Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki

A friendly reminder regarding spoilers! At present the expanded Trek universe is in a period of major upheaval with the finale of Picard and the continuations of Discovery, Lower Decks, Prodigy and Strange New Worlds, the advent of new eras in Star Trek Online gaming, as well as other post-56th Anniversary publications such as the new ongoing IDW comic. Therefore, please be courteous to other users who may not be aware of current developments by using the {{spoiler}}, {{spoilers}} or {{majorspoiler}} tags when adding new information from sources less than six months old. Also, please do not include details in the summary bar when editing pages and do not anticipate making additions relating to sources not yet in release. 'Thank You

READ MORE

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki
Register
Advertisement

The Dominion: Olympus Descending is a novella by David R. George III. It was published in Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Volume Three in 2005.

Description[]

THE DOMINION
Since its defeat in the war for the Alpha Quadrant, the Great Link—the living totality of the shape-shifting Founders—has struggled with questions. At its moment of greatest doubt, its fate, and that of the Dominion itself, is tied to Odo's investigation of his kind's true motives for sending a hundred infant changelings out into the galaxy. As Odo searches for answers and takes a hard look at his past choices, Taran'atar reaches a turning point in his own quest for clarity… one from which there may be no going back.

Summary[]

Odo returns to the Great Link after several months away, tracking rumors of Opaka Sulan and the Ascendants. He notes a nearby supernova dominating the sky and finds his fellow changelings to be agitated. He continues his work to reform the Dominion from within, presenting new perspectives to the Link and trying to foster new attitudes in Weyoun and Jem’Hadar Seventh Rotan’talag (one of the few Jem’Hadar found to be free of his white addiction). Spurred by the actions of defective clone Weyoun 6, Odo salvaged Weyoun 8’s neural transcoder implant in the hopes that a future clone would also question the status quo. Odo posted both “aberrations” aboard Jem’Hadar Attack Vessel 971, which he visits frequently for private reflection and to maintain a connection to time and his life outside of the Link. Laas, having made it his personal mission to seek out more of the Hundred, returns with two of the lost changelings and the remains of a third, killed by solids. He decries the violence of the solids but is also incensed at the Link for sending defenseless, ignorant, untrained changelings out into the galaxy to suffer loneliness and death. Laas questions why the Hundred were sent out in the first place and how they were expected to accomplish a mission when they know nothing about it or even about themselves.

Odo finds a Founder (whom he nicknames Indurane, Bajoran for “ancient”) willing to answer Laas’ questions and to provide more insight on their people. Changelings do not appear to have any gender and do not procreate. Without procreation, each changeling death diminishes the whole and brings their species closer to extinction.

The Great Link is made up of individuals, but also contains a mass of unformed biomatter. Pieces of this mass occasionally separate to become new individuals, but there are no changeling infants; the term “newly formed” has no direct parallel to humanoid life. These new beings’ small size and lack of shape-shifting abilities is due to inexperience rather than youth. Legend tells that a changeling god, the Progenitor, created the universe, ultimately taking a group of solids and remaking them in its own image, creating the changelings by design rather than evolution. The Progenitor then disappeared. Hoping to reconnect with their god and to stave off extinction, the Founders sent the Hundred out into the galaxy as a means of luring the Progenitor back to the Omarion Nebula. The Hundred were sent out ignorant of the plan to prevent solids from exploiting it and were not expected to actively search for the Progenitor. Indurane says they hid these truths from Odo and Laas out of shame, as the Link failed the Hundred, though the Hundred did not fail the Link. Many believe that the nova in the sky signals the Progenitor’s return, so Odo, Laas, and Indurane travel to the nova to investigate.

Odo keeps to himself during the journey, feeling distant from his people and reflecting on his new knowledge. He struggles to accept his people’s lack of procreation and eventual extinction, and he’s wary of the fanciful legends and of how the Founders will react if they don’t find the Progenitor. Upon arrival, they discover a planetary body composed of bio-mimetic material rather than rock or gas. However, this immense changeling is dead, killed by radiation from the nova (which was caused by the Ascendant’s isolytic subspace weaponry). Indurane and the other Founders are grief-stricken. The Great Link decides to disperse across the galaxy, to wallow in their anguish and guilt over failing the Hundred and luring the Progenitor to its death. Only Odo and Laas remain to prevent the entire Dominion from descending into chaos and revolt, and to prepare for the imminent Ascendant threat.

Vorta commander Vannis investigates the Ascendant crash site on the Sen-Ennis moon before dealing with a famine. Overne III recently suffered an agricultural plague that wiped out most of their food stores. As mass producers of Jem’Hadar ships and weapons, their population must be maintained. Vannis claims 75% of the food supplies of new Dominion member world Rindamil III, where the population is deemed to be less important. The Rindamil can offer no resistance without suffering the wrath of the Jem’Hadar, leaving many of their people to die from malnutrition and starvation over the coming months.

