Dominion (Star Trek)
Encyclopedia
In the Star Trek
universe, the Dominion is a ruthless and militaristic Gamma Quadrant state consisting of many different races. The Dominion wages war
on the United Federation of Planets
and its allies in the late 24th century, acting as an antagonist
in the TV show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
.
) decided that the only way they could defend themselves against the "solids" (as the Changelings call all other races) was by bringing them under their control. Unwilling, or unable, to trust existing "solids," the Changelings genetically engineered new slave races to be their diplomats and soldiers. In so doing, they became known as the Founders to their new slaves.
Their main fighting force are shock troops
known as the Jem'Hadar
, fanatical super-soldiers who require no sleep or food and whose loyalty is ensured by a genetically pre-programmed addiction to the drug ketracel white, which only the Founders can provide, as well as an innate genetic veneration of Changelings and a heavy system of indoctrination that prepares Jem'Hadar for lives of devoted service in the interests of the Changelings. The Vorta
serve as the Founders' cloned intermediaries acting as Dominion administrators, diplomats, command staff, and scientists. Vorta are known for their duplicity and Machiavellian treachery, though they maintain ultimate service to the Dominion. It has been said that the tree-dwelling ancestors of the Vorta once protected a changeling, and they were elevated to their new role in gratitude. Both the Vorta and the Jem'Hadar have been conditioned to see the Founders as living gods.
Other races in the Dominion include the Hunters, the navigators and trackers of the Dominion (a Hunter was supposed to appear on a Dominion ship in the episode "Broken Link" but the idea was dropped so as not to confuse new viewers ), and their prey, the Tosk (which are rumored to come from the same 'root' species as the Jem'Hadar). These races appeared in the Deep Space Nine Season One episode "Captive Pursuit". Other Gamma Quadrant races fled their home worlds after being conquered by the Dominion. The Skrreea, for example, flooded Deep Space Nine with refugees after fleeing from their conquered world in the Season Two episode "Sanctuary." Still other races subject to the Dominion provide logistical support: one race manufactures torpedoes for Jem'Hadar ships, another race builds those ships. Only the Vorta and Jem'Hadar have direct contact with the Founders.
The actual organization and operation of the Dominion within their Gamma Quadrant empire has not been widely revealed. What has been specified suggests that the Dominion operates like an old fashioned "protection racket
" with the Vorta/Jem'Hadar keeping the member worlds in check with a combination of platitudes and violence - in the episode The Jem'Hadar, Eris explains "The Dominion decides that you have something that they want, and they come and take it, whether by negotiation or by force.". By dominating the Solids, the Dominion believes that they are preempting the Solids' natural urge to persecute and kill the Founders. One race was condemned to slow decay and death for refusing the Dominion (The Quickening episode).
was seeking 100,000 vats of tulaberry wine. There were various vague references to them as a major Gamma Quadrant power throughout Deep Space Nine's second season.
The Dominion was unknown to the Alpha Quadrant powers until the discovery of the Bajoran
wormhole in 2369, which facilitated exploration of the Gamma Quadrant. In 2370, Jem'Hadar troops annihilated numerous Bajoran and Federation colonies and ships in the Gamma Quadrant and captured Commander Sisko
, as the Dominion demanded the Federation stay on their side of the "anomaly". The lead Federation starship, USS Odyssey, was destroyed by a kamikaze
attack, as the Dominion demonstrated not only an alarming ability to penetrate shielding, but a fanatical devotion to their cause as the suicide attack was made on a retreating ship, solely to drive the point home to the Federation. As a result of this incident the Federation pulled the Defiant
out of storage, complete with a Romulan
cloaking device, and began preparations for a drastic increase in Deep Space Nine
's defensive capabilities.
A Federation mission the next year to find and make peace with the Founders ended disastrously, when the peace expedition was captured and subject to hallucinogenic manipulation to test the willingness of the Federation to appease the Dominion. As a result of this incident, it was discovered that the reclusive Founders of the organization (previously unseen) were the Changelings. The Changelings justified their actions by the need to protect their species against persecution by Solids, and also spoke of a duty and inclination to "impose order on a chaotic universe."
