Star
Trek
likes
to
imagine
itself
as
a
franchise
that
is
largely
above
conflict,
but
it
is
defined
by
it:
and
how
its
most
idealized
heroes
in
Starfleet
and
the
Federation
react
to,
and
become
shaped
by
it.
While
Trek’s
history
is
littered
with
devastating
battles,
few
conflicts
hold
a
mirror
to
Star
Trek
quite
like
the
bloodiest
of
them
all—Deep
Space
Nine’s
Dominion
War.
As
one
of
the
most
legendary
moments
in
the
conflict
celebrated
its
anniversary
earlier
this
week—marking
the
airing
of
“In
the
Pale
Moonlight”,
where
Captain
Sisko
sells
his
soul
to
bring
the
Romulan
Star
Empire
into
the
war
on
the
Federation’s
side—we’re
taking
a
look
back
at
the
longest
game
a
Star
Trek
show
ever
played
in
setting
up
what
would
become
one
of
its
most
memorable
arcs,
and
a
story
that
would
forever
shape
its
legacy.
Although
Federation-aligned
and
independent
powers
of
the
Alpha
Quadrant
had
begun
colonizing
Gamma
Quadrant
holdings
and
engaging
in
trade
with
the
region’s
myriad
beings
almost
as
soon
as
the
discovery
of
the
Bajoran
wormhole
in
2369—the
first
stable
wormhole
discovered
in
the
Milky
Way
Galaxy—it
was
not
Starfleet,
the
Klingon
Empire,
the
Cardassian
Union,
or
the
Romulan
Star
Empire,
nor
any
of
the
major
military
powers
of
the
Alpha
Quadrant,
that
first
received
intelligence
about
the
Dominion’s
existence,
but
the
Ferengi
Alliance.
Operating
in
intelligence
secured
by
the
Grand
Nagus
Zek,
the
Ferengi
successfully
entered
a
trade
agreement
with
a
major
mercantile
faction
of
the
Dominion
in
the
Karemma,
in
an
attempt
to
secure
the
Ferengi
as
a
major
economic
power
on
the
other
side
of
the
wormhole.
But
while
their
alliance
with
the
Karemma
was
established,
solid
intel
or
interaction
with
the
wider
Dominion
remained
out
of
reach
for
the
Alpha
Quadrant
powers
beyond
intelligence
reports
from
trading
Gamma
Quadrant
species:
the
Dominion
was
solidifying
its
own
borders,
securing
new
worlds,
and
conquering
species
while
lying
in
wait.
Starfleet’s
first
formal
contact
with
the
Dominion
set
the
stage
for
the
scope
of
the
war
to
come—but
open
conflict
with
the
Dominion
was
still
several
years
away.
In
2370,
after
encountering
the
military
arm
of
the
Dominion
in
the
Jem’Hadar,
Commander
Sisko,
Deep
Space
Nine’s
chief
Starfleet
administrator,
and
Quark
were
held
hostage
as
Jem’Hadar
forces
destroyed
multiple
Alpha
Quadrant
colonies
as
a
warning
that
the
Gamma
Quadrant
was
their
territory.
In
an
attempt
to
make
a
show
of
force
of
its
own,
Starfleet
dispatched
the
Galaxy-Class
starship
Odyssey
as
well
as
several
runabout
shuttles
on
an
expedition
to
recover
Sisko.
Although
Sisko
was
rescued,
the
show
of
force
didn’t
work.
Immediately
engaging
with
Starfleet,
the
Jem’Hadar’s
technology
proved
more
than
a
match
for
the
Federation’s,
with
the
Odyssey
unable
to
damage
the
Dominion
attack
ships.
They
were
no
match
for
the
Jem’Hadar’s
ruthless
tactics
either,
when
the
Odyssey
was
destroyed
in
a
suicide
run
during
the
engagement.
Sisko
and
the
survivors
were
left
to
return
to
the
Alpha
Quadrant
with
a
warning:
the
Federation
had
no
idea
what
hell
it
had
just
unleashed.
