Where is picard during the dominion war

Although the Gorn had much to do to rebuild their society, it would have to wait until the Dominion were defeated. During the earlier part of the war, Dominion forces overtook the planet Betazed, an important part of the Federation Alliance whose native people have telepathic abilities.

The planet is also the home world of Counselor Deanna Troi of the Enterprise. As Federation forces were already spread out, there was no one coming to rescue the Betazoids from the occupying Jem'Hadar and Cardassians.

Lwaxana Troi, Deanna's mother, rallied her people to go against the invaders. The Enterprise, and Deanna herself, came to help. Deanna joined the ranks of the Betazoids while they used their combined mental abilities to free their planet. Even though Deanna is only half-Betazoid, she withstood the mental strain while many full Betazoids died from exertion. After the death of his son caused by Captain Picard during the Battle of Maxia , Bok had tried to seek vengeance on him twice. First by having him destroy the Enterprise -D through a mind altering device he hid within the derelict of the USS Stargazer , then by attempting to kill his alleged son Jason Vigo which whom he re-sequenced his DNA in order to fool Picard into thinking he was his son.

After being assimilated by the Borg, Picard assuming the identity of Locutus then went to destroy nearly all Federation starships at the Battle of Wolf before proceeding to Earth for an attempted assimilation of that planet. This resentment stayed with him at least six years after he was first assimilated. It is the guiding principle on which Starfleet is based! And if you can't find it within yourself to stand up and tell the truth about what happened, you don't deserve to wear that uniform!

The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably. The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged.

What we leave behind is not as important as how we've lived. Any of you who wish to object should do so, now. It will be noted in my log. We've made too many compromises already, too many retreats. They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again! The line must be drawn here! This far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they've done!

He could still see kindness, immense curiosity, and greatness of spirit. And he wanted, more than anything else, to be part of that. To be a part of the human family. We are such stuff as dreams are made of. And out little life is rounded, with a sleep. Close friends, if you follow my meaning. Later when Q saw Vash working over Quark , he described her actions as "perfectly vile," adding " If that's the kind of company you kept before meeting me, it's no wonder you ended up with Picard.

Later yet, when Q placed Sisko in a boxing match, he was shocked after Sisko knocked him to the ground. Finally, when the crew of the station could not tie the odd happening on the station to one of the artifacts Vash had brought aboard, Q appeared before the senior staff and claimed how " Picard and his lackeys would have solved all this technobabble hours ago, " before directing to Sisko, that it was " No wonder you're not commanding a starship.

DS9 : " The Way of the Warrior ". Later that year, after a member of the Q Continuum arrived on her ship seeking asylum, Kathryn Janeway automatically assumed he was Picard's Q — which instead made him nervous and agitated. When that Q, tasked with capturing the renegade, appeared on the bridge, she realized that he was the being she'd heard so much about, he laughed and asked her, " Has Jean-Luc been whispering about me behind my back?

In her effort to look through every log entry of Starfleet captains who had contact with the Borg, Captain Janeway cited Picard's words among others: " In their collective state, the Borg are utterly without mercy — driven by one will alone, the will to conquer. They are beyond redemption, beyond reason ", with Chakotay claiming that she had unknowingly mimicked Picard's vocal mannerisms while quoting him. VOY : " Scorpion ". According to Valerie Archer , while discussing Boothby to Chakotay , " Half the captains in Starfleet wouldn't be where they are today if it weren't for Boothby, " including Picard.

VOY : " In the Flesh ". In , Ensign Nog mentioned Al Lorenzo having a curious interest in taking holophotos of himself sitting behind the desks of famous Starfleet captains. Usually, he would sneak into their offices, but the Dominion War made it difficult for him to get away. Among the photos in his collection included Lorenzo sitting behind the desks of such famous commanders as Robert DeSoto and Jean-Luc Picard.

Q mentioned "Jean-Luc" as another option for helping to raise his son to the satisfaction of the Q Continuum. He wondered aloud if it was not too late to ask Picard instead of Janeway. It brings a sense of order and stability to my universe to know that you're still a pompous ass.

