1.) Military occupation of all Cardassian territory. This is perhaps the most obvious solution, but it is one that is virtually impossible because of the Jem'Hadar. So long as even one Jem'Hadar is alive, without orders to the contrary, the war will continue. Hunting down every Jem'Hadar in Cardassian space would be extremely bloody and taxing. The damage done to the civilian population in the area will be immense. And mind you, by this time we can assume the Cardassians will have surrendered, but not the Jem'Hadar. Bombarding a world from orbit gets extremely questionable when the government of that world has surrendered to you.

2.) Defeating the Dominion in Cardassian space is too costly, and getting the Jem'Hadar to surrender is impossible. However, it is possible to force a retreat, if you can make the Founders desperate enough to recall those forces. The only way to do that is to attack the Dominion in the Gamma Quadrant.

The problem with attacking like this is that all of your supply lines come down to a single source, the wormhole. I think it's safe to bet that the Dominion has annexed all the space around the wormhole by now, and has a formidable garrison around it. That has to be destroyed. Then a new one has to be built by Starfleet and allies, this time to protect the aforementioned supply lines. Unlike the Dominion, the allies have no foothold or potential foothold in the Gamma Quadrant. They would be solely dependant upon connection to the Alpha Quadrant.

This plan is flawed as well, though. The Jem'Hadar are easily produced, meaning there is little to be gained by bringing in the Cardassian contigent. It seems more likely that those Jem'Hadar would perhaps be used to attack allied positions in the Alpha Quadrant, or to attack DS9. To counter that, you'd need to keep a sizable portion of the fleet back, but you need as many ships as possible to hold Gamma Quadrant positions.

3.) The third option is a diplomatic one. We know that the Founders are at war with the Alpha Quadrant because of their fear of solids. Convince them that AQ solids are not a threat, and the war can end. Of course, whether the Founders will listen to that or not is a different story. The allies do have a few advantages, though. For instance, for almost all of the Dominion, the Founders are myth. Some may consider them to be historical allegory, but whatever the popular opinion, they do not officially exist. The AQ powers know differently. That knowledge could be used to blackmail the Founders into ending the war. It could even be used to shakeup the stability of the Dominion, if necessary.

Well, that's my take on it. A sucessful strategy would probably combine elements of all three, breaking Dominion control of Cardassia, showing the Founders that the Alpha Quadrant will not easily be conquered, and reaching a diplomatic agreement of some sort. What do you think?

Firstly, the Jem'Hadar are dependent on the Ketracel White, and once their supply is gone they will eventually die, so if their are any survivors after the war they may not last long anyway. And secondly, the writers, when in a situation like this, always seem to have an ace up their sleeve to get the Federation out of a sticky situation (recall what happened at the end of Sacrifice of Angels). I suspect that the Founder's disease may be part of this "ace up their sleeve".

As for breaking Dominion control of Cardassia, I think that the unfortunate transporter accident that killed Weoyun 5 may be evidence that the allies may have some help there. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if the Obsidian Order resurfaces in The Final Chapter in some way, perhaps (and this is pure speculation on my part) they even cooperated with section 31 to give the Founders their disease. After all, both section 31 and my favourite Cardassian tailor are scheduled to make an appearance.

(Can you tell I'm an X-Files fan, I'm seeing conspiracies everywhere now :-) )

This eliminates reinforcement from the Gamma Quadrant. It also poses a problem. How can the Dominion go back to the Gamma Quadrant if the Federation is blocking the wormhole entrance? It shall be interesting to see how this all turns out.

This is by far the quickest means to end the war. It is also the worst and cheapest as well. (Cop out ahoy if this happens, which, IMHO, is most likely.) Hence the diplomatic situation is needed. Perhaps the AQ forces will play a role in saving the founders from the disease, and the Founders will have some gratitude towards them......

It's the old "Kirk confuses the computer" ploy.

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I'm the only one who understands me, and I ire of my company.
--Paul Cargile

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"YOU SMEG!"

Personally, I think it will have something to do with the Prophets, and Sisko's role as Emissary. Although this would have a corny 'Sisko saves the universe' feel to it, similar to Picard in 'All Good Things'.

The Founders, like any other race, do not deserve to be killed off because of their acts. That's not what Star Trek is about.

Section 31 to thank for that? I'd dump them out of the nearest airlock, and probably you as well for supporting them.

I suspect we will be debating in the aftermath of the finale some way to rationalise what the writers come up with....

And all this stuff about what Star trek is about and Gene Roddenberry's dream - it's just holding everything back. Gene Roddenberry's dead and although I will forever be in his debt for bringing us Star Trek, we have to move on from 'his dream' and take Star Trek in new directions, even if it moves beyond that Utopia existance and doing some immoral acts.

The name of the episode :Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges means In war, laws shall be silent. Even the Federation and section 31 will betray their own laws and the Prime Directive which every captain breaks probably a thousand times in their career anyway.

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"If it should become necessary to fight, could you arrange to find me some rocks to throw at them"

Sure I understand that some people will do anything to achieve victory, but if it is achieved through incomprehensible means, then it is a horrible ending. Even a few "I'm sorry's will not cut it".

I CERTAINLY hope that the Feds will not go down that path. And I CERTAINLY HOPE that the Founders survive, somehow.

To quote the late Senator Vreenak, 'the Dominion is resolved to win the war at any cost'. So I can't see how the Founders will just back down and scurry back to the Gamma Quadrant (assuming the Prophets would let them). As already stated, the Jem Hadar will fight to the last man, so I don't see how the Federation will have any choice but to utterly destroy them, purely out of self-defence...

Whatever happens, it shall be big, I just hope they don't go for the soft option of either a 'reset button', or to have the Founders back down, something totally out of character with what has been established over the series.

But the whole point of the Federation is that it IS as close to Utopia as you could want. It is adopted by each fan as an embodiment of their own personal vision of a just and prosperous society. As such it becomes something to aspire to, and a breeding ground for the heroes to man its starships.

The idea of painting everything in shades of grey, and ferreting out the corruption & darkness at the heart of government is a very cliched 90s perspective. Just because the powers of this century are flawed does not make those of the future so. Indeed, the inadequacies of today's real world make an example of what we should be aiming for all the more important.

There is of course scope for a dystopian slant on Mankind's future, B5 has shown us aspects of that. But it is INCOMPATIBLE with the ethos of Star Trek. And I don't care how often Ira-"Let's destroy the earth"-Behr moans about fans complaining about tampering with the Federation. This isn't his show to play around with.

So there. 8P

However, I doubt that anyone will watch the DS9 finale, see the destruction of the Founders and then go on a killing spree of every person who is not the same religion as they are, or think to themselves that the Federation did it, so it must be okay.

Anyone who uses TV as an excuse for murder is just a psycho who is looking for a way out and something else to blame but themselves.

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"If it should become necessary to fight, could you arrange to find me some rocks to throw at them"