The
destruction
of
the
Odyssey
did
not
mark
the
beginning
of
open
conflict,
but
sparked
realizations
on
both
sides
of
the
wormhole—
a
Dominion
invasion
of
the
Alpha
Quadrant
was
not
a
hypothetical,
but
an
inevitability.
The
Dominion
began
establishing
simulations
for
how
the
various
Alpha
Quadrant
powers
would
react
to
a
potential
Dominion
encroachment
beyond
the
Gamma
Quadrant.
Meanwhile,
Starfleet
entered
production
on
the
first
explicitly
designed
warship
in
its
fleets,
the
Defiant-class
escort,
stationing
the
first
of
its
kind
at
Deep
Space
Nine,
right
at
the
wormhole’s
entrance.
Deep
Space
Nine
itself
became
the
center
of
Starfleet’s
plans
for
an
early
military
footing.
The
Federation’s
presence
on
the
station
was
increasingly
militarized
even
beyond
the
Defiant’s
stationing
there,
fortifying
the
station
with
increased
defenses,
and
the
establishment
of
a
series
of
relays
and
listening
posts
on
the
other
side
of
the
wormhole
as
an
advanced
warning
system.
However,
beyond
the
military
might
of
its
Jem’Hadar
forces,
the
Dominion
had
another
trick
up
its
sleeve:
a
quasi-intelligence
branch
of
changeling
agents,
preparing
to
infiltrate
branches
of
each
Alpha
Quadrant
power.
The
Alpha
Quadrant’s
own
intelligence
agencies
attempted
to
combat
changeling
subterfuge
with
increased
security
sweeps
and
detection,
but
the
Dominion
pivoted
its
earliest
infiltrations
at
two
intelligence
targets
in
particular:
the
Romulan
Tal
Shiar,
and
the
Cardassian
Obsidian
Order.
Spurred
by
the
discovery
of
a
plan
by
Cardassian
intelligence
to
assault
the
changeling
homeworld,
Dominion
operatives
lured
the
Obsidian
Order
and
Tal
Shiar
into
a
joint
operation
in
the
Omarion
Nebula
in
2371—where
a
massive
force
of
Jem’Hadar
ships
decimated
the
Cardassian-Romulan
task
force.
With
the
Tal
Shiar
badly
damaged,
Romulan
planning
to
the
war
pivoted
to
neutrality,
staying
away
from
engaging
with
the
other
Alpha
Quadrant
powers.
But
the
destruction
of
the
Obsidian
Order
crippled
Cardassia’s
power
structure:
without
the
threat
of
the
Order
policing
dissidence,
Cardassia
itself
was
facing
a
power
vacuum
prime
for
the
Dominion
to
capitalize
on.
Emboldened
by
the
success
at
the
Battle
of
the
Omarion
Nebula,
the
Dominion
moved
further
into
destabilizing
the
Alpha
Quadrant.
Infiltrating
the
upper
echelons
of
Klingon
Command
under
the
guise
of
General
Martok,
a
changeling
operative
influenced
Chancellor
Gowron
into
making
public
moves
to
seize
Cardassian
territories
while
the
Union
was
distracted
by
internal
conflicts.
Drawing
condemnation
from
the
Federation,
Gowron
reacted
by
shattering
a
tentative
peace
between
the
Empire
and
the
Federation
that
had
lasted
for
nearly
a
century
by
formally
pulling
out
of
the
Khitomer
Accords
that
had
established
the
Klingon-Federation
Alliance.
Given
free
reign
to
effectively
continue
a
war
of
attrition
against
the
Cardassian
Union,
Gowron’s
warmongering
provided
two
advantages
to
the
Dominion:
the
Klingons
badly,
badly
damaged
the
Cardassian
Union,
itself
already
weakened
by
the
civilian
government’s
overthrowing
of
the
Cardassian
military
command’s
rule
over
the
world.
But
the
Federation’s
distraction
by
the
Klingon
powers
also
gave
Dominion
agents
an
opportunity
to
repeat
their
successes
within
Starfleet
Command.
