posted
I was just doing some reading, and got reminded of the alternate timeline that we saw in "The Visitor," when Jake grew old, the Federation gave DS9 to the Klingons, and ... oh yeah, there was apparently no major interstellar war that killed billions of people.
Now, I may be reading this wrong, but that episode seemed to portray DS9 as turning into a pretty useless outpost in later years, as if nothing of major importance happened.
And so I wonder... if, by saving Ben Sisko from a short eternity trapped in subspace, did Jake Sisko "cause" the Dominion War? Did Ben Sisko cause the Dominion War?
I can think of three specific instances where there was contact with the Dominion that could've had an impact:
First, in the "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost" two-parter. Yeah, the Changelings were already on Earth, but they could've left if the Federation suddenly lost its nerve there.
Second, in "To the Death". Working under the assumption that Sisko made a big impression on the Dominion that time, seeing as how Weyoun was there and all that, I think it could be considered to some extent.
Finally, this one's the biggest, but also more indirect: "Indiscretion." Just a few weeks or a month or so after Sisko's death, would Kira have been able to go off traipsing after the lost Ravinok? Maybe someone else would've gone instead, or Dukat went alone, or whatever. Essentially, Dukat doesn't lose his office in the Cardassian government, doesn't get humiliated by bringing Ziyal back, and thus isn't in a position to get tempted into joining the Dominion a year or so later.
I'm not saying that the conflict with the Dominion suddenly vanished once Sisko disappeared, but I wonder if he could really be looked on as a major driving force on the front line. Since the wormhole was the single possible point of contact, we could say that Sisko had unusually powerful influence on cross-wormhole communication and interaction as compared to a wide border like, say, the Romulan Neutral Zone. And so, the Federation backs down, traffic through the wormhole basically stops, and the Dominion pulls back from its plans to invade the entire Alpha Quadrant. After all, it was the Federation's intrusions in the Gamma Quadrant that provoked the Dominion's first attacks. (Yes, I know it was completely out of proportion, but it's still a causal chain no matter the reaction.)
So, what do you guys think? Do you hate temporal mechanics yet (again)?
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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After assuming command of Deep Space Nine, the Klingon CO ordered a nice torpedo spread to collapse the entry of the wormhole.
No wormhole, no threat of a Dominion invasion.
Remember, Tahna Los tried to do the same thing with a Klingon-supplied explosive in "Past Prologue" and Sisko thought he WAS doing the same thing in "The Search pt. II", and he only had some runabout torpedoes ...
posted
No. But they may have used the Alpha Quadrant entrance to try to replicate the experiment, so maybe the Klingons collapsed the Gamma Quadrant entrance.
posted
The Dominion made an alliance with the KLingons while presuing a long term infiltration plan of their Empire.
Or the Dominion is not very threatened by the Klingons and war was postponed because of it....
Or the Prophets just eliminated any ships entering from the gamma side and allowed the Emissary's son's ship to enter.
Most Likely, the whole episode was orchestrated by the Prophets to show "The Sisko" what he has in Jake-o. A little moral lesson for their favorite son.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
quote:Originally posted by Malnurtured Snay: Remember, Tahna Los tried to do the same thing with a Klingon-supplied explosive in "Past Prologue" and Sisko thought he WAS doing the same thing in "The Search pt. II", and he only had some runabout torpedoes ...
Yes, and I would have done it if it wasn't for that Kira B*tch....
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Jason is kinda on the track of what I was thinking. But there are just so many elements that were apparently already in play before then -- Martok had already been replaced with a Changeling and was goading for war with the Federation. (Actually, that would easily explain the taking-over-DS9 bit.)
I wonder if the Dominion just got really, really lucky in finding someone like Dukat who was desperate enough -- and arrogantly stupid enough -- to try to make a deal, and invite them in. Otherwise, maybe the Dominion was content to sit back, keep the Alpha Quadrant powers off balance, and make sure they didn't come through to the Gamma Quadrant?
That seems kinda contradictory, though... After all, that Vorta in "The Search" wasn't pleased when Sisko destroyed the wormhole in their simulation. They kinda gave their hand away there, making it clear that they didn't just want everyone off of their own backyard, they also wanted to take over everyone else's backyards, too.
So I guess either there was absolutely no mention of whatever Dominion War took place in this alternate timeline, or the Dominion eventually gave up for whatever reason.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
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-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
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posted
And you're not even called "Tahna Los" anymore. Why you changed it to something that sounds like "sultana", though, I don't know.
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Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
I could change it back to the way it was before. I just don't bother.
Oh, the Saltah'na were the race that posessed the DS9 crew in Dramatis Personae. Besides, the "Tahna" part is somewhat similar, if not intact.
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I don't know if he did it on purpose or not, but you'll notice that with the exception of an "o", and the addition on an "a", all Tahna has done is rearrange the letters of his name.
I'm not certain that the Defiant re-entered the wormhole in the future. I think the ship was just hanging off of DS9's bow taking their readings. Anyone wanna watch the episode to find out?
Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
The Defiant didn't enter the wormhole because it was there to record the subspace inversion thingy from the outside. THEORY DESTROYED!
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
It's implied that there was never a conflict with the Dominion in that timeline, but I don't think we can rule it out. I haven't seen the episode in awhile, so I'd have to go check, but I think the only reference to the Dominion is when Jake says they talked the Klingons into letting them send some ships through the wormhole to test the waters "after all those yesrs" or something. There could've been a war of some kind between the time the Federation abandons the station and the time they come back to tinker with the wormhole. Jake just wouldn't have mentioned it to Melany because everyone would've known about it.
It's also possible that the War in that timeline was much different. Maybe the Klingons had 90% of their fleet guarding the entrance and just hammered anything that came through.
Many possibilities... but in the end, of course, everything worked out the way the Prophets wanted it to.
Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
The jist of the story went (somewhat paraphrased, but 99% Readers Digest accurate ):
Sisko "disappeared" and the Bajorans viewed that as a sign from the Prophets and felt that the Federation was no longer able to protect them from the Klingons and so they signed something like a mutual protection pact with the Cardassians which did not settle too well with the Klingons and much of the stations population relocated. Over time tensions grew and Starfleet realized that DS9 would be at the front if all out war broke between the two so they agreed to hand DS9 over to the Klingons (during what would have been the 5th season).
It would be assumed that the Klingons were never too interested in exploring or entering the Gamma Quadrant, nor did they allow anyone to, as they were busy enough with the Cardassians and Federation and so on.
The evidence I found for this is as follows:
Fast-forward 20 years when Nog is a Commander and he is visiting with Jake in Louisiana.
So it would seem the Dominion had accomplished all they needed to keep the Alpha Quad unbalanced (as was the theme of the prior episode("WotW")) by pitting the Klingons against the Cardassians and the Federation against the Klingons.
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
Yup. Think about it: the biggest threat to the Dominion was the Klingon-Federation alliance. With Sisko removed, Dukat would never have fallen from grace, the Khitomer accords would never have been signed again (which thwarted the Dominion's year-long ploy to drive a wedge between them), the Dominion would never have gained a foothold in the AQ beyond the odd changeling here and there, so the war would never have happened either.
[ January 30, 2004, 09:28 AM: Message edited by: Cartman ]
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