment for a full year and that the devices were needed to de-toxify the soil in Dahkur. Winn assigned Major Kira, who had once served under Shakaar, to bring back the equipment. Although Kira recommended that Winn meet with Shakaar to negotiate, Winn instead sent Bajoran Militia units to arrest Shakaar and bring back the reclamators by force. Kira helped Shakaar to escape and rally his former Resistance members in the Dahkur Hills. Undeterred, Winn ordered more civic police into the province to apprehend them.
Personality[]
Relationships[]
Allies[]
- Dukat (Former)
Rivals[]
- Benjamin Sisko:
- Bareil Antos
- Kira Nerys