Asking some questions elsewhere in Trek Lit also had me wondering if the Romulans (either of the two Romulan nations) knew that Sisko and Garak had lured them into the Dominion War under false pretenses. I knew that the DS9 book "Hollow Men" had this possibility as a premise, but haven't read it and there is no breakdown of the plot in Memory Beta. For those who have read it, did the Romulans finally learn the true circumstances of Vreenak's death? If so, how did they respond?
Sisko did have a dialogue with a Romulan who left him with the impression that the Romulans might not have been that concerned with what happened, that there were people on Romulus who did not mind Vreenak's death since that cleared the way for a necessary Romulan intervention and provided a convenient excuse for intervention. Did the Romulans know? I'm sure they speculated, perhaps by analogy with their own murderous domestic political climate, but knowledge seems to have been lacking.
Given Koval's ties to the Federation (and that he was Vreenak's boss), it's likely he was aware of what happened but viewed the alliance with the Federation as being more important for the future of Romulus than settling some kind of score with Starfleet. The TNG short-story "Suicide Note," which features Picard taking Admiral Jarok's letter back to his family, explains that Koval's political views were similar to those of Jarok's and implies that the two men were friends (Koval visited Jarok's widow and daughter to check on them); although Koval had no love for the Federation, he seemed the type of man and officer who would do whatever it took to protect his people--and may have, in fact, secretly admired Sisko and Garak for their ingenuity. --Sran
I thought Koval was ultimately revealed to be working *against* the Federation and that he was intentionally feeding them false data?
^ I know I read it in one of the novels. I think it was DS9's entry in the original "Section 31" miniseries.
If you're thinking of Rogue, that happened before Koval allegedly started working with the Federation; he may well have been feeding the Federation false information at that time. He neither appears nor is he even mentioned in Abyss. --Sran
Peter David's contribution to the Tales of the Dominion War anthology had a future Kebron saying that the Romulans did not take learning about Sisko's subterfuge well (I don't have the book on hand to check, so I don't remember if it was said to have turned into a war or just more hostility between the Federation and Empire), but that's been the only reference to the Romulans learning about Vreenak's murder outside of Hollow Men. And that story was written well before Trek 09 established the destruction of Romulus, which may well hamper any future response if and when it ever does come out, by virtue of having the Romulans too busy dealing with that fallout to really dig in to old wounds from the Dominion War, now almost ten years prior. Though the Romulans have long enough memories, I suppose they'd be willing to file it away for a rainy day and less than cordial relations with the Federation.
^The destruction of Romulus (2387) happened approximately twelve years (2375) after the end of the Dominion War. --Sran
^Yes, but the story is set 150 years in the future of the Dominion War, with Kebron reminiscing on the war and later events.
Kebron refers to the "Third Great Earth-Romulan War", triggered when the Romulans found out about Sisko's lie "many years later." I find that name to be silly given that Earth is a member of the Federation.
I am surprised to learn that the Romulans didn't really respond. I do plan on reading the book, but it's pretty far down on the To Read list at present. But I was very curious.
The implication of Sisko's Romulan was that Vreenak had his own enemies within the Romulan power structure, and that these enemies did not mind his death. That his death made it possible, as they saw it, for Romulus to do the things it neeeded to do in order to survive was an added bonus.