Hello all, Ric here covering the state of the Trek galaxy in the wake of the Dominion War,
beginning with where it ended. The Treaty of Bajor was the singing accord that created terms over the
ending of the Dominion War. It covered a variety of topics that all signing parties would have to
adhere to, or risk instigating a new conflict. These terms heavily favoured the Alpha Quadrant
which is just as well as it was the Dominion that was the invading force acting to secure itself
against a threat that did not actually exist. Among these terms were that the Dominion Military
personnel, ships or equipment were to completely withdraw from the Alpha Quadrant within 26 hours,
or 1 Bajoran day of signing and all the territory that the Dominion and its allies had claimed
was to be relinquished back to Alpha Quadrant powers. This would involve further discussions
among the Alpha Quadrant powers as places like Betazed had been occupied and needed
to be returned to their original sovereign powers, especially true in places like Benzar,
which was a Federation world, but it was liberated from Dominion Control by the Romulan Star Empire,
who historically never relinquished territory it had claimed in the past.
However the treaty would go on to cite a pre-war status (with an exact stardate) as the initial
starting point for the restoration of borders and territory, plus Benzar was a Federation
member and unlikely to be tolerated as a Romulan Star Empire vassal state. One concession however
was that the Cardassian losses to the Klingon Empire were to be maintained, so the Cardassian
Union was ultimately diminished by the war. The signing parties were the United Federation
of Planets, the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Star Empire, the Bajoran
Republic, the Cardassian Union and the Breen Confederacy and the Founders of the Dominion.
Following on from this Treaty, the Dominion War Accords were written up that clarified
and dealt with issues more specifically including relations and aid that the United Federation of
Planets would provide to the Cardassian Union in recovery from the Dominion’s attempted genocide.
The Founders signed this accord primarily because not only had they lost, but they were on the verge
of dying out from a Section 31 virus and the whole point of the Dominion even existing was to protect
the Founders through fear and complete control. The Founders were the Dominion, their Vorta and
Jem’Hadar artificially manufactured to preserve their will alone. So there was little compunction
about calling off the whole thing, when the lives of the Changelings were on the line.
There were two more conditions however, that the Female changeling, the face of the Dominion War
in the Alpha Quadrant and operations leader, was to surrender herself to the Federation for trial
and war crimes. This is the bigger sacrifice for the Dominion as to exist away from the Great Link,
their home for an extended time is a horrid fate, yet they are nigh immortal in lifespan.
Returning in her stead, would be Constable Odo, delivering the cure to his people,
although this was never written into the treaty, just on his word of honour to a fellow Changeling.
Which I want to point out as important, because to the Dominion Founders, the Treaty was a scrap
of paper to placate the Alpha Quadrant, the real negotiation was carried out through a
few seconds of Linked conversation between two of the Dominion’s Gods and fulfilled on trust.
The word of a Changeling, even an enemy, was worth more to them than all the treaties of the Solids.
So what followed? Well the United Federation of Planets got back on track with new exploration
initiatives, resuming work on ships like the Luna class and drawing up new ship designs. Shortly
after, the USS Voyager returned home to the Alpha Quadrant, bringing with it a trove of Delta
Quadrant technologies and data to be poured over, giving Starfleet a whole new lease on life and
much needed motivation to put the War behind them. We saw the explosion of new drive technologies
like the Protostar and Slipstream drives, the latter seeming to catch on faster and incorporated
to ships like the Dauntless, Pathfinder and Odyssey later on. The next big issue to tackle for
the UFP was the Romulan crisis and for this Utopia Planitia was repurposed to make ships for this
effort, while a series of synthetic, no-sentient workers were created to accelerate the process.
Of course this all came apart when the Tal Shiar turned this against them and annihilated their
Starfleet rescue fleet. The end result of this was that although Starfleet would continue its
exploratory missions, it would increase security and maintain the fleet of ships
generated in the Dominion War because it had no idea where the attack came from, and would not
know for another 14 years. Some even suspected it the precursor to a Dominion attack again.
Paranoia would eventually fade, but the result was plenty of bad blood from the Romulans,
mixed with those who at least appreciated the Federation’s efforts before the supernova.
