Tales of the Dominion War Read online

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2004 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

  STAR TREK is a Registered Trademark of Paramount Pictures.

  This book is published by Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., under exclusive license from Paramount Pictures.

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  ISBN: 1-4165-0364-1

  First Pocket Books trade paperback edition August 2004

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  To all those who gave their lives in war that others may go on with their lives in peace—may your service never be forgotten.

  Contents

  Introduction

  by Keith R.A. DeCandido

  What Dreams May Come

  by Michael Jan Friedman

  Night of the Vulture

  by Greg Cox

  The Ceremony of Innocence Is Drowned

  by Keith R.A. DeCandido

  Blood Sacrifice

  by Josepha Sherman & Susan Shwartz

  Mirror Eyes

  by Heather Jarman & Jeffrey Lang

  Twilight’s Wrath

  by David Mack

  Eleven Hours Out

  by Dave Galanter

  Safe Harbors

  by Howard Weinstein

  Field Expediency

  by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore

  A Song Well Sung

  by Robert Greenberger

  Stone Cold Truths

  by Peter David

  Requital

  by Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels

  The Dominion War Timeline

  compiled by Keith R.A. DeCandido

  Introduction

  This book owes its existence to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for two reasons.

  The obvious reason is that the Dominion War was chronicled on the last two seasons of DS9. That show introduced the Dominion, the Jem’Hadar, the Vorta, and the Founders, and many of the stories you are about to read relate to episodes of DS9, either by expanding on references in them or chronicling events that happened simultaneously with them.

  But the second reason is far more fundamental than that: when DS9 debuted in 1993, it changed the face of Star Trek forever.

  Until DS9 came along, Star Trek was pretty much defined by the words spoken at the beginning of one of the most famous show-opening voiceovers in television history: “These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.” It could be Kirk’s Enterprise or Picard’s Enterprise (or, if you wanted to get radical, possibly Pike’s Enterprise, April’s Enterprise, or Garrett’s Enterprise), but for twenty-seven years, it was the Enterprise that was always at the forefront of most any Star Trek adventure.

  Then in January 1993, DS9 debuted, taking place on a space station, featuring a cast that was only about half Starfleet—and the floodgates opened. Now, the whole Star Trek universe was fair game. Star Trek was no longer limited to one ship. The storytelling possibilities, already pretty wide with a ship of exploration at its center, got even wider.

  This extended not only to television, but also to the Star Trek novels, which have been, in one form or other, an integral part of the franchise since Mission to Horatius was published back in 1968. In 1997, Star Trek: New Frontier debuted, with Peter David chronicling the adventures of an all-new ship and crew created just for the novels—something that wouldn’t have been imaginable before DS9. The success of New Frontier in turn led to more prose-only projects: Star Trek: Stargazer by Michael Jan Friedman, showcasing a young Jean-Luc Picard in his first command three decades prior to Star Trek: The Next Generation; Star Trek: S.C.E., a monthly series of eBooks by a variety of authors featuring the Starfleet Corps of Engineers; and my own Star Trek: I.K.S. Gorkon, focusing on a vessel in the Klingon Defense Force.

  “This,” you may say, “is all well and good, but what does it have to do with this anthology?” A fair question.

  The Dominion War was a massive endeavor, one that involved the Federation, the Klingons, the Romulans, the Cardassians, the Dominion, and so much more. But DS9 was really only able to show a small portion of it. Just as M*A*S*H showed the Korean War through the lens of one particular group of characters and one general location, DS9 likewise gave us a view of the Dominion War. But it’s not the complete picture of the whole conflict.

  That’s where Tales of the Dominion War comes in. I love the opening up of the Star Trek universe because I love to explore all the nooks and crannies, the roads not traveled as often, expanding on the bits that are talked about but not shown. With the war, I found myself asking many questions. Some previous novels and eBooks had dealt with the conflict to some degree or other (see the timeline at the back of this volume), but I was still left wondering: What was Picard’s Enterprise doing? What about the original series characters Spock, McCoy, and Scotty, all of whom are still alive and kicking in the late twenty-fourth century? What about the Excalibur crew from New Frontier or the da Vinci crew from S.C.E. or Klag from the Gorkon? What about the surviving crew of the Stargazer? How was it that Shinzon served the Romulan Empire with distinction during the war, as established in Star Trek Nemesis? And what about the events that were mentioned on DS9 but not dramatized, such as the fall of Betazed from “In the Pale Moonlight” or the Breen attack on Earth in “The Changing Face of Evil”?

  And so I gathered some of the best Trek prose stylists out there, and set them to the task of sewing some new threads in the tapestry that DS9 provided. Some pairings of author and subject were obvious, e.g., Peter David providing a New Frontier tale, Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz—authors of several excellent novels focusing on Ambassador Spock—offering an insight into Spock’s doings on Romulus during the war years, etc. Some will surprise you; I, for example, chose, for reasons of my own, to tell the story of the fall of Betazed, leaving the able Robert Greenberger to dramatize Klag’s adventures. Other authors I just let run loose and tell whatever story they wanted.

