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Well everyone was getting ready for a very long war that had yet to be officially declared. DS9 was still the main staging point for the fleet but at the same time the base that Jewel and the group there had freed was also important as they were a back up base plus it also let them communicate with what was left of Starfleet and the Federation on Earth.

"hey admiral it looks like the Romulans are getting ready for something but I don't think it's war"

"keep an eye on it commander who knows something might turn up"

"will do sir but I can't make any guarantees"

"I know just do your best and if need be trade shifts"

"understood"

meanwhile on DS9 they got a bit of a surprise

"sir the wormhole is active again"

"on screen"

they see about a dozen Dominion ships come through and all of them headed straight towards them and then they were hailed

"captain Sisko I was wondering if we could offer our assistance"

"assistance? I don't understand"

"it's simple if your president approves I would like an official treaty with Starfleet that allows us to come and aid you in this war"

"that will take some time for now though since I am in command of this station I am allowing you to stay here to help out until I hear anything either way"

"thank you we will stay on board our ships so that there are no unnecessary attacks on either side"

"thank you"

well days later they got a confirmed treaty with the Dominion that allowed them to help out in the war basically the Dominion could now be in Federation space without being at risk plus if they were with any Federation vessels and there was an attack they could partake in the battle with no repercussions

"well looks like things are starting to look up"

"yes now if only the Romulans would declare war already I'm getting tired of this waiting"

as it turned out they didn't have to wait long after the treaty was signed because days after the treaty was signed by both sides the Romulans declared official war on the Federation and any other people who decided to side with them. Since the Cardassians had already learned their lesson the hard way about fighting Starfleet they sided with the Federation almost immediately the only thing that had stopped them was making sure that they could send a few ships over before things really went downhill while they reinforced their planet and made sure that they could send more troops to DS9 at a later date.

"hey admiral DS9 was wondering if you and your crew could get over there ASAP"

"will do ensign captain you're in charge while I'm gone"

"but of course"

and so they go to DS9 and start planning a long hard war.

A few months later Jewel and her crew were getting ready for a simple drill when the alarm went off

"check that alarm guys we may have to cancel training in order to fight"

"on it admiral"

it turned out to be two Romulan warbirds just patrolling the area

"see if we can't tag them without noticing we may need to find their base at a later date"

"sorry admiral but while we can fight them cloaked we can't bug them in anyway without giving ourselves away to them"

she does a mini growl of frustration at that "blast it and I was counting on being able to do that fine find some other way of figuring out their base we may need to get rid of it"

"already working on it sir"

"good meanwhile I'll be in my ready room should I be needed"

"understood admiral"

once she leaves the others just start talking

"geeze what's with the Romulans anyways why would they want to declare war on us?"

"no one really knows all we know is that war has been declared and as such we need to be ready for it"

"you know I'm tired of this waiting game captain I mean they've officially declared war but nothings really happened since"

"well war is a bit tricky especially now a days now you can declare war and nothing can happen for years before the first shot is fired"

"I know but that doesn't mean I have to like it"

"you're right it doesn't now than didn't the admiral give us an order?"

and so they go back to work unknown to them the first shot would be fired sooner than they thought it would and not where they thought either. The Federation thought the first shot would be fired on Vulcan since they are part of each other albeit very distantly but still descended from each other but instead the first shot would be fired on Earth during a meeting to see how things were at the moment what with everyone on alert for the war to officially begin. On Earth a few weeks later