DS9 Stories/News: The Federation Leaders In the Dominion War (1)

Site: http://dominion.tvheaven.com/fedpers.html

Capt. Benjamin Sisko

The plucky if somewhat unstable commander of Deep Space 9 and the USS Defiant, and emissary of the Bajoran prophets, Sisko is considered the Federation’s key military commander in the Alpha Quadrant War. Because of the strategic importance of Sisko’s command, he has played a pivotal role in many of the Dominion’s skirmishes with the Federation Alliance. Despite Sisko’s dogged tendency to survive his encounters with the Dominion’s usually invincible Jem’hadar soldiers, these successes are attributable mainly to luck, and it is his connection with the worm hole aliens known to the Bajorans as “the prophets” which is considered most significant. Sisko’s rapport with these guardians of our only gateway to the Alpha Quadrant led to the destruction of hundreds of Dominion ships during our first offensive against the Federation Alliance. Sisko was last reported seen in the Bajoran fire caves and is reported by some (mostly unreliable) sources to have “ascended” to the “temple of the prophets.”

Admiral Ross

Fleet commander for the Federation forces arrayed against the Dominion, Ross usually has a terrific view of Starfleet vessels being disemboweled by the Dominion from his comfy office, well behind the lines. Though the nominal commander of the Federation forces, Ross acts, in truth, as little more than a mouthpiece for Sisko’s ideas.

Commander Worf

Sisko’s slow-witted right hand man, Worf is the Federation’s token Klingon officer, easy to anger or confuse. This thundering lummox previously served as chief of security aboard the USS Enterprise before transferring to DS9 during the brief Federation-Klingon war in order to sell out his people. Captured by the Breen, briefly held by the Dominion at our installation on Cardassia Prime, and ultimately freed by the traitorous Legate Damar, Worf is at large in the Alpha Quadrant but considered to be of little threat.

Dax

Joined Trill, once science officer and current counselor on DS9, former mate to Worf, and long time friend and mentor to Sisko, the Dax symbiont has been hosted by both Ezri and Jadzia Dax during the course of the Alpha Quadrant War. Despite its extreme longevity, Dax seems to have learned little during its long life. Jadzia was slain by former Dominion ally Legate Dukat during one of several ill-fated associations with the Bajoran pah-wraith, Costa Mogen. Ezri received the Dax symbiont following this incident during an emergency transplant and has proven emotionally unstable and generally unfit as a host. She is currently stationed aboard DS9.

DS9 Stories/News: The Cardassian Shipyard That Wasn’t

BY NICK OTTENS ON JULY 10, 2010 5:07 PM ON DEEP SPACE NINE

The first episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s seventh and final season called for an extended Cardassian shipyard complex which would appear just twice on the show in total. John Eaves, who worked as a production illustrator on Deep Space Nine, devised a vast installation reminiscent of the show’s main space station itself, before a rather less ambitious but sprawling design was decided upon.

The earlest designs for what would become known as the “Monac Shipyards,” named after special effects supervisor Gary Monak, were drafted by Greg Jein who was filling in for John Eaves when Deep Space Nine was on hiatus during the summer of 1998. “He was thrown into a concept nightmare with this Cardassian shipyard that was going through some pretty rough approval sessions,” Eaves wrote at his blog in 2009. “Greg’s pieces were brilliant,” he added, “with sweeping platforms and docks full of ships under construction. All were getting the boot but in the long run a kluge of his work came to be the final design.”

Eaves went for something completely different — “a spin off from DS9 architecture stylized to be a huge shipyard.” The idea was probably too big for the episode, “Image in the Sand,” which was scheduled to air on September 30, 1998. It was quickly rejected “but made for a fun marker sketch,” according to Eaves.

The computer model of the final shipyard, which was destroyed in the episode “Shadows and Symbols,” would turn up again in “Tacking Into the Wind,” when it appeared as a Kelvas repair facility without its docking arms, and in the season finale “What You Leave Behind,” where it was spotted orbitting Cardassia, again, with the docking arms. The design even made it into another series. In the Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Bounty,” it made its final appearance as a Tellarite space station. It has three docking arms there but lacked the more detailed features that were originally put into the design.