Tales of the Dominion War

Tales of the Dominion War is a short story anthology – centered around the Dominion War – edited by Keith R.A. DeCandido. Published by Pocket Books, it was first released in .
== Summary ==
;From the book jacket
:For two seasons, chronicled the intense struggle of the Federation, fighting alongside the Klingons and the Romulans against the overwhelming forces of the Dominion in some of the most exciting hours of television ever produced.
:Now, for the first time, see how the Dominion War affected the entirety of the Star Trek universe. From the heart of the Federation to the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. From the front lines of Klingon space to the darkest recesses of the Romulan Empire. From the heroic members of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers to the former crew of the . From the edge of the New Frontier to the corridors of station Deep Space 9.
:Some of the finest Star Trek novelists have been gathered to provide a dozen new tales from this seminal period in galactic history. Heroes from three generations – Sisko, Picard, Spock, Kira, Mackenzie Calhoun, , McCoy, Gold, and so many more – brought together in these… Tales of the Dominion War.
=== Contents ===
==== "What Dreams May Come" ==== 
:by Michael Jan Friedman
In the early days of the war, a planet named Illarh lying within Federation space, but unaligned with the organization, has been occupied by Dominion forces. The Illarhi are a peaceful and unadvanced species. The regiment consists of a small platoon of Jem'Hadar soldiers and a Vorta named Sejeel. The main objective of this unit is to install a defense system and establish a beachhead before the Federation discovers the planet has been occupied.
Sejeel, quartered in the home of a government official, is distracted by the trappings of luxury, including silk sheets, bed clothes, and filling breakfasts. His only concerns are to periodically check on the status of the defense grid being installed. Another amusement he is using is his servant, Draz. The Vorta are unable to dream; the Illarhi are. Sejeel has Draz tell him about his dreams for entertainment. 
Today, however, Draz has had a troublesome dream. He feels he is more than what he is. Sejeel mocks him, saying that he has always been a lowly alien. The Vorta's arrogant dismissals fade as Draz continues with what he saw in the dream: that he is actually another person, from another world; that someone has transmitted a message about the events on Illarh; that the Federation knows about the Dominion presence; that the Federation is already dealing with the matter.
Horrified, Sejeel attempts to check on the Jem'Hadar: Static is his answer, followed by the sound of battle outside. Draz suddenly activates a Starfleet-style combadge, which is answered by Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Mortified that he has been fooled and complacent, Sejeel is taken prisoner as Draz reveals his true identity: the Human Gilaad Ben Zoma, formerly first officer of the .
==== "Night of the Vulture" ==== 
:by Greg Cox
The Beta XII-A entity is gloating about the maelstrom around it. Deep Space 9 has fallen and reverted to Terok Nor. The entity is looking forward to a long, violent war that will provide it with much needed anger and hatred to feed off of. However, events in the Sol system may interrupt its feed...
In orbit of Earth, Cardassian operative Zonek Karle, modified to appear Human, is awaiting a very important passenger for his ship, the Solanco. That passenger arrives: a Founder, with information important to the Dominion war effort. The information she has retrieved are the codes to bring down the mine grid at the Bajoran wormhole; if the codes are successfully used, reinforcements from the Gamma Quadrant could sweep in, and the Federation and the Klingon Empire wouldn't stand a chance. With the Founder aboard, as well as the Vorta Methras and a unit of Jem'Hadar, the irritated Karle departs the system for Terok Nor, a five-day journey.
Karle, a patriotic Cardassian opposed to his planet's alliance with the Dominion, is all the more irritated by the interference of the Founder. She is constantly calling for a faster route, but Karle insists he knows the way to go. She also gloats about the Obsidian Order's destruction in the Omarion Nebula, further taxing his nerves. Methras is no help to his mood either, too busy daydreaming of a conquered Earth and Betazed to offer any help. Matters are further taxed when the USS Bellingham appears to perform a routine security check. After being partially satisfied all is well and distracted by events in another sector, the Andorian captain bids them off and leaves.
At this point, the Solanco is nearing the dangerous Hunyadi Rift, a spatial anomaly powerful enough to destroy anything trapped in its reach. Karle, tired of the interference of the Changeling, guns the ship towards the rift. Scared and angry in equal measure, the Changeling attempts to strangle Karle. Just as she is about to do so, a disruptor pistol appears in Karle's hand. He shoots the Changeling in the head, killing her. Karle himself is then quickly vaporized by the Jem'Hadar.
Hovering above, the Beta XII-A entity continues to manipulate events for its feed. The ship's supply of ketracel-white vanishes, and Methras is unable to explain what has happened. The enraged Jem'Hadar brutally murder the defenseless Methras, beating him to death with their weapons after the entity has disabled his termination implant. With no one else left to play with, the entity manipulates the Jem'Hadar into thinking the others are hoarding a supply of white. They turn on each other, the small ship turning into a bloodbath. Again and again, the entity revives the soldiers, and again and again, they murder each other. The entity, having the best feast it has ever had, is too enamored with the brawl to realize that the ship is being pulled into the Rift.