After
a
changeling
agent
bombed
a
conference
in
Antwerp,
dissident
voices
in
Starfleet
Command
attempted
to
stage
a
coup
d’etat—however,
it
failed
after
being
exposed.
The
Dominion’s
influence
in
the
Klingon
Empire,
however,
allowed
it
to
attack
the
Federation
even
without
infiltration
from
within.
The
Martok
agent
convinced
Gowron,
emboldened
by
successes
against
the
Cardassians,
to
begin
staking
claim
on
existent
Federation
territories
in
late
2372,
formally
beginning
a
new
Klingon-Federation
war.
Although
a
cease-fire
in
the
conflict
between
the
Federation
and
Klingons
was
secured
relatively
quickly
after
the
exposure
of
the
Martok
agent,
the
ensuing
chaos—as
well
as
an
attempted
Borg
assault
that
vastly
damaged
Starfleet’s
military
strength
in
Sector
001—had
primed
the
Alpha
Quadrant
for
the
Dominion.
Half
a
year
later
in
2373,
the
Dominion
reaped
the
seeds
it
had
sown
in
years
of
infiltration
and
subterfuge.
With
Cardassia
drastically
weakened
through
internal
and
external
strife,
a
beleaguered
Gul
Dukat
entered
negotiations
with
the
Dominion
to
formally
develop
an
alliance,
allowing
the
Cardassians
to
stage
key
territory
retrievals
on
the
Klingon
front
with
Dominion
backing.
Plans
by
Starfleet
to
seal
the
Bajoran
wormhole
and
cut
off
any
threat
of
a
Dominion
invasion
were
thwarted
by
an
agent
posing
as
Dr.
Julian
Bashir,
DS9's
Starfleet
medical
chief,
who
successfully
managed
to
stablize
the
wormhole’s
integrity
even
further—allowing
the
Dominion
to
regularly
transport
a
steady
stream
of
supplies
and
military
power
to
Cardassian
space.
Growing
tensions
and
small
border
conflicts
on
the
fringes
of
what
was
now
Dominion-Cardassian
territory
saw
the
Federation
and
Klingons
bury
the
hatchet
formally,
with
the
Empire
re-entering
the
Khitomer
Accords.
But
even
with
one
wound
patched
up,
war
was
now
inevitable,
and
Starfleet
launched
a
plan
to
mine
the
space
around
Deep
Space
Nine
and
the
Bajoran
wormhole,
effectively
delaying
further
transport
of
Dominion
materiel
into
the
Alpha
Quadrant.
A
field
of
self-replicating
mines
pushed
the
Dominion
into
action,
sending
a
message
to
Captain
Sisko
and
Starfleet
at
the
station:
disable
the
mines,
or
the
Dominion
and
Cardassians
would
take
Deep
Space
Nine
and
do
it
themselves.
Starfleet
made
its
first
humbling
gambit:
just
days
later,
an
overwhelming
Cardassian-Dominion
force
assaulted
Deep
Space
Nine,
but
not
before
the
mine
field
was
armed—and
not
before
Starfleet
withdrew
from
the
station
entirely,
leaving
the
Bajoran
security
forces
staged
there
to
welcome
Dominion
control.
In
exchange,
the
distraction
caused
by
the
Dominion
pressing
so
much
of
its
Alpha
Quadrant
forces
into
action
a
Deep
Space
Nine
allowed
a
joint
Starfleet-Klingon
allied
force
to
invade
Cardassian
space,
destroying
a
key
Dominion
shipyard
and
hampering
initial
production
efforts
of
Alpha
Quadrant-made
weaponry.
On
stardate
50975.2,
the
Dominion
War
turned
hot.
Although
the
sacrifice
of
Deep
Space
Nine
in
exchange
for
mining
the
Bajoran
wormhole
was
a
key
early
victory
for
the
Federation-Klingon
alliance,
it
was
pretty
much
the
only
one
in
the
opening
months
of
the
war.