And a damn sexy man. I thought you were a bit more evolved than the rest of your species. But now I realize you're just as weak as all the others. Still, it pains me to see the great Jean-Luc Picard brought down by a woman. At least your beloved Jean-Luc knows how to turn a phrase… ". Patrick Stewart wears a hairpiece during a flashback sequence from " Violations ". Picard was played by Patrick Stewart in all of the character's television and film appearances. According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia 4th ed.

Julien Picard — A Caucasian man in his 50s who is very youthful and in prime physical condition. Born in Paris , his Gallic accent appears when deep emotions are triggered. He is definitely a 'romantic' and believes strongly in concepts like honor and duty. Picard commands the Enterprise. He should have a mid-Atlantic accent, and a wonderfully rich speaking voice. In that guide, he was born in Paris, carried a touch of French phrasing in his speech, and pretended that France is "the only true civilization" on Earth reminiscent of Pavel Chekov.

In , D. Fontana made an attempt to recruit actor Stephen Macht for the role. So I went in, I sit down opposite him in his office, and D. He said, 'D. You are my next Star Trek hero, Picard. I was forty-two and doing well. I said to him, 'I've seen these things, and I don't want to do them. I don't want to speak to guys with six heads for the rest of my life.

They're morality tales. I want you to do it. You just have to come read for the studio head. You want me to do it? Offer it to me. You know who my agent is. Also considered for the role of Picard were Louis Gossett, Jr. By 9 April , a meeting between the studio and Kotto was scheduled with no audition to be held on 14 April On or shortly before 9 April, Kotto's agent called TNG Casting Director Junie Lowry , suggesting Kotto would fly down only if Paramount paid to have him flown down, and that Kotto would prefer to take Gene Roddenberry for lunch rather than having a meeting.

Lowry replied that a meeting would be preferable to everyone at the studio, owing to all the busy schedules involved, and notified the agent that Kotto would be meeting not only Roddenberry but also both producers and Jeff Hayes.

She also said it was unlikely that the studio would pay to fly Kotto in for a meeting, to which the agent quickly began to concede on that point. He then enquired as to how serious the studio's interest was in casting Kotto, a question already asked. Lowry answered that, if the studio decided to go for a black captain as the series lead, Kotto was under extremely serious consideration. The meeting remained scheduled, and Lowry included a written account of the phone call in a casting availability update memo she sent to "all concerned" on 9 April In the memo, she listed Gossett, Kotto, and Williams as being available, whereas Jones and Brooks were noted as unavailable.

As noted in the same document, Gossett's agent doubted, however, that Gossett would be interested, and a VHS tape of Dullea was meanwhile being shot in New York. The casting notes also mentioned Stephen Macht, without specifying the role he was being considered for, though the memo did state, " He is certainly very interested. Robert Justman was instrumental in the casting of Picard. Patrick Stewart was discovered by Justman and his wife when pre-production work for the then-forthcoming Star Trek series had been taking place at Paramount for about a month or two.

The event occurred one night while Stewart was giving a dramatic reading at the University of California at Los Angeles, as part of a UCLA extension course on humor which Justman and his wife were taking.

While Justman sat with his wife and watched the readings, he thought Stewart looked familiar, but couldn't quite place him. I turned to my wife, Jackie, and I said, 'I think I found our new captain! Contacting the agent, Justman arranged for Stewart to meet with Gene Roddenberry and Justman himself at Roddenberry's house the following Monday. After he drove away, Gene closed the door and turned to me, and I will quote him exactly. He said, 'I won't have him.

On that day Bauchau successfully auditioned for Gene Roddenberry; the "favorites" for the part were meanwhile regarded as Bauchau as well as Patrick Stewart, with the other three performers scheduled to start auditioning the following week.

Another memo sent on that date specifically pertained to the casting of Picard, and was from Junie Lowry to, again, "all concerned. Both Mulhare and Savalas were noted as actually being interested in it, too.

