Obsidian Order
Encyclopedia : O : OB : OBS : Obsidian Order
The Obsidian Order is a Cardassian secret police organization in the fictional Star Trek universe.
Security Chief Odo of Deep Space Nine remarked that it was one of the most brutally efficient organizations in the galaxy. The Order kept very close tabs on all Cardassian citizens to ensure loyalty, and was greatly feared. It was said that the average Cardassian could not sit down to dinner without the contents of the said meal being noted and logged by the Order. Odo also noted that the Order caused people to disappear for even less than eating something the order did not approve of.
Elim Garak was a member of the Order, before being exiled from Cardassia to Deep Space Nine by his father, Enabran Tain. Tain had retired for a time, the only director to ever live long enough to do so. Garak became an ally of the Federation who used his knowledge to aid them in the war against the Dominion.
In 2371, the Obsidian Order and their Romulan equivalent, the Tal Shiar, allied in an attempt to destroy the Dominion. To this end, the Order began stockpiling a fleet of ships, even though its governmental charter strictly forbade it from possessing or developing military equipment of any kind. The plan, originated by Tain, involved a fleet of cloaked Romulan and Cardassian vessels traversing into the heart of Dominion territory in the Gamma Quadrant where they would annihalate the homeworld of the Founders.
Unfortunately, the Founders soon learned of the plan and saw it as an opportunity to eliminate the two dangerous organizations. When the Romulan/Cardassian fleet arrived at the Founder's homeworld, they found it deserted. Moments later, a fleet of 150 Jem'Hadar fighters emerged from hiding a nearby nebula and proceded to wipe out the fleet. At least a few Romulan and Cardassian officers would survive to be taken prisoner. Tain himself would survive for two years in a Dominion internment camp before dying of heart failure.
The disastrous results of this attack (and perhaps fear that the Order had clearly become too independant) led to the downfall of the Obsidian Order. The Order's surviving resources and personnel were absorbed into a new security agency.
The Obsidian Order is similar in many respects to the Romulan Tal Shiar and the Federation's section 31
External links
- article at Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.