Klingon
and
Starfleet
forces
were
regularly
pushed
into
retreat
on
all
fronts,
overwhelmed
by
the
Dominion’s
sheer
numbers
and
their
superior
technology.
Morale
began
to
plummet—especially
after
a
devastating
battle
in
the
Tyra
system
all
but
destroyed
Starfleet’s
Seventh
Fleet,
losing
nearly
a
hundred
ships
and
thousands
of
officers
in
a
single
engagement.
But
while
large
scale
conflict
was
going
badly
for
the
alliance,
small-scale
operations
and
individual
skirmishes
played
to
its
military
strengths.
Small
task
forces
managed
to
infiltrate
Dominion
space
and
successfully
destroy
significant
amounts
of
the
Dominion’s
supply
of
Ketracel-White,
the
drug
that
sustained
the
Jem’Hadar
as
an
effective
fighting
force,
creating
a
supply
crisis,
while
others
sabotaged
major
sensor
arrays
to
stem
the
flow
of
Dominion
intelligence.
The
Dominion
kept
pushing,
encroaching
closer
and
closer
to
core
Federation
worlds
like
Vulcan
and
Bolarus.
And
as
efforts
back
in
the
Bajoran
system
to
disable
the
minefield
around
Deep
Space
Nine
began
to
bear
fruit,
Sisko
realized
the
Federation
needed
a
win
to
steady
morale
and
to
avoid
what
was
increasingly
looking
like
a
devastatingly
swift
loss
to
the
Dominion:
take
back
the
station
where
the
war
had
first
begun
in
the
first
place.
Despite
initial
resistance
from
both
the
Empire
and
Starfleet
Command,
Operation
Return
was
put
into
action
in
late
2374,
securing
an
overwhelming
victory
for
alliance
forces.
Although
the
mine
field
was
ultimately
destroyed,
Deep
Space
Nine
was
retaken,
and
nearly
3,000
Dominion
warships
traversing
the
wormhole
were
mysteriously
vanished
away
by
the
entities—believed
by
the
Bajoran
people
to
be
their
spiritual
pantheon,
the
Prophets—that
called
it
home.
Having
withdrawn
ships
from
various
fronts
to
defend
DS9,
Dominion
advances
on
Federation
and
Klingon
space
were
stalled
throughout
the
Quadrant,
and
Gul
Dukat,
broken
by
the
death
of
his
daughter
during
the
attack
on
DS9,
was
captured
by
the
alliance,
leading
to
new
leadership
in
the
Cardassian
wing
of
the
Dominion
under
Damar.
The
third
major
battle
for
Deep
Space
Nine
lead
to
a
slowdown
in
the
overall
arc
of
the
Dominion
War,
as
both
sides
consolidated
forces
and
territories.
Formal
peace
talks
even
began
between
the
two
sides,
but
eventually
stalled
out.
With
direct
access
to
the
Gamma
Quadrant
now
barred
by
the
wormhole’s
inhabitants,
the
Dominion
ramped
up
direct
production
in
its
Alpha
Quadrant
holdings,
stemming
the
Ketracel
White
shortage
crisis
through
a
trade
agreement
for
a
version
of
the
drug
developed
by
the
Son’a.
Its
strength
restored,
the
Dominion
launched
a
surprise
assault
that
put
the
Federation
on
the
precipice:
distracting
alliance
forces,
an
invasion
fleet
from
the
Kalandra
sector
managed
to
occupy
Betazed,
the
homeworld
of
a
major
Federation
member,
in
just
10
hours,
successfully
repulsing
multiple
Starfleet
attempts
to
retake
the
world.
Through
Betazed,
the
Dominion
was
on
the
doorstep
of
the
heart
of
the
Federation—attacks
on
Vulcan,
Bolarus,
Andor,
Tellar,
Alpha
Centauri,
and
even
Earth
were
now
on
the
table.
Once
again
on
the
back
foot
and
with
the
war
ramping
up
again,
the
alliance
needed
a
win.