However, both Dullea and McMartin were in New York, and the studio was yet to receive a tape from Dullea, who refused to audition for the role without a test option agreement first being arranged. Hearn and Williams weren't interested in Williams' case, his disinterest was because the series would be syndicated , and Hill would only be available after 24 April. Anthony Quayle was listed as possibly being interested, though he was currently in London.

Like Justman, Berman was impressed, so he advised Justman that they needed to persuade Roddenberry to cast Stewart as Picard. When Gene makes up his mind, it's a waste of time to try and change it,' " Berman recounted. I didn't believe that.

We went through everybody in town and in foreign countries trying to find the right person to play the captain, and couldn't. Finally, our last candidate came in, read for us and left, and we were sitting there — the casting director, Rick, Gene, and myself — and he finally turned around and looked at us and said, 'All right, I'll go with Patrick,' and that was it.

It was so right, I've never been more sure of anything in my life, at least in the business, than casting Patrick in that role. He was everything that a captain ought to be. Via phone call to London, Stewart had a wig made by one of the most well-renowned theatrical wig makers in England, then had the wig dispatched to America. When TNG Supervising Producer David Livingston first met Stewart, the actor visited Livingston's trailer where Livingston was otherwise alone with a box of wigs, and asked where he could find the make-up and hair staff, as the production crew wanted to see what he looked like with the wigs on.

Stewart eventually found someone who helped him put on the wig. He then auditioned for John Pike, who was well aware that Stewart was really bald. By this time, the only remaining contender for the part, according to Rick Berman, was Stephen Macht.

Like Stewart, he also auditioned for John Pike. Despite regarding Macht as "a very good actor," Berman believed he wasn't anywhere near as suitable for the role as Patrick Stewart was. Years later, Macht admitted that, at that point in his life, he hadn't been prepared to play such a major role, partly because he had been too young and egotistical, and partly because he had been uninterested in doing a series. In the intervening years, of course, after so much experience, I found that there are so many layers to who I am that I can reveal slowly and that would have made a TV series like The Next Generation more appealing.

Looking back at it, I thank Dorothy and Gene for a marker in my life that I can really think about in terms of seeing what the trajectory has been over a whole period of years […] Had I known then what I know now, I would have knocked the shit out of that role.

Pike did so with one extra piece of advice: that Stewart "lose the wig. The show established a long gap between the Stargazer and the Enterprise -D; the Okuda timeline states he was 59 in TNG Season 1 and thus is 74 in Star Trek Nemesis , compared to Stewart having been 62 when that film was made.

When Patrick Stewart accepted the offer to play Picard, a friend of his asked him what he thought it would feel like to portray "an American icon. During an interview with Michael Parkinson , Patrick Stewart related how, in his first press conference for The Next Generation , a reporter asked Gene Roddenberry how Captain Picard could be bald, figuring that baldness would surely be cured by the 24th century.

Roddenberry replied, " By the 24th century, no one will care. Don't Tell Me! Patrick Stewart was, though, fascinated with attempting to assert strength in his portrayal of Picard. Patrick Stewart concurred, " Making the man more human and vulnerable and prone to error and mistake was a great decision. Patrick said, 'No, I didn't. They did the line over again, and Patrick said thanks.

That was dangerous. I could have kept my mouth shut, but I had a responsibility. That seems like a minor thing, but when you tell Patrick Stewart he went up on a line and nobody else heard it, that's dangerous. Other than in alternate timelines , Picard appeared as a captain throughout the entire run of TNG and the subsequent films. Data and Dr. Crusher are the only other characters from TNG to remain at the ranks they started with, though a costuming error in " All Good Things Patrick Stewart is also the first actor seen on screen in each episode, and speaks the first lines in each episode, although in " Emissary " he appears and speaks first as Locutus of Borg.

Apart from James T. With the restoration of a cut scene from an extended version of the episode " The Measure Of A Man " thus making the scene canon , Picard also shares with Pavel Chekov the distinction of having served aboard two starships named Enterprise and one named USS Reliant. Picard has the distinction of having on-screen dialogue with three of the other main Star Trek captains, the most by any other captain.

