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Star Trek Deep Space Nine Relaunch: Difference between revisions
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* [[Star Trek: Typhon Pact]]: ''Raise the Dawn''.
Furthermore, ''[[Star Trek Deep Space Nine:
Several stories in Star Trek: [[Starfleet Corps of Engineers]] are crossovers with this series. Its characters also make cameos elsewhere, including in ''[[Star Trek: Klingon Empire]]''.
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Abusive Parents]]: Darok's mother, Most Fearsome Of All Women.
** Rugal's adoptive parents are [[Retcon]]ned out of being this.
* [[Actor Allusion]]: In ''Fearful Symmetry'', it's revealed that the Obsidian Order maintains a database of alien individuals who resemble living Cardassians. This is so they can replace those people with Order agents if they feel the need. At one point, it's mentioned that Gul Danar has ''many'' different matches in the database. Aliens with his appearance have been found across a wide range of species, including human, Klingon and Romulan. This is a reference to Danar's actor, Vaughn Armstrong, who has played no less than twelve supporting characters of nine different species in ''[[Star Trek]]''.
** [[The Princess Bride|Zek]] at one point threatens to send his manservant back to where he found him: unemployed, <s>in Greenland</s> on Versinnia.
* [[Actual Pacifist]]: The Eav'oq, an alien race who are spiritually averse to violence, and particularly to killing. They certainly claim to be total pacifists, and so far their behaviour supports it. They refused to fight and kill even when faced with potential genocide at the hands of the Ascendants.
* [[Adventurer Archaeologist]]: The crew of the ''Even Odds'' are often in line with this trope. Technically they're a retrieval squad, but they usually have a genuine archaeologist or two among them. While research is implied to be their primary activity, the resident archaeologists certainly participate in the actual retrievals, which usually involve the sort of excitement you don't find on genuine digs.
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* [[Because Destiny Says So]]: The Prophets are in a pickle because Mirror Universe Ben Sisko went and died, in defiance of destiny, yet destiny demands his place be filled, or the fabric of reality risks becoming undone.
* [[Berserk Button]]: All Andorians have one. Shar lunges at his own parent in murderous rage after she tweaks his - manipulating him through his bondmates so as to put a reign on his non-conformist aversion to familial duty. He veers off at the last minute, though - as she knew he would.
** Iliana Ghemor discovers her Obsidian Order mentor's, and files it away as something interesting. (It then never gets brought up again.)
* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: Taran'atar, often. Although it can be ambiguous as to whose side he is on, at first. The most notable examples of this occur in ''The Soul Key''.
* [[Bio Augmentation]]: Many villains: Gothmara. Ethan Locken. The Kurlan parasites. The Jem'Hadar.
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* [[Calling Your Attacks]]: In ''Demons of Air and Darkness,'' during Taran'atar's battle with the Hirogen in the Delta Quadrant, the Hirogen asks Taran'atar why he's not pressing his attack. Taran'atar doesn't answer, and finally the Hirogen says that if Taran'atar won't attack, ''he'' will - making the Jem'Hadar wonder why the heck he would announce his attack ahead of time.
* [[Capital City]]: The series confirms the names of several: Ashalla (for Bajor), Cardassia City (for Cardassia Prime), Leran Manev (for Trill), and Laibok (for Andor).
* [[Character Derailment]]: Dukat. Posthumously, even. {{spoiler|He locks the modified Iliana Ghemor in a cell and rapes her repeatedly for fifteen years as a way of venting his obsession with Kira. Rape was pretty much the only sin Dukat ''wasn't'' ever even implied to be guilty of in the series. While he was extremely manipulative to some of his lovers and utilized emotional duress, using actual force would seem to go against his defining character trait: to try and make people love him via his manipulations.}}
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: In ''Section 31: Abyss'', the runabout carrying Bashir, Ezri, Ro and Taran'atar is shot down by a Cardassian weapons platform orbiting Locken's occupied world of Sindorin. Later, Locken attempts to fire a missile containing a biogenic weapon at a Romulan world. Unable to break the encryption and abort the missile, Bashir finds it comparatively easy to change the orbit of the weapons platform - and puts it into the path of the missile, destroying both harmlessly.
