Physically destroy Bajor? Or destroy the Bajorans? It's not as if the Dominion wasn't going to become a heavy-handed oppressor eventually. They leaned on the Cardassians until they ended up massacring them. What would they have done to the Bajorans? Leave them alone?
Sacrifice of the Angels Ending A Deus Ex Machina?
- Thread starter M.A.C.O.
- Start date
Knight Templar
Commodore
They massacred the Cardassians after the Cardassians openly rebelled violently against the Dominion.
There is no evidence at all that the Dominion was going to bother the Bajorans much or that they even considered them worth much effort.
Weyoun specifically shot down Gul Ducats presuming that he was going to retake Bajor (after taking Terok Nor) and resume his role as overlord there.
You're wrong there. Don't forget -- in "By Inferno's Light," half a season before "Sacrifice of Angels," the Changeling Bashir attempted to blow up Bajor's sun in order to take out the allied fleet that stood in the Dominion's way. So Sisko wasn't lying. He knew for a fact that the Dominion was willing to destroy Bajor altogether if it served their purposes. Given the strategic importance of the Bajoran system, as the bottleneck through which all Dominion fleets would have to pass to reach the AQ, it was likely there'd be massive battles there in the course of the invasion, and the Dominion wouldn't care if Bajor suffered collateral damage in the process.
Not that the Dominion would've actually honored any nonaggression pact that got in the way of its intentions, any more than the United States ever honored its nonaggression pacts with Native American nations.
Knight Templar
Commodore
That was before the Bajorans had signed a treaty with the Dominion.
all on screen evidence is that the Dominion fully intended to honor its treaty with the Bajorans.
Oh, yeah, right, like the way they "honored" their treaty with Cardassia. Come on, you can't seriously propose that the Dominion could be trusted to keep its word. Whatever deals they made with hated, inferior solids were just convenient lies to serve their long-term objectives. They didn't give enough of a damn about solids to care about keeping their promises to them. Not to mention that the Founders' whole approach to dealing with other life forms was built around deception.
Maybe so, but I don't think that the Doms would have done anything like that until their voctory in the AQ was assured.
Why show yourself to be untrustworthy when there are still cultures you might want to form an alliance with? The Dominion never started to ignore its treaty with Cardassia until they were desperate.
Why show yourself to be untrustworthy when there are still cultures you might want to form an alliance with? The Dominion never started to ignore its treaty with Cardassia until they were desperate.
^But Sisko wasn't talking about the short term. It doesn't matter whether a world is destroyed a year from now or a hundred years from now -- it's still just as unacceptable. Especially when you're talking to beings for whom time has no meaning.
But the point was that if the Dominion had a non-aggression pact with Bajor they wouldn't abandon it until they had no other choice.
If they did, then they'd be abandoning it shortly after making it, and then there would be no such pact with the Romulans and the Breen probably would have thought twice before allying themselves with the Dominion too.
I think the Dominion was counting on the foot-in-the-door they already had with the Cardies.
If they did, then they'd be abandoning it shortly after making it, and then there would be no such pact with the Romulans and the Breen probably would have thought twice before allying themselves with the Dominion too.
I think the Dominion was counting on the foot-in-the-door they already had with the Cardies.
All those treaties of Non-Aggression the dominion had were in the long term worthless.
After conquering the the Federation and the Klingons, they would have moved onto say the Romulans, then onto the next race until they had brought the Founders sense of order to the galaxy.
After conquering the the Federation and the Klingons, they would have moved onto say the Romulans, then onto the next race until they had brought the Founders sense of order to the galaxy.
Sooner or later something would have happened to have ALL the Bajorans up in arms, the Dominion would probably have done the same thing to them that they did to the Cardassians.
The Dominion is just too different. They are absolutist, and that takes priority over any "Solid's" concerns-religious, legal, political, whatever.
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First off, no, they'd abandon it the moment it was convenient for them to do so, because it was never anything more than a self-serving ploy. Second, again, it doesn't matter when they would do it, since Sisko was making his case to beings for whom time has no meaning or relevance. All that matters is that they would do it.
With people like Kai Winn running things? She'd do what she needed to to stay on top.
There were collaborators under the Cardassian occupation as well, but that didn't prevent the rise of a robust resistance movement.
Absolutely she would. But her authority would be eroded by the Dominion gradually, while the rest of the Bajorans would start ignoring her "authority".
The problem with the Dominion, and it's one of their strengths, is that they can appear reasonable and nonthreatening if they want to. Weyoun especially had the knack for appearing as a reasonable person, but could quickly switch to threatening when he wanted. They could convince the Bajorans that being under the Dominion's control wouldn't be any worse than being under the Federation's control, and infinitely better than being under the Cardassian's control. But for how long? A few years? The Bajorans fought a guerrilla war against the Cardassians for decades. Why would they do any less against the Dominion?
That was my point. Yes, it was a self serving ploy, and the Dominion would abandon it as soon as it stopped serving them.