Picard meets with James T. Kirk in the film Star Trek Generations , Benjamin Sisko in the DS9 pilot "Emissary", and Kathryn Janeway in the film Star Trek Nemesis although in this last instance, they communicated over a viewscreen without actually meeting face-to-face.

He has not had any on-screen dialogue with Jonathan Archer , or with any character from Star Trek: Discovery. Picard is the only lead character in any Star Trek production who is unambiguously not American. Michael Burnham was also born on Earth, and while her nationality hasn't yet been confirmed outright, she speaks with an American accent. Picard's sense of French national pride only surfaced briefly in some early episodes, most notably " The Last Outpost ". Over the run of TNG, the character adopted several characteristics commonly associated with the English: he enjoys the works of William Shakespeare , and is never seen reading any works of literature by a French author.

He drinks Earl Grey tea , an English beverage named after an English nobleman, and is rarely seen drinking wine , a beverage which is commonplace in French life, only drinking it on five occasions, in " Family ", again in " First Contact ", at the end of Star Trek Nemesis , and in PIC : " Remembrance " and " Nepenthe ".

Additionally, his father, brother, and nephew all spoke with English accents. Rick Berman later remembered, " They felt, how can you put a new captain at the seat of the Enterprise? He commented, " I'm happy that people accepted the captain as a non-American […] They refer to the vivid contrast between the previous captain and myself, not in a competitive way, but in that they are so different there isn't any sense of overlap. We always used to say the guy could read a phone book and we'd watch him.

He just was so good. I always said a Star Trek series is only as good as its captain, and Picard was pretty fucking great. He would never blink. Only when he was off-camera. If you watch him on-camera, I defy you to find a time he was blinking, because of the intensity of his captain […] It was a delight to direct him.

Thomas Dougherty, professor of American Studies at Brandeis University, observed, " Captain Picard — he of the balding dome and clipped accents — blossomed as the unchallenged power, the series' pivotal character and controlling force.

Ensemble sensibilities aside, the writing staff conceded the obvious — that a strong central protagonist is as necessary to drive the narrative as command the Enterprise. In Shakesperean actor Patrick Stewart, the new crew found a perfect tribal patriarch.

Stewart exudes authority and presence, consistently keeping the proceedings away from Space Patrol kitsch. Even in a dumb costume, declaiming deep-space doubletalk, he brings a kind of Elizabethan stature to his role. In recent years, several popular Internet memes have surfaced in connection with Picard, most notably the "Picard facepalm" originally based on a scene from " Deja Q " , and its numerous derivatives.

He took Ensign Nog under his wing after Nog was assigned to the Enterprise. On stardate However, Weyoun escaped into the Pah-wraith wormhole. According to Thomas Riker , a Starfleet hearing was called, since Picard had lost his third ship the Stargazer , the Enterprise -D, and the Enterprise -E , but the case was dismissed and Picard was given command of the Enterprise -F in , described as the "first of its class. Riker was given command of the Enterprise.

When Earth was destroyed by the Grigari, Picard survived. By , Picard was stricken with Irumodic Syndrome , and would occasionally do such things as speak to nobody although he claimed to be speaking to Q , or mistake other officers for his old crew for example, he called Nog "Will" and Jake Sisko "Geordi".

It is implied that he married Beverly Crusher , as he comments to Julian Bashir that, between Bashir and Leonard McCoy , he was always worried that his wife would leave him for one of her heroes.

Picard headed up a task force to build a timeship known as the USS Phoenix to try and undo the timeline. However, the Phoenix was destroyed before it could accomplish its mission, but Picard, Nog, and Vash traveled back in time twenty-five thousand years, where they became three Bajoran mystics who wrote prophecies of the events they had experienced; it is also implied that Vash and the elder Picard were married. The entire timeline was later reset thanks to the actions of Benjamin Sisko. Beverly Crusher after rescuing her from a planet under Romulan control.

A subsequent book, Greater than the Sum , by Christopher L. Bennett , portrayed them as married and expecting a child. The comic book series Star Trek: Countdown , a tie-in to the Star Trek film, depicted Picard as having left Starfleet by to become the Federation Ambassador to Vulcan ; with Data, resurrected in B-4 's body, succeeding him as captain of the Enterprise -E.

