With Gul Dukat captured by the Federation, his second in command Damar was promoted to
Legate becoming leader of the Cardassian Union.
However, with the initial Cardassian plan for the war failing, Damar was given far less
operational control then his predecessor, eventually becoming a mere puppet of the Dominion.
Meanwhile, as casualties continued to mount, Dr. Julian Bashir of DS9, started a program
to help a group of brilliant genetically engineered people with social disorders, create a think
tank that analyzed information about the war so they might make helpful recommendations
to Starfleet.
At first the effort proved successful, with the Think Tank determining that a generous
peace proposal sent by the Dominion was actually a tactic so they could hold onto the Kabrel
system, a necessary source of Ketracel White for their Jem’Hadar army.
Yet as the Think Tank continued to study the war, they came to, what they considered, was
the inescapable conclusion that the Dominion would successfully conquer the Alpha Quadrant.
Believing there was no way around this conclusion, Dr. Bashir recommended that the Federation
Alliance should surrender, in order to save the lives of the 9 billion people that would
die in a prolonged struggle.
Outraged by their proposal, the Federation rejected the idea and soon disbanded the Think
Tank, after Dr. Bashir discovered the others were planning to outright aid the Dominion
and hasten their victory, in order to keep casualties to a minimum.
As the war continued, the Dominion allied themselves with the Orion Syndicate, working
with the criminal organization to plot the assassination a Klingon Ambassador in order
to destabilized the Federation Alliance.
But the plan was ultimately exposed by Miles O’Brien, a Starfleet Officer undercover
with the Syndicate.
Having lost access to their reinforcements beyond the wormhole, the Dominion created
a new generation of Jem’Hadar warriors bred specifically for combat in the alpha Quadrant
and were able to maintain this new army by allying with the Son’a who took over production
of Ketracel White, finally ending the supply shortage.
Slowly the Dominion expanded their influence, seeking out every available advantage while
continuing to press the attack against the Federation.
As a result they were once again winning the war, and so in 2374, the Dominion conquered
Betazed in under ten hours, gaining a strategic foothold in the heart of enemy space, from
which they might launch attacks against important Federation planets like Vulcan, Andor, Tellar,
and Alpha Centauri.
Desperate to stop the Dominion from continuing their advance, captain Benjamin Sisko put
morality and federation principles aside to work with Elim Garak, a fomer Cardassian spy
living in exile on DS9.
Together they hired a criminal to forge a recording of the Vorta Weyoun discussing the
invasion of Romulus and presented it to Vreenak, an influential Romulan Senator as evidence
that the Dominion were preparing to violate the non-aggression treaty.
And while the plan failed and the forgery was discovered, the entire ordeal proved to
only be a distraction so that Garak could plant explosives on the Romulan ship and assassinate
the Senator when he departed.
Although Sisko was furious, having been kept in the dark about Garak’s true intentions,
the former spy explained that the Romulans would soon launch an investigation and amongst
the wreckage of the Senator’s ship would find the recording they created of a high
level Dominion meeting.
At that point, any problems with the recording could be attributed to the explosion, leaving
the Romulan government to conclude that the Vreenak was killed by the Dominion after discovering
their plans to invade the Star Empire.
Sisko was then upset further when he learned Garak also killed the criminal who made the
forgery, in order to cover up their involvement.
But in the end, the Cardassian exile was proven correct, with the Romulans declaring war on
the Dominion and joining the Federation alliance.
Although he felt guilty about what had occurred, Sisko decided that he could live with what
he did, with Garak so eloquently stating: “That's why you came to me, isn't it Captain?
Because you knew I could do those things that you weren't capable of doing.
Well, it worked.
And you'll get what you wanted: a war between the Romulans and the Dominion.
And if your conscience is bothering you, you should soothe it with the knowledge that you
may have just saved the entire Alpha Quadrant, and all it cost was the life of one Romulan
senator, one criminal… and the self-respect of one Starfleet officer.
I don't know about you, but I'd call that a bargain.”
Quickly the Romulans proved effective allies, striking 15 bases along the Cardassian border,
and driving the Dominion off Benzar.
It would be during these campaigns that a unique young Romulan slave known as Shinson,
distinguished himself as a great military leader, defeating the Jem’hadar in 12 engagements.
Shinzon, was originally created by the Romulan government as a human clone of Jean-Luc Picard
in order to replace the prominent Federation captain.
However the plan was eventually abandoned and so the clone was discarded and sent to
live as a slave.
With the Federation Alliance revitalized, they went on the offensive, successfully invading
Cardassian Space in the First battle of Chin’Toka.
However this proved a difficult region to defend and as the war intensified, heavy fighting
along the front lines resulted in battles like the failed assault on Monac IV, where
they lost 30% of the Klingon Fleet, or the siege of AR 558, where 147 Federation soldiers
were sent to defend a subspace communications array, but due to manpower shortages they
had no reinforcements for 5 months, leaving only 43 of them alive to hold the line.
Despite their significant losses, the Alliance successfully capitalized on their momentum,
with small, hard fought victories mounting together, like their capture of the Kalandra
system thanks to the efforts of Elim Garak who was now openly aiding the Federation,
hoping to help free the Cardassian people from their Gamma Quadrant oppressors.
The Dominion then faced further challenges, when their leaders contracted a new Morphogenic
virus that threatened to destroy the Founders.
But what they did not know, was that this illness was actually a weapon of war, created
by Section 31, a rogue intelligence agency working on behalf of the Federation without
any oversight or official approval.