As a result of the continued Dominion threat, numerous Alpha Quadrant powers acted with increased preparations and paranoia, one expression of which was the Romulan attempt to collapse the wormhole forcibly. Despite the Dominion's warnings, the Federation continued to chart the Gamma Quadrant. Founders began infiltrating the Alpha Quadrant, even wreaking havoc on Earth
itself. In 2371, the combined intelligence organizations of the Cardassian Union
and Romulan Star Empire attempted a strike into the Gamma Quadrant with a cloaked fleet, seeking to destroy the Founder's home planet and cripple the Dominion. Due to intensive Changeling manipulation, this attack force was ambushed while assaulting an abandoned planet that was believed to be the supposed Founder homeworld, and was completely crushed. It is later revealed that the main advocate of attacking the Dominion was a Changeling infiltrator. This failure weakened the Cardassians and Romulans and paved the way for Dominion intrusion into the Alpha Quadrant.
The quadrant was plunged into conflict when the Klingon Empire
accused the Cardassian Union
of being under the control of the Founders. When the Federation condemned the Klingon attack on Cardassia, Gowron
banished Federation citizens from Klingon space, recalled their ambassadors and withdrew from the Khitomer Accords. The Federation and Cardassians fought months of armed combat against the Klingons. It was later revealed by Benjamin Sisko
, Worf
, Miles O'Brien
and Odo that it was the Klingons themselves who unknowingly had a Changeling in their midst, pretending to be General Martok
. Gowron rejoined the Khitomer Accords and joined to fight the Dominion.
The Dominion gained a foothold in the Alpha Quadrant when Gul Dukat
announced that the Cardassian Union was joining the Dominion in 2373. Open hostilities began a few months later, when the Federation mined the wormhole to prevent further Dominion ships from arriving. In response, the Dominion attacked and occupied Deep Space Nine while a Federation and Klingon task force destroyed a Dominion shipyard. The Alliance suffered brutal losses for over three months, until Captain Sisko organized a task force to retake Deep Space Nine. Forced to move early because of intelligence that the Dominion was on the verge of taking down the minefield, the Federation departed before a full force could be assembled and found themselves blocked and outnumbered by a Dominion-Cardassian fleet. After hours of bloody fighting, Dominion ships were outflanked by the arrival of a large Klingon fleet, which won the running battle and allowed the Defiant to break through to Deep Space Nine. By the time it had arrived, the minefield had been deactivated, but Dominion reinforcements were stopped in transit by the wormhole aliens known as the Prophets
at Sisko's request, at a price. As a consequence of this military loss, the Dominion fleets withdrew to Cardassian territory. Deep Space Nine remained in Federation hands for the duration of the war.
After this action, the war's intensity diminished, and for a time peace negotiations were seriously discussed. Eventually, the Dominion went on the offensive again, capturing Betazed in a surprise assault. Threatened with Dominion penetration into the inner sphere of the Federation, the Alliance forces were at a disadvantage, but were saved when the Romulan Star Empire entered the war on their side in response to an alleged, but faked Dominion plan of assaulting the Empire that Sisko and Garak created. With the three main Alpha Quadrant forces fighting against them the Dominion was forced back, with the Alliance even seizing the Cardassian planet of Chin'toka.
Late in the war, the mysterious race known as the Breen joined forces with the Dominion, and launched a devastating attack against Starfleet
Headquarters on Earth (DS9, "The Changing Face of Evil"). Even more disheartening was their use of a unique energy draining device that drained their enemies' entire energy supply, leaving them defenseless. Originally, only Klingon ships were immune to the effects of the Breen weapon. Late in the war, Kira Nerys
, acting with the Cardassian Rebellion, stole a Breen weapon and delivered it to the alliance for reverse engineering.