Taran’atar finds that his lack of ketracel-white, though non-lethal, causes him to sleep and to dream. He becomes increasingly agitated and convinced that he is defective and his mission is futile. He abhors the stations’ residents, and though Kira has earned his respect, she serves as the figurehead of his frustrations. Taran’atar requests permission to visit the Founder Leader. She waived her right to a trial and agreed to solitary imprisonment so that Odo would return to the Great Link. Due to her longevity (she’s already more than 700 years old), her sentence will be reexamined every 50 years. Taran’atar vows that his intention is not to release her and that he wouldn’t do anything to endanger her life, claiming only that he “wishes to be of service to one of his gods.” Though many people are still wary of his motives, the request is granted, so he and Kira travel to Ananke Alpha, a maximum security facility hidden within an asteroid in a barren star system. In a truth kept even from himself, he hopes that the Founder will release him from Odo’s “pointless” mission and allow him to return to the Dominion. The Founder states that Odo’s loyalties are divided, that his efforts to barter peace will fail, and that she believes he will abandon the Link for as long as Kira lives. She also declares that the Founders are not gods and chastises Taran’atar for presuming that he could help her.

Fearing that her isolation has impacted her state of mind, Taran’atar helps the Founder to escape. Using his shrouding abilities as a remote image generator, he makes it appear that she’s still in her cell while he exits several layers of security, with the changeling disguised as his clothing. When the illusion fails, he kills many guards and penetrates the final security barriers, though he suffers an intense radiation burst and a phaser shot. He kills Kira to reach the runabout, deliberately disobeying Odo’s orders to obey her. However, he awakens to discover that the escape was all a dream. The Founder denigrated his visit and they left the prison without incident. Shrouding can’t function as he used it in his dream. Trapped in the Alpha Quadrant, lacking purpose, and doubting his own physical abilities and sanity, he snaps. He destroys his quarters, imagining that he’s slaughtering the station crew. When Kira and Ro respond to the internal security alarm, he attacks, breaking Ro’s spine and plunging a knife deep into Kira’s heart. Leaving them both to die, he heads for a runabout to escape to the Gamma Quadrant.

References[]

Characters[]

AlsaraManuele AtoaAlecoSam BowersFemale ChangelingKalena HokuInduraneJenekKira NerysLaasJacqueline MathesonMisjaOdoRekan'ganarRo LarenRotan'talagTaran'atarTeelentT'KrenVannisWeyoun
Referenced only
Leonard James AkaarArissaJulian BashirJadzia DaxElim GarakGaviIloja of PrimJoshuaEthan LockenLynnAkellen MacetMora PolNogMiles O'BrienOpaka SulanRaiqWilliam RossBenjamin SiskoJake SiskoElias Vaughn

Locations[]

Ananke AlphaDeep Space 9Ennis moonFounders' homeworldGreat LinkOmarion NebulaRindamil III
Referenced only
BajorBajoran wormholeDelta QuadrantEeInnerol VKaremmaKendra ProvinceMerakord IIOverne IIIRintannaSidauSindorinYolja River

Starships and vehicles[]

Jem'Hadar Attack Vessel 971USS Rio Grande (Danube-class) • USS Mjolnir (Norway-class) • Type-10 shuttlecraftUSS Yolja (Danube-class)
Referenced only
USS DefiantJem'Hadar fighterUSS Sutherland

Races and cultures[]

BajoranChangelingHumanJem'HadarOrionProgenitorRindamilTellariteVortaVulcan
Referenced only
AlorexAndorianAscendantBreenCardassianFerengiHirogenMerakordiOurentiaOverneProphetsTrelianVaralan

States and organizations[]

Bajoran MilitiaDominionHundredStarfleetUnited Federation of Planets
Referenced only
EnnisSection 31Sen Ennis

Other references[]

Dominion Warisolytic subspace weaponkar'takinketracel-whitemorphogenic viruspaladinraktajinoshroudtranscorder implantvirtual display devicewaveguide

Appendices[]

Related media[]

Background[]

  • This novel is written by David R. George III
  • This is the second of two stories in Worlds of Deep Space Nine, Volume Three. The first story contained in this book is Ferenginar: Satisfaction is Not Guaranteed.
  • This novel explains how and why another Weyoun is featured in the DS9 relaunch novels, despite the fact the Female Changeling had declared Weyoun 8 to be the last clone in “What You Leave Behind.”
  • Odo and Kira’s unseen closet conversation in “You are Cordially Invited” is depicted. Odo tells Kira that he shouldn’t have agreed to her request that he not to link with the Founder leader; it was unfair of her to ask him to break off contact with his people and to so go against his nature. It’s also unfair of Kira to be angry at him for having humanoid sex with the Founder; he was trying to teach the latter more about humanoid life. He tries to educate her about changelings and the Link, though he himself doesn’t know many details. Linking doesn’t mean sharing everything one knows, only what they chose to share. He draws parallels between Kira’s connection to the Prophets and his to the Founders, and that they’ve both done things that they aren’t proud of on behalf of their peoples. He acknowledges that he acted out of character and that makes it hard for Kira to trust him, but they begin to repair their friendship.
  • Vannis visits the moon where the Ennis and the Nol-Ennis fought, as seen in "Battle Lines" and Rising Son.
  • Kira picks up the station’s newest runabout, NCC-75353, which she names Yolja after a river on Bajor.
  • Ananke Alpha first appeared in the comic Alien Spotlight: Cardassians.