** Another [[Chekhov's Gun]] in ''Section 31: Abyss'' was one that was introduced many (real-life) years prior to the book being published: {{spoiler|the mobile environment simulator, or "holoship", from ''[[Star Trek: Insurrection]]''.}}
* [[Chessmaster]]: Garak catches someone on his side attempting to be one, and informs them in no uncertain terms that from now on, ''he'' will be the one deciding where the pieces are moved.
* [[Cliff Hanger]]: Several, one of which (Odo and the Dominion) is still unresolved.
* [[Cloning Blues]]: One of Ethan Locken's plans for the bright new Khan-inspired future involves clones of genetically augmented humans. He uses technology left behind by the Dominion, previously used to clone Vorta.
* [[Cold Sniper]]: Savonigar, one of the bounty hunters in ''Warpath''.
* [[Combat Pragmatist]]: Darok. He didn't get to be as old as he is by following other Klingons' exaggerated codes of honour. If kneeing an opponent in the groin works, he'll go for it. Interestingly, while this sort of outlook is usually condemned in Klingon-centred stories (with characters who embrace it typically being villainous), Darok is presented more as the [[Cool Old Guy]] or [[Only Sane Man]].
** The Jem'hadar seem to be this in general, which in fiction is sort of odd for a [[Proud Warrior Race]]. It's essentially explained that while they're extremely ready to do anything to obey the will of the Founders, including sacrifice their own lives, that doesn't mean they'll be ''stupid'' about it.
* [[Compelling Voice]]: Gothmara, the villain in ''The Left Hand of Destiny'', gives both herself and Morjod this, thanks to her skills at [[Bio Augmentation]]. It should be noted, though, that the effect alone is not powerful enough to compel others; it's combined with rhetoric, seduction or other tactics.
* [[Contagious AI]]: The intelligent software that tried to hijack both Cardassian and Borg computer networks in the backstory of ''Lesser Evil''. It deliberately called a Borg ship to an outpost it had infected, precisely to try and spread itself to their Collective. In short, it hoped to assimilate the Borg. The realization of this irony was not to be; Starfleet managed to put a stop to the AI before it reached the main Collective.
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* [[Cool Old Guy]]: Elias Vaughn. He's 102 years old and still going (relatively) strong, an operative of Starfleet Special Operations who's seen pretty much everything over the course of his career.
* [[Cool Ship]]: The ''Even Odds'', especially due to the mysteries of the Wa, a built-in holodeck that's also possibly a [[Portal Network]]. This has yet to be explained, but a return to the ship seems likely now that {{spoiler|Taran'atar is flying off to rescue it following a mysterious distress call}}.
* [[Cool Sword]]: The Sword of Kahless. Always results in [[Took a Level
* [[Cosmic Keystone]]: The Pagh'varam, which among its other properties (e.g. [[Amplifier Artifact]]) can be used to access other dimensions through the Bajoran Wormhole. This is because it's actually a fragment of one of the Bajoran orbs. The Pagh'varam appeared in the first season of the TV show, but its function as a [[Cosmic Keystone]] was only revealed in the Relaunch.
* [[Create Your Own Villain]]: {{spoiler|The Trill, with the Kurlan parasites.}}
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* [[Driven to Suicide]]: {{spoiler|Thriss}}.
* [[Dying Alone]]: {{spoiler|Darok}}. Interestingly, and unlike most examples of the trope, this isn't presented as a sad thing. He's quite content as he dies.
* [[Dying Race]]: These books established the Andorians as this - their complex four-sex biology is failing them and their window of fertility has dropped to only four or five years. Unless their genome can be repaired, they face extinction within fifteen generations. Note that events in later books - [[Star Trek: Destiny]] most notably - make the problem even worse.
* [[Earn Your Happy Ending]]: {{spoiler|Rugal Pa'Dar}} might be one of the most triumphant examples of this in ''Trek'' fiction.
