Role of the Enterprise during the Dominion War?

[Sareesataka]

I was curious if anyone knows of any depictions of the role of Jean-Luc Picard and the Enterprise during the Dominion War? For example, novels, comics, fan films, fan fiction, and/or other iterations of Trek?

I just finished a marathon of DS9 and during the Dominion War, the dialogue about different Federation Fleets taking heavy losses got me thinking where the Enterprise was during all these battles? I'd love to find out a little more about how Picard and his crew fared during the war.

If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it. Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.

 

[Doom Shepherd]

For starters?

https://www.amazon.com/Dominion-Wars-Behind-Enemy-Generation-ebook/dp/B000FBJG3Q/ref=sr_1_2?

https://www.amazon.com/Dominion-War-Tunnel-Through-Generation-ebook/dp/B000FC0VX4/ref=pd_sim_351_1/145-2728297-6353064?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd

 

[The Wormhole]

There's also the novel The Battle of Betazed. The short story anthologies Tales of the Dominion War and The Sky's the Limit have stories that touch on the Enterprise E's contribution to the war effort. Plus there's the graphic novel The Gorn Crisis.

 

[johnnybear]

They love to bring the Gorn back in Books, Graphic Novels, Cartoons and the like but never on television!
JB

 

[Timo]

We did get a somewhat barebones version in DSC...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Paul755]

Didn’t they say at the beginning of Insurrection that the Enterprise had been assigned to or transferred to the diplomatic corps?

I’ve always thought it was a mistake to not make Insurrection a WW2 style movie with the Enterprise or at least part of the crew on a dangerous mission behind enemy lines or some such.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

You could argue the best application of Jean Luc Picard's talents is trying to make new allies.

 

[STR]

Didn’t they say at the beginning of Insurrection that the Enterprise had been assigned to or transferred to the diplomatic corps?

I’ve always thought it was a mistake to not make Insurrection a WW2 style movie with the Enterprise or at least part of the crew on a dangerous mission behind enemy lines or some such.

Sure, but any Dominion War movie would be saddled with explaining the Dominion to the audience in a digestible manner without spilling the ongoing plot on DS9.

All of which is possible, but every single story about the TNG movies seemed like the scripts were rushed. Except for Nemesis, but look how that turned out. Nuance and finesse require time, but time by itself doesn't give you finesse.

 

[Farscape One]

You could argue the best application of Jean Luc Picard's talents is trying to make new allies.

I would agree with this, and it is a good in-universe explanation into why we never heard about the Enterprise during the war.

Though it would have been nice to see a Sovereign class ship somewhere in the war.

 

[Timo]

Then again, perhaps those are no good in combat? Starfleet didn't want one for fighting the Borg, either.

Didn’t they say at the beginning of Insurrection that the Enterprise had been assigned to or transferred to the diplomatic corps?

No, they said nothing. Which was good for "fitting in" this movie: there was this diplomatic mission, then a reference to an archaeological one, and a thousand and one errands piling up on our heroes - meaning the couple of references to the Dominion War got buried by this avalanche, and those in the audience who knew nothing about the DS9 storyline would just get the impression that a lot was happening and keeping our heroes from initially attending the main adventure. The heroes are up to their necks with stuff, but none of it is actually so important that it would override Picard's urge to check on Data; the insurrection doesn't start yet with Picard deserting his post by commanding the ship into the Briar Patch.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[somebuddyX]

We got that rubbish Gorn on Enterprise. I just wanted a guy in a rubber suit.

 

[The Wormhole]

Didn’t they say at the beginning of Insurrection that the Enterprise had been assigned to or transferred to the diplomatic corps?

No. What they do say was the Enterprise was needed to keep putting out diplomatic "brushfires" because the Diplomatic Corps was too busy with Dominion negotiations.

 

[Ethros]

I kinda liked a fan theory that as there are no stardates given in Insurrection, it gets placed mid DS9 s7 only because that's when it was released. The theory has that in What You Leave Behind there's probably a reasonable time gap between them on the fallen Cardassia and then signing the peace treaty on the station. So INS could slot in there and that's what the Dominion negotiations are.So the war is actually over and explains why they're all more relaxed and chilled out. Worf must have slipped off to install those defenses at the Manzar Colony..

It also explains why the Son'a are mentioned in DS9: Penumbra, the first of the final 10 part arc, as helping the Dominion protect a Ketracel White facility. Weren't the "Son'a" basically just Ru'afo and his gang of goons? After the movie they'd all either died or reintegrated with the Ba'ku really. So it makes more sense for that episode to occur before the movie (and said movie mentions they have been producing vast quantities ketracel-white)

Probably doesn't 100% work, but neither does the official placing. Temporary cease fire or not, Picard shoudln't really be moaning about delaying "the archaeological expedition to Hanoran Two" while core UFP planets are subjigated and people are dying every day.

