The Second Dominion War

Written By

Captain Stacy Adams (Ret.) and Captain K'Meiuu M'Rella (Ret.)

Chapter 1: The Second Wave

The First Dominion War ended around 60 years ago, after countless millions were killed, injured, maimed and rendered homeless. I never fought in the war but my mother did. When the Dominion seized Betazed, my mother was on the ground, even though she was supposed to be in space. She was paying a visit to my father, who was planetside. I won't go into details of what they were doing.

The principal assets during the war were Deep Space Nine, Starbase 375 and U.S.S. Defiant, both the first and the second. Some might argue that Captain Sisko was a principal asset, but I beg to differ, but that is neither here nor there. The First Dominion War almost rendered Cardassia Prime uninhabitable and even 40 years later, it still wasn't back to its pre-war state.

The Second Dominion War started around 20 years ago, because of the Bajoran Gods. The Bajoran Wormhole, also known as the Celestial Temple, is inhabited by a race of beings to whom time has no meaning. During the First Dominion War, the Dominion's Second Wave was halted by a heartfelt plea from Captain Sikso. Stardate 89720.57, or February 11, 2412, the wormhole opened, and several hundred Dominion Vessels surged from the Wormhole, during the Peace Talks being held aboard Deep Space Nine, involving the Cardassian, Federation and the Klingon Defense Force, in the hopes of presenting a united front against renewed Borg aggression.

In a single swoop, the Dominion had killed Captain Kurland, Captain Shon, Ambassador S'tass, and taken Deep Space Nine. Rear Admiral Karen Andrews, then a Commander, personally took command of the Defiant and rallied the few remaining Starfleet vessels in what can only be described as a rout. Defiant, Belfast, Fletcher and Bellerphon, from a defense force of around 50 starships, were the only ones in a position to escape. They fled to Bajor, and soon fled to Starbase 375, which was still heavily reinforced from the First Dominion War.

It was Starbase 375 that received the first message from the Dominion. Do I remember it? … Oh yeah.

"Starfleet, my name is Loriss, and I represent the Dominion. This station, and all remaining souls aboard it, are now under our control."

Well, that was it, right there. The call to arms. The beginning of the Second Dominion War. At the time, I was a snot-faced Lieutenant Commander, in command of the Defiant Class U.S.S. John Paul Jones. All the Defiant Class skippers, including myself, were recalled to Utopia Planetia, to be up-armed and armoured. Defiant barely made it out. In 40 years, we'd never bothered to adapt our shields to the phaser polaron of the Dominion Weapons. Why would we, we were at peace. But now? The entire fleet had to have their entire shield assembly changed. And we got the first. Because we had the teeth.

Of course, John Paul Jones was a first block Defiant, and she was showing her age. Myself and our entire crew were transferred to the Akira Class U.S.S. Ajax, I was promoted to Commander and given a small Defiant Squadron; Ajax, Tavistock, Belfast and Dublin. Yeah, I'm sure you know those names. Don't worry, we'll cover them in time.

Our first orders? The complete destruction of Deep Space Nine's sister station, Empok Nor. The bigwigs in charge didn't want the Dominion to have two ready made footholds in this Galaxy. They had, at least, learnt the lessons of the first war.

So, a four ship formation: Fast, heavily armed. All we had to do was get in, beam over a couple dozen torpedoes, and get out. Sounds simple, right? We certainly thought so. And you know, for once, it was that simple.

We drop out of warp, Tavistock and Belfast zoom ahead, and transport their entire complement of photon torpedoes over. Boom. Stations gone. Mission complete. We turned around, we burned deuterium. As Ajax leapt into warp, behind the other three?

A pair of Jem'Hadar battlecruisers dropped from warp. We were ahead of the Dominion by 37 minutes. And I've never been so terrified in my life. To quote the Commander of the Tavistock, I almost shat a kitten. Captain M'Rella. Hell of a friend. She's running the M'Rella shipyards now.

So we get back to Starbase 375, and that's when the news comes over: The Dominion bombarded Bajor. Millions dead. It was their show of resolve, their attempt to bully us into surrendering. Clan M'Rella never forgave the Dominion for the attack on Bajor. Even following the end of the war and the peace talks, they refuse to trade, repair or supply Dominion vessels. You ever punched a human? What happens?

You get punched right back. So that's what Starfleet did. They assembled a fleet… and then disbanded it. It was all on paper. On paper, there were several hundred starships moving towards Starbase 375. In reality? Defiant and Tavistock had been rearmed. And the U.S.S. Gallant had been armed with 4 long range tricobalt warheads. The aim was to destroy Deep Space Nine and remove the foothold. With the level of tech and modularity in Starfleet Construction, we could have another Deep Space Nine up and running in 18 months.

So off the Gallant went, under cloak and radio silent. 3 days at maximum warp, there and back. But it didn't go like that, did it. The Dominion destroyed Gallant almost as soon as she decloaked, but not before they stole the tricobalt weapons. Tricobalt weapons … such a stupid idea. At the idea, it sounded good. We'd never thought that the Dominion would use our own weapons against us. Obviously, this Loriss was bloody smart. A single Jem'Hadar attack ship dropped out of warp, launched the weapons and warped out. 219 ships stationed at Starbase 375, and the starbase itself. 17 ships made it out before the weapons struck. Obviously, Ajax made it. Tavistock. Belfast. Dublin. A couple of Cheyenne Class cruisers, the Cheyenne and the Wyoming, the Challenger, the Sovereign, a couple of Miranda's and the rest were Excelsior Class's, Lakota variant. 17 ships, from a force of over 200. Captain La Forge, being the senior ranked officer among us, took command of the fleet, or what was left of it, to Trill Prime, and Starbase 117, for repairs, rearmament and replenishment.

Command made him an Admiral, and placed him in command of the 17th Fleet, named after the 17 vessels that survived the massacre of Starbase 375. Though, even when our reinforcements arrived, we could really be called a fleet. We went from 17 ships, to 50. And that was all we had for a couple of months, because Starfleet didn't want to pull any forces from the Borg front. Challenger, bolstered by the Yamaguchi, the San Francisco and the Exeter formed the backbone of the fleet, with Ajax, Thunderchild, Spector and the Rabin as the fast attack wing, with me commanding the wing. He might have been a Chief Engineer for most of his career, but Admiral La Forge knew how to use his assets effectively.