Behind Enemy Lines

Star Trek: The Dominion War #1

by John Vornholt

From the Gamma quadrant they came -- hordes of fierce Jem'Hadar warriors commanded by the mysterious Changelings, who will stop at nothing to achieve victory over both the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon™ Empire. Now that the Dominion has entered into an unholy alliance with the Cardassian military regime and seized control of Deep Space Nine™, Starfleet finds itself fighting a losing war against unbeatable odds. As mighty fleets clash in the deadly battleground of space, the fate of the entire Alpha Quadrant hangs in the balance. The Enterprise-E is patrolling the Cardassian border, bracing for the joint Dominion-Cardassian offensive that Starfleet knows will come soon, when Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew are reunited with a former crewmate, friend, and Ro Laren. The onetime officer, who defected from Starfleet to join the rebel Maquis, brings disturbing news. Deep behind enemy lines, the Dominion is attempting to build an artificial wormhole that will allow them to bypass the mined Bajoran wormhole and bring fresh reinforcements into the Alpha Quadrant, altering the balance of power irrevocably. If Captain Picard cannot stop the project, the new wormhole will guarantee the ultimate victory of the Dominion!

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Star Trek The Next Generation, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, War

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 1998

About the author

John Vornholt also writes as Caroline Goode.

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great start to the series; can't wait to see what happens next!

[Jesse L · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun adventure into the TNG events of the Dominion War - something I always wondered about while watching DS9.

Like most novels of this type, it wasn't amazing and dragged at parts, but I've read a couple of Vornholt's Star Trek books and they tend to be better than others. The writing was good, the plot worked well and there were a lot of good characters.

I was bored by Sam Lavelle because the last thing the Star Trek universe needs is more boring generic white guys when it's supposed to be a diverse and more egalitarian representation of the human race (and news flash: white guys are not a large segment of humanity) but unfortunately the universe and ideas of Star Trek have always been held back by the socio-political consciousness of its writers. Sam sucks and is boring as hell, it would have been much more interesting - at the least - to have Taurik be the center of attention.

Regardless, the book is fun if you're a Star Trek fan and I look forward to reading the rest of the Dominion War series.

[Joshua Palmatier · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book in this four book series, where the first and third books focus on the Enterprise's role in the Dominion War, and the second and fourth focus on a novelization of Deep Space Nine's activities as seen in the TV show.

The basic premise is that Captain Picard learns that the Dominion is constructing a man-made wormhole in Cardassian space, using Federation prisoners as slave labor. If they manage to complete the wormhole, then Deep Space Nine's mining of the entrance to the wormhole near Bajor becomes worthless, since they will be able to bring as many ships as they want through Cardassian space. The Federation will be lost. So Picard and a small force head into Cardassian space in a Bajoran ship with Ro Laren as captain in an attempt to verify that the wormhole exists and, if so, find a way to disable or destroy it.

The set-up is great, and it answers one of the main questions I had during the Dominion War episodes on TV: what the hell was Picard and crew doing? I thought the infiltration and what transpired in this book was great. A little too easy to get them through enemy lines and into the Badlands perhaps, but definitely plenty of action on the way, some great tension, and a completely unexpected twist toward the end that puts Picard and his crew in grave peril and seriously threatens the mission. Overall, a good story and definitely worth the read to find out what the Enterprise was doing during the war. Certainly a nice set-up for the second part of this story.

[Mike (HistoryBuff) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personally, I thought this was a well laid-out, good, solid TNG story. Not the best I've read, but well worth my time. It brings back Ro and takes Captain Picard and Geordi on an adventure to thwart a Dominion quest to shift the balance of power in their favor during the Dominion War. Unfortunately, it continues in the next book. Still, a nice read for any TNG fan.

[B. Reese · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boy was this a let down.

The awesome cover implies that the Enterprise E is going to see some action in the Dominion War, a conspicuous absence in the DS9 TV series, and I thought this might give us some glimpses of what the Enterprise E could do in a space battle. Follow that up with some crew action and drama in dealing with taking down a Dominion threat on the Enterprise.

Boy was I wrong. The action is all on the cover in that regard and the book opens, if I remember right, with the Enterprise just finishing a battle and limping off for repairs. The rest of the book is Picard and Ro Laren off playing cloak and dagger.

I made it only about half way, so maybe I missed some space battle after that, but given the pacing and focus of the book being on the secret mission, I'm gonna doubt any meaningful space action happened in the latter half of the book.

Just download the cover art, that's all the Dominion War action the Enterprise E will see.

[Kaotic · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Dominion War was always one of my favorite arcs in the TV show, and when I stumbled across this series which delves deeper into the war, I knew I just had to read it. Even tho it took me about a year to find the second volume (I wanted to have the set so I could read it all in one go).

