That was a crazy time in the comics industry, and crazy money was getting thrown around. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Malibu made an unexpected bid on the DS9 license and it was more than DC's.
In general, I liked that the Star Trek comics were split across two publishers at the time, because they had different tones and approaches. Malibu felt a little hungrier, a little rougher around the edges. Maybe even a little more ambitious than the stolid DC. And, in a way, that fit the ethos of Deep Space Nine as a series. You had the steady NextGen at DC, and the slightly wilder DS9 from an up-and-coming West Coast publisher.
At the time we're talking about here (93-94), WildStorm was just Jim Lee's studio and his little corner of Image Comics. In 1996, Marvel Comics hired his and Rob Liefeld's studios to relaunch a couple of their heroes in a new universe ("Heroes Reborn"), then Liefeld was fired, and Lee took over the whole line. Lee hoped to sell WildStorm to Marvel, but due to the bankruptcy they didn't have the money, so he sold to DC instead.