* [[Empire with a Dark Secret]]: Trill, Federal Republic with a Dark Secret. The generational conspiracy among the Trill government is revealed to be more extensive than merely lying about the number of Trills suitable for Joining. It also involves a cover-up of a shameful time in the Trill's history, records of which were destroyed.
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* [[Fourth Date Marriage]]: {{spoiler|Jake Sisko and Korena}}.
* [[Gender Equals Breed]]: Rom and Leeta's daughter Bena. It seems very odd that Ferengi and Bajorans can breed, even given Trek's tendency for casual interspecies reproduction. However, the pregnancy is very difficult (indeed, near-fatal for Leeta).
** Though part of this was addressed way back in ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''. Most humanoid species in the galaxy are very, very distantly related because they all share a genetic ancestor in the "Seeders".
* [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke]]: The Kurlans are one of several examples.
* [[Genius Bruiser]]: Taran'atar. Kira Nerys is used to seeing him in the holosuite, spending his spare time training himself for battle. Usually this consists of fighting hideous and powerful opponents; but on one occasion she finds him studying advanced mathematics - at a level far beyond her comprehension.
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* [[A God Am I]]: Surprisingly avoided, despite the series continuing the Dominion arc from the TV show. While the Founders of the Dominion usually encourage their subjects and servants to view them as gods, the relaunch reveals that they do not in fact see themselves in such terms. Indeed, they have their own god in the form of the Progenitor, and are humbly worshipful in their own unique way. The Founder leader bluntly admits to Jem'Hadar character Taran'atar that she and the other Founders are not divine, because the only true god is the Progenitor. Taran'atar is horrified to hear a Founder dismiss her own divinity.
* [[God Is Dead]]: {{spoiler|The Progenitor, the giant changeling or changeling-equivalent worshipped by the Founders. The star it's orbiting was destroyed by the Ascendants, who triggered an artificial and completely unnatural nova. The Progenitor was caught by surprise, and expired. The Founders' response to the death of their god was to dissolve the Great Link; they blame themselves, having lured the Progenitor back only to get it killed}}.
* [[Godwin's Law]]: When Garak is appointed the Cardassian ambassador to the Federation, he's set up in ambassadorial headquarters in Paris... in what was the Nazi occupation headquarters during World War II. Garak observes that he finds the studied insult [[Actually Pretty Funny]].
* [[Gone Horribly Wrong]]: Trill experiments on Kurl. An attempt to render symbionts immune to a disease ravaging their population merely transformed the test subjects into insane mutants, who completely dominated their hosts.
* [[Good Shepherd]]: {{spoiler|Opaka Sulan}}. Surprisingly, Yevir has his moments, particularly in ''Worlds of Deep Space Nine: Cardassia''.
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* [[Lady of War]]: Sirella (Martok's wife). She holds herself with grace and dignity at all times, while retaining the fierce and violent aspect of a Klingon noble. Other characters comment on this all the time. In fact, Sirella goes out of her way to be a [[Lady of War]], and is visably unhappy when she admits that the villain's [[Compelling Voice]] caued her to momentarily lose her composure.
* [[Legacy Character]]: Gard. Every host of the Gard symbiont fulfils the exact same function in Trill society, in contrast to every other Joined Trill.
* [[Les Yay]]: There are plenty of hints that Kira (and by extension Iliana) are bisexual. Kira's loss of Dakahna Vaas is treated more like she's lost a lover than a close friend, and Iliana ultimately has an [[I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy]] reaction towards sending the mirror universe Vaas off with Ataan... to both of them. As well, when Iliana muses that she can never return Shing-kur's feelings for her, it's because she feels all such emotions have been driven out of her by her captivity, not because Shing-kur's female (or biologically incompatible, for that matter).
* [[Literal Minded]]: Srral.▼
* [[Lighter and Softer]]: Oddly for the series that had such a reputation for darkness among ''Star Trek'' series, the DS9 relaunch is this among the post-series EU. Sure, lots of bad things still happen... some really awful, tragic things, actually... but considering that the ''Next Generation'' and ''Voyager'' relaunches seem absolutely fixated on character suffering and death and killing off entire planetary populations with a [[Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy|numbing regularity]], the DS9 relaunch both keeps the tone of its own show much better and is like a breath of fresh air amidst the other depressing, pessimistic relaunches.
