Do you think Dominion will try again ?

[Can]

Do you think Dominion will try to conquer Alpha Quadrant after a few years passed ?

Spoiler: ex

I mean only a combination of very convenient factors ( Alpha Quadrant Alliance , blocking of wormhole by prophets , Cardassian Rebellion , Changeling Disease etc ) stopped Dominion at the end.

Is it possible to create same conditions again ? I know Odo went to Great Link to explain solids are not threat but will it be enough ? Or Is Dominion simply waiting the convenient moment to invade again ?

 

[WalkinMan]

Undoubtably some members here will suggest that they surrendered only to delay a future attack, and certainly the possibility exists that they could try again, but I tend to favor a degree of finality in the events of WYLB.

IMO, the Founders learned from Odo that the "Solids" in the AQ need not be conquered to maintain 'order'...and the female changeling went on trial for war crimes. They suffered significant defeats towards the final stages of the war, as the Allies turned the tide. Any future attempt by the Dominion to aggress into the AQ can be met by united resistance from the Klingons, Romulans, Federation, and other AQ powers. Divide and conquer from the Dominion will be much harder.

Starfleet might consider holding on DS9 in reserve a next-gen uprated minefield to deploy at a moment's notice however. And Sisko having joined the prophets, perhaps he will also monitor the wormhole to an extent...

As for Dominion operations in the GQ however, and atrocities, they might continue, but hopefully Odo will lead the Dominion into a more enlightened age.

 

[Apogeal Alpha01]

No. Next time the virus has no cure. Timo is working on it as we speak.

 

[Ro_Laren]

^

I'm sure the Dominion would try again... Could Odo, being one person, change the mind of his entire race? That is a pretty daunting task...

 

[Photon]

It depends. (I want Navaros to weigh in on this one, too)
If Odo makes headway that the Feds are of no threat, then maybe they'll stay on their side. But, if there's still the old hardheads that trust no one-especially the Romulans and Klingons-then they might overthrow Odo-sentence as his group to a deserted planet and get ready for war. If Sisko and his homies let them thru the 'hole. I think its 50/50.

I think a new all Trek (DS9, USS Enterprise, Voyager, and others) should have a mini arc w/the Dominion stirring up trouble w/the Tholians or Breen or Tzenkathi.

 

[AdmiralGarak]

Alpha Quadrant Alliance: In all likelyhood would happen again. In fact, many more of the minor powers would be willing to risk taking sides with the Federation. It's a proven fact, now, that the Dominion is not almighty.

Blocking of wormhole by prophets: As long as Dominion ships pose a threat to Bajor, this isn't going to change.

Cardassian Rebellion: After the decimation of Cardassia, I really doubt anybody is going to ally themselves with the Dominon. I suspect even the Breen would think twice about welcoming them back.

Besides, I don't think the Founders would risk being too aggressive with the Alpha Quadrant because they risk alienation Odo again. I believed the Female Founder when she said Odo was more important to the Link then the whole of the Alpha Quadrant.

Of course, given the events that occured in "The Worlds of DS9: Dominion", I REALLY doubt it will happen ever again.

 

[Navaros]

Absolutely they will try again. I do not believe the surrender was sincere. I believe either it was just a ruse, or that the the female Founder got dementia and went insane, therefore losing her ability to speak for the Great Link who won't agree with her crappy decision to surrender.

I believe the Great Link will show Odo the error of his ways and convert Odo, then Odo will lead them for the the Dominion War II.

As for the idea that Odo would convince them that Feds are not a threat. Impossible, and that is a completely ludicrous premise in my view. The Federation had just created and refused to provide a cure for a genocide disease against the Great Link. No amount of fluffy talk by Odo can gloss over that fact or sweep that fact under the rug. Odo himself isn't even going to believe his own pro-solid propaganda once he takes a few moments to reflect about that.

 

[Jono]

If they do try it isn't going to be for a while. The wormhole is no certainty to allow for vast Dominion fleets to take the shortcut to the Alpha Quadrant. Therefore the Dominion will need to continue to expand up to the point that they are much closer to the Federation or they develop a much faster means of ftl travel (transwarp hub, space-fold drives, etc).

But we know that if they do try again that by at least the 31st century that they have failed to conquer the Alpha Quadrant. Or that if they do succeed that their control over the quadrant is not long lasting.

 

[nx1701g]

I'll admit that there is evidence to both arguments that they are going to try to launch another war, and there are arguments that they will keep the peace this time.

The biggest argument for is that in the episode directly preceeding What You Leave Behind (title escapes me), the Female Changeling orders a strategic retreat of all forces into Cardassian territory so that they could regain their strength. The plan was to create a momentary peace and then to launch a new invasion when they were back at full strength. As was said in the episodes with "The Jack Pack" the Dominion make you think they're doing one thing when they're really doing something else (come on you can't tell me you didn't think that the Female Changeling was going to order the Dominion to engage the Federation in the scenes in the Control Center in WYLB rather than declare peace).