The Breen continued to be a problem however, such as in 2381, when they made incursions into Brekka,
a non-Federation world, but they did fire upon a Starfleet away team with
intent to keep their invasion a secret. The one thing that is still a little hazy
is the status of Bajor. Its application to join the Federation was still available to be pursued
and some tales both books and in games have this occur at different times, but it does happen,
a little later in Online. However it is expressed in the show that Bajor is concerned about trading
away its sovereignty, considering the Cardassians had previously stolen it.
While the UFP is far from the Cardassian Union and has earned Bajor’s trust as an ally, Bajor might
simply feel uncomfortable with anyone overseeing aspects of their governance, at least for a while.
In terms of position, they also have little need to join, Starfleet will continue to
protect the wormhole and by extension DS9 and Bajor because they benefit from it,
while Bajor itself is in a position to dictate who gets access to it and to trade within its borders.
But what of the Dominion? Well, there is not actually a lot to say in the canon of
the shows and that’s kind of a good thing because it meant that they were abiding by
their treaty. To clarify, the Treaty specified no military equipment or personnel to step foot
in the Alpha Quadrant, but trade, ambassadorial ships or the like would be permitted. However
it sounds like nothing there was accomplished either. In extra canonical stories, the UFP
had occasionally reached out to the Dominion in regards to information on topics and the like,
but was either ignored or received a curt reply. Within the Dominion however, the Founders were
undergoing… Let's call it discussions. Odo was attempting to bring his knowledge of the
compassionate sides of solids to his people and would “argue” for a softer approach.
Because of the nature of the Great Link, my terminology is insufficient to convey what
was going on, there was no literal dialogue or discussion, more like a dissemination of Odo’s
experiences into his people. This was not an opinion shared by all within the Link however,
some would hold to their original ideals that they were only safe through control,
through dominion. Plus, they had made many enemies over its 2000 year life and it’s
not like the Dominion could suddenly turn the other cheek and become a benevolent force in the
Gamma Quadrant, that would be inviting reprisal. There are several times in apocrypha however where
echoes of the Dominion resurfaced. For example, the 2800 Dominion War ships that the Prophets of
the Wormhole deleted? They were actually sent forwards in time to the year 2409. This saw
the fleet remerge thinking no time had passed and beginning their confused attack on DS9,
but to their credit at least, the misunderstanding was quickly realised. However the Vorta in command
had trouble convincing her Jem’Hadar first to cease and a Founder was required. Starfleet
opted to release the Female Shapeshifter in return for her calling off the attack in person and they
all returned to the Gamma Quadrant. In this instance, a second Dominion War was averted.
Additionally, there is the existence of a second, smaller Great Link established
by Laas. He had travelled around, searching out wayward shapeshifters of the 200 infants that the
Link had sent out, like Odo, and gathered those he found forming his own society on Orias which was
in the Alpha Quadrant. Again, this violates no treaties as they were not the Dominion,
but a whole new faction who had never been to the Dominion at all. In canon these 200 are
probably still at large but it would be cool to see their tale evolve in this direction.
However, if, say a faction of Changelings was to consider their opinions irreconcilable with a new,
less aggressive Dominion stance, then they may leave on their own to resume their war on the
Federation, however without the resources of their fleets. There would be many justifications for
such actions, after all it was Starfleet’s Section 31 that poisoned the Link with a biological weapon
and we have already established what little regard the Dominion has for treaties themselves, only the
safety of the Founders. Such a splinter ideology might lead to a rengage faction and that would be
a more difficult thing to explain especially if they undertook attacks on the Federation.
But for the most part, the Dominion has continued to maintain its… well “dominion” over the Gamma
Quadrant and presumably is making very slow but gradual changes to how it runs things.
It has abided by the Treaty of Bajor and Dominion War Accords, not because it respects the
Federation, but because it maintains the safety of its people and Odo’s life might have softened them
somewhat. Although not all agreed, even when the Federation was in disarray from the Synth attack,
the Dominion did not invade, and we even see that the Federation is allowed to operate in
a limited fashion inside the Gamma Quadrant, presumably outside of Dominion territory.
That is about all I have so far on a post Dominion War Star Trek and the future for all
parties remains to be developed, so thank you for watching, I’ve been Ric and I’ll see you later,
goodbye!