A Cardassian rebellion against Dominion rule formed shortly thereafter under the leadership of Legate Damar, Dukat's successor. His most successful attack, which disabled the planetary power grid on Cardassia, was met with brutal Dominion reprisal in the annihilation of a Cardassian city and all its inhabitants. When word of that atrocity reached the Dominion fleet, in the middle of a fierce battle with Allied forces, the Cardassian ships switched sides and aided the Alliance fleet. Dominion ships retreated to Cardassia and, on the Female Founder's orders, launched a genocidal assault on the Cardassian people, ultimately killing over 800 million Cardassians in a matter of hours. Odo was able to convince the Female Founder to surrender, thus sparing the Alliance crippling losses and preventing the entire Cardassian race from being exterminated. (DS9, "What You Leave Behind")
The Founders themselves were nearly wiped out by a plague, which was revealed to be a biological weapon engineered by agents of the clandestine Federation agency Section 31
, who deliberately infected Odo with it, in the expectation that he would pass it through the Great Link. The plague itself was reactive to shapeshifting and Odo's limited shapeshifting left him free of symptoms well after the Founders began to deteriorate from the condition. Julian Bashir was able to recover the knowledge of a cure from Sloan, an operative of Section 31, and manufactured a cure that saved Odo. While the Dominion was pushed back to Cardassia prime, Odo linked with the female changeling, curing her and simultaneously convincing her to surrender to the allied forces of the Federation. After the end of hostilities, the Founders were cured when Odo returned to the Great Link after a peace treaty was signed between the Dominion and the Federation.
. The terms of the final treaty ending the war were never shown. At the conclusion of the war it is assumed that the Dominion still held vast territories in the Gamma Quadrant. Odo's return to the Great Link is partially intended to share with the other changelings the information he has about how the war concluded and what he knows from living with solids; presumably, this is to change the goals and tactics of the Founders to a system that coexists with the solids as opposed to a strategy of domination.
In the non-canon relaunch
novels published by Pocket Books
, it is revealed that the Dominion and Breen forces withdraw from Cardassian space. Through Odo's efforts, the Dominion permits visitors from the Alpha Quadrant to resume peaceful operations in the Gamma Quadrant, in exchange for leaving its territory alone. Odo then begins attempting to change the nature of the Dominion by convincing the founders to reevaluate their views on other species, as well as encouraging certain Vorta and Jem'Hadar to behave more independently. The allied powers begin coordinating relief efforts to Cardassia, using Bajor as a staging point. The Cardassian Union is divided into separate protectorates to be occupied by the allies while the Cardassians recover. For her part in orchestrating the war, the Female Founder submits to any form of punishment the Federation wished to undertake.
game. The first mission in the Federation campaign has the USS Enterprise-E
defend a starbase from rogue Jem'Hadar ships. Later, the game had a Borg
armada invade Dominion space to capture a cloning facility in order to resurrect Locutus of Borg as a clone of Jean-Luc Picard
. They are seen to have two types of ships in the game, destroyers and battleships.
The Dominion also make an appearance in Star Trek: Conquest
as one of the major races and have three ship types a Jem'Hadar Scout, a Jem'Hadar Cruiser and a Jem'Hadar Battleship.
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
universe, the Dominion is a ruthless and militaristic Gamma Quadrant state consisting of many different races. The Dominion wages war
Dominion War
The Dominion War is an extended plot concept developed in a number of story arcs of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, an American science-fiction television series produced by Paramount Pictures...
on the United Federation of Planets
United Federation of Planets
The United Federation of Planets, also known as "The Federation" is a fictional interplanetary federal republic depicted in the Star Trek television series and motion pictures...
and its allies in the late 24th century, acting as an antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
in the TV show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...
.
Pre-contact constituents
The Dominion was created over two-thousand years prior to the events of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, when the persecuted Changelings (a non-humanoid race of shape-shiftersShapeshifting
Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...
) decided that the only way they could defend themselves against the "solids" (as the Changelings call all other races) was by bringing them under their control. Unwilling, or unable, to trust existing "solids," the Changelings genetically engineered new slave races to be their diplomats and soldiers. In so doing, they became known as the Founders to their new slaves.
Their main fighting force are shock troops
Shock troops
Shock troops or assault troops are formations created to lead an attack. "Shock troop" is a loose translation of the German word Stoßtrupp...
known as the Jem'Hadar
Jem'Hadar
In the fictional Star Trek universe, the Jem'Hadar are the shock troops of the powerful Dominion located in the Gamma Quadrant. Genetically engineered for strength and resolve, they are also short-lived and believe that "victory is life." They are bred to perceive the Founders, enigmatic...
