Deep Space Nine - What Was Left Behind.

This image is to help set the stage for my Star Trek Fanfiction Series: Star Trek: Corbulo. The Series is not currently in production. The information in this is not at all to be considered canon and is completely different than established Star Trek Canon & even Expanded Universe Canon. This is my take on what happened to the Deep Space Nine Crew after the series ended.

The image was acquired via the Star Trek Continuum Mod for Homeworld 2 Classic

With the end of the Dominion War, Deep Space Nine remained under Federation/Bajoran Jurisdiction. Even into the early 25th Century, DS9 is no less important and serves as the Federation's way station for any ships coming or going through the Bajoran Wormhole. Transit through the wormhole is heavily regulated. Anyone, Federation or non, have to be granted authorization by the Federation and submit to screening by Starfleet prior to or after traveling through the wormhole. Federation distrust of the Dominion is that intense. Starfleet Tactical Group 2, also known as Emissary Group, is stationed near DS9 and Bajor, ready to respond on a moments notice should there be a Dominion incursion. But what happened to some of the key players of DS9's participation in the Dominion War?

Kira Nerys
Colonel Kira remained on DS9 as the Bajoran liaison with Starfleet. Things weren't quite the same as they were with Captain Sisko gone, but she remained on anyway, choosing to stay at the station. When Bajor formally joined the Federation in 2379, Kira briefly feared that her position would be phased out as the Bajoran Militia no longer had any real reason to keep a liaison on the station, however Starfleet wanted Kira to remain and was given the provisional rank of Commander. Starfleet's reasoning was that having a representative of the Bajoran government on the station would be wise given that the station was still within Bajoran space and that the station was still technically Bajoran property. Although she never really got over the loss of Odo, Kira would later adopt an orphaned Bajoran girl whose mother had died due to complications during childbirth. She named her daughter Panan which was the Bajoran word for change, the name reminding her of Odo. Panan Nerys, as of 2409, is a member of the Federation Diplomatic Corps.

Miles O'Brien
Miles and his family relocated to Earth where Miles taught at Starfleet Academy, teaching engineering. This lasted for about a year before he got bored, not really enjoying the job. He began looking for a position with Starfleet again but insisted it be local, not wanting to uproot his family so soon. Geordi La Forge, who was by now the Captain of the U.S.S. Challenger, recommended he look into the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, designing new ships for Starfleet, every engineer's dream. Miles applied and was accepted without hesitation given his record during the Dominion War. O'Brien has personally helped to develop some of the latest starships in Starfleet including Excalibur, Vesper, Vigilant, Monarch, Shran, and even Odyssey Class vessels. One of his finest achievements was the development of the Constitution II Heavy Cruisers currently in the shakedown stage of development. His wife Keiko is still by his side and happily works as a volunteer groundskeeper at Starfleet Academy, stepping in to help whenever the hologram of Boothby breaks down for whatever reason. Molly chose to become an engineer like her father. However she pilots a simple Workbee at the shipyards over Earth, is married, and has at least one child. Kirayoshi went a little further and joined Starfleet as an engineer and is currently the Chief Engineer of the U.S.S. Enterprise-F. When asked if he'll ever retire, Miles scoffs and replies that they'll have to pry the hyperspanner out of his cold dead hands, a promise everyone has taken as gospel.

Julian Bashir
Julian remained on Deep Space Nine although his relationship with Ezri Dax became strained until it ultimately ended amicably. Julian ultimately found romance in the form of his old flame Melora Pazlar, the two marrying in 2381. Afterwards, Bashir's medical experience and expertise elevated him into the Starfleet Medical Front, a group of some of the Federation's finest doctors and medical experts who are sent into areas where new diseases and equally new medicines are discovered. Bashir is still a part of the Medical Front as of 2409 although he and Melora have no children together due to an incompatibility between their species.

Ezri Dax
Ezri similarly remained at DS9 after the war although her relationship with Julian fizzled. She became a good friend to Jake Sisko, the two being closer in age compared to when Dax was part of Jadzia. Their friendship was strong enough that Ezri was asked to be maid of honor at Jake's wedding to Kesha. Ezri has remained at DS9 even into 2409 although she is now Commander Dax. Ezri has had an unexpected effect on many people both in and out of Starfleet, usually helping them change their lives for the better. A few of Starfleet's Captains, including Captain Va'Kel Shon of the Enterprise-F, have honored her with the unofficial moniker of "a modern day Boothby" for her sage, career changing, advice.