This was a good beginning to dive back into the world and war, it takes place after the fall of Deep Space 9. It also brings Ro Laren back into the fold, a character I always found interesting despite how short her time seemed to be on the show.

There were a few writing choices that bothered me, but I've found that thats the case with most any book I read anymore. But it was a quick, intense read that brought the reality of the war to the reader without sugar coating it. Which was nice. It was technical when it needed to be without bogging the reader down with the jargon that comes with space travel, much like the show.

On to the next one!

[SamB · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Vornholt was a great choice for these books, he really knows how to write an action-adventure. Some surprisingly sensitive moments too - the only minus point is the reunion of Ro and Picard, and that's only when compared to how well it's handled in Avatar.

[Michael White · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have ever wondered where the crew of the Next Generation were during the dominion war then this is the place to start. Some old characters make a reappearance and overall this is a great Star Trek story. I have seen some reviews saying that characters seem a bit off but if anything I felt they were spot on but a little different with it being wartime and up until this point the war was not going well for the Federation. Captain Picard goes on an under cover mission that is just as important as what was going on at Deep Space Nine and the Defiant. If either Captain Sisko or Picard lost then all hope for the Federation would be lost!

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Dominion War still stands as my favorite plot of any Star Trek movie or show. While people may debate Star Wars vs. Star Trek, the Dominion War elevated the politics and space battles of Star Trek to Star Wars level. So I remember I couldn't wait to read what the Enterprise and its crew were doing during the war when I was a kid. The story has not held up well over time. I don't find a problem with the basic plot, but the writing just doesn't hold up well. The dialogue is clumsy and most of the characters are stereotypes. A few of the characters stand out, but not enough overall. The book has made it's way to my Half-Priced Books pile...

[Frank Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great start to the series. Plenty of action with some familiar faces and some interesting new characters offering a look at how some if the alpha quadrant species' were impacted during the war.

There were some fantastic lines. Here are two that I particularly liked...

"Sam had no sensations at all, other than a gnawing hunger that could have been either his stomach or his soul."

"It was a terrible ending for any starship, thought Sam, as if space had consumed one of its own children."

[Cory · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a major star trek loving nerd. I wanted to love this book but it was like a light and fluffy pastry when I was craving a steak. The writing just wasn't all that good even for a Star Trek novel. The characters all felt like cardboard cutouts. Dispite all the faults it was still a fun light, quick read.

[Victor Hugo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I totally forgot that I did read this book once, two years ago. That's bad, because it showed me how this book did not affect me regarding the Star Trek TNG lore. It has a good storyline and Vornholt knows how to make the reader engaged, but it's not enough... Unfortunately, it's just like a regular episode of the TV series, not one of those important that we remember for years and years...

[Sea Bunny Voyager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not perfect, not wholly amazing (there were some really glaring editorial errors), but I liked it! Ro is probably my least favorite character, but this book was a Kindle deal, so I gave it a go. No regrets. The pacing is decent and fun, and by the end I was ready for the next part of the story. To me, that makes it a worthy read despite the problems.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book. I haven't read any other Star Trek fiction except a choose your own adventure book when i was in Middle School. This was certainly more engaging. It' just escapist reading, space opera I'd call it.

[Colby E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pure Trek fun, not super satisfied with the ending but I guess that's why there's another book.

[Chad]

This was definitely a fun introduction to this series. The Dominion arc on DS9 has long been one of my favorite of the franchise and this starts off with a great job showing what might have been going on with the other franchise characters at the time. When Trek books are at their strongest, they function really well as a supplement to the shows - a possibility of storylines that could have been running alongside the established canon of the series and this accomplished that goal nicely.

One of the biggest plot points of the Dominion War was the shutting down of the wormhole in DS9 and in the start of this trilogy we get a glimpse at another plan the founders might have had to solve that problem. It’s definitely an exciting concept that they have going here in the novel.

The Star Trek books also are a great medium for bringing back recurring characters and paying tribute to previous episodes. We get some good ones coming back and fans of the episode Lower Decks will find a lot to like about this book. Although I do have to be honest in that at times it feels a little forced to have so much referred to from that specific episode.

And of course, one gripe I have always had with Trek books - for the life of me I will never understand why there is never use of simple section breaks in the text. With books like this where there is a lot of action, it can be a serious downside. Make sure you are paying attention because literally from one sentence to the next you’ll move to a completely different ship and crew. I suppose it’s possible that the goal is to give the book a feeling similar to how it would feel watching the episode but there’s no reason why you can’t insert some kind of visual cue into the text.