When the Enterprise arrived at Vulcan, with the Romulan mining vessel Narada in tow, Picard arranged so that the Vulcan High Council would put aside their prejudices and allow Spock to make his case regarding the Hobus supernova. Despite their best efforts, the Council could not be convinced to give the red matter to the Romulans. After Nero had set off, Hobus erupted with the shock wave of the detonation threatening to destroy Earth and Vulcan in a matter of weeks. After La Forge had been called on and the Jellyfish procured as a vessel to launch the red matter, Picard received several Starfleet reports of ships from all the major galactic powers being destroyed when they neared Romulan space.

Suspecting Nero, Picard contacted Worf and requested he intercept the madman with his fleet. When the Jellyfish was ready for launch, Picard boarded the Enterprise to join Worf's fleet. Upon arrival, they found the Narada to have been augmented with Borg technology, the Klingon fleet in pieces and Worf near death. Nero offered to return Worf to them, provided they lowered their shields. Though Picard convinced Data to do so, the Enterprise was crippled as a result, leaving her unable to pursue the Narada.

Once repairs were complete, the Enterprise arrived to a collapsing singularity with no sign of Spock or Nero. Concluding that Spock had always known his journey would end like this, Picard led the crew in mourning their departed friend. Picard's image appeared in the comic book adaptation of the film as part of a collage from Countdown used to depict Spock's mind-meld with the younger Kirk.

The comic miniseries Star Trek: Spock: Reflections established that after the events of Star Trek Generations , Picard sent a message to Spock explaining how Kirk did not die on the Enterprise -B , but was pulled into the Nexus and how he left it to help Picard defeat Soran from killing two hundred million people in order to re-enter the Nexus and in the process, Kirk was killed while saving Picard and millions of others.

Since Kirk was already thought dead, and explaining the nature of the Nexus to Starfleet would be difficult, Picard buried Kirk on Veridian III where he gave his life to save millions. Nonetheless, he felt Spock should know of Kirk's fate.

Spock explained how Kirk did the same for him, at a terrible cost and that he needed to be equal to Kirk's sacrifice. Picard then tells Spock that he would be welcomed to return to Starfleet duty, in any capacity, but Spock planned to return to Romulus to continue his work. Picard asks whether arrangements can be made to make Spock's presence there official, but Spock declined, saying he has always led "a life of solitude and duty". As Spock remembers how he once worked with remarkable friends and comrades, he tells Picard to treasure those times in his own life, since they will someday end.

They exchange the Vulcan salute and Picard walks away, but turned back to see Spock still standing quietly by his friend's grave. Beginning shortly after the events of Countdown , Picard is visited by Q, who informed him that Spock still lived, and that the black hole actually sent him into an alternate reality.

When Q attempted to discuss this timeline, Picard cut him off, believing that the various timelines should remain separate from one another. Annoyed, Q reveals he had come for Picard's counsel as Spock had set off a chain of events that would doom that timeline.

But since the former captain was uninterested, Q took his leave for the other timeline despite Picard's attempt to call him back. Picard reappeared at the end of the arc where Q returned, now enveloped by the energies of a Prophet. Flatly, Picard said he didn't want to know. The 3-issue comic miniseries Star Trek: Picard - Countdown , a tie-in to the television series , detailed the efforts of Picard and his first officer, Lt. Raffi Musiker , to aid in the evacuation of Romulan citizens ahead of the impending supernova depicted in Star Trek.

Through tense negotiations, Picard convinced the Romulans to allow Starfleet to help evacuate soon-to-be affected worlds, a logistical challenge that he would later compare to the evacuation at Dunkirk during World War II.

By , a number of worlds had slowly been evacuated. As the first of La Forge's new fleet was near ready to come off the line, the Verity was ordered to to evacuate Romulan colonists from Yuyat Beta, where Picard and Musiker learned of a massive native population the Romulans were prepared to let die.