As
presented
in
one
of
the
finest
hours
of
all
seven
seasons
of
Deep
Space
Nine,
“In
the
Pale
Moonlight,”
Captain
Sisko,
working
with
the
Cardassian
tailor
Elim
Garak,
successfully
managed
to
stage
a
deception
for
the
Romulan
Star
Empire,
assassinating
a
Senator
carrying
forged
evidence
of
a
Dominion
plan
to
invade
Romulan
space.
The
Romulans
took
the
bait,
formally
entering
the
war
on
the
side
of
the
Alliance—and
all
it
cost
was
the
life
of
one
Romulan
senator,
one
criminal,
and
the
self-respect
of
one
Starfleet
officer.
The
opening
of
the
Romulan
front
gave
the
Federation
opportunity
and
space
to
reach
out
and
secure
diplomatic
ties
with
smaller
besieged
powers
in
the
Alpha
Quadrant,
to
gain
access
to
further
staging
grounds
and
material
support.
Bolstered
by
the
significant
military
power
Romulus
brought
to
the
table,
a
clear
pathway
to
the
end
of
the
Dominion
War
was
laid
out
by
alliance
command:
a
direct
invasion
of
Cardassia,
the
heart
of
the
Dominion’s
stronghold
in
the
quadrant.
As
2374
came
to
a
close,
the
Alliance
began
striking
its
first
major
offensives
into
Cardassian
space,
taking
the
highly
contested
Chin’toka
system
as
well
as
Kalandra—which
would
eventually
lead
to
the
liberation
of
Betazed
months
later.
Consolidating
the
new
flashpoints
on
their
fronts,
the
Klingons
successfully
managed
to
launch
several
deep-strike
raids
into
Cardassian
territory,
destabilizing
military
infrastructure
even
further.
Section
31,
the
secret
intelligence
wing
of
Starfleet,
also
successfully
developed
and
laced
the
changeling
homeworld’s
great
link
with
a
morphogenic
virus,
greatly
destabilizing
their
security
and
ability
to
conduct
sabotage
and
intelligence
gathering
operations.
The
Dominion,
however
didn’t
go
down
without
a
fight.
As
the
Alliance
encroached
further,
Dominion
command
entered
an
alliance
with
the
Breen
Confederacy—something
it
had
kept
secret
from
its
Cardassian
allies,
promising
the
Breen
several
Cardassian
systems
in
exchange
for
their
loyalty.
As
the
Dominion
ignored
the
Cardassian’s
requests
for
support
against
the
Federation
and
Klingons,
fractures
began
to
grow
between
the
two
entities.
But
the
Breen’s
surprise
entry
into
the
war
in
2375—by
launching
an
unprecedented
shock
bombardment
on
Starfleet
Headquarters
in
San
Francisco,
the
first
hostile
assault
on
Earth
in
centuries—as
well
as
the
use
of
powerful
new
weaponry
that
allowed
them
and
the
Dominion
to
almost
completely
eradicate
Alliance
forces
holding
Chin’toka
to
put
the
Federation,
Klingons,
and
Romulans
on
the
defensive.
Another
lull
in
the
war’s
grander
momentum
after
the
second
battle
of
Chin’toka
allowed
the
Alliance
to
recover
its
lost
military
power
and
develop
a
counter
to
Breen
weaponry—but
it
also
gave
the
increasingly
disenfranchised
Cardassians
a
chance
to
undermine
the
Dominion
from
within.
Left
ignored
after
the
Dominion’s
pact
with
the
Breen,
Damar
staged
a
rebellion
against
their
former
allies—one
that,
while
swiftly
put
down,
managed
to
put
the
Dominion
and
Breen
on
the
back
foot,
withdrawing
from
much
of
their
holdings
to
consolidate
power
directly
around
Cardassia.
Although
Cardassian
dissidence
had
been
largely
quelled,
however,
it
wasn’t
eradicated—with
the
Alliance
sending
operatives
to
help
Damar
respark
a
popular
revolution
on
the
world,
distracting
the
Dominion
long
enough
for
the
Alliance
to
gather
its
forces
into
one
final
effort,
the
plan
that
had
been
its
dream
the
year
prior:
the
invasion
of
Cardassia
Prime.
