Cardassian conspirators in WoDS9 "The Lotus Flower"

[StefanM]

Hi,
I'm just reading the German editions of the "World of DS9" series, and I'm wondering about a subplot in the first novel "The Lotus Flower":

There is a group of five cardassian conspirators, working in the background and seem to have control over some of the things happening.

My question is: Is it ever revealed, who these conspirators are? Oder are they never mentioned again in any of the later DS9-books?

Until now, I haven't read any of the later DS9-books. I will red them after the WoDS9-Series, but in Germany, not all of them (and especially not all of Una McCormacks novels) have been published by Cross Cult.

I also wonder, if may be the characters Mev Jartek, Korven and Merak Entor are among them.
Mev Jartek was Ghemor's young assistant, who is exposed in the end by Garak as some kind of traitor.
Korven is an old member of the True Way, involved in the terroristic act.
Merak Entor is a member of the directorate, speaking for the Setekh Project.
The all might be involved in this group of conspirators.

What we know about the conspirators:

Chapter 5:
There is a meeting of all the 5 members and they are described in this way:
#1 is a young man, entering through the front door.
#2 also enters through the front door, is older, looks like an common man, seems to walk bent down a bit.
#3 takes the backdoor, his expensive shoes are mentioned
#4 enters through the catacombs, skims through his files
#5 seems to be the leader, is described as calm and relaxed, he's the one, who starts talking

Chapter 10:
only 2 men meet, drinking tea, talking about Jartek (so Jartek is not one of these two, but maybe part of the group)
one is wearing a good suit and has rescued an old book from the ruins (Korven seems to collect antiquities, his house is like a museum, so this could be him)

Chapter 23:
3 men meet, talk about Korven (so he is not one of these 3)
The youngest one eats Canka-nuts, could be #1 from chapter 5. Because of his age possibly Jartek.
The oldest could be #5 from chapter 5, as he also acts very calm and seems to be the leader. He even wants to take care of Garak.
the man in the middle seem nervous, could be any of #2, 3 or 4.

Epilogue:
After everything was unsuccessful (Jartek was exposed by Garak, Entor's Setekh project lost), one of them closed the file (maybe the leader).

Okay, maybe somebody knows more about these conspirators (from later stories?) or has any other ideas...

 

[TheUsualSuspect]

Well, I read the original DS9 relaunch books a long time ago, as they came out, but I don't remember that thread getting picked up again.

Maybe someone who's read the books more recently or has a better memory than I will come along with a more definite answer. You might also check Memory Beta.

 

[StefanM]

Thanks, but unfortunately Memory Beta doesn't help much here.
All they say about this group is: "The Cardassians at the start and the end of the novel are not identified, although McCormack has called them "The Gentlemen". (Voyages of Imagination)"
Voyages of Imagination is from 2006, so maybe this group appeared later again. Or someone just knows more about this.

 

[DonIago]

I only read the story once, but it doesn't sound like something that was picked up subsequently.

 

[DS9Continuing]

I don't think it was explicitly stated, but I always assumed they were what remained of the True Way.

Those were the people revealed to be behind the events of the story according to Garak's investigations - he already knew that Korven was involved with them, and was able to establish a connection between Korven and Entor that, while it wasn't enough to confirm that Entor was also with the True Way, was at least enough to embarrass Entor into dropping his opposition to the Andak project.

Jartek wasn't with the True Way. He appeared to be with them and to be betraying Ghemor, but he was only feeding them information to force them into making a move, so that Ghemor could be seen to handle the crisis and come out of it looking better to the Cardassian public. It was actually his way of helping Ghemor - just in a typically convoluted and underhanded Cardassian kind of way.

Given that the same author definitely and explicitly did use the True Way in a subsequent novel (The Crimson Shadow), I think it makes sense to assume that these were the True Way as well.

.

 

[StefanM]

Thanks. That makes sense.
So you think, Jartek was NOT really working for them, but also "betraying" them in some way, to help Ghemor?
Jartek didn't seem to be clever enough for such a plan.
If I saw this right on Memory-Beta, Jartek nevers appears again with Alon Ghemor? So we might never find out his true plans and loyalties.

 

[DS9Continuing]

That's true, this is Jartek and Ghemor's last appearance in book canon.

However, if you're interested in such things, click the links in my sig, and you'll find my own DS9 stories that were written to fill in the gaps in the storyline, between when the DS9 book line went on hiatus in 2009 and came back in 2011. I'm not sure if you're reading the books for the first time or just re-reading them, but they do take place after the WoDS9 and MU crossover stories, so there may be spoilers for you there. "The Dream Box" is the one that specifically follows up on The Lotus Flower and features Jartek and Ghemor again.

.