, fanatical super-soldiers who require no sleep or food and whose loyalty is ensured by a genetically pre-programmed addiction to the drug ketracel white, which only the Founders can provide, as well as an innate genetic veneration of Changelings and a heavy system of indoctrination that prepares Jem'Hadar for lives of devoted service in the interests of the Changelings. The Vorta
Vorta
Vorţa is a commune in Hunedoara County, Romania. It is composed of seven villages: Certeju de Jos, Coaja, Dumeşti, Luncşoara, Valea Poienii, Visca and Vorţa.-References:...
serve as the Founders' cloned intermediaries acting as Dominion administrators, diplomats, command staff, and scientists. Vorta are known for their duplicity and Machiavellian treachery, though they maintain ultimate service to the Dominion. It has been said that the tree-dwelling ancestors of the Vorta once protected a changeling, and they were elevated to their new role in gratitude. Both the Vorta and the Jem'Hadar have been conditioned to see the Founders as living gods.
Other races in the Dominion include the Hunters, the navigators and trackers of the Dominion (a Hunter was supposed to appear on a Dominion ship in the episode "Broken Link" but the idea was dropped so as not to confuse new viewers ), and their prey, the Tosk (which are rumored to come from the same 'root' species as the Jem'Hadar). These races appeared in the Deep Space Nine Season One episode "Captive Pursuit". Other Gamma Quadrant races fled their home worlds after being conquered by the Dominion. The Skrreea, for example, flooded Deep Space Nine with refugees after fleeing from their conquered world in the Season Two episode "Sanctuary." Still other races subject to the Dominion provide logistical support: one race manufactures torpedoes for Jem'Hadar ships, another race builds those ships. Only the Vorta and Jem'Hadar have direct contact with the Founders.
The actual organization and operation of the Dominion within their Gamma Quadrant empire has not been widely revealed. What has been specified suggests that the Dominion operates like an old fashioned "protection racket
Protection racket
A protection racket is an extortion scheme whereby a criminal group or individual coerces a victim to pay money, supposedly for protection services against violence or property damage. Racketeers coerce reticent potential victims into buying "protection" by demonstrating what will happen if they...
" with the Vorta/Jem'Hadar keeping the member worlds in check with a combination of platitudes and violence - in the episode The Jem'Hadar, Eris explains "The Dominion decides that you have something that they want, and they come and take it, whether by negotiation or by force.". By dominating the Solids, the Dominion believes that they are preempting the Solids' natural urge to persecute and kill the Founders. One race was condemned to slow decay and death for refusing the Dominion (The Quickening episode).
First contact and escalation
The first mention of the Dominion is in "Rules of Acquisition" when QuarkQuark (Star Trek)
Quark is a fictional character in the American television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The character, which was played by Armin Shimerman, was depicted as a member of an extraterrestrial race known as the Ferengi, who are stereotypically ultra-capitalist and only motivated by...
was seeking 100,000 vats of tulaberry wine. There were various vague references to them as a major Gamma Quadrant power throughout Deep Space Nine's second season.
The Dominion was unknown to the Alpha Quadrant powers until the discovery of the Bajoran
Bajoran
In the Star Trek science-fiction franchise, the Bajorans are a humanoid extraterrestrial species native to the planet Bajor. They were first introduced in the 1991 episode "Ensign Ro" of Star Trek: The Next Generation and subsequently also featured in episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and...
wormhole in 2369, which facilitated exploration of the Gamma Quadrant. In 2370, Jem'Hadar troops annihilated numerous Bajoran and Federation colonies and ships in the Gamma Quadrant and captured Commander Sisko
Benjamin Sisko
Benjamin Lafayette Sisko, played by Avery Brooks, is the main character of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.-Early life and career:...