They thwarted a plot by the governor and the Tal Shiar to capture the Verity to use against Starfleet, who they believed was using evacuations as a ruse to sabotage the Romulan Empire. Evacuation of the Romulans and Yuyati proceeded. Picard was introduced to Laris Avem and Zhaban Noctis , two Tal Shiar agents in an illicit love affair who aided in de-escalating the situation.

Picard offered them safe haven from retribution on his family's vineyard on Earth. The alternate future of Star Trek Online established Picard's retirement to private life as occurring in when he settled in his ancestral home of France. Memory Alpha Explore. Christopher Pike Number One. James T. Generations First Contact Insurrection Nemesis. Memory Alpha. Hopefully that pattern will be repeated with the Dominion — and Star Trek: Picard season 2 will be the perfect opportunity to demonstrate it.

Tom Bacon is one of Screen Rant's staff writers, as well as a Peer Mentor for new writers and a member of the Care Team, offering support and a listening ear to members of the Comics group. A lifelong fan of major franchises including Star Wars, Doctor Who, and Marvel, Tom is delighted his childhood is back - and this time it's cool. You can find him on Twitter TomABacon. A graduate of Edge Hill University, Tom remains strongly connected with his alma mater as a volunteer chaplain.

He's heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter will swiftly learn he's into British politics too. Though the minefield was successfully activated, the Allies were forced to retreat from the Bajoran system , and the station was subsequently garrisoned by Dominion forces.

Over the following months, Allied forces were forced to retreat on all fronts in the wake of several decisively successful Dominion campaigns. At each instance, the Allies suffered catastrophic losses. During this campaign, Starfleet suffered one of its worst defeats of the war when the Seventh Fleet was dispatched to halt the Dominion's advance at the Tyra system.

In the subsequent battle, 98 starships were destroyed out of a fleet of , leaving thousands dead. Morale among the forces of the Federation Alliance plummeted, and it became a question of when, not if, the Alliance would be defeated. DS9 : " A Time to Stand ". While the Allies suffered repeated defeats in large fleet actions, Starfleet and Klingon ships had greater success in raiding operations and in combating small patrols of Jem'Hadar ships.

Such operations included the destruction of the Dominion's primary ketracel-white storage facility in the Alpha Quadrant, and the destruction of a massive Dominion sensor array in the Argolis Cluster.

The Dominion began suffering a shortage of ketracel-white, greatly concerning the Cardassians in particular. Glinn Damar even proposed that the last rations of white be poisoned if new supplies could not be secured, preventing the Jem'Hadar from running amok. Nevertheless, the Dominion continued to conquer large swathes of Federation and Klingon territory, even approaching the Vulcan border and Bolian territory.

On Deep Space 9, efforts to dismantle the minefield surrounding the wormhole were finally beginning to bear fruit. Although Allied forces scored several minor successes in single-ship duels and in small groups, the inexorable Dominion advance compelled them to continually retreat. Morale sunk lower, with even the Klingons doubting they could defeat the Dominion. By the latter half of , the Allies were perilously close to defeat. A major victory was needed, if anything to boost morale.

Captain Benjamin Sisko, knowing the Dominion would likely figure out how to disable the minefield eventually, proposed to Starfleet Command the Federation Alliance had to go on the offensive.

Sisko's plan was to assemble a task force to recapture Deep Space 9, the most strategically important site in the Alpha Quadrant, at the mouth of the wormhole. Despite misgivings that it would leave Earth vulnerable, Starfleet approved the plan. The Klingons proved more difficult to convince; Chancellor Gowron held the same concerns as Starfleet, in committing as many ships as would be required to re-take Deep Space 9, it would leave the Empire vulnerable.

Unfortunately, Starfleet soon received intelligence from active resistance members on Deep Space 9 that the minefield was only three days from being destroyed. With no word having arrived from the Klingons, and only two-thirds of the Starfleet force assembled, Vice Admiral William Ross authorized Benjamin Sisko to lead the ships assembled in an effort to prevent the Dominion from removing the mines. In response, Dukat pulled 1, warships from the front lines to intercept the Federation fleet, stalling Dominion advances into Allied territory.

