Domain (Star Trek)

In the fictional Star Trek universe, The Dominion is a political power in the Gamma Quadrant, made up of different races and whose goal is to bring order to the galaxy. The Dominion is headed by the Founders, a race of shapeshifters. The Dominion's main military is made up of the Jem'Hadar, genetically engineered super-soldiers who do not require sleep or food, but are dependent on their Dominion masters through drug dependency. substance known as Ketracel White. The Vorta act as administrators and ambassadors to other races outside of the domain. Hunters are designated Domain navigators and trackers. Another race, the Tosk are bred for the purpose of being continually hunted by hunters for practice. The Tosk were apparently derived from the same original species as the Jem'Hadar.

The Dominion waged war with the United Federation of Planets and their allies in the 24th century.

First Contact and Development of Hostilities

The Domain was unknown to the powers of the Alpha Quadrant until the discovery of the Bajoran wormhole in 2369, which facilitated exploration of the Gamma Quadrant. In 2370 the Jem'Hadar destroyed a Bajoran colony in the Gamma Quadrant and captured Deep Space 9 commander Benjamin Sisko. The Federation salvage ship USS Odyssey was destroyed by a kamikaze attack and the Dominion demanded that the Federation scouts to stay out of their space. (DS9, "The Jem'Hadar")

The following year, a Federation mission that attempted to find and make peace with the Founders ended in disaster. The founders began to infiltrate the Alpha Quadrant, creating chaos even on Earth. The entire Quadrant was thrown into conflict when the Klingon Empire accused the Cardassian Union of being under the control of the Founders. When the Federation condemned the Klingons' attack on Cardassia, Chancellor Gowron (Klingon ruler) exiled the Federation citizens from Klingon space, recalled their ambassadors, and withdrew the empire from the Treaty of Khitomer. The Federation and the Cardassians engaged in armed combat against the Klingons for months. It was later revealed that within the Klingon High Council there was an undercover founder.

The Dominion War (2373 - 2375)

The Dominion gained a foothold in the Alpha Quadrant when Gul Dukat announced in 2373 that the Cardassian Union was joining the Dominion. Hostilities began months later when the Dominion attacked and occupied Deep Space 9 at the opening of the Bajoran Passage, while allied Federation and Klingon Empire forces invaded and destroyed a Dominion shipyard in Cardassian space. The allies suffered brutal casualties for four months, until Captain Sisko organized a task force to retake Deep Space 9. A Dominion fleet intercepted the task force just at the edge of Bajoran space, but was outflanked in a spectacular battle, one of the largest in the history of the Federation. Following the Allied victory on Bajor with the destruction of 2,800 Dominion ships thanks to the passage beings known as the Prophets of Bajor, the war continued for over a year with neither side gaining a clear advantage.. The Romulan Galactic Empire entered the war on the Allied side in 2374 putting the Allied forces to the advantage. Eventually the Dominion was defeated and had to retreat back to the Gamma Quadrant.