, as the Dominion demanded the Federation stay on their side of the "anomaly". The lead Federation starship, USS Odyssey, was destroyed by a kamikaze
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
attack, as the Dominion demonstrated not only an alarming ability to penetrate shielding, but a fanatical devotion to their cause as the suicide attack was made on a retreating ship, solely to drive the point home to the Federation. As a result of this incident the Federation pulled the Defiant
USS Defiant
The USS Defiant is a fictional starship in the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the feature film Star Trek: First Contact...
out of storage, complete with a Romulan
Romulan
The Romulans are a fictional alien race in the Star Trek universe. First appearing in the original Star Trek series in the 1966 episode "Balance of Terror", they have since made appearances in all the main later Star Trek series: The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager...
cloaking device, and began preparations for a drastic increase in Deep Space Nine
Deep Space Nine (space station)
Deep Space Nine is a fictitious space station, and is the eponymous primary setting of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It serves as a base for the exploration of the Gamma Quadrant via the Bajoran wormhole, and is a hub of trade and travel for the sector's denizens...
's defensive capabilities.
A Federation mission the next year to find and make peace with the Founders ended disastrously, when the peace expedition was captured and subject to hallucinogenic manipulation to test the willingness of the Federation to appease the Dominion. As a result of this incident, it was discovered that the reclusive Founders of the organization (previously unseen) were the Changelings. The Changelings justified their actions by the need to protect their species against persecution by Solids, and also spoke of a duty and inclination to "impose order on a chaotic universe."
As a result of the continued Dominion threat, numerous Alpha Quadrant powers acted with increased preparations and paranoia, one expression of which was the Romulan attempt to collapse the wormhole forcibly. Despite the Dominion's warnings, the Federation continued to chart the Gamma Quadrant. Founders began infiltrating the Alpha Quadrant, even wreaking havoc on Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
itself. In 2371, the combined intelligence organizations of the Cardassian Union
Cardassian
The Cardassians are an extraterrestrial species in the Star Trek science fiction franchise. First introduced in the 1991 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Wounded", the species originating on the fictional Alpha Quadrant planet Cardassia Prime...
and Romulan Star Empire attempted a strike into the Gamma Quadrant with a cloaked fleet, seeking to destroy the Founder's home planet and cripple the Dominion. Due to intensive Changeling manipulation, this attack force was ambushed while assaulting an abandoned planet that was believed to be the supposed Founder homeworld, and was completely crushed. It is later revealed that the main advocate of attacking the Dominion was a Changeling infiltrator. This failure weakened the Cardassians and Romulans and paved the way for Dominion intrusion into the Alpha Quadrant.
The quadrant was plunged into conflict when the Klingon Empire
Klingon
Klingons are a fictional warrior race in the Star Trek universe.Klingons are recurring villains in the 1960s television show Star Trek: The Original Series, and have appeared in all five spin-off series and eight feature films...
accused the Cardassian Union
Cardassian
The Cardassians are an extraterrestrial species in the Star Trek science fiction franchise. First introduced in the 1991 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Wounded", the species originating on the fictional Alpha Quadrant planet Cardassia Prime...
of being under the control of the Founders. When the Federation condemned the Klingon attack on Cardassia, Gowron
Gowron
Gowron is a fictional character in the Star Trek universe. Portrayed by Robert O'Reilly and featured in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine...
banished Federation citizens from Klingon space, recalled their ambassadors and withdrew from the Khitomer Accords. The Federation and Cardassians fought months of armed combat against the Klingons. It was later revealed by Benjamin Sisko
Benjamin Sisko
Benjamin Lafayette Sisko, played by Avery Brooks, is the main character of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.-Early life and career:...
, Worf
Worf
Worf, played by Michael Dorn, is a main character in Star Trek: The Next Generation and in seasons four to seven of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He also appears in the films based on The Next Generation. Worf is the first Klingon main character to appear in Star Trek, and has appeared in more Star...
, Miles O'Brien
Miles O'Brien (Star Trek)
Miles Edward O'Brien, played by Colm Meaney, is Chief of Operations in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Before DS9, he appeared as a recurring transporter chief in Star Trek: The Next Generation...
and Odo that it was the Klingons themselves who unknowingly had a Changeling in their midst, pretending to be General Martok
Martok
Martok is a recurring character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, played by actor J. G. Hertzler.-Overview:Little backstory is given regarding the early life of Martok, except for a brief history sketched by himself in the Deep Space Nine episode "Once More Unto the Breach"...
. Gowron rejoined the Khitomer Accords and joined to fight the Dominion.
