It would surely have been more expedient to use the, uh, T-1000 method ("Typically, the subject being copied is terminated") for such situations.
Re: Why did the dominion bother interning those it had repla That's a good question. I suppose they may want to keep them to extract information(although they already seem to know everything about their prisoners) or for prisoner exchanges(ala Keevan) after the imposter has been found out. It really doesn't make a lot of sense though. The Dominion is ruthless and it seems like a waste of resources to keep them alive.
Re: Why did the dominion bother interning those it had repla Have to agree. It made more sense to kill them. I doubt that the Changelings, Vorta or Jem'hadar would have too many problems with execution, as witnessed in WYLB.
Re: Why did the dominion bother interning those it had repla Basically, plot device. In the process of writing "Apocalypse Rising" it was decided that Martok, not Gowron, would be the changeling because they didn't want to kill off Gowron. Retrospectively, they wanted to 1. Bring Martok back 2. Reveal Bashir replaced as a changeling So they invented a prison to have the real versions in. In Trekverse sense, though... consider them lab rats. You got a guy going undercover? For years? To fake being someone else to even his most intimate family and friends? It'd be handy to have the original around to take notes on.
Re: Why did the dominion bother interning those it had repla Also, when doing the blood tests and screenings they may have wanted the originals alive to take blood from them and store it in the imposter's body for release. And there was the "use them to train the Jem'Hadar" thing, which does make more sense.
Because if they simply killed whomever they captured then there would have been no Worf,Martok,Bashir,Obrien or Garak after the fifth season.
Re: Why did the dominion bother interning those it had repla I have a feeling they killed off Ambassador Krazenski (I know spelled that wrong) who was replaced for one of the seaon finales...suicide mission etc. Maybe they wanted in the future to reprogram certain individuals, or needed the original to allow other changelings to observe to impersonate...
Re: Why did the dominion bother interning those it had repla It is of course possible that none of the replacees were ever imprisoned. Martok was killed outright, as was Bashir. And when the first Changelings imitating them were exposed, the Dominion was in an excellent position to send in immediate replacements. "We escaped from a maximum security prison camp, yes we did! Now give us our old offices back." Only Worf and Garak would have been genuinely imprisoned merely to provide credibility for the "valiant escapes" of "Martok" and "Bashir". Okay, and perhaps Bashir was also kept alive for the same purpose, because the Founders didn't figure that Garak and Worf would bash in and provide those services for them. But it's obvious that Martok was a Changeling all along. Just watch how he at first vehemently refuses to fire on fellow Dominionites, pretending cowardice. He then proceeds to sabotage Alpha military operations; he opposes all the bold plans for victory that the master strategist Gowron makes, and when his final attempt to prevent Gowron from delivering the death blow to the Dominion-Breen alliance is thwarted, he arranges for Gowron's murder. And then gains control of the Klingon Empire! Total success for this resourceful and skilled infiltrator. Timo Saloniemi
Re: Why did the dominion bother interning those it had repla lol, that actually sounds quite possible.
Re: Why did the dominion bother interning those it had repla Perhaps they were valuable not only to provide information on the person being impersonated, but because they come from strategically important posts in the Federation/Klingon Empire. There may be other lesser types being impersonated who aren't lucky enough to hold anything more than a temporarily useful spot in the Federation.
Re: Why did the dominion bother interning those it had repla I'm thinking it may be a combination of what you said, and what others have said. They used them for information on both the prisoner and on the Federation/Klingons/Cardassians/Romulans.
Re: Why did the dominion bother interning those it had repla The Dominion might also have sent some people back as sleeper agents, as Sloan told Bashir in Inquisition.
Re: Why did the dominion bother interning those it had repla I figured for intelligence, details, personality/psych profiles (so they could act more like the person) and possibly a supply of blood to give to their agents to fool blood screenings.