The Siege (novel)

Death prowls the passageways of Deep Space Nine. 
The Siege is a Pocket DS9 novel – #2 in the numbered series – written by Peter David. Published by Pocket Books, it was first released in .
== Summary ==
;From the book jacket
:When Deep Space 9™ is forced to curtail entry to the wormhole due to increased graviton emissions, an air of biting tension settles over the station. But when this anxiety leads to the murder of an Edeman religious leader, Commander Benjamin Sisko and Security Chief Odo realize they face a larger problem.
:The missionary is only the first to die, soon Sisko and Odo have more lifeless bodies on their hands and a killer who strikes without motive. Then, both the Edemans and Cardassians arrive threatening to destroy the station unless the murderer is given to them for retribution. Now in order to save Deep Space Nine and stop the killing, Odo must try to destroy a powerful assassin who is the only link to his mysterious past.
=== Chapter Two ===
The Bajoran wormhole is emitting a high flux of neutrinos that is getting progressively higher. This phenomenon begins leading the command staff to worry about the wormhole's possible collapse. This instability causes Sisko to order the wormhole closed to traffic.
=== Chapter Five ===
Dr. Bashir examines the son of the Edemian spiritual leader Mas Marko shortly before an Edemian missionary is killed in his quarters.
=== Chapter Nine ===
A Cardassian envoy is murdered while attempting to sexually assault a former acquaintance.
=== Chapter Ten ===
After the murders of their representatives, both Mas Marko, of the Edemians, and Gul Dukat, of the Cardassian Union, demand the extradition of the murderer once caught. Dukat threatens to destroy the station. Dr. Bashir is assaulted by Marko for demanding to treat his son's medical condition. A Bajoran dockworker is the murderer's latest victim.
=== Chapter Twenty ===
Odo and Meta fight it out in the vastness of space.
== Memorable quotes ==
"If it hadn't been for me, we wouldn't have been aboard the Saratoga and Jennifer wouldn't have died. We'd have been on Earth…"
"I was on Earth. The Borg were heading our way, remember? The news was all over the internet. The entire planet was going berserk. It wasn't pretty, commander. Citizens of Earth didn't exactly take it well when the end of everything they knew was barreling at light speed right toward them. If the Enterprise crew members hadn't pulled a last-minute miracle out of their hats, I might be sitting here pasty-white with a gun instead of an arm, saying, 'Drinks are irrelevant'."
: - Sisko and Bashir
== Background information ==
* Author Peter David was commissioned to write the novel in the second week of . With the release date of May (and the title) already fixed in place, David completed the manuscript in two weeks, working non-stop, with only the series bible and the scripts for the first five episodes to base his work on. ()
* Despite the identical title, this novel bears no relation to the second season episode .
* This novel takes place a month after the events of . The events of that episode are mentioned, as well as those of , , and .
* James Van Hise wrote: "The Siege by Peter David is an astonishing novel by a writer with a sense of purpose. Humor rises to the top and makes the reader laugh out loud, but is immediately submerged by dark forces". (Trek: The Printed Adventures)
* Odo possesses far greater shape-shifting abilities in the novel than later established in the live series. Most significantly, he is able to shape-shift and impersonate people (such as Quark), something which is later to be shown beyond his abilities (but is well within the skills of his people in general).
* The novel is quite prophetic in that it was written well before any concept of the Dominion had been formed by the Deep Space Nine production staff and writers. Yet, Peter David accurately predicts that there were other shapeshifters like Odo in the Alpha Quadrant (this would be revisited with the character of Laas) and also that Changelings were capable of being murderous, as was seen with the Founders.
== Characters ==
=== Regular and recurring characters ===
;Benjamin Sisko : Starfleet commander, the CO of Deep Space 9. At Starfleet Academy, Sisko claims his nickname was "Dead-Eye", due to his proficiency with a phaser.
;Kira Nerys : Bajoran Militia major, liaison and XO of DS9.
;Quark : Ferengi proprietor of Quark's Bar, Grill, Gaming House and Holosuite Arcade, commonly shortened to Quark's, a bar & restaurant on Deep Space 9.
;Jake Sisko : Commander Benjamin Sisko's son & friend of Nog
;Julian Bashir : Starfleet Lieutenant j.g. & Chief medical officer on Deep Space 9.
;Miles O'Brien : Starfleet Non Commissioned Officer with the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer. He is chief of operations or the chief engineer on DS9.
;Jadzia Dax : Female Trill Science officer on Deep Space 9.
;Odo : Security Chief. Odo states that he's been living among Bajorans for "half a century." He institutes a procedure of medical scans to screen for the shapeshifter Meta.
;Keiko O'Brien : Wife of Miles O'Brien, is trained as a botanist.