(I know the real reason, the movie was written before they knew what would be happening with the Dominion War long term, but just saying)

 

[BillJ]

Door stop.

 

[Dukhat]

No. What they do say was the Enterprise was needed to keep putting out diplomatic "brushfires" because the Diplomatic Corps was too busy with Dominion negotiations.

Which is a bunch of crap. The Dominion had no interest in negotiations.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Like Pike's Enterprise during the Klingon War, Picard's Enterprise was told to stay away so that the best and brightest survive just in case the Federation falls.

Cause... why the heck not?

 

[Timo]

Which is a bunch of crap. The Dominion had no interest in negotiations.

Actually, the Dominion was plenty interested in negotiations - and "Statistical Probabilities" was all about them using the negotiations as a weapon of war, and of the UFP learning about the underlying dishonesty, and thus the Feds having little interest in negotiations thereafter.

After the fall of Cardassia, the Dominion would be begging to negotiate again. And this time, the Feds might indeed be interested.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[The Wormhole]

I kinda liked a fan theory that as there are no stardates given in Insurrection, it gets placed mid DS9 s7 only because that's when it was released. The theory has that in What You Leave Behind there's probably a reasonable time gap between them on the fallen Cardassia and then signing the peace treaty on the station. So INS could slot in there and that's what the Dominion negotiations are.So the war is actually over and explains why they're all more relaxed and chilled out. Worf must have slipped off to install those defenses at the Manzar Colony..

It also explains why the Son'a are mentioned in DS9: Penumbra, the first of the final 10 part arc, as helping the Dominion protect a Ketracel White facility. Weren't the "Son'a" basically just Ru'afo and his gang of goons? After the movie they'd all either died or reintegrated with the Ba'ku really. So it makes more sense for that episode to occur before the movie (and said movie mentions they have been producing vast quantities ketracel-white)

Probably doesn't 100% work, but neither does the official placing. Temporary cease fire or not, Picard shoudln't really be moaning about delaying "the archaeological expedition to Hanoran Two" while core UFP planets are subjigated and people are dying every day.

(I know the real reason, the movie was written before they knew what would be happening with the Dominion War long term, but just saying)

That theory gets bandied about a lot, but I tend to dismiss it. Most of the discrepancies are a result of Michael Piller simply not being familiar with the Dominion War storyline, and as you point out, he began writing it too early to know where the war storyline would go. Indeed, Worf talked about his marriage to Jadzia in a lot of drafts of the script, and that was only removed once it was learned she was being killed off on DS9. But more relevant, the deleted scene with Quark in which Picard says they'll drop both he and Worf off at DS9 makes it clear no one intended this to be set after the war.

Besides, there's something like two or three episode in the middle of DS9's seventh season with no Worf at all so it's hella convenient to insert Insurrection there.

Like Pike's Enterprise during the Klingon War, Picard's Enterprise was told to stay away so that the best and brightest survive just in case the Federation falls.

Cause... why the heck not?

It really doesn't make sense to intentionally leave your most advanced starship with the most experienced crew and commanded by the most decorated captain out of a war. Is guaranteeing the Enterprise's survival really worth losing Betazed?

 

[The Old Mixer]

My rationale is that some share of those planetary and cosmic crises that the Enterprise was handling week after week when it was featured in a series were still happening during the war. With fewer ships and crews to spare, Starfleet chose the ones that were best suited to handle those tasks to stay off the front lines. The Enterprise could make more of a difference as an elite troubleshooting starship than as another phaser array and set of torpedo tubes in large-scale front-line fleet battles that already had thousands of ships committed to them.

 

[Dukhat]

Actually, the Dominion was plenty interested in negotiations - and "Statistical Probabilities" was all about them using the negotiations as a weapon of war, and of the UFP learning about the underlying dishonesty, and thus the Feds having little interest in negotiations thereafter.

"Statistical Probabilities" took place in 2374. Insurrection took place in 2375. So if the Federation realized that the Dominion couldn't be trusted in peace negotiations a year before, then the Enterprise should have had no business being involved with them.

After the fall of Cardassia, the Dominion would be begging to negotiate again. And this time, the Feds might indeed be interested.

Huh? After Cardassia fell (because of the Dominion itself attacking the planet), the Dominion surrendered and the war ended. So there was no peace to be negotiated.