  The result is the book you hold in your hands, one that endeavors to show the entirety of the Star Trek universe. All five television shows are at least touched upon, as are all the above-mentioned prose series. You will see the war from the point of view, not only of Starfleet, but of the Klingons and the Romulans, the Cardassians and the Jem’Hadar, and even that old Star Trek standby, a being of pure energy. Within these pages are battles, disasters, fables, medical thrillers, espionage tales, murder mysteries, and so much more.

  I must give thanks to the many people who aided me in ushering this book into existence: Jessica McGivney and Elisa Kassin, the in-house editors, who kept the mills grinding. Scott Shannon, the publisher who oversaw those mills. Marco Palmieri, John J. Ordover, and Ed Schlesinger, who kibbitzed marvelously at various points. All the authors, who were true joys to work with, and who were all very patient with their deadbeat editor. Paula M. Block, the wonderful person at Paramount who approves all this stuff, and does so with a keen eye, a fine sensibility, and a marvelous ability to catch things the rest of us are too dumb to notice. And most of all, to the love of my life Terri Osborne, about whom I can’t say
enough good things, so I won’t even try to say them all here.

  And now, to the front lines…

  —KEITH R.A. DECANDIDO

  somewhere in New York City

  What Dreams May Come

  Michael Jan Friedman

  War correspondence: In the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, it was established that, before taking command of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D, Jean-Luc Picard served a distinguished twenty-two-year tour as captain of the U.S.S. Stargazer. The novel Reunion established several members of the Stargazer crew, such as his first officer Gilaad Ben Zoma, his Gnalish chief engineer Phigus Simenon, and the twins Gerda and Idun Asmund. Subsequent novels The Valiant, The First Virtue, and the ongoing Star Trek: Stargazer series have chronicled the early adventures of the Stargazer under Picard’s command. However, Picard isn’t the only former Stargazer crew member to survive into the 2370s.

  “What Dreams May Come” takes place in the early days of the war, in the three-month gap between the final episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s fifth season, “Call to Arms” and the sixth-season premiere “A Time to Stand.”

  Michael Jan Friedman

  Michael Jan Friedman has written nearly forty books about the Star Trek universe, including Reunion (the first Star Trek: The Next Generation hardcover), Crossover, the novelization of the episode All Good Things…, Shadows on the Sun, Kahless, the My Brother’s Keeper trilogy, The Valiant, Starfleet: Year One, and the ongoing Stargazer series (featuring Jean-Luc Picard’s first crew). He also wrote the Star Trek: The Next Generation series published by DC Comics, co-wrote the Voyager television episode “Resistance,” and is currently at work on yet another Star Trek novel—this one concerning the fate of his favorite romantic couple in the wake of the movie Star Trek Nemesis. As Mike has noted on other occasions, no matter how many Friedmans you may know, he’s probably not related to any of them.

  Sejeel sat up in his luxuriously overstuffed bed, stretched out his arms in his soft, silky bedclothes, and reflected—not for the first time, by any means—that it was good to be a Vorta on a backward but strategically located world on the edge of Federation territory.

  Most of his fellow Vorta had drawn significantly more demanding assignments—the sort that involved the grim prospect of injury and even death. After all, the tune of armed conflict was being played now in earnest in the Alpha Quadrant, and injury and death were its natural accompaniments.

  But not on Illarh, the world of gentle humanoids to which Sejeel and his ship full of Jem’Hadar had been dispatched. There was no struggle here, no fight to repel the invader.

  And no possibility of Starfleet interference, either.

  For reasons that escaped Sejeel, the Federation had made it a rule not to get involved with pre-spaceflight civilizations—even those like the Illarhi, that were situated in or near Federation space. So when Sejeel’s ship slipped into orbit around Illarh, it did so with complete and utter impunity.

  Feeling pleased with himself, the Vorta pulled aside his covers, got out of bed, and dressed himself in a set of clothes he had brought with him from the Gamma Quadrant. They had seemed perfectly comfortable before he arrived on Illarh, but now they seemed altogether too stiff and scratchy.

  Of course, anything would have seemed stiff and scratchy in comparison to Illarh’s native fineries. The people here might not have been particularly aggressive or advanced with regard to technology, but they certainly knew how to make an alien feel comfortable.

  Removing his personal communications device from the pocket of his tunic, Sejeel contacted Baraj’aran, the First of his Jem’Hadar task force.

  “Anything to report?” the Vorta asked.

  “Nothing unusual,” Baraj’aran told him.

  “Splendid,” said Sejeel. “Let me know if anything changes.” With that, he terminated the conversation and replaced the device in his pocket.

  It hadn’t been much of a report. But then, in truth, there was little for either the Vorta or the Jem’Hadar to do at the moment. They had come to Illarh to establish a communications and supply depot, a critical element in an imminent wave of military advances from which the Federation wasn’t expected to recover.

  However, without any opposition from the Illarhi, Baraj’aran and his soldiers had been able to set up the depot in just a few days. In another few days, they had constructed a powerful, ground-based shield generator capable of thwarting any weapon Starfleet could bring to bear.

