Tholian Border Conflicts

For: Threskeen; Administrator (2nd Tholian Occupational region).
By: Infoserf McDonald (Department of Serf management)

Here now in this 3rd age, that of the Tholian Ascendancy, I McDonald (Serf #340619m) submit this record towards study of Tholian history, created for the Ascendancy so as for the management of serf populations, such that they may more better learn the futility of opposing lawful governance. Naturally those who not Tholians not understand Tholian concern yet information this deemed suitable to impress on population obedience.

Contents: Ancient records of type offical study.

[begin]

To: Admiral Campbell; Chief of Staff, Department of Defence.
From: Major Gradey. Federal Intelligence.

Dear Admiral,

As requested I have gathered various records covering the history of the first Tholian wars. With the increased concern engendered in the government by the recent growth of the Tholian Resurgance it has been decided that as much information as possible be gathered on developments during what is now titled the First Age, as it pertains to the Tholians of that time. It is hoped this may in some way shed light on their motivations. As other areas appear to be lacking in utility perhaps an arrangement can be agreed on if we can come to understand Tholian needs.

The following records contain entries recorded by historians of the time. As they lived closer to the time when the Tholians first started to have an effect on the sector, their insights may give some idea of the original Tholian concerns.

[Record starts]

For the Desk of Richard Curry; Chancellor, University of New Essex.
From: Professor Gerhard Smith; Chair, Department of Modern History

Dear Chancellor,

I tender for your consideration the notes for my new book, A History of 25th Century Tholian Assembly Border Conflicts. I am sure that if you take the time to study the conclusions I have reached then you will be able to advise the Bursar to withdraw from what I can only see as an especially vindictive attempt to remove my book from the University's in house printing schedule. The Tholians may not at first appear to be a major power of the sector but I am of the opinion that a closer look at them by the ill-informed will facilitate attempts to come to arrangements.

ps. Please note the authentic Tholian records which I gained at some expense, and which I deem a vital part of the project (despite, in part, the Bursars seeming vendetta against me).

Chapter 1.
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Proviso: Due to Tholian reluctance to dicsuss the beginning of their interaction with other races the dating of early events will be deliberately vague. Nontheless it is intended that a general feel for early events will be conveyed.
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It is generally agreed that early Tholian planning was based on a concerted effort to quickly expand the Assembly's border. Tholian strategy seemed to consist of establishing a firm border so as to protect the inner systems, but not so far as to conflict with other races. In fact it seems in retrospect that the Assembly actively attempted to put off encountering any other race for as long as possible. Pehaps seeing as how they have no desire to interact with others it was felt that the longer they could go without having to deal with aliens the stronger they could grow before having to inevitably interact with them.

Some time in mid 2401 the Tholian Assembly encountered what is considered to be the first alien civilisation they met. The Dominion. Per Tholian policy the Dominion was instructed to vacate the Tholian system where the encounter took place. The Dominion complied and despite some accidents as Tholian forces established defences, trade was quickly established.

Soon afterwards the Assembly encountered their second neighbour, the self styled Space Khans, consisting of a race referred to as Shadows, in the Albireo system. As the Tholians did not consider the system to be Tholian their vessel waited, guarding the WP and observed the Shadows as they colonised the system. Following records are vague but soon the Shadows had moved into Tholian space (perhaps destroying the Tholians scout ship?). It is apparent that while initiating diplomacy the Tholians also reacted by scouting the Albireo system. Records obtained seem to imply a Tholian conviction that a border agreement was imminent for they informed the Shadows that they would consider Albireo a Shadow system, while at the same time informing them of Tholian possesion of the neighbouring Tegmen and Taulus systems. There followed however two incidents that drastically altered what was to be expected.

As diplomatic efforts were made beween the Tholian Assembly and the Shadows, the Shadows continued to intrude in Tholian space. The Tholian attitude seemed at the time to be to give the Shaows the chance to withdraw once the Tholians expressed their dissaproval. The Shadows however then sent a colony vessel into the Tholian system of Tegmen. Despite passing close to the Tholians main colony, the Shadows insisted the Tholian claims to the system were wrong, perhaps meaning Taulus instead. At this same time Tholian ships were escorting a second Shadow colony ship as it appeared to comply to demands, heading out of Tholian space. Diplomatic efforts came to an abrupt end however when the Shadows sent an Assault transport across the border. The Tholian Assembly, not seeing the Shadows depart as expected, but instead sending warships across the border deemed diplomacy to be worthless and resorted to force [ed: I surmise that the Tholians abandoned diplomacy as diplomacy can't work if one side summarily refutes whatever the other says. This is also a good example of the Tholian propensity for preciseness. They will not tolerate deceit, or allegations of deceit.] . The escorted colony ship and the intruding Assault transport were seized. Other Shadow ships inside Tholian space were pursued and destroyed and an attack by system based fighters in Tegmen attempted to remove the Shadow colony. The fighter attack failed and so over the following months a fleet was formed which when it attacked, seized the Shadow colony, whose population were placed in labour camps. In the meantime the Shadow colony ship, which used a different form of colonisation technology, had been examined and its technology studied. This allowed the Assembly to brielfy grow larger as it occupied Ice planets within the Assembly. In the months since the failure of diplomacy, and before the seizure of the Shadow colony in Tegmen, the border had been guarded by dedicated fleets. The Assembly now prepared to strengthen its borders to protect from further Shadow incursions.