Images[]

Connections[]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine relaunch publications and stories
Novels A Stitch in TimeAvatar, Book One‎Avatar, Book TwoAbyssDemons of Air and DarknessTwilightThis Gray SpiritCathedralLesser EvilRising SonThe Left Hand of Destiny, Book OneThe Left Hand of Destiny, Book TwoUnity • "Cardassia: The Lotus Flower" • "Andor: Paradigm" • "Trill: Unjoined" • "Bajor: Fragments and Omens" • "Ferenginar: Satisfaction is Not Guaranteed" • "The Dominion: Olympus Descending" • WarpathFearful SymmetryThe Soul KeyThe Never-Ending SacrificeThe MissingSacraments of FireAscendanceForce and MotionThe Long MirageEnigma TalesOriginal Sin
Miniseries and anthologies The Lives of DaxDivided We FallMission GammaWorlds of Deep Space Nine (Volume One, Two & Three)
Short stories and novellas "Horn and Ivory" • "The Officers' Club" • Lust's Latinum Lost (and Found)Rules of AccusationI, The Constable
Comics N-Vector • "Crossfire" • "No Quarter" • "All Fall Down" • "United We Stand"
Omnibuses Twist of FaithThese Haunted Seas
Related Star Trek: Section 31Star Trek: Terok NorStar Trek: DestinyStar Trek: Typhon PactStar Trek: The FallStar Trek: Coda
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine collected short stories, novellas and short novels
The Lives of Dax "Second Star to the Right..." • "First Steps" • "Dead Man's Hand" • "Old Souls" • "Sins of the Mother" • "Infinity" • "Allegro Ouroboros in D Minor" • "The Music Between the Notes" • "Reflections" • "... and straight on 'til morning"
Prophecy and Change "Revisited" • "Ha'mara" • "The Orb of Opportunity" • "Broken Oaths" • "... Loved I Not Honor More" • "Three Sides to Every Story" • "The Devil You Know" • "Foundlings" • "Chiaroscuro" • "Face Value" • "The Calling"
Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Volume One ("Cardassia: The Lotus Flower" • "Andor: Paradigm") • Volume Two ("Trill: Unjoined" • "Bajor: Fragments and Omens") • Volume Three ("Ferenginar: Satisfaction is Not Guaranteed" • "The Dominion: Olympus Descending")
Strange New Worlds I ("Life's Lessons" • "Where I Fell Before My Enemy") • II ("Research" • "Change of Heart") • III ("Ninety-three Hours" • "Dorian's Diary" • "The Bottom Line" • "The Best Defense..." • "An Errant Breeze") • IV ("Captain Proton and the Orb of Bajor" • "Isolation Ward 4") • V ("Fear, Itself") • VI ("Fabrications" • "Urgent Matter" • "Best Tools Available") • VII ("Infinite Bureaucracy" • "Barclay Program Nine") • 8 ("Trek" • "Gumbo" • "Promises Made" • "Always a Price") • 9 ("Shadowed Allies" • "Living on the Edge of Existence" • "The Last Tree on Ferenginar: A Ferengi Fable From the Future" • "The Tribbles' Pagh") • 10 ("So a Horse Walks into a Bar..." • "Signal to Noise") • 2016 ("The Façade of Fate" • "The Manhunt Pool" • "The Dreamer and the Dream")
Star Trek: Explorer "A Night In" • "By Special Request" • "The Mission" • "Things Can Only Get Better" • "Frontier Medicine" • "The Victim" • "You Can't Buy Fate" • "Lost and Founder" • "A Year to the Day I Saw Myself Die" • "Academy Acquisition"
Misc. short stories "The Badlands, Part IV" • "The Second Artifact" • "Mirror Eyes" • "Requital" • "The Officers' Club" • "A Terrible Beauty"
Misc. novellas & short novels "Horn and Ivory" • "Saturn's Children" • "Seeds of Dissent" • "A Gutted World"

Timeline[]

published order
chronological order
Previous Adventure:
Out of the Cocoon
Pocket Next Adventure:
The Haunting of Deck Twelve
The above chronology placements are based on the primary placement in 2376.
The Pocket Books Timeline places events from this story in two other timeframes:
Previous Adventure:
Paradise Interrupted
2376
Preamble
Next Adventure:
Andor: Paradigm
Previous Adventure:
You Are Cordially Invited
2374
Chapters 2, 4, 6
Next Adventure:
Year of Hell, Part II


Translations[]
2013
German : Das Dominion: Fall der Götter, translated by Christian Humberg. (Cross Cult)

External link[]

Advertisement