Tales Of The Dominion War - Edited by Keith DeCandido
Of all of the Star Trek television series, my favorite is Deep Space Nine because of its reflection of how humanity might behave were we actually to travel to the stars. Other Star Trek series were all aboard ships that had strict command structures that depicted life in the military that was governed by a set of rules and regulations. Once in awhile, someone might step outside of the command structure, but they were usually brought back into line by the end of an episode. However, on DS9 it was a whole different idea. Set on a space station, Starfleet is invited to govern, rather than set up a normal command structure. There were all sorts of races visiting the station at any given time and events didn’t fit into Starfleet’s ideal military situation. So this left a lot of room for characters of the series to have to improvise and adapt to various situations that fell outside of the normal Star Trek trope.
During the last two seasons of Deep Space Nine, there was a struggle for control of the Alpha Quadrant of our galaxy between the Federation, the Klingons, and later, the Romulans against the Dominion from the Gamma Quadrant, the Cardassians, and the Breen. It was an all out battle that saw the fall of many worlds and many lost their lives. Some of the best episodes of the series happened during those two seasons.
Tales of the Dominion War is a collection of stories that took place away from the main action depicted on the television show but were referred to or talked about on the main show. Keith brought together a group of authors that took those snippets of stories and fleshed them out into some of the finest Trek stories I have ever read. The titles in the book include…
- What Dreams May Come by Michael Jan Friedman
- A vorta feels secure on a world where the Jem’Hadar are setting up a supply depot, but all is not what it seems.
- Night of the Vulture by Greg Cox
- An entity that TOS fans are familiar with returns.
- The Ceremony of Innocence is Drowned by Keith DeCandido
- A debate in the Romulan Senate takes a turn when news is received.
- Mirror Eyes by Heather Jarmin and Jeffrey Lang
- A Romulan agent posing as a Vulcan on DS9 is exposed.
- Twilight’s Wrath by David Mack
- Some awesome backstory on Shinzon’s rise to power.
- Eleven Hours Out by Dave Galanter
- Picard and Deanna Troi attend graduation at Starfleet Academy when things go very wrong.
- Safe Harbours by Howard Weinstein
- McCoy and Scotty find safety in an unlikely place.
- Field Expediency by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore
- Sensitive information is at stake and a group of Starfleet engineers work to protect it.
- A Song Well Sung by Robert Greenberger
- Klag’s story fighting the Jem’Hadar.
- Stone Cold Truths by Peter David
- A Hero from Peter David’s New Frontier series tells his son a tale from his adventures during the Dominion War.
- Requital by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangles
- A survivor from ARR-558 cannot let go.
This is not a new collection of stories with the book being released in 2004, but don’t let the fact that I am twelve years late deter you from reading a collection of some of the best Trek writing I have ever read. Every story is preceded by where in the timeline it is set and an overview of the author’s work up to the time this volume was released. And, as a bonus, Keith includes a complete timeline of events of the Dominion War that in itself is worth the price of the book.
All of the stories in this volume are of the highest quality, as is usual with the pantheon of authors Keith gathered together. Anyone who knows the saga of Deep Space Nine will recognize and appreciate the contents of this book and I consider it must reading for DS9 fans.
Well, there it is…
Qaplah’!
Edited by Benjamin Arrowood
Edited by Benjamin Arrowood
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