The main argument for peace though is said in the preceeding season. The Female Changeling tells Weyoun that Odo and the Hundred are more important to her than the war would ever be. I think this is the strongest argument that they will keep the peace: they need the Hundred and specifically Odo.

Then again if you read the relaunch you know what the chances of a new war truly are...

 

[intrinsical]

Look at what the Dominion did before they physically started sending fleets of ships into the Alpha Quadrant. They spent over 2 years preparing for the invasion, testing Starfleet reactions to a subtle take over, sending Founders to infiltrate and weaken the various governments, destroying Cardassian and Romulan intelligence agencies, training the Jem'Hadar on AQ physiology and how to fight Klingons. All these tell me that the Dominion are careful and will only invade when they are very sure they will win.

After the Dominion War, the AQ races have seen what the Dominion did to their "ally" Cardassia. No one would be foolish enough to ally with them again. All AQ government would be using blood screenings and more to prevent Founder infiltration.

All these would make it tough for the Dominion to wage a war with high confidence of winning. The Dominion might try other methods other than an outright invasion, but I don't think they would seriously consider another war till the AQ forgets its history. That would be at least 40+ years into the future, when a new generation replaces the war veterans and their descendants.

 

[Timo]

Certainly the Dominion would view Alpha as a greater threat after the first war than before it. Yes, they would very much wish to win a war of conquest. But if that isn't an option (and a repeat of the first war does seem out of the question), they might well try a different approach for eliminating the Alpha threat.

And they have a pretty frightening quiver full of approaches. We never learned whether a blood test would really reveal a Changeling, or if a "Homefront" style phaser trap would, or if that doohickey from "Apocalypse Rising" would ever have worked - so infiltration remains a possibility as long as there is any traffic through the wormhole. And with infiltration, the Dominion could bring a range of threats to bear. We have seen bioweapons, assassinations, sabotage, nova-bombing... After a short period of preparation, the Dominion could take out the entire quadrant at once with the push of a button, really, triggering all sorts of genocidal devices on the major planets and their stars.

There might be a war then, against a pre-decimated Alpha. And contrary to their usual MO, the Founders might decide not to spare any Alpha lives for servitude, having seen the magnitude of threat they present.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[MyCylon]

Nah, Paramount won't allow it

 

[intrinsical]

Ignore this, I accidentally reposted again

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I absolutely believe they will try again.

The Founders are genetically predisposed to requiring order in the universe. They simply cannot resist that need to achieve order.

Further, Odo alone will not be able to rid them of their paranoia toward pretty much everyone who is not *them*. Not after centuries of nurturing that paranoia.

Plus, you still have the Vorta, who worship them as Gods. Generally speaking, a race who has achieved godhood in the eyes of other races is not very likely to give that up. The ego that is implied with accepting the worship of others is extraordinary. And I would guess highly addictive.

And finally, there are the Jem'Hadar - a race that has been bred for one thing, and one thing only - to fight. If they are not fighting to gain new territory, they will likely begin fighting each other....because it is genetically impossible for them NOT to fight.

The Founders are not stupid. They know that if they don't give the Jem'Hadar an external focus, there will be civil war within the Dominion. So really, the only course of action is continued conquest.

And the AQ...is at hand.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

I think the Dominion should go invade the Delta Quad. I mean, hey, if one ship Voyager can go around kicking people's arses left and right, the Dominion sould rule.

 

[Devnull]

They will disappear for 40 years and then come back as genocidal human babes.

 

[Lateralus]

Stone_Cold_Sisko said:
I think the Dominion should go invade the Delta Quad. I mean, hey, if one ship Voyager can go around kicking people's arses left and right, the Dominion sould rule.

That and the Delta Quadrant actually could benefit from some of the Founder's 'Order'.

 

[StarMan]

I think it's possible Odo may wield considerably more influence than your average Changeling. If his perspective was summarily dismissed by The Link, then what the hell was the point of The Hundred in the first place?

 

[darthvincor]

Odo was quite important to the Great Link, and the female shapeshifter, arguably their 'leader', was quite fond of him too.
I'd say he conviced the Great Link.

 

[Timo]

Hmm... Odo was a beloved child, but a wayward, rebellious one. I'd think the Link would have been interested in him only in the sense of converting him back to proper Founderism and making a worthy family member out of him. If that failed, if Odo kept fostering dissent, the Link could quickly have grown disenchanted with him.

But StarMan makes a good point. We know little about the Founder rationale of kicking a hundred babies into the depths of space. Would their return provide valuable intelligence and insight - or would it merely conclude their
rite of passage, one that they would have failed if their opinions now diverged from the Founder norm?

There must be better ways to survey surrounding space than letting afloat a bunch of supposedly warp-incapable lifeforms. And there may be deeper Founder logic or cunning into the act of using the Hundred. But "using" may be the keyword here, as the Link never did listen to Odo, and kept exploiting him against his will.

Timo Saloniemi