  And because the Illarhi were so primitive and naïve, they had believed Sejeel when he told them that he and the Jem’Hadar weren’t staying long. All they wanted, the Vorta had said, was to use Illarh as a temporary stopover in their migration from a dying world to a new home in a distant star system.

  During Sejeel’s talks with the Illarhi, the Jem’Hadar had been a little brusque, true, but otherwise they’d been quite inoffensive. When one got to know them, the Vorta had said, they were actually a fine and noble species.

  Not invaders, oh no. Merely pilgrims on a journey that would soon compel them to leave Illarh, at which point the lives of its original owners would return to normal.

  None of it was true, of course. Even the Illarhi would figure that out eventually. But for the time being, the situation was a stable and serene one, and Sejeel meant to keep it that way as long as he could.

  He didn’t like wholesale slaughter any more than the next sentient being. And when the Illarhi launched their inevitable revolt, that was exactly what the Jem’Hadar would inflict on them.

  No one dealt death and destruction quite like the Jem’Hadar. It was what they had been designed for.

  In the meantime, the Vorta meant to enjoy the creature comforts of Illarhi—not the least of which was the cadre of servants he had assembled to attend to his needs. Before Sejeel’s arrival, these Illarhi had worked in the employ of prominent citizens.

  Now, they worked for him. As always, their day began by preparing Sejeel’s morning meal.

  It was a wonderful concept, and one the Illarhi had more or less perfected. Savoring what was in store for him, Sejeel exited his bedchamber—which had also belonged to a prominent citizen before the Jem’Hadar evicted him—and emerged into his residence’s forward living space. As usual, his servants had laid out an assortment of native delicacies for him, illuminated by cylinders full of luminescent insects.

  Sejeel stopped in front of the display and admired it component by component. Dark, fried ogliila eggs. Fresh melon-meats, ranging in color from pale gold to dark red. The succulent, blue roots of the aderrja bush, and a frothy, white juice whose name he could never seem to remember.

  The Vorta picked up one of the melon slices and bit into it. It was a shame that he couldn’t truly appreciate the differences in tastes and smells. Still, the Founders had had their reasons for giving the Vorta such a limited sensory range.

  As he thought that, one of the Illarhi entered the room. Like all his people, the fellow had copper-colored skin, a spattering of mossy, white hair, shiny black eyes, and a series of bubbles on his cheeks that facilitated auditory perception.

  “Draz,” said Sejeel. “So good to see you.”

  The Illarhi inclined his head, displaying the patchwork pattern of his hair. “Good morning, Master Sejeel. Did you sleep well?”

  “I did,” Sejeel assured him. He smiled wistfully. “A deep, dreamless sleep, Draz. As always.”

  After all, he was a clone, and clones weren’t given to dreaming. Those who had created him had considered nocturnal visions a waste of time for someone with such large responsibilities.

  He had believed the same thing until he came to Illarh. He had imagined that dreams were but a series of unintelligible images, irritating at best.

  Then one day—Sejeel’s third on Illarh, as he recalled—Draz had mentioned one of his dreams in passing. It was a simple dream, about Draz’s childhood and his brothers and sisters.

  To the Vorta’s surprise, Draz’s dream wasn’t at all irrit
ating. It was by turns storylike and realistic, logical and bizarre, and the combination was something that seemed to strike a chord in Sejeel’s psyche.

  When he woke the next day, he couldn’t wait to find out if Draz had had any other dreams. To his delight, the Illarhi said he had, and went on to tell Sejeel of it.

  Every morning thereafter, he had asked Draz to describe his dream of the night before—and on no occasion had the Illarhi disappointed him. In fact, of all the delicacies the Illarhi set before the Vorta each morning, Draz’s dreams were the ones Sejeel found most appealing.

  “So,” he said to the Illarhi, “what sort of dream did you have last night?”

  Draz’s brow creased. “A disturbing one.”

  He was about to elaborate when Sejeel’s communications device began to beep. Holding a finger up to keep the Illarhi from continuing, the Vorta retrieved the device and said, “Yes?”

  “We have lost contact with our vessel,” said Baraj’aran. “We are attempting to isolate the cause.”

  Sejeel frowned. Communications lapsed occasionally—it was a fact of life in unfamiliar systems, with unfamiliar magnetic fields.

  But there was nothing he could do about it. That was the province of the Jem’Hadar.

  And he found himself intrigued by the look on Draz’s face. Disturbing, the Illarhi had said. It was the first time he had ever used that word to describe one of his dreams.

  “Isolate it soon,” Sejeel told Baraj’aran, “or I will put someone in charge who can.”

  Then he put away his communications device and turned to Draz again. “Disturbing in what way?” he asked.

  Draz shrugged. “It’s…difficult to explain.”

  “Try,” said the Vorta, plopping himself into an overstuffed chair in the corner of the room. He made a “hurry up” gesture with a flip of his hand. “Please, proceed.”

  Draz nodded. “Very well, then.”

  But he didn’t speak of his dream right away. Instead, he moved to the room’s only window, pushed a bit of its covering away, and looked outside.