Dominion War (2373–2375)
- See main article: Dominion WarDominion WarThe Dominion War is an extended plot concept developed in a number of story arcs of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, an American science-fiction television series produced by Paramount Pictures...
The Dominion gained a foothold in the Alpha Quadrant when Gul Dukat
Dukat (Star Trek)
Gul Dukat is the main antagonist of the fictional television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He is a member of the fictional Cardassian species, and leader in the Cardassian Union. At times he is an enemy, whilst at others an ally of the series' protagonist Benjamin Sisko. He was played by actor...
announced that the Cardassian Union was joining the Dominion in 2373. Open hostilities began a few months later, when the Federation mined the wormhole to prevent further Dominion ships from arriving. In response, the Dominion attacked and occupied Deep Space Nine while a Federation and Klingon task force destroyed a Dominion shipyard. The Alliance suffered brutal losses for over three months, until Captain Sisko organized a task force to retake Deep Space Nine. Forced to move early because of intelligence that the Dominion was on the verge of taking down the minefield, the Federation departed before a full force could be assembled and found themselves blocked and outnumbered by a Dominion-Cardassian fleet. After hours of bloody fighting, Dominion ships were outflanked by the arrival of a large Klingon fleet, which won the running battle and allowed the Defiant to break through to Deep Space Nine. By the time it had arrived, the minefield had been deactivated, but Dominion reinforcements were stopped in transit by the wormhole aliens known as the Prophets
Prophet (Star Trek)
In the fictional Star Trek universe, the Prophets, also known as Wormhole Aliens, are non-corporeal beings who inhabit the artificially constructed Bajoran wormhole which connects a distant point in the Gamma Quadrant to the Alpha Quadrant, near the planet of Bajor and the space station Deep Space...
at Sisko's request, at a price. As a consequence of this military loss, the Dominion fleets withdrew to Cardassian territory. Deep Space Nine remained in Federation hands for the duration of the war.
After this action, the war's intensity diminished, and for a time peace negotiations were seriously discussed. Eventually, the Dominion went on the offensive again, capturing Betazed in a surprise assault. Threatened with Dominion penetration into the inner sphere of the Federation, the Alliance forces were at a disadvantage, but were saved when the Romulan Star Empire entered the war on their side in response to an alleged, but faked Dominion plan of assaulting the Empire that Sisko and Garak created. With the three main Alpha Quadrant forces fighting against them the Dominion was forced back, with the Alliance even seizing the Cardassian planet of Chin'toka.
Late in the war, the mysterious race known as the Breen joined forces with the Dominion, and launched a devastating attack against Starfleet
Starfleet
In the fictional universe of Star Trek, Starfleet or the Federation Starfleet is the deep-space exploratory, peacekeeping and military service maintained by the United Federation of Planets . It is the principal means by which the Federation conducts its exploration, defense, diplomacy and research...
Headquarters on Earth (DS9, "The Changing Face of Evil"). Even more disheartening was their use of a unique energy draining device that drained their enemies' entire energy supply, leaving them defenseless. Originally, only Klingon ships were immune to the effects of the Breen weapon. Late in the war, Kira Nerys
Kira Nerys
Kira Nerys , played by Nana Visitor, is a main character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.-Backstory:Per Bajoran custom, her family name, Kira, precedes her given name, Nerys. She has two brothers , and her parents' names are Kira Taban and Kira Meru...
, acting with the Cardassian Rebellion, stole a Breen weapon and delivered it to the alliance for reverse engineering.
A Cardassian rebellion against Dominion rule formed shortly thereafter under the leadership of Legate Damar, Dukat's successor. His most successful attack, which disabled the planetary power grid on Cardassia, was met with brutal Dominion reprisal in the annihilation of a Cardassian city and all its inhabitants. When word of that atrocity reached the Dominion fleet, in the middle of a fierce battle with Allied forces, the Cardassian ships switched sides and aided the Alliance fleet. Dominion ships retreated to Cardassia and, on the Female Founder's orders, launched a genocidal assault on the Cardassian people, ultimately killing over 800 million Cardassians in a matter of hours. Odo was able to convince the Female Founder to surrender, thus sparing the Alliance crippling losses and preventing the entire Cardassian race from being exterminated. (DS9, "What You Leave Behind")
The Founders themselves were nearly wiped out by a plague, which was revealed to be a biological weapon engineered by agents of the clandestine Federation agency Section 31
Section 31
In the Star Trek fictional universe, Section 31 is an autonomous intelligence and defense organization. It is presented as a special security operation, manned by Federation citizens, that is not subject to the normal constraints of Starfleet ethical protocols...