Still, definitely enough to hook me in for checking out the rest of the trilogy. I like sequences of books like this that start with one series and then move to another. This was a TNG novel and from here it’s DS9.

[Matthew]

An mostly enjoyable tale that let's us know what the Enterprise-E crew were up to when the Dominion War started. It's set in between seasons 5 and 6 of Deep Space Nine and follows Picard and Ro on an undercover mission to destroy an artificial wormhole that the Dominion has begun work on.

It's a short book; it feels to me like it was split into two novels as it ends very abruptly. The writing quality is just serviceable and feels mostly superficial, and there are times when it doesn't feel like the author really captures the characters. It moves fast and doesn't really dig into any moments or people.

Unfortunately, we only get to spend the opening chapters on the Enterprise - that's a bit of a let down for me. The main narrative follows either Picard and Ro on their mission, or the Federation prisoners conscripted to work on the wormhole project. Both of these are engaging plots and see the return of some old faces from the TV show. Less interesting and very irrelevant are the side stories with Riker (who just seduces a lonely woman, eesh) and Data (who sits around waiting and worrying).

It probably helps that I read this right after the New Frontier book, because this washed away the bad taste of that one.

[Andy Stjohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

TNG: Dominion War #1: Behind Enemy Lines by John Vorholt

What was the crew of TNG doing during the Dominion War before Insurrection? One of the biggest unanswered questions in all of canon as Insurrection probably should have been a Dominion War movie.

This book and the Battle of Betazed answer these questions at least. Here the crew have to stop the Dominion War from building an artificial wormhole and to save the Alpha Quadrant! Teaming up with some from the crew from the TNG episode, Lower Decks and Ro Laren, it’s up to Picard and friends to save the Federation.

Here are my thoughts on the book. It’s relatively simply straightforward and an easy read. I love the feel of tension and the feeling that the mission won’t succeed and that the odds are against them, even though we know it will succeed. This book is just a fun, action packed book that’s a good beach read. But I would have liked to have some characters from DS9 show up, even though it’s meant to take place at the same time as the main DS9 Dominon War arc. Despite the presence of some Jem’Hadar, Vorta and Founders, I would have liked to see more of that in this book.

Sure, it ties into the Dominon War, but not enough for my liking. Anyway, it’s an overall decent book and I look forward to the next one. 7/10

[Octavia Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first volume of a four part mini-series set during the Dominion War, and it's with the TNG rather than DS9 crew, which is a little bit of a surprise though I suppose it shouldn't be. After all, Picard and company were caught up in that war, too, so it's interesting to see it from a new angle.

The pacing's fairly good and the plot is reasonably compelling, although Riker's storyline comes across as filler - he's stuck with the ship at a starbase, waiting for repairs, and has a brief relationship with someone we'll probably never see again outside this series (that's if she even survives it). Nothing out of the ordinary for him, certainly nothing as interesting as Picard and Geordi surgically altered to appear Bajoran, and traipsing through Dominion territory with Ro Laren, looking to sabotage the enemy's war effort. The third storyline, that of a group of captured Starfleet officers who are being used as slave labour, works well, although it's no surprise to see it intersect with the rest where it does. There's an underlying sense of tension and danger, and it's rather grimmer than the usual tie-in fare, but still worth reading.

[Robert D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of a four part series, by different authors.

The Dominion is winning the war. Bajor is neutral in the eyes of the Dominion forces though their Cardassian allies aren't happy about it. Ro Laren finds herself captain of a Bajorian cargo ship full of maquis refugees. She also has intelligence that the Dominion is trying to construct a new controllable wormhole deep in their controlled territory. She manages to get her cargo to Federation territory and finds the Enterprise E. After hearing Ro Laren's story, Captain Picard decides they must try to sneak into occupied territory and determine if the story is true and how to stop the Dominion. He takes a select crew with Ro Laren and goes into Dominion territory.

There are several B plots going on as well. The reader learns that the Dominion is using Federation prisoners as slave labor. One small group is tasked with mining a black hole for material needed to complete the wormhole device. Riker is in charge of the Enterprise and has to take it back to port for repairs, there he gets stuck due to short supplies and is unable to return to the lines. Data has taken a small shuttle to try and keep track of Captain Picard's ship.

[Sean Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Depressingly, I am so old that I can admit to having read this in its year of initial publication. Long before I Goodreads’d of course, so here we are again.

I watched the DS9 season 5 finale Call to Arms and the 7th-season TNG episode lower-decks before rereading this, just to put myself back into the world a little. It was nice to have an outing with Captain Picard again, and interesting to pick up on some of those minor TNG characters and see them in new lights. Whilst I think I prefer the DS9 side of this short miniseries, this book gains a 4 star rating for being a brilliant jumping-off point to the Dominion War, even if it doesn’t give us much of the politics and backstory that we get from watching the build-up on television. I really did have to stretch credulity at a few points and swallow a little unusual behavior for characters who are so theoretically now established given we’re on the Enterprise E, but all-in-all, an exciting opener.

