Battle of Deep Space Nine
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| Battle of Deep Space Nine | |||||||||||||||||
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| Conflict | Dominion War | ||||||||||||||||
| Date | late 2373, Stardate 50975.2 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place | Deep Space Nine | ||||||||||||||||
| Result | Dominion victory | ||||||||||||||||
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In the fictional Star Trek universe, the Battle of Deep Space Nine was the first major battle of the Dominion War. It resulted in the successful mining of the Bajoran wormhole by the Federation, preventing Dominion reinforcements arriving from the Gamma Quadrant, and in the fall of Deep Space Nine to the Dominion. After the battle, Gul Dukat would make it his command HQ for the war, which would proceed entirely in his favor for the next three months. Dukat also reverted the station's designation back to station Terok Nor, its original Cardassian name. The Dominion would occupy Deep Space Nine for the next five months.
Prelude
Prior to the battle the Cardiassian Union had been fighting a bloody war against the Maquis and the Klingons. Out of desperation Gul Dukat secretly began negotiations with the Dominion to allow the Cardassians to join as members. When this was revealed the Klingons withdrew from Cardassain space and the Dominion now had an established foothold in the Alpha Quadrant. Between Cardassia's joining the Dominion and the start of the war, the Dominion constantly sent military supplies across the Bajoran Wormhole to Cardassia. Starfleet Command realized that the flow of supplies had to be stopped or else the Dominion would eventually overwhelm the Alpha Quadrant powers.As war with the Federation approached the Dominion began negotiating a series of nonaggression pacts with neighboring powers. Their ultimate coup came when the Dominion and the Romulans agreed to a peace treaty. Because of this deplomacy the Federation became increasingly isolated, their only allies being the Klingon Empire.
Eventually, in order to stem the tide of supplies coming through the wormhole, Starfleet Command approved Captain Sisko's plan to lay a minefield in front of it. Because of the risk that Starfleet could loose control of DS9 Jadzia Dax, Miles O'Brien and Rom devised a plan in which the mines would be small and self-replicating. The USS Defiant was given the task of laying the mines and General Martok's Bird of Prey, the IKS Rotarran was ordered to act as an early warning for the station. However, Starfleet refused to deploy any starships to reinforce DS9 thus requiring the station to fend off the coming attack by itself. Prior to deploying the mines, Sisko, acting as Emissary of the Prophets, convinced the Bajoran government to accept a nonaggression treaty with the Dominion, in order to secure the planet's safety.
The Assault Begins
The mission for the Dominion fleet was twofold: Stop the Defiant, which was still laying the mines, and then capture Deep Space 9. To the Dominion commander Weyoun's surprise the station held out much better than anticipated. Thus, it managed to defend to allow the Defiant to complete her mission. The Dominion fleet was temporarily held off and forced to regroup, giving Sisko time to evacuate the Starfleet and Klingon personnel from station to the Defiant and Rotarran respectively.In the dark hour of his evacuation and retreat form Deep Space Nine, Captain Sisko gave this determined speech to the inhabitants of Deep Space Nine that were staying behind:
- "When I first took command of this post, all I wanted was to be somewhere else. Anywhere but here. But now five years later, this has become my home and you have become my family. And leaving the station, leaving you, is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. But this war isn't over. I want you to know that while we were keeping the Dominion occupied, a Starfleet/Klingon taskforce crossed the border into Cardassia, and destroyed the Dominion shipyards on Torros III. Your sacrifices, our sacrifices, made that victory possible. But no victory can make this moment any easier for me and I promise, I will not rest, until I stand with you again. Here. In this place where I belong." - Captain Benjamin Sisko ("Call to Arms")
Aftermath
While the Dominion managed to hold the key strategic point throughout the early days of the war, it proved little use because of the minefield. When the Dominion did manage to take it down the Bajoran Prophets, acting on Sisko's request, denied the Dominion the use of the wormhole to get reinforcements from the Gamma Quadrant. After the Battle of Bajor the Dominion lost control of the station.External links
- article at Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki
- [Battle of Torros III at Memory Alpha]
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