DS9 : " Favor the Bold ". Though outnumbered two to one, Starfleet engaged the Dominion fleet. With the timely arrival of Klingon forces, the Dominion lines collapsed, and the fleet dispersed. Though the USS Defiant breached the lines, it was unable to prevent the destruction of the minefield. With no options remaining, Sisko took the Defiant into the wormhole, and was able to strike a bargain with the Prophets to remove the Dominion forces to protect Bajor.

The 2, Dominion ships in the wormhole disappeared, and with two hundred Allied ships approaching Bajor, the Dominion position on Deep Space 9 became untenable. The Dominion withdrew all forces to Cardassian territory, giving the Allied forces a decisive victory. Dukat suffered a mental breakdown at the defeat, along with the concurrent murder of his daughter, Tora Ziyal , and was captured by the victorious Allied forces.

Damar was subsequently promoted to legate , and succeeded him as leader of the Cardassian Union. DS9 : " Sacrifice of Angels ". Following the decisive Allied victory in recapturing Deep Space 9, the Dominion forces withdrew to Cardassian space, and major operations temporarily ceased.

DS9 : " Resurrection " Legate Damar extended an olive branch to the Federation, hoping to negotiate a cease fire and end the war. Weyoun proposed to redraw the Federation-Cardassian border to give disputed star systems to the side with de facto control, an arrangement which generally favored the Federation.

However, a think-tank of genetically engineered individuals led by Julian Bashir deduced that the Dominion's true goal was to obtain the Kabrel system. Though strategically unimportant, the Kabrel system contained a tri-nucleic fungi that could be processed to allow the Dominion to produce near-endless amounts of ketracel-white. Bashir advised that the Federation accept the peace proposal; while many suspected the Dominion would renege on any agreement to buy time to re-group, the Allies were in a far greater need of a respite than the Dominion.

Instead, the Federation made a counter-proposal and the talks ended inconclusively. DS9 : " Statistical Probabilities ". Several weeks later, Dominion activity began to increase all along the border, putting to rest hopes that the Allied recapture of Deep Space 9 would signal the end of the war. DS9 : " Waltz ", " Far Beyond the Stars " In an effort to weaken the Federation-Klingon alliance , Dominion agents established ties with the Orion Syndicate in an unsuccessful plot to assassinate a Klingon diplomat opposed to the war and frame the war proponents led by Gowron for it.

DS9 : " Honor Among Thieves ". With the Prophets barring passage of the wormhole to ships from the Gamma Quadrant, the Dominion began breeding legions of Jem'Hadar, tailoring their genetic profiles specifically for combat in the Alpha Quadrant, and pushed their shipyards to full construction capacity.

DS9 : " One Little Ship ", " In the Pale Moonlight ", " The Reckoning " The issue of a possible ketracel-white shortage became less imminent when the Dominion acquired new supplies of the drug manufactured by the Son'a. Having recovered from the loss of Deep Space 9, in late , the Dominion launched a surprise invasion of Betazed from the Kalandra sector , capturing the planet in less than ten hours.

With control of this key Federation member world, the Dominion had scored a decisive strategic success; it was now in a position to launch offensives against Vulcan , Andor , Tellar , and Alpha Centauri.

The Second Fleet launched three counter-attacks in just one month against Betazed; however all were repulsed. For the Federation Alliance, suffering from shortages of ships and manpower, defeat once again seemed only a matter of time. The Romulan Star Empire had hitherto remained neutral in the Dominion War, although they were turning a blind eye to Dominion warships crossing through their territory to ambush Federation convoys and shipping.

Captain Benjamin Sisko reasoned that the addition of the Romulan military could prove decisive in reversing the fortunes of the Dominion. With the help of Elim Garak , and the approval of Starfleet, a covert mission was carried out to implicate the Dominion in a planned invasion of Romulus ; however, Garak used this operation for the assassination of Senator Vreenak , the most ardent pro-Dominion advocate in the Romulan Senate.