With
the
local
uprising
successfully
putting
Cardassian
under
a
power
blackout,
Alliance
forces
entered
Cardassian
space
in
late
2375,
engaging
Dominion,
Cardassian,
and
Breen
forces.
A
Jem’Hadar
attempt
to
quell
rebellion
on
Cardassia,
killing
millions
of
civilians
in
targeted
bombings,
saw
the
Cardassian
fleet
break
away
from
the
Dominion
and
Breen,
fracturing
their
tentative
defensive
lines
and
giving
the
Alliance
direct
access
to
the
planet.
Forced
to
accept
terms
of
surrender—in
exchange
for
a
cure
for
the
morphogenic
virus
now
ravaging
the
changelings
and
their
homeworld—the
Dominion
stepped
down,
and
several
days
later,
its
leadership
signed
the
Treaty
of
Bajor
on
Deep
Space
Nine,
formally
bringing
an
end
to
the
Dominion
War.
The
remaining
Dominion
forces
retreated
back
into
the
Gamma
Quadrant,
and
Deep
Space
Nine’s
Bajoran
security
forces
officer,
the
changeling
Odo,
returned
with
them
to
deliver
the
morphogenic
cure
directly
to
his
people’s
homeworld.
Meanwhile,
while
most
perfunctory
borders
of
space
occupied
by
the
Alpha
Quadrant
powers
prior
to
the
Dominion’s
invasion
in
2373
were
restored
by
the
Treaty
of
Bajor,
the
quadrant
had
undergone
a
significant
rebalancing
of
power
that
would
impact
interstellar
events
for
decades
to
come.
The
near-total
destruction
of
the
Cardassian
Union
created
a
power
vacuum
in
its
former
territories,
while
the
Breen,
albeit
humbled
by
the
Dominion’s
retreat,
had
established
its
expansionary
goals
as
well
as
its
significant
military
threat.
The
aftermath
of
both
its
initial
war
with
Cardassia
and
then
as
part
of
the
Alliance
diminished
the
Klingon
Empire’s
own
status
as
a
major
power
in
the
quadrant
for
the
next
decade,
as
it
looked
internally
to
reconsolidate
and
rebuild—leaving
the
Romulan
Star
Empire
and
the
Federation
as
the
defining
players
in
the
Alpha
Quadrant.
Although
the
Dominion
War
had
brought
with
it
a
sense
of
uneasy
diplomacy
that
was
unprecedented
in
either
faction’s
history
for
centuries,
tensions
between
Romulus
and
the
Federation
would
renew
shortly
after—amplified
first
after
the
Reman
commander
Shinzon
staged
a
military
coup
in
2379,
attempting
to
attack
Earth
in
the
process,
and
then
six
years
later,
when
a
secret
sect
of
the
Tal
Shiar
dedicated
to
the
destruction
of
synthetic
life
staged
a
terrorist
attack
on
the
Utopia
Planitia
shipyards
at
Mars,
largely
destroying
a
Federation
taskforce
intended
to
aid
with
evacuation
efforts
intended
to
save
the
populations
of
Romulus
and
Remus
before
their
system’s
star
went
supernova.
After
the
attack
the
Federation
decided
to
formally
halt
attempts
to
help
the
Romulans
and
Remans,
leading
to
the
near
extinction
of
both
sibling
species
when
the
Romulan
star
went
supernova
in
2387.
Although
major
conflict
on
the
scale
of
the
Dominion
War
would
not
return
to
the
Alpha
Quadrant
for
many
years
to
come,
its
scars
lingered
for
decades,
especially
as
the
Federation
and
Klingon
Empires
became
the
de
facto
remaining
powers
by
the
turn
of
the
25th
century.
For
now,
it
remains
what
we
know
to
be
the
bloodiest
conflict
in
Star
Trek’s
history—one
that
challenged
the
very
ideals
of
its
entire
utopian
dream
to
their
very
core.
Comments