How did the Dominion know of the Federation before?

[indolover]

I think one of the producers said that the Dominion knew of the Federation long before the wormhole was discovered. But how is this so?

I can think of the probe Sisko mentioned in Emmisary, or the possibility of a Founder visiting the Alpha Quadrant and telling the rest of his species that the Federation/Klingons/Romulans are a potential threat to them. Another possibility is that in a Voyager-esque way, a ship got lost in the Gamma Quadrant and the Founders seized it and took possession of its logs/databases.

 

[TheLobes]

In 'To the Death', Weyoun tells Sisko that the dominion has been around for over two thousand years. Presumably they sent out long distance scouts over those two thousand years to keep tabs on the rest of the galaxy, its not like this is a society which cares about taking people far away from their homes. Apparently, since the Dominion knew about the Federation, it didnt consider them a threat, the changlings allude to a plan concerning the expansion of the Dominion which had to be moved up when the wormhole was discovered.

I always saw the Dominion, or rather the changlings, as kind of like the second foundation in Asimov, with a worked out plan of how they take over the whole galaxy. But, you know, more evil.

 

[Admiral Shran]

I think one of the producers said that the Dominion knew of the Federation long before the wormhole was discovered. But how is this so?

I can think of the probe Sisko mentioned in Emmisary, or the possibility of a Founder visiting the Alpha Quadrant and telling the rest of his species that the Federation/Klingons/Romulans are a potential threat to them. Another possibility is that in a Voyager-esque way, a ship got lost in the Gamma Quadrant and the Founders seized it and took possession of its logs/databases.

It was an idea the producers toyed around with, but they never actually put into any episode - it's not even hinted at in the show itself. The producer who said that, I can't remember which one it was, was just talking about something they wanted to do with the Dominion but never did.

 

[Saquist]

It's more than possible.
TNG stated that the Barzan wormhole shifted between the Gamma Quadrant and the Delta Quadrant. Traveling from either quadrant would bring you to the Alpha Quadrant. They could have discovered the wormhole long before the Barzan people did.

Not to mention the Federation and the Barzans sent probes first.

 

[JarodRussell]

How did Odo arrive at Bajor? If he got from the Gamma to Alpha quadrant, Dominion spies did, too.

 

[Anwar]

Odo was found in the Denorios Belt, where the Wormhole is. He was brought back to Bajor for study by the Cardassians.

Sisko said that they sent a probe into the Gamma Quadrant years ago (which is how he knew where they were when they went through it the first time), presumably that's how the Dominion found out about them.

Also, the "Ship of the Line" calender book gave the alternative explanation that the NX-02 Columbia was found in the 24th Century on a Gamma Quadrant world. Somehow they wound up there and crashed, and that's how the Dominion found out.

 

[Photon]

I think one of the producers said that the Dominion knew of the Federation long before the wormhole was discovered. But how is this so?

I can think of the probe Sisko mentioned in Emmisary, or the possibility of a Founder visiting the Alpha Quadrant and telling the rest of his species that the Federation/Klingons/Romulans are a potential threat to them. Another possibility is that in a Voyager-esque way, a ship got lost in the Gamma Quadrant and the Founders seized it and took possession of its logs/databases.

Dominion had spies on DS9 and in the AQ. I guar-on-tee, after Sisko's & Dax's plasma trail cooled (Emissary) the Doms were all over this.

 

[Photon]

^^^^This too^^^^

Odo was found in the Denorios Belt, where the Wormhole is. He was brought back to Bajor for study by the Cardassians.

Sisko said that they sent a probe into the Gamma Quadrant years ago (which is how he knew where they were when they went through it the first time), presumably that's how the Dominion found out about them.

Also, the "Ship of the Line" calender book gave the alternative explanation that the NX-02 Columbia was found in the 24th Century on a Gamma Quadrant world. Somehow they wound up there and crashed, and that's how the Dominion found out.

Along w/my explanation, this pretty much settles it.

 

[Marie1]

The Dominion had been around for a long time, and since it seems that the Founders can zip along through space on their own, + the wormhole...

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Even simple signals intelligence would be a possibility. We don't know how fast subspace signals propagate across any given area, and it's possible that their open chatter would've hit Dominion space much, much sooner than any radio signal ever would.

 

[Timo]

The crucial question would be the duration of a two-way trip between the Dominion and the UFP territory. Could such a trip have taken place within the timeframe of the existence of the UFP?

By the time of DS9, the UFP was a bit over two centuries old. Many of its member cultures were revealed in ENT to be older still, in terms of being interstellar players. USS Voyager, a starship roughly on part with the Dominion technologically *, was indicated to be capable of making a one-way trip in seven decades. Thus, even a fairly "conventional" reconnaissance mission would have given the Dominion authentic (even if not up-to-date) knowledge of the UFP.

I doubt this would have been a single 140-year recce run thither and yon, of course. But a stage-by-stage mission would certainly be a realistic assumption. Mankind apparently spread across Earth (in many of the documented waves) at surprisingly close to the walking pace of an individual human, dozens if not hundreds of kilometers per year; similarly, the Dominion might have extended its tentacles at significant speed as well, with outposts and other connections close to UFP territory within a century or two of the launching of a campaign in this direction. The ruthless empire wouldn't expand militarily as such - it would merely slither in through the cracks, as far out as it possibly could, the ruthlessness part coming in when the long-reaching tentacles were kept loyal to the central rule (with varying levels of success). For all we know, some of the familiar Alpha players were actually Dominion vassals or at least intelligence partners even before the wormhole was discovered...

Timo Saloniemi

*) Personally, I get the feeling that Dominion technology doesn't advance rapidly, and that the Dominion propulsive capabilities demonstrated in DS9 were already available a couple of thousand years earlier.