By the time the entity realizes its danger, it is too late to escape, and the Solanco is disintegrated, taking the entity and the Jem'Hadar with it. In the final moments of its life, several thoughts flash through the entity's mind: distress that its feeding is over, pleading that it wants just another chance, and the final, galling thought that, by destroying the ship before its arrival at Terok Nor, it has single-handedly saved its most bitter enemies, the Federation and the Klingon Empire.
==== "The Ceremony of Innocence is Drowned" ==== 
:by Keith R.A. DeCandido
On Betazed, Lwaxana Troi and Mr. Homn are preparing to receive guests; Elaine and Nathan Gold, family of Captain David Gold of the USS da Vinci. The talk is light: Children, Betazed's architecture, Lwaxana's furnishings, and food. She briefly thinks of the Dominion War, but dismisses the threat. After all, Betazed is of no military importance, and they have a defensive system, although it is in disrepair and fifty years old. A refit had been planned, but Troi herself voted against it mere weeks before.
Suddenly, the battle mantra of the Jem'Hadar slams into Lwaxana's head: It could only be possible if there were thousands upon thousands near the planet; they're coming. Telepathically, she feels the horrifying death of the commander of Betazed's defenses, the fear of all Betazoids, and the deaths of thousands as the Jem'Hadar open fire on the planet. Soon, the invaders target the capital city, including the Troi household. The Troi house collapses, killing the Golds and Mr. Homn. Lwaxana and her young son Barin are the only survivors, shielded by Mr. Homm.
The two are dug up by a rescue party and bundled off to an underground bunker to wait out the attack. En route, Lwaxana sees the capital in flames and virtually leveled. There, after meeting fellow government officials, Lwaxana finds out the Tenth Fleet has been beaten back; Betazed has fallen to the Dominion. Despite the loss of her friends, servant, home, possessions, and planet, Lwaxana resolves herself and her fellow survivors. She tells them to organize resistance, vowing to make occupying Betazed a living hell for the invaders.
==== "Blood Sacrifice" ==== 
:by Josepha Sherman & Susan Shwartz
The Romulan Senate argues whether to ally with the Federation and Klingon Empire or joining the Dominion, but when the Emperor of Romulus is murdered, Vulcan Ambassador Spock and his reunification cell attempt to uncover the who and the why.
==== "Mirror Eyes" ====
:by Heather Jarman & Jeffrey Lang
Told entirely in the viewpoint of journal entries, an undercover Romulan Tal Shiar agent on Deep Space 9 struggles with her mission until she is forced to assist Starfleet medical forces, including Julian Bashir, Beverly Crusher, and the EMH of the Enterprise in eradicating a Dominion-engineered plague. Admiral Leonard McCoy also appears as chief of Starfleet Medicine, and a two-hundred-year-old report from a Doctor Phlox proves valuable to the research effort.
==== "Twilight's Wrath" ==== 
:by David Mack
Centurion Shinzon and his company of Reman shock troops are given a secret mission: to retake and destroy a secret Tal Shiar research facility on a planet in the former Neutral Zone that has been recently occupied by the Dominion, before a Federation and Klingon task force retakes the planet and discovers the lab, which would be a severe "embarrassment" to the Romulan Empire. If he survives the mission, Shinzon is promised command of his own warbird.
Knowing full well that the Romulan commander of their ship has orders to destroy the lab from orbit, whether or not Shinzon succeeds, Shinzon and his troops massacre the Romulan crew and commandeer the ship, before attacking. After landing on the planet, Shinzon surprises the enormous Jem'Hadar garrison guarding the facility by having the warbird piloted into the planet's surface in a kamikaze attack that wipes out half the garrison and creates an EMP that disables both sides' energy weapons. Fighting in hand-to-hand combat into the facility, Shinzon finds an experimental thalaron radiation generator (which he uses to wipe out the remaining Jem'Hadar and their Vorta overseer) and the android B-4.
His mission accomplished, Shinzon returns to Romulan space to claim his reward.
==== "Eleven Hours Out" ==== 
:by Dave Galanter
Captain Picard and Deanna Troi have returned to Earth to attend the latest Starfleet Academy graduation ceremony. Among the recent graduates is Picard's niece-by-marriage (through his sister-in-law, Marie Picard) Ensign Amarante Lebel. The ceremonies are interrupted by the Breen's attack on San Francisco.
Picard rallies the cadets to help evacuate the building into an old bomb shelter built below San Francisco during the Cold War, and to assess their situation. Although there are only three Breen ships (disguised as freighters), Earth is practically defenseless: a Breen agent has taken over its only orbital weapon platform, and Starbase 1 has been disabled, trapping the starship USS Columbia inside. Starfleet's communications have been disabled, and only civilian news feeds are getting out. Picking up one of these emergency broadcasts, the Enterprise speeds back to the Sol system, several hours away.
Realizing that the weapons platform will vaporize any incoming ship as soon as it enters the system, Picard daringly boards the platform (only one person can go, because of the concentration of transport inhibitors aboard) and disables the Breen agent. Entering the system, the Enterprise helps free the Columbia from the jammed starbase doors, and the two ships drive off the Breen invaders together.