* [[Living Labyrinth]]: The Cathedral/Anathema.
* [[Living Memory]]: The psychic bundles of memory and personality stored in the Trill Annuated. The eldest of the symbionts, the Annuated also act as vast "libraries" of personal experience.
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{{quote|"He had formulated an interesting theory that day: Fighting to win is not dishonorable even if you occasionally do dishonorable things along the way to victory. Darok had tested his theory on many occasions since that day and every experiment had confirmed his initial impulse. As he shot the third Hur'q through the head (he had shot the first one in the knee and the second in the groin) he formulated a corollary: namely, there is no dishonorable way to kill monsters. The only thing that matters is that they die".}}
* [[Manchurian Agent]]: Later in the series, {{spoiler|Taran’atar is this for Iliana Ghemor}}.
* [[Manipulative Bastard]]: Vaugn accuses {{spoiler|Sisko}} of this at one point, and the accused can't really say much in his defense.
* [[Mask of Power]]: The belief system of the Oralian Way, a Cardassian religion dating back to the Hebitians (a race of [[Precursors]]), involves ceremonial masks. These channel a being's spiritual power so as to allow them to become closer to the gods, augmenting their spiritual energies and focusing their mind for prayer. In Astraea, leader of the faith, the mask helps her serve as a vessel for Oralius, the guiding spirit. The "original" masks upon which the modern Oralian examples are based later showed up in [[Star Trek: The Lost Era]].
* [[Mathematician's Answer]]: From ''Section 31: Abyss,'' while Ro and Taran'atar are on a mission together:
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'''Taran'atar:''' Trees. Many trees. Also undergrowth. More importantly, I see no Jem'Hadar. Otherwise, if you mean, "Can you see anything useful?" then the answer is no. }}
* [[Meaningful Funeral]]: {{spoiler|Thriss, at Tower Hill on Andor in ''Worlds of Deep Space Nine: Volume One''}}. Very moving, particularly when Thia starts singing. Note that the entire plot of the story revolves around a character returning home so the funeral can be held in accordance with their people's custom.
** Though not quite a funeral, a meaningful death rite occurs when Martok acts out the Klingon dying roar for {{spoiler|Pharh}} and announces that the battle they're fighting will be in his honor, to insure his right to enter Sto-Vo-Kor. Made all the more meaningful for the fact that he doesn't extend the same to {{spoiler|Morjod}}.
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Morjod; think Mordred from [[King Arthur]]. To a lesser extent, possibly Pifko Gaber (as in "gabber"; he never stops talking). And in ''Worlds of Deep Space Nine: Andor'', Prynn and Thirishar discuss the significance of their respective names, and their parents' inspiration.
* [[Military Brat]]: Prynn Tenmei.
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* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: Private Memh, after firing the biogenic weapons on Kurl, killing millions of Kurlans trying to break the planet's quarantine. She eventually kills herself, and the Memh symbiont never takes another host, out of lingering shame.
* [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much]]: Savonigar, a Nausicaan mercenary, is unusual for his race in being eerily calm and completely stoic on all occasions. His departure from the excitable Nausicaan stereotype is noted by Savonigar himself. He also reflects on how he cooly eliminated his enemies through careful planning, where most of his peers chose the far less effective approach of losing their temper and attacking in haste.
** Almost all Cardassians in the novels, much as they did in the show, go on and on about how family is the most important thing to any Cardassian. However, Garak's memoirs reveal that practically every Cardassian is taken from their parents at a fairly young age and sent to government-run boarding school, where for years they are largely stripped of identity as they're molded into what the State wants them to be. By the time most of them return home as adults, those from politically powerful families will see their parents more as a political alliance than anything else, while those from less powerful families will see their parents as nice people they used to know and are still fairly attached to, but have far less investment in. The only way to go home early is to flunk out... meaning that those Cardassians with the strongest attachment left to their family would actually be the ''failures''.