[Joey Patapas · Rating 3 out of 5]

One problem with reading a Star Trek novel is that often times the narrative reveals something that we know never takes place in alpha cannon, or the characters do/say stuff that they never would have in reality. We cannot fault authors for this (usually) because books are often written before the series has concluded. Fortunately this isn’t the case here. I felt the characters acted as they really would have in the show, and this story does not conflict with actual events on screen. It’s nice to see what Picard and the Enterprise did during the Dominion War.
Still, I have to gripe about some continuity errors. I won’t reveal any spoilers but we have situations where a character has left the room and then partakes in a conversation; or an enemy is beamed into space, only to have its body beamed out again afterwards; someone should have proofread this better! For these errors (and others) I knocked a star off from four to three.

[Michael T Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

What did the Enterprise do during the Dominion War? That's pretty much the question parts 1 & 3 of this four-part series sets out to answer (2 & 4 are novelizations of the DS9 episodes covering the major portion of the war, focusing on reclaiming the station at the beginning of s6).

It's been a long while since I read this, so I don't quite recall where the divider is between parts 1 & 2, and I don't remember a ton of details, BUT here are the basics:

We follow a few different plot lines. The main ones are the Enterprise getting a refit, Picard going undercover as a Bajoran behind enemy lines, and a group of (mostly) Federation prisoners of war the Dominion have working on a top secret project.

I'll save saying anything in depth for book #3 just in case.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a big DS9 fan, I was looking forward to getting into this series of novels covering the Dominion War. That was a pretty epic storyline and I naturally wanted to see how they'd expand on that in these novels. And this first bool is definitely a fun exploration of what the crew of the Enterprise could have been doing during the war.

Bringing in Ro Laren totally made sense to me and I'm glad they explored it. It's probably related to the thinking that included Ro Laren in the Picard TV show as well. The relationship between her and Captain Picard is a very deep one and this book also celebrates that fact.

The core story is...okay. I appreciate this big bold plan of the Dominion, although something as big as an artificial wormhole would have come up in the TV episodes, so maybe it was a little too ambitious to pursue this particular story. But it's a workable enough plot and I'm looking forward to seeing how this will develop. I'm not sure if Data's "mission" makes all that much sense as the chapters that go back to him are pretty droll. Same goes with Riker's time at drydock as it were.

[John Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad but not great. The main cast tng characters feel kind of flat, just like in the last Vornholt book Rouge Saucer, tho the other characters have more compelling a subplot and the writer is pretty good at writing action scenes, both on the ground and in space. I wish Vornholt was paired with a cowriter who focused more on the characters. I thought it was funny how they went on an undercover mission and Picard is the only one who goes by a codename, everyone else just uses their regular name.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I was expecting a little more of the Enterprise-E going around kicking the Dominion's butt I did enjoy this book. I liked how it felt like a TNG story but then a little more expanded with the use of TNG's supporting characters. I found it funny that Troi was barely in it and Riker was pretty much relegated to the sidelines so I hope there's more of him in the second (third) book. That would be my biggest complaint but I did enjoy it.

[Chiara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nonostante l'Enterprise-E sia stata poco impegnata durante la Guerra del Dominio, il Capitano Picard e il suo equipaggio si ritrovarono impiegati in alcune tattiche di guerriglia contro le ingenti forze nemiche.

Ho trovato in Vornholt un autore interessante, scoperto durante la lettura della serie 'A Time to...', che anche in quest'occasione, con questo romanzo, non ha deluso. A breve, recensione sul blog chiarasaroglia.com! Lettura consigliata.

[Nabil Hussain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant start to a 4 volume epic!!

This book is exciting, dramatic, full of sci fi action and just marvelous! It was a joy to read and simply wonderful to follow. The story was engaging and thrilling as the journeys of the Sam Lavelle's ship and the Orb of Peace were recounted in depth. Featuring Ro Laren, Jean Luc Picard, Geordi La Forge and Will Riker, the tale was supremely entertaining and started off an epic Sci Fi series.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this book at my library's book sale. I was quite interested to see what Captain Picard was up to during the Dominion War. However, this book bounces from four or five different storylines and doesn't really get us very far in the story arc. I will be reading the rest of the books to see how they all resolve, however.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always thought it was kinda weird we never got to see the TNG crew deal with the Dominion War onscreen. Thought it was done pretty well here. Even got Data experiencing the intense feeling of looking back at war.