While visiting a funeral for some of the many casualties of the attack, Amarante confides to her uncle that she has given up her plans to serve on a starship and will stay on Earth to help coordinate the reconstruction of Starfleet Headquarters. Picard has become very impressed with his niece's abilities, and vice-versa, and the two say an affectionate goodbye before Picard and Troi are beamed up.
==== "Safe Harbors" ==== 
:by Howard Weinstein
When word reaches Admiral Leonard McCoy and Captain Montgomery Scott of the Breen attack on Earth, they must join with another battle-scarred Federation starship and a group of young officers to avoid Breen forces in an unfriendly area.
==== "Field Expediency" ==== 
:by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore
In this tale spotlighting the crew from the SCE vessel USS da Vinci, officers and come under heavy fire from Breen forces looking to pick them off one by one while they try to capture some new-found technology.
==== "A Song Well Sung" ==== 
:by Robert Greenberger
This story features Captain of the , who, armed with only one arm, a bat'leth, and a Klingon disruptor must fight seven Jem'Hadar soldiers on a hot desert on the planet Marcan V.
==== "Stone Cold Truths" ==== 
:by Peter David
A hundred and fifty years after the Dominion War, a now-retired Zak Kebron tells his son of an experience during the war, and teaches him and his teacher a valuable lesson about viewing conflict.
==== "Requital" ==== 
:by Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels
Simultaneous with the events of the DS9 finale : , who has asked for, and received, permission to serve aboard the Defiant during the Battle of Cardassia, forms an unlikely alliance with Glinn Ekoor after the ceasefire, to assassinate the Female Changeling.
== Memorable quotes ==
"I am the Daughter of the Fifth House, Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx, Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed, and I will not be defeated."
: - Lwaxana Troi
"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."
"Arthur Conan Doyle, old Earth author. The books were in the Vulcan Embassy. Shelved under 'alien logic puzzles."
: - Spock and Ruanek
== Background information ==
* Editor Keith R.A. DeCandido was the one to propose the anthology concept, noting that the format lent itself well to exploring how various Star Trek characters were involved in the war. () In the anthology's introduction, he noted: "I love the opening up of the Star Trek universe because I love to explore all the nooks and crannies, the roads not traveled as often, expanding on the bits that are talked about but not shown. With the war, I found myself asking many questions."
* "Night of the Vulture" originated as a chapter in the Q Continuum series, which was excised for story reasons. ()
* In fleshing out the Breen attack in "Eleven Hours Out", author Dave Galanter based his approach on the Pearl Harbor attack, and included several details from the historical event, including the Enterprise being delayed by a storm and a mention of the Lexington heading to (Starbase) Midway. ()
* Howard Weinstein's "Safe Harbors" was inspired by the story of the . ()
* After being approached to include the New Frontier characters in the anthology, author Peter David was concerned, because he "had only been watching DS9 on and off. I didn't know all of the beats of the war and I wasn't entirely sure of who was fighting over what. […] How much did I want to go out of my way to learn about this whole damn thing to write a short story? […] Being a short story, I decided to dodge the entire thing by placing it one hundred years later and having it be essentially, What did you do during the war, Daddy?'" ()
* The book contains a Dominion War timeline, compiled by DeCandido. It features information from both DS9 and the various novels set during the war.
== Characters ==
=== Canon characters ===
;"What Dreams May Come"
:Jean-Luc Picard
;"Night of the Vulture"
:The Beta XII-A entity
;"The Ceremony of Innocence is Drowned"
:Lwaxana Troi
:Mr. Homn
;"Blood Sacrifice"
:Spock
:Neral
:Kimara Cretak
:Saavik (mentioned only)
;"Mirror Eyes"
:Julian Bashir
:Beverly Crusher
:Leonard McCoy
:Elim Garak
:Quark
:Morn
:Dr. Phlox
;"Twilight's Wrath"
:Shinzon
:Vkruk
:Tal'aura
:B-4
;"Eleven Hours Out"
:Jean-Luc Picard
:Deanna Troi
:William T. Riker
";Safe Harbors"
:Leonard McCoy
:Montgomery Scott
;"A Song Well Sung"
:
;"Requital"
:Ekoor
:
=== Non-canon characters ===
;"What Dreams May Come"
:Gilaad Ben-Zoma: former first officer of the , under Jean-Luc Picard; Ben-Zoma previously appeared in Michael Jan Friedman's .
;"Blood Sacrifice"
:Ruanek: a Romulan supporter of Spock, now living in exile on ; Ruanek previously appeared in the novel Vulcan's Heart.
;"Eleven Hours Out"
:Ensign Amarante Lebel: recent Starfleet Academy graduate, niece of Marie Picard
== References ==
;Sindareen: an alien race responsible for past attacks on Betazed; the Sindareen previously appeared in Peter David's novel .
;Karl von Clausewitz: Prussian general and military theorist. Spock reverses von Clausewitz's famous saying "war is the continuation of politics by other means," when observing the Romulan Senate's debates over entering the Dominion War: "On Romulus, politics had always been war by other means."
== External link ==
* 
Category:Anthologies