;Molly O'Brien : Daughter of Miles and Keiko, Molly celebrates her third birthday at the end of this novel.
;Dukat : Former Cardassian commander of Deep Space 9, then called Terok Nor.
;Nog : A Ferengi boy. Nog poured a coolant and gelatin mixture out of ceiling plate as a joke while security was searching for the shapeshifting murderer.
;Rom : Ferengi brother of Quark & father to Nog. Works in his brother's bar.
==Other characters==
;Mas Marko : The premier spiritual leader of the Edema system. He claimed to be doing the work of the holy K'olkr and was not pleased when denied entry into the wormhole, but relented when showed proof of the destructive capability of the wormhole's subspace compression. Marko stayed on the station with his wife Azira, his son Rasa, and two retainers, Del and Lobb, until passage was again possible. He was nearly seven feet tall and had a very deep voice. Marko's retainers always walked behind him, never in front of him.
:Soon after arriving on Deep Space 9, Mas Marko set up a booth hoping to spread the word of the Edemian deity K'olkr. After learning of his wife's consent to have their son's illness treated, he divorced her then excommunicated her from the planet Edema.
;Azira : The wife of Mas Marko, mother of Rasa, and daughter to Eweeun and Kragar. Mas Marko allowed Commander Sisko to address her as Azira. Although initially refusing to have her son's illness treated, she relents when shown a holographic simulation of the disease's effects. Because she allowed Dr. Bashir to interfere in Rasa's fate, Marko divorced Azira and excommunicated her from their homeworld.
;Rasa : The son of Mas Marko and Azira, roughly ten Earth years in age. Sisko thought he appeared sickly and ordered Dr. Bashir to examine him. Bashir diagnosed the boy with having panoria and eventually treated him despite his parents' religious objections. Rasa was believed by his father to be tainted after his treatment and exiled from Edema.
;Meta : A shapeshifter hired by the Ferengi Glav, this being had the same abilities as Odo. He savagely murdered an Edemian missionary, a Cardassian envoy, a Bajoran dockworker, one of Bashir's nurses, and ultimately Glav himself, before attempting to kill his intended target, Quark. Meta claimed that watching people die made him more appreciative of life. The shapeshifter was pulled into the Bajoran wormhole during its period of subspace compression, where his body was separated into its component molecules. His consciousness remained intact but his body was unable to rejoin, resulting in a kind of limbo.
;Glav : A Ferengi associate of Quark. He had a triangular brown spot on his eye ridge and spoke in a low drawl. Quark sabotaged a major investment deal for Glav by offering material for a lower price. This drove Glav into near bankruptcy, save for some seemingly worthless property on planet Xerxes Six which yielded a massive deposit of calvinum. Glav's sale of the rare calvinum to the Byfrexians made him very wealthy. With his debts repaid, Glav traveled to Deep Space 9 with Meta, a psychopathic shapeshifter, to exact revenge on Quark. Ironically, Glav was the final person Meta murdered.
;Chafin : A lieutenant and relief science officer in Ops.
;Del : One of Mas Marko's retainers.
;Lobb : One of Mas Marko's retainers who was new to Edemian missionary work. His manner was somewhat less formal than his colleague, Del, even offering to shake hands with Commander Sisko instead of bowing in deference. Lobb was savagely killed by a mysterious shapeshifter. His first cousin was Mencar.
;Gotto Lon : A Cardassian envoy for Gul Dukat. He visited Deep Space 9 on Dukat's behalf as a reminder of his commander's presence. Gotto attempted to bribe Quark into spying on station goings-on for the Cardassian government. However, he was killed by the shapeshifter calling itself Meta shortly afterward.
;Meyer : A Starfleet security officer assigned to Deep Space 9. 
;Boyajian : A Starfleet security officer assigned to Deep Space 9.
;Tang : A Starfleet security officer assigned to Deep Space Nine. 
;Dina : A nine-year old Bajoran girl and the daughter of Bena. She was a regular pupil at Keiko's school on Deep Space 9.
;Bena : An unmarried Bajoran woman who worked heavy loaders in the docking ring of Deep Space 9. She was previously a day worker in the mines. Her daughter was Dina and they lived in the habitat ring on level five, corridor 39-A. During the Bajoran occupation, Bena was the comfort woman of Gotto Lon.
;Carstairs : A Starfleet security officer assigned to Deep Space 9.
;Hicks : A Starfleet security officer assigned to Deep Space 9.
;Kelsi : A Bajoran woman of advanced years who was the senior traffic manager in the cargo bay area. Kelsi had a remarkable gift for locating items without use of computer logs. No one on the station knew her last name and rumor had it she predated the building of the station. She was the third murder victim of the shapeshifter Meta in the cargo bay on level 22.