Jake Sisko
Jake took the loss of his father hard after the Dominion War ended but found solace in the fact that his father had been named one of Starfleet's greatest Captains along with Captains Archer, Kirk, Picard, and Janeway. After the war, Jake had become romantically involved with Kesha, a Bajoran woman, the two eventually marrying and having a daughter together, Jennifer Sisko, who grew up to become the Chief Tactical Officer of the U.S.S. Defiant. Jake is still a novelist and has published at least four novels by 2409. He also wrote his memoirs of his time at DS9 during the Dominion War which is, so far, the only non-fiction he's published. He once collaborated with Tom Paris to adapt one of his novels into a holosuite program but the collaboration was called off due to creative differences. As of 2409, Jake runs the only restaurant on Bajor that offers a blend of New Orleans and Bajoran styled meals.

Odo
Ever since rejoining the Great Link, Odo has not been seen or heard from.

Quark
Quark's life was largely unchanged with the end of the Dominon War, however he inexplicably found himself unconsciously adhering to some of the station regulations. When he asked Ezri for her opinion on why he was acting "lawfully" her response was that it was his own way of expressing how much he missed Odo. Quark dismissed this and soon returned to his usual ways. When his nephew penned the "Rules of True Profit" Quark was outraged and joined one of the three political groups that had formed in the wake of Rom's appointment to the position of Grand Nagus, specifically joining the New Age Ferengi who support equal rights for females while shunning the True Profit Ferengi. Financially, Quark has made a surprising fortune. He discovered that the 34th Rule of Acquisition ("War is good for business") had paid off for him in the most unexpected of ways. People who had come to DS9 during the war had left and recommended his bar to anyone they knew that would be visiting the station. There were people coming from all over the quadrant just to visit his bar. Realizing that the Dominion War had put his bar on the map, Quark saw an opportunity to expand his business and franchise his bar. All he needed was the latinum to start it and he got it when he found an old Cardassian Lockbox while on a salvage mission to Terok Nor that contained numerous Bajoran treasures that had been stolen from the Bajorans during the occupation. He sold the treasures back to the Bajorans which got him the latinum needed to launch the franchise of his bar. Quark now owns a Ferengi D'Kora Class Marauder of his own and uses it as the flagship of his financial empire. As of 2409, there are eighty five Quarks Franchises across the Alpha Quadrant. Quark is secretly philanthropic though, quietly donating small amounts of Latinum to the Bajoran War Orphan's fund, part of Odo's influential legacy. He is still single and briefly rekindled a romance with Pel but ideological differences kept them apart.

Rom & Leeta
Grand Nagus Rom still rules over the Ferengi Financial Empire with a fist of Latinum, at least, that's what he believes. Despite several attempts by the Ferengi Commerce Authority to oust him from the position, Rom has managed to remain in power by showing unexpected financial and business skills. When his son Nog penned the Rules of True Profit, it was the closest he'd ever come to being ousted but he was spared when he vowed that he would never legally recognize the Rule of True Profit during his reign. Nog understood his father's position but for the sake of keeping up appearances, the two have had little to no contact, but they both keep tabs on each other. Rom and Nog are both immensely proud of each other. Leeta, the First Lady of the Ferengi Alliance, is still at Rom's side and helps to champion the cause of the New Age Ferengi while privately standing with the True Profit Ferengi.

Elim Garak
After the Dominion War, Garak returned to Cardassia Prime to help his people rebuild. Although very few knew of Garak's role in the Dominion War, he soon utilized his few remaining connections within the remnants of the Cardassian Union to rebuild the Cardassian government. Garak quickly established a new Obsidian Order to help reestablish the infrastructure needed to rebuild Cardassia's war machine. This drew some criticism from the provisional government as it could be seen as a means of provoking the Federation and its allies. Garak insisted that it was for their own defense as Cardassia was significantly weakened from the Dominion War. They had surrendered all of their colonies and were once again limited to Cardassia Prime. Plus they had only enemies surrounding them. On one side it was the Federation, on another it was the remnants of the Dominion's Alpha Quadrant Forces, another was the Breen. While the Treaty of Bajor permitted the Cardassians to continue constructing their warships, they were limited to use within Cardassian space and were for sector defense only. Garak personally represented Cardassia at several key diplomatic talks, including the signing of the Maquis Proclamation in which he acquiesced to every term outlined in the treaty without debate as a sign of good faith. He publically spoke out against the Cardassian True Way movement, condemning them as the Cardassia they wanted was gone and should never return else it would lead to the extermination of their race. In 2409, Garak is still the leader of the New Obsidian Order and is dedicated to the continued restoration of his people. The Cardassians themselves are much more lenient and accepting of the Federation, especially after the Federation has continued to provide food and medical supplies as well as limited assistance with their reconstruction. As Bashir once mentioned to Garak during the signing of the Maquis Proclamation, "The Federation is still killing the Cardassians, only now they're killing them with kindness."