, who deliberately infected Odo with it, in the expectation that he would pass it through the Great Link. The plague itself was reactive to shapeshifting and Odo's limited shapeshifting left him free of symptoms well after the Founders began to deteriorate from the condition. Julian Bashir was able to recover the knowledge of a cure from Sloan, an operative of Section 31, and manufactured a cure that saved Odo. While the Dominion was pushed back to Cardassia prime, Odo linked with the female changeling, curing her and simultaneously convincing her to surrender to the allied forces of the Federation. After the end of hostilities, the Founders were cured when Odo returned to the Great Link after a peace treaty was signed between the Dominion and the Federation.
After the War
The state of the Dominion as a political entity at the conclusion of the war has never been discussed in Star Trek canonCanon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
. The terms of the final treaty ending the war were never shown. At the conclusion of the war it is assumed that the Dominion still held vast territories in the Gamma Quadrant. Odo's return to the Great Link is partially intended to share with the other changelings the information he has about how the war concluded and what he knows from living with solids; presumably, this is to change the goals and tactics of the Founders to a system that coexists with the solids as opposed to a strategy of domination.
In the non-canon relaunch
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine relaunch
The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine relaunch is an unofficial name for a series of non-canon novels released since 2000 detailing events involving the characters, species and settings portrayed in the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine....
novels published by Pocket Books
Pocket Books
Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.- History :Pocket produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in America in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry...
, it is revealed that the Dominion and Breen forces withdraw from Cardassian space. Through Odo's efforts, the Dominion permits visitors from the Alpha Quadrant to resume peaceful operations in the Gamma Quadrant, in exchange for leaving its territory alone. Odo then begins attempting to change the nature of the Dominion by convincing the founders to reevaluate their views on other species, as well as encouraging certain Vorta and Jem'Hadar to behave more independently. The allied powers begin coordinating relief efforts to Cardassia, using Bajor as a staging point. The Cardassian Union is divided into separate protectorates to be occupied by the allies while the Cardassians recover. For her part in orchestrating the war, the Female Founder submits to any form of punishment the Federation wished to undertake.
Other appearances
The Dominion is seen in the Star Trek: ArmadaStar Trek: Armada
Star Trek: Armada is a real-time strategy game published in 2000 by Activision. The game's look and feel is based primarily on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and features a few of its main characters and ships. Playable factions include the United Federation of Planets, the Klingon Empire, the...
game. The first mission in the Federation campaign has the USS Enterprise-E
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)
The USS Enterprise is a Sovereign-class starship in the Star Trek franchise. It serves as the primary setting of the films Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek Nemesis...
defend a starbase from rogue Jem'Hadar ships. Later, the game had a Borg
Borg (Star Trek)
The Borg are a fictional pseudo-race of cybernetic organisms depicted in the Star Trek universe associated with Star Trek.Whereas cybernetics are used by other races in the science fiction world to repair bodily damage and birth defects, the Borg use enforced cybernetic enhancement as a means of...
armada invade Dominion space to capture a cloning facility in order to resurrect Locutus of Borg as a clone of Jean-Luc Picard
Jean-Luc Picard
Captain Jean-Luc Picard is a Star Trek character portrayed by Patrick Stewart. He appears in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the feature films Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek Nemesis...
. They are seen to have two types of ships in the game, destroyers and battleships.
The Dominion also make an appearance in Star Trek: Conquest
Star Trek: Conquest
Star Trek: Conquest is a video game set in the Star Trek universe. The game features both turn-based strategy and real time strategy gameplay...
as one of the major races and have three ship types a Jem'Hadar Scout, a Jem'Hadar Cruiser and a Jem'Hadar Battleship.