Dominion question - what happened to the four Founders?

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Did any of the novels say what happened to those four Founders that were said to be in hiding on Earth (Homefront/Paradise Lost)? Did they obey the Founder leader's order to surrender, or did they stay where they were, still attempting to destroy the Federation?

 

[Christopher]

They opened a pizza joint in Armstrong City.

 

[Captain Randy Hall]

They opened a pizza joint in Armstrong City.

No, no! It was a doughnut shop in Detroit!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Seriously, please.

 

[Christopher]

I don't recall it being addressed. And really, who's to say they even stayed on Earth that long, or that they weren't joined by even more? They were just some of the Founders who were infiltrating worlds throughout the quadrant, and I assume they went home with the rest. As far as I know, the only Founders that stayed were their leader (in prison at Ananke Alpha) and the one from the VGR post-finale novels.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ So you think it's likely that any Founders left behind on Earth actually did obey the order to surrender? I guess I wouldn't be as trusting. Especially since the end of the war would probably cause people to lose interest in looking for them...

 

[14thDoctor]

I would guess any Founders infiltrating the Federation returned to Dominion space once they started showing signs of sickness. Hard to stay undercover when you're cracking and peeling....

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ That depends. Exactly when was Odo infected with the virus in the first place? The spies could have been in place on Earth before that happened. In which case they would never have the chance to get the virus because once on Earth they wouldn't be able to contact the Great Link.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

I thought Odo was infected while he was on Earth in that two-parter. Which means that unless he was infected early on during their time there and he passed it on when he exposed the one pretending to be Admiral Leyton, the four Changelings were probably disease-free until and unless they returned home.

 

[Christopher]

^Again, that's presupposing that those four Changelings remained permanently on Earth and permanently isolated from others of their kind, and given how swift and extensive the Founders' infiltration strategy was, I find that unlikely. Just because there were four Changelings on Earth halfway through the fourth season, that doesn't mean there were still only the same four Changelings on Earth at the end of the fourth season, or the end of the fifth or the sixth or the seventh. A lot can change over that span of time.

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

They opened a pizza joint in Armstrong City.

Now that's funny!

 

[TheAlmanac]

They opened a pizza joint in Armstrong City.

Conveniently, the four of them could morph into the two guys, the girl, and the pizza place.

 

[Captain Randy Hall]

This is just one of those wonderful things DS9 left for us to ponder after the show left the air. They could still be on Earth. They could be on DS9. They could be back in the Gamma Quadrant. It all depends on the story someone wants to tell.

 

[Christopher]

I would assume that one of the conditions of the peace treaty was that all Dominion forces -- Changeling infiltrators included -- would return home. In fact, they'd have to have returned home to avoid dying from the disease. (Again, as I said, I don't find it logical to assume that the four Changelings who happened to be on Earth three and a half years before the end of the war -- heck, well before the start of the war -- would've stayed there and remained isolated from the rest of their kind for that entire time.)

 

[Rush Limborg]

Personally...I was toying with the notion that Section 31 took'em out, during and immediately following the events of the two-parter.

That was how they developed the virus, as it were--as a weapon against those four.

But hey. I could be wrong. Let's hope for a tale along those lines, or something. Hmm....

(Jots furiously in notebook)

 

[Marie1]

I think they all made their way back to the GQ- both following along with what the drop the ocean became had decided, and also to be with their own kind, where they enjoy being.

 

[David Brennon]

Who's to say that the Ellis-Founder from Star Trek: Voyager, Spirit Walk wasn't one of the four? The timelines don't match up exactly, but some creative storytelling could get around that. I don't think the timelines match up for the Ellis-Changeling having the morphogenic disease anyhow, 7 years before Spirit Walk (2378) would be 2371 and Homefront, the time of Odo's infection was in 2372.

Also, the Layton-Changeling from Homefront could have been infected upon briefly linking with Odo (while not a full on link, their forms did merge for a short time) and it could have later linked with its fellows on Earth before returning to the Great Link for new instructions.

 

[Christopher]

I just don't see why the four Changelings that happened to be on Earth on or around stardate 49419 are being talked about as some discrete or special group, "the four." They were just part of the Dominion's wholesale infiltration of worlds throughout the quadrant. One or more of them could've been there on temporary assignment. Their mission to destabilize and undermine the Federation could've taken them to many worlds. There's nothing special about those four to distinguish them from all the other Changeling infiltrators, and no reason to believe they represented a formal group of fixed size. It's just that there happened to be four infiltrators on Earth at the particular moment that one of them, in the form of Chief O'Brien, approached Ben Sisko for a chat. Or at least he alleged there were only four, a claim of which Sisko was skeptical. There was an element of boasting to it: "Look how much damage we've caused you with only four infiltrators." So it wasn't necessarily a true statement that there were only four of them at that time. There could've been a dozen.

 

[David Brennon]

^But from a story point of view -- which is what we're talking about it seems -- it would be interesting if something had been done with them other than simply "we're scary because we're Founders who've infiltrated your society". Just saying.

 

[Christopher]

^Well, sure, telling stories about the Founders who infiltrated the Alpha Quadrant is a valid suggestion. I'm just puzzled at the singling out of the four who happened to be on Earth at the time of "Paradise Lost" as some kind of discrete or permanent grouping. Especially since the number of infiltrators was alleged by an unreliable source and therefore can't be assumed to be accurate in the first place.