* [[Nakama]]: The core crew of the ''Even Odds'' seem to count.
* [[Near-Death Experience]]: Kira in ''Warpath''. Dax in ''Twilight''.
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* [[Punny Name]]: Gard. In fact, the pun has two meanings and a twist. Hiziki Gard first appears as a Trill security officer, and jokingly comments on the coincidental translation of his phonetic name. Later, we learn that Gard is a unique symbiont whose hosts all serve the same role in Trill society - that of keeping watch for "corrupted" joinings and dealing with the [[Complete Monster]] that results. Therefore, he is a "guard" of sorts for Trill society as well as using the cover of a literal security guard.
* [[Puppeteer Parasite]]: The Kurlans.
* [[Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil]]: How do you try to force the previous (and extremely fan-beloved) [[Big Bad]] across the [[Moral Event Horizon]] while at the same time attempting to generate sympathy and connection for the new Big Bad? Simple! Just have the old Big Bad lock up the new Big Bad and rape her! Repeatedly! [[Anvilicious|For fifteen years]]!
* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]]: The Trill symbionts were already established as a long-lived race, but the relaunch expands on their life-cycle considerably. The Annuated of the symbionts, their eldest egg-layers, are thousands of years old. Even the relatively young Caretaker symbionts like Memh are over six thousand. Dax, at slightly over 300, is essentially still a baby. When Memh and Dax meet, Dax is surprised to learn that six thousand-year old memories she accessed from the Annuated feature the same symbiont she's currently communicating with.
* [[The Remnant]]: Kitana'klan's little fleet, which is still fighting the Dominion War three months after the official surrender of Dominion forces. Ashamed of their race's failure to take the Alpha Quadrant, these rogue Jem'hadar are determined to renew the conflict even against the will of the Founders. Three months after the war's conclusion, they attack Deep Space Nine, destroying the starship ''Aldebaran'' with all hands and damaging the starship ''Defiant''. They are in turn attacked by the loyal Jem'Hadar Taran'atar, who was en route to Deep Space Nine as an envoy on the orders of Odo. He defends the station with his own warship, and eventually foils a secondary plot by Kitana'klan to destoy the reactor core.
* [[Retcon]]: The [[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]] finale insisted that the Weyoun clone killed on Cardassia was in fact the character's last, and thus he couldn't return. Despite this being stated quite clearly - the intent was obviously to establish that this time, he was ''staying'' dead - he eventually shows up in the relaunch, freshly cloned again. His ninth, to be exact. It therefore "turns out" that Weyoun's genetic profile was on file in the Gamma Quadrant. To be fair, that would seem to make perfect sense, so his return isn't at all implausible. Still, it clearly defies the intent of the series finale, and the statements made by the Founder leader. When confronted with the little matter of "they said it was your last clone that died on Cardassia!", Weyoun Nine cheerfully dismisses the whole issue. ''Of course'' he's back.
** ''The Never-Ending Sacrifice'' makes a few retcons to Rugal's home situation on Bajor, trying to make it seem like his adoptive parents were clearly far more tolerant than they were and removing all questions of whether they had been a fitting home environment for him. The episode "Cardassians" clearly shows that Rugal's Bajoran parents were outspoken anti-Cardassian bigots who were deliberately raising him to hate Cardassians and "consider [himself] Bajoran". The book has it that they're actually trying to protect him from such attitudes in other Bajorans.
* [[The Reveal]]: There have been a couple of instances in which the relaunch novels have taken advantage of the medium - the fact that they're print and not film - to do things the TV series couldn't have done. Among these are a couple of prominent reveals. In ''Abyss,'' {{spoiler|Locken brings a Jem'Hadar guard with him to confront Bashir; later, when he orders the Jem'Hadar to kill Bashir, it turns out the Jem'Hadar in question is Taran'atar, who naturally has no intention of carrying out that order}}. And in ''Demons of Air and Darkness,'' Quark brings a Dabo girl with him to a negotiation, but it turns out {{spoiler|that it's Ro, and she's ''really'' there to be his backup if people start shooting.}}
** [[The Reveal]] is also played with in ''Warpath''; it briefly looks as if the mysterious villain behind the plots of several preceding books is simply Mirror Universe Intendant Kira - quite disappointing. It's a red herring. The real villain is someone far more intriguing.
