Battle of Cardassia
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| Battle of Cardassia | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Dominion War | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
 United Federation of Planets Klingon Empire Romulan Star Empire Cardassian Union (halfway through the battle) Cardassian rebels (on Cardassia Prime) |
 The Dominion (minus Cardassian Union after the first half of battle) |
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| Commanders | |||||||
| Vice Admiral William Ross Captain Benjamin Sisko General Martok General Velal Legate Damar † |
The Female Changeling  Weyoun † Thot Pran |
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| Strength | |||||||
| Over 1,000 Federation, Klingon, and Romulan ships, later aided by Cardassian ships | Unknown number of Jem'Hadar, Breen, and Cardassian (pre-defection) ships; orbital weapons platforms over Cardassia Prime | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| Over 30% (not including Cardassians), 800 million Cardassian civilians murdered | Unknown, but heavy | ||||||
| Dominion War |
|---|
| Deep Space Nine – Bajor – First Chin'toka – Second Chin'toka – Cardassia |
In the Star Trek fictional universe, the Battle of Cardassia, fought two months after the Second Battle of Chin'toka, was the final battle of the Dominion War, ending in the surrender of all Dominion forces in the Alpha Quadrant. It is depicted in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's series finale, "What You Leave Behind".
The battle was an all-or-nothing attack to capture Cardassia Prime. After Federation scientists developed countermeasures to the Breen energy dampening weapon, rendering it useless, the Dominion Alliance no longer had a clear advantage over the Federation and its allies and the front lines stabilized. Consequently, the Female Shapeshifter ordered a retreat to Cardassian territory where the Dominion would use its superior shipbuilding and Jem'Hadar breeding programs to launch an unstoppable offense. Captain Sisko saw the risk and advocated an immediate attack to push the advantage, a motion that was seconded by the Klingons.
The battle was the largest the Federation had ever engaged in, and resulted in grueling combat. The Romulans lost their flagship early in the battle and consequently, their entire line began to collapse. By that point, it was clear that without a major reorganization of the fleet, the Allies would lose the engagement. The Jem'Hadar also took to kamikaze attacks and ganging up on weaker vessels to even the odds.
During the battle, on Cardassia Prime, a sizable resistance movement had formed. Led by former Cardassian puppet leader Damar, the Cardassian resistance sabotaged all of the power stations on the planet, depriving the Dominion fleet of ground support and command and control. In retaliation, the Female Shapeshifter ordered Lakarian City and its 2 million inhabitants destroyed. When the Cardassian fleet heard of the destruction of Lakarian City, they broke ranks, turning on the Dominion and Breen ships mid-battle; on Cardassia Prime, the Cardassians then began a general uprising against the Dominion.
Hearing of the Cardassian fleet's treachery, the Female Shapeshifter ordered the Jem'Hadar to exterminate all Cardassians on the planet and instructed all Breen and Dominion forces to retreat to Cardassia Prime itself, hoping to make a final stand against the new Allies. As the fleet arrived at Cardassia, Damar, Kira, and Garak stormed Dominion headquarters, Damar dying in the process. Inside the headquarters, Kira and Garak killed the remaining Weyoun clone and held the Founder hostage; she refused to call off the attack, instead vowing to make the Allies pay for every inch of Cardassia. In space, before a shot could be fired, Odo convinced Captain Sisko that he could talk the Female Changeling into surrender. Beaming down into the headquarters, he managed to convince the Founder to link with him, which cured her of the morphogenic virus with which she had been afflicted. Odo convinced her, during the link, that peace with the solids was possible. Transformed and healed, she ordered all Dominion forces to immediately surrender and agreed to stand trial for war crimes. In exchange, Odo was to return to the Great Link and cure the Founders of their illness.
An official treaty of surrender was soon signed on Deep Space Nine, formally ending the war that had engulfed the Alpha Quadrant for nearly three years. Despite the war's end, the ramifications were enormous: over 810 million Cardassians died, along with tens of millions more from the Allies and an unknown number of Dominion forces. Thousands of ships were destroyed on both sides, and the Dominion had left the Klingons and Cardassians destitute.
[edit] External links
- Battle of Cardassia article at Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki.