Nog
Ensign Nog remained on DS9 for a while but eventually transferred away along with the U.S.S. Defiant, where he served as chief engineer. While on an away mission, he had an encounter with a Ktarian freighter Captain who ordered Nog back to the Defiant the instant he saw him. His reasoning was that the Ferengi, as a species, couldn't be trusted. Nog was quietly hurt by this incident and began looking into galactic opinion of the Ferengi. The results did nothing to improve his feelings. He discovered that the average opinion of the Ferengi across the Federation, Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire (prior to the loss of Romulus), and what remained of the Cardassian Union, an overwhelming 72% of those polled had negative opinions of Ferengi, the most common keywords being liars, cheats, thieves, greedy, immoral, sexist, and heartless. Nog knew that it was time for a change, that if the Ferengi were to become more accepted amongst the galaxy, then something needed to be done to improve the image of Ferengi everywhere. His research pointed to the root cause of the problem: the Rules of Acquisition. The rules were what had caused such a negative response towards the Ferengi culture as the Ferengi had latched onto it and treated it as gospel. Nog proceeded to sit down and pen the Rules of True Profit, a list of rules meant to counter the Rules of Acquisition, promoting the acquisition of friends over latinum. When the rules were published, Nog was subjected to scorn and ridicule by most of his fellow Ferengi but he knew he'd become an outcast the minute the rules were published. However, he soon discovered that there were some Ferengi who agreed with him, forming a new political party within the Ferengi called the True Profits who extoled the virtues of the Rules of True Profit. By 2409, the True Profits make up roughly 30% of the Ferengi population. Nog has also achieved the rank of Captain and is considered to be one of Starfleet's finest negotiators. He commands the U.S.S. Chimera which regularly patrols the old Cardassian DMZ within Maquis Space.

Kasidy Yates-Sisko
After Benjamin Sisko died at the end of the Dominion War, Kasidy found the thought of being a widowed mother daunting but found support in her late husband's friends from DS9. She gave birth to Benjamin's son, whom she named Benjamin Sisko Jr. to honor her late husband. She took Ben Jr. to Earth after he turned 3 and raised him with the help of her father-in-law. When Ben Jr. grew old enough, she returned to freight hauling. Ben eventually took over the business in 2400 and by 2409 captains the S.S. Xhosa II, the first having been destroyed in an ion storm in 2388. Kasidy has since moved back to DS9 and lives in retirement. Ben Jr. visibly looks and sounds like his father, even mastering the infamous Sisko stare.

Vic Fontaine
The Vic Fontaine Holoprogram saw widespread use during the Dominion War. The Las Vegas Lounge became a popular escapism program utilized during the war and soon copies of it were being requested across the quadrant. However the program was met with some negative criticism when the Jack-in-the-Box activated. Some programs were irrevocably damaged due to failed attempts to resolve the Jack-in-the-box or attempts to remove the elements from the program. Felix, the inventor of the program, eventually released a slightly revised version of the Vic Fontaine Program which had the jack-in-the-box turned off by default and could be reactivated by the users if they desired. Failure to resolve the program from within would not effect the program either. Felix's reasoning was that, when he devised the program, he hadn't anticipated the program would become so popular as an escapism program during a stressful wartime period and that the jack-in-the-box only caused more demoralizing problems for an already demoralized people. In addition to the toggle-able jack-in-the-box, Vic's database of songs was expanded beyond its original listings. Vic Fontaine's Las Vegas Lounge is now one of the basic holoprograms for Starfleet Holodecks along with the complete library of the Adventures of Captain Proton, Adventures of Flotter, Fair Haven, and Dixon Hill. Felix has also begun releasing similarly themed holoprograms only for different genres of music such as classical, country, classic Rock-&-Roll, and various others although none of them have quite had as much success as Vic Fontaine.

The Dominion
Although the Dominion has become a little more tolerant of Alpha Quadrant species, Federation/Dominion relations are still less than ideal. Without any allies in the Alpha Quadrant, the Dominion has no means of securing a foothold in the Alpha Quadrant. The majority of the Cardassians still feel betrayed by the Dominion although a few, notably the members of the True Way, still wish to rekindle their former alliance although the Dominion refuses to trust the Cardassians after the betrayal that cost them the war. The Breen hate the Dominion and Cardassians equally, seeing the Dominion as liars and cowards who abandoned them at the 11th hour and forced them into a humiliating surrender. They view the Cardassians as traitors and attack any Cardassian ship entering their space, regardless of their intent. Naturally the Breen dislike the Federation, Klingons, and Romulans equally.

Morn
Morn became business partners with Quark when Quark began his franchise of Quark's Bar and even gave Quark his permission to create holographic likenesses of him for each franchise location, Morn having become something of a mascot. Aside from that, Morn continues to run his freighter business and is as chatty as ever.