* [[Rule of Cool]]: An interstellar portal (which could have led to anywhere in the galaxy) just happens to lead to a Malon garbage scow that has been taken over by a Hirogen hunter. Why? So that Taran'atar, the Jem'Hadar character, can fight with him, of course!
** Averted (to the point of blatantly teasing the reader) when the Delta Quadrant is brought up and the officer communicating with the characters says "Let me see if I can get you some backup"... only to then come back and say that ''Voyager'' is much too far away to get there in time to help.
* [[Rule of Three]]: The number three appears to have considerable significance for the cultures involved with the Wormhole Aliens; the Eav'oq, the Bajorans, and the Ascendants (who themselves make three, obviously). Connected to this, we have the trio of the Voice, the Hand and the Fire. Further, there are nine orbs (three times three), and nine Emissaries. The Wormhole Aliens certainly like the number three, though for what reason (other than this trope, of course) is as yet unclear. Finally, the Hebitians, a race of [[Precursors]] on Cardassia, also demonstrate a great love of the number. This may not be coincidental; frequent hints that Hebitian culture is connected to that of the Bajorans suggest we have a whole interconnected spiritual community valuing the rule of three.
* [[Running Gag]]: Quark is particularly fond of wearing a certain cologne when trying to impress Ro - but it's the most revolting thing anyone's ever smelled. Quark doesn't catch on to that for awhile, though: Whenever he asks someone what they think of it, they say honestly "I've never smelled anything like it", and Quark misinterprets it as a compliment.
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* [[Terminally Dependent Society]]: The L’Dira in ''The Lives of Dax'', whose technology requires a resource their own world has run out of; now, they're wretched [[Planet Looters]].
* [[Thrown Out the Airlock]]: Ke Hovath is coerced into cooperating with his captor when she threatens to do this to his wife.
* [[Time Skip]]: The relaunch continues, more or less, in [[Star Trek: Typhon Pact]], which is set five years after the latest books. One of the plot threads in ''Typhon Pact: Paths of Disharmony'' explores how Shar and the Andorians are doing in the aftermath of [[Star Trek: Destiny]], and the Borg attack on Andor. Also, ''Rough Beasts of Empire'' deals with Sisko's increasingly problematic family life, as well as revealing what Kira and Vaughn are up to. Finally, ''Zero Sum Game'' catches up with Bashir.
* [[Turn the Other Cheek]]: Kotan Pa'Dar tries this in ''The Never-Ending Sacrifice'', attempting to end the feud between his family and Dukat's even as Dukat tries to escalate it yet again. This is quite impressive considering all that Kotan's suffered due to the other man's enmity. Typically, Dukat just sneers at the effort.
* [[The Unchosen One]]: {{spoiler|Mirror Iliana Ghemor}} is not the emissary, but she'll do. She agrees to take the position not [[Because Destiny Says So]] but because it's for the best.
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* [[Working Title]]: ''Warpath's'' working title was ''The Hunt For Taran'atar''.
* [[Worthy Opponent]]: The bounty hunter Savonigar cheerfully hails Iliana Ghemor ([[Mirror Universe]] version) as a noble adversary after she defeats him. She returns the acknowledgement, before offering her bested foe a mercy kill. He gratefully accepts.
** Note that, of the three bounty hunters she faces, Savonigar is the ''only'' one Ghemor gives this consideration to.
* [[Wretched Hive]]: The planet Harkoum, or at least its shabby spaceports.
* [[Writer on Board]]: The writer of ''The Never-Ending Sacrifice'' pretty clearly didn't agree with the outcome of the episode it was based on, "Cardassians", and makes sure to have several of the characters from the episode show up largely just to lambast themselves and apologize to Rugal.
* [[Zerg Rush]]: The Rintanna, after they’ve deceived their enemies with their camouflage talents.
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