;Latasa : The nurse assisting Dr. Bashir as he investigated the death of Bajoran dockworker Kelsi. She was the fourth murder victim of the shapeshifter known as Meta.
;Ayvon of the Seven : A noted freedom fighter in Bajoran history who was the source of many quotable sayings.
;Sentor : The Cardassian tactical officer aboard the Ravage.
== References ==
aphasia virus; Bajoran wormhole; Borg; dabo; Earth; ; ; Ferengi; Gamma Quadrant; ; gold-pressed latinum; Ibudan; I'danian spice pudding; inertial damping field; infirmary; isolinear chip; Klingons; Mugato; Ops; Prime Directive; Quark's; Romulan Neutral Zone; runabout; ; synthale; Ten Forward; Tosk; tractor beam; Trill; Worf
;Abbott and Costello : A comedy team from Earth that starred in a number of films from 1940 to 1956. Miles told Keiko about the comedy team, which she considered to be an archaic reference.
;Amorphous : The shaper of Ferengi dreams of avarice. In Ferengi culture, lying in the name of Amorphous is "simply not done."
;Atmosphere regulator : A subsystem of Deep Space 9's life support system. O'Brien hadn't yet converted them from Cardassian standards.
;Boffin : An alien race. A Boffin was a traveler en route to the Gamma Quadrant.
;Boja : A game of chance at Quark's Bar.
;Byfrexians : An alien race who value calvinum and will willingly pay "an arm and a leg" for a single gram.
;Calvinum : A rare substance used by the Byfrexians to power their ship engines. Glav sold his entire supply for two million bars of gold-pressed latinum.
;Cellular scanner : A piece of medical equipment used to analyze tissue samples. Also referred to as a bioscanner.
;Dantus Three : A world covered in a thick, permeating fog. This requires the denizens of the planet to communicate entirely through the sense of touch.
;Panoria : A terminal medical condition unique to Edemians and two other unspecified alien races. Approximately three percent of Edemians are susceptible to this viral disease, which gradually shuts down all metabolic processes if left untreated. Symptoms include elevated pulse rate, nausea, fever, and body aches. It is treated with tricyclidine.
;Ravage : A Cardassian warship and part of the Second Order commanded by Gul Dukat. The vessel reportedly had enough armaments to knock a class G star out of position. Dukat used the ship to demand the release of his aide's murderer into Cardassian custody.
;Xerxes Six : A planet where Glav lived for a time on some property he owned there. He eventually discovered a deposit of calvinum that he later sold to become quite wealthy.
;XXX-Three : A holosuite program featuring Major Kira and Lieutenant Dax as dancing girls. Bashir blackmailed Quark into erasing it.
;XXX-Four : A holosuite program featuring a fog-filled room and laughing women. This program was initiated by Quark in an attempt to confuse his would-be murderer.
;Zealous : An Edemian vessel of Holy War; the Zealous was summoned by Mas Marko to force Sisko to release the murderer of Marko's retainer into their custody. The vessel's commander was Mencar. The Zealous was armed with disruptor banks.
;Zot : A curse word in the Ferengi language.
;Internet : Bashir mentions seeing news about the impending Borg attack on the internet.
;Elvis Presley : According to Keiko, Miles had insisted on naming their first child Elvis if it had been a boy.
;Tellarites : A Tellarite was a patron at Quark's while another was a traveler en route to the Gamma Quadrant.
;Tri-esta : A unit of money, in coin form, used by the Ferengi.
;Subspace compression anomaly : Dax described this phenomenon as space naturally closing rips in its "fabric," like wormholes.
;Edema system : The home star system of the Edemians and a long way from Deep Space 9.
;Edemians : Humanoids from the Edema system. Their skin is usually a shiny ebony while their eyes are a gleaming red. Bashir regarded them as a fairly hardy race. Edemians follow a set of rules called Siilar that help them live life in accordance with their deity, K'olkr. Upon death, a funeral must be held on Edema within twelve hours in order for the soul to be with the deity K'olkr.
;K'olkr : The winged deity worshiped by the Edemians. He is believed to live on a planet called "The Sparkling World" and that those worthy are sent by him on a journey toward cosmic oneness. Those whose confidence in K'olkr wavered are instead sent to a nether realm called E'bon where pain and punishment awaited. Torture in E'bon lasts until the soul is blackened and flayed, then it is sent back to begin a new incarnation with the spiritual knowledge of their torment.
;Ferengi Bureau of Audit : An agency in the Ferengi government that audits the assets of Ferengi citizens.
;Orions : An Orion was a customer at Quark's and was rather irritated with his beverage. A dissatisfied Orion once caused extensive damage to Quark's Bar.
== External link ==
* 
cs:The Siege (román)
de:Die Belagerung (Roman)
Siege, The