Q and the Dominion war

[Typhonis 1]

How would the Federation have done if the Encounters with the Borg had never occured?

[Ergi]

Probably BAD.

However, if the Federation's tactical capacity had been lower at the time the Dominion entered the alpha quadrant the Founders could have decided that it isn't necessary to ally themselves with the Cardassian Union. And since the Union would certainly have felt threatened by a new aggressor coming through the door only a couple of light years away they could have very well decided to support the Federation.

[Hugh Casey]

It would never have happened.

No Borg contact, no Worf 359.

Sisko's wife would not have died, his ship not destroyed, and he would probably have remained a ship commander. Thus, he would not have been assigned to DS9.

Without Sisko at DS9, the wormhole would have probably not been discovered.

No wormhole, no Dominion.

It would never have happened.

Just my twin coppers.

H.

[Ergi]

But this would also mean that the Bajoran prophecies were wrong. And this isn't possible since the Prophets are able to see every point of the time line. So, if Sisko is the Emissary then history has to proceed as shown. Otherwise you would have absolute chaos.

Therefore the logical conclusion is that there is absolutely no way Q could not have initiated first contact between the Federation and the Borg.

[Rayaru]

Q is equally as powerful, if not MORE powerful than the Prophets, so he can do whatever he wants.. including make them dissapear.

I'm sure the Dominion War was quite amusing to him though!

[Liz Not Beth]

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[Ramage]

Originally posted by Hugh Casey
It would never have happened.

No Borg contact, no Worf 359.

Sisko's wife would not have died, his ship not destroyed, and he would probably have remained a ship commander. Thus, he would not have been assigned to DS9.

Without Sisko at DS9, the wormhole would have probably not been discovered.

No wormhole, no Dominion.

It would never have happened.

Just my twin coppers.

H.

Gotta agree with Hugh here. If Sisko is the Emmissary and he never gets to the Temple of the Prophets, then the whole Dominion War would never happen.

Of course, that would mean that you would have to believe in a pretty set-in-stone vision of the universe, but I am just working with the logic-bits the shows have given us

[Typhonis 1]

what I mean is how would the Federation fare if they hadnt been gunning up to fight the Borg

[CorpBoy]

Originally posted by Typhonis 1
what I mean is how would the Federation fare if they hadnt been gunning up to fight the Borg

Ah, but were they gunning up to fight the Borg? As I recall, the construction of Defiant class ships was put on hold until the Dominion war broke out.

If anything, I would think that the Federation would be MORE prepared for the Dominion had the Borg not attacked. The fleet that was annihilated at Wolf 359 would still be around.

[Liz Not Beth]

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[Owen E Oulton]

I don't think it would have had a major effect. If Jennifer Sisko had not been killed at Wolf 359, she would merely have wound up going with him and Jake to Bajor. The only other major difference that would have had an effect would have been the absence of the Defiant - presumably Sisko would have been assigned another ship when the Dominion threat became apparent at the beginning of season 3.

However, it is quite clear from Best of Both Worlds part 1 that the Federation was already aware of Borg raids along the Romulan Neutral Zone prior to Q's involvement. Wolf 359 could well have taken place without Q taking the Enterprise-D on its little side trip. A Federation/Borg encounter was effectively inevitable by that point anyway.

[Capt. K. Vaughn]

The Borg encounters also spurred the Federation to increase its ship production volume.

But for the sake of argument, the Borg has not been encountered but Sisko's wife dies due to another cause and he ends up on DS9, timeline basically returns to the course we know it as.

I'd have to agree with what was said earlier, the Dominion would likely not ally with Cardassia and Cardassia would likely work with the Feds to maintain the Balance of Power as they know it.

Though without the technological advances spurred on by the Borg, the war would be bloodier and costlier.

Regards,
CKV.

[Weyoun12]

Originally posted by CorpBoy
Ah, but were they gunning up to fight the Borg? As I recall, the construction of Defiant class ships was put on hold until the Dominion war broke out.

If anything, I would think that the Federation would be MORE prepared for the Dominion had the Borg not attacked. The fleet that was annihilated at Wolf 359 would still be around.

I dunno bout that. At Wolf 359 the fleet there was not very big (though it was for a TNG show) I believe the concensus amongst the Wolf 359 Battle fandom was/is about 40 starships but don't quote me.

At the outset of the Dominion War late December 2373 (according to Stardate) the Federation had at least two more Defiant class starships in service as evident in the DS9 Season Five finale ("Call To Arms"). This does not include the ill-fated USS Valiant NCC-74210 either as it was "behind enemy lines" when war broke out whilst Red Squad was "circumnavigating the Federation" (as to why a Defiant class, a short range COMBAT vessel, was chosen for such a mission for the show was obviously for cheaper studio costs).

Voyager's "Message In A Bottle" depicted yet two Defiant class vessels operating near the Romulan border and that happened in early 2374 because the EMH 3 reveals that "the Romulans are not involved in our fight with the Dominion". Thats a number of Defiant class starships that were involved early in the war era. Sequentially in regards to the fleet registry a case could be made that there were five other Defiant class ships including the Valiant... NCC-74206-210...in Starfleet service by early 2374.

Now as to Starfleet being more prepared? Not that much more at all. The exulted 7th Fleet consisting of 112 vessels lost 98 ships to the Dominion/Cardassian alliance in the Tyra Sector battle ("A Time To Stand"). There were 1254 Dominion/Cardie ships sent out to DEFEND DS9 from Federation recapture outnumbering the Federation two to one ("Favor The Bold") with another 2800 enemy ships almost (if not for the divine intervention plot) coming in thru the wormhole. Asides from Starfleet being weakened by the Borg,twice, factor in Maquis terrorists as well and the skirmish with the Klingons over Cardassia not to mention ships that would go missing either in the Gamma Quadrant or the Badlands (Voyager and Equinox included) in the recent years leading up to the war.

Technology wise the ship built by Starfleet to withstand the Borg was barely able to do so as seen in the movie First Contact and also the Jem'Hadar easily overtook the Defiant when it entered the Gamma Quadrant for the first time ("The Search Part One"). Presumably Starfleet was able to find ways to counter Dominion polaron weapons resulting from Starfleet Intelligence studying the captured Jem'Hadar warship Sisko had obtained the year before on Torgra(?) IV ("The Ship").

[RaconteurX]

Perhaps Q is a Prophet who's slumming... or a Pah-Wraith with a heart of gold.

[Karg]

Dosen't really deal with the Dominion war but read the Q Continumm series by Gregg Cox, Good series about the Higher Powers in Trek