By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
In the season three tewo parter, Deep Space 9 delivered a story that beautifully affirmed just how dangerous the Dominion was as a foe to the Alpha Quadrant but gav new life and dimensions to the Cardassians and the Romulans.
The dominion had been introduced at the end of season two in The Jem’Hadar and in the opening season three episodes, it was revealed that the Dominion were in fact Changelings, Odo’s species. They ruled with an iron fist because of the way solids had treated them in the past. They showed no mercy and saw the intrusion inot the Gamma Quadrant by a powerful Federation a threat to their existence. And the Dominion had no interest in making new friends. What Odo does as a lawmaker, keep order and justice, the Dominion did to ensure compliance from the solids. We would discover that the Dominion unleashed a plague upon a planet just to teach them a lesson. They destroyed a Galaxy class starship just to make a point as to how far they would go to protect their territory. The Dominion saw just how chaotic the Alpha Quadrant was and how it could be manipulated.
When someone tries to kill Cardassian, Garak (Andrew Robinson), Odo discovers that he did it himself. Someone is killing former members of the Obsidian Order, the Cardassian version of the KGB as is the Tal Shiar of the Romulan society. Both were enemies of the Federation, enjoying a fragile peace. Garak needs to find out what is happening by seeking who is behind the murders.
Odo and Garek take a runabout and are captured by a secret joint fleet of Romulans and Cardassians. The Romulans have equipped the Cardassians with cloaking devices so they can get through the wormhole undetected.
As a show rich with secondary characters, it expanded the story base exponentially, the writers skilfully weaving these characters into the overall tapestry that was about to erupt into war which was unheard of in Star trek. Wars had been mentioned before, the Klingon, the Romulans but they had never been done onscreen as an ongoing story.
This episode would pave the way for all that was to come.
We knew very little about Garak as his past was a mystery. He lied a lot, confusing Doctor Bashir with conflicting stories of his past. It is clear he was connected somehow and had stayed on DS9 to avoid Gul Dukat, his enemy. He could not go home but this is his chance to do exactly that. Heading this operation is his former boss, Enabran Tain. He and Romulan Lovok devised this operation to bring a new powerbase to the galaxy. We would later find out that this is Garak’s father but it was tain that ordered the deaths of all his former operatives. But he underestimated Garak as usual and offers him a place at his side which Garak accepts. Garak must torture Odo to discover the secrets of the Changelings especially as they are about to destroy his entire species. The alliance has learned the location of the Changeling homeworld as seen in the opening two part episode The Search.
This unholy alliance have now developed technology to hurt Changelings which Garak uses on Odo during his interrogation. Trapped in a forcefield, Odo cannot chnage and when a Changeling cannot return to their liquid state, they begin to crumble and flake.
But the kicker comes when the fleet arrives at the Changeling homeworld where they launch a devastating attack. Tain and Lovok are stunned when they find out it is all an illusion. This is not the Changeling homeworld but a trap to weaken two of the greatest powers in the Alpha Quadrant, leaving just the Klingons and the Federation to deal with. Dominion fighters attack the fleet, destroying it. Unable to comprehend, Tain has a breakdown. Garak frees Odo but will not leave without Tain. He finds him on the bridge babbling as it burns around him. The Jem’Hadar take out ship after ship, leaving Odo to forcibly remove Garak and flee. It turns out Lovok was in fact a Changeling and manipulated Tain’s thirst for ultimate power. tain devised the plan and the Changelings ensured it went ahead as these two powers were a real threat to them.
It is a great sequence especially when they relaise that there are over one hundred and fifty Jem’Hadar ships heading right for them. You can feel the fear in the Romulan officer’s voice at this fact. They know they are about to die for nothing. It is saying something when a Romulan shows fear. We get a lovely space battle that DS9 honed so well to give the full effect of space battle.
With that rousing background music , the entire reveal sequence is exciting and keeps you glued. The Dominion is unlike any enemy faced before and even the Borg could not assimilate them due tot heir liquid state. The Romulans and Cardassians have been strong, devious opponenets to the Federation so far, always pushing the boundaries in the hope of war happening. To see them getting their asses kicked so brutally is another statement that DS9 is not the usual Trek and that nothing is safe any more. As we would see, there were more surprises to come and the war arc would run to the very last episode of the final season.
A great moment that set DS9 up above the others as the brilliant stprytelling it was famed for.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 