The Shadow response was, if not totally unexpected, at least disproportionate from the Tholians point of view. From a Tholian perspective the Shadows now claimed that their intrusion did not warrant an invasion [ed: it is possible the intrusion the Shadows spoke of was Tholian intrusion in Tegmen. From the Tholians however the fact that they had informed the Shadows Tegmen was occupied by the Assembly meant it was the Shadows who were intruding]. The message declaring war pointed out that the colony had been defenceless, which considering its minefields and number of weapons platforms, was a lie. Faced with a war, after expecting no more than to validate and secure their border, the Assembly was now required to consider moving into Shadow space. In a way this was considered useful as securing the Albireo system would reduce the points of attack from two to one.

During the time wherein relations between the Tholians and Shadows collapsed the Assembly also encountered another race, the Ferengi, who had managed to colonise within Tholian space before being detected. At this stage the Tholians were still willing to discuss things diplomatically. Naturally considering the Ferengi intrusion a violation of their security the Tholians entered into negotiations with the Ferengi for them to leave in return for the Assembly cedeing the Segin system to the Ferengi. Efforts on both sides appeared genuine, however the talks stalled when the Tholians insisted on a timetable for the withdrawal of all their people from the ceded territory. Ferengi calls for the planets in question to be simply transferred with their populations intact were refused by the Tholians for whom the idea of trading Tholian lives to aliens was unacceptable. The talks, though stalled, could have continued, however at this point the Ferengi government became unstable as their leader the Grand Nagus was removed from government and replaced. Also at this time the Tholians had just gained Ice colonising technology from one of the vessels they confiscated from the Shadows. The increase in importance this granted the Segin system meant the Tholians did not even resume the talks with the new Ferengi government. The issue of the Ferengi colony was dropped. Records recovered later show that faced with an enemy in the Shadows the Tholians were prepared to leave the Ferengi intrusion alone rather than face antagonising the Ferengi as well.

The first stage of the war [roughly 2403] was when the Shadows attempted to invade the Assembly. the Shadows were succesful in invading Taulus, and though they all but destroyed the understrength forces defending the WP they suffered major damage. The invasion force attempted to penetrate further into Tholian space but was harried by Tholian fighters. It was left virtually stranded between one WP and the next.

In the Tegmen system the Shadows also attempted entry but the Tholian defences were stronger and the attempt destroyed. The Tholians reacted by crossing into Albireo in force and destroying the Shadow defences. In the next month they sortied from the WP, destroying several Shadow reinforcements caught close by. Issuing a message that the Tholian Assembly formally annexed the Albireo system and that the Shadows were to leave the fleet awaited a reply. The Shadows rebuffed the warning and the fleet moved to attack the nearest Shadow colony. The Fleet was destroyed as it failed to make allowances for the defending fighter elements (Their PD not being suited to fight small craft) but the minesweeping task force did manage to escape.

In the Taulus system Tholian forces arrived in substantial size and fell upon the stranded Shadow fleet, destroying it totally. Tholian succeses at this stage were mostly due to Tholian technology being crystalline based and thus made the Shadows armour useless. The Shadows responded by implementing shields on their new ships.

As the Shadow invasions were dealt with, the Tholians looked to the Ferengi, who had created a partnership with the Shadows. Presumably part of this partnership was to share supplies with the Shadows. A policy that weakened the advantage the Tholians had fighting in their space. The Tholians queried the Ferengi intentions, who replied that they did not intend to get involved and agreed Taulus was Tholian space, but their efforts to placate the Tholians collapsed when at the same time they moved to colonise further in Tholian sapce, and several Fernegi spies were caught trying to commit espionage within the Assembly. The Tholian response was swift. Tholian elements were diverted to destroy the Ferengi's new colony. With their failure, Taulus fleet, having eliminated the Shadow invasion moved to the Ferengi colony, levelled it, and then co-ordinated a break out by the mine sweeping taskforce trapped in Albireo that destroyed the Shadow defences at the Taulus/Albireo WP, along with substantial reinforcements. The Tholian fleet then returned to Tholian space.

Via their trade with their neighbours, the Dominion, the Ferengi, the Shadows, the Assembly was aware of many other races, however apart from occasional mutual trade the Assmebly had no interest in interaction and generally ignored any race who wasn't a neighbour. Any number of them could have been neighbours, lurking in the next system, but seeing as the Tholians habitually refrained from leaving Tholian space they wouldn't know such a thing one way or the other. As battle raged near the Albireo system one race made its location clear. In the Segin system a Proto-Vulcan race called the Devnull attempted entry. It was met with the customary Tholian response their defences had for uninvited intruders, which was swift destruction. No communication was forthcoming and the Tholians were even less interested in communicating. Information did show that the Devnull had a partnership with the Enemy Shadows and Ferengi. In the following months the Devnull would be found responsible for several acts of sabotage, but after stealing various Tholians designs their attacks ceased [as of 2404]. The Ferengi also attempted entry to the Segin system a number of times over the following months, but their scout ships were also destroyed.

Other acts of sabotage included Shadow elements left in the work camps in Tegmen unleashing a plague in an attempt to fight the Tholian occupation, and yet which paradoxically did no more than kill hundreds of millions of Shadow workers.

With their second colony in Taulus destroyed the Ferengi dropped their pretense at neutrality and invaded Taulus with a fleet which brushed aside the understrength force guarