Dominion War

[indolover]

That said, I think as soon as the events in The Search concluded, Starfleet should have banned all Federation starships from the Gamma Quadrant.

[heavy lids]

The Dominion are assholes and the Federation couldn't stay on their side of the wormhole. End of story.

[Jono]

I doubt that the Federation listening to the Dominion and stop using the wormhole would have made any difference. If the Dominion was serious about their initial threat they would have fortified the GQ end and actively stopped ships form the AQ instead of doing nothing. Plus if the Federation did stop using the wormhole it might have been years before they figured out the Founders were Changelings, if they ever did. You would think that with a longer period of secrecy that the Founders could have caused quite a bit more havoc and without implicating the Dominion.

[heavy lids]

Jono wrote:

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I doubt that the Federation listening to the Dominion and stop using the wormhole would have made any difference. If the Dominion was serious about their initial threat they would have fortified the GQ end and actively stopped ships form the AQ instead of doing nothing. Plus if the Federation did stop using the wormhole it might have been years before they figured out the Founders were Changelings, if they ever did. You would think that with a longer period of secrecy that the Founders could have caused quite a bit more havoc and without implicating the Dominion.

All true, I was making a facile comment. The Dominion was coming regardless of what Starfleet was doing. "What you can control, can't hurt you."

[The Regent]

The biggest issue was fear and arrogance to starting that particular war.

The Dominion's Fear: Of course most of use know what happened to The Founders in their tragic story. They want to keep anyone they can't control at arms length until they can exact that control. They had somehow known of The Federation and anticipated a formal meeting about 200 years down the road but The Wormhole threw a monkey wrench into those plans when it made travel between the two quadrants faster. That fear grew when they were caught off balance by the new forces, all with their own independent military forces, that were now on their front door.

The Federation's Arrogance: The Dominion took then Commander Sisko captive because the Federation began to start encroaching on The Dominion's territory, I don't think that the wormhole counted at the time but the Federation was extending their reach. When Third Talak'talan of the Jem'hadar told them this and to stay out of the Dominion's territory, Dax's exact quote was "Your're making a mistake if you think detaining Commander Sisko will stop us from exploring the Gamma Quadrant." The arrogance of that line is incredibe, you have someone who just proved that he's more than you can handle since Talak'talan beamed through their shields and walked through their force field as if they were nothing in addition to not being able to even lock a tractor beam on their ship telling you to stay out of their territory and the first thing you say is no. She didn't even offer to negotiate or say we'll explore everything else. Showing some spine is one thing but was a big F you.

If the Dominion's initial plans were able to be exacted, they may have been able to take the Alpha Quadrant without firing single shot but when the timetable got moved up, war was inevitable. Sisko just decided to to do it on their terms which is why he's my favorite Captain.

[Dale Sams]

"....and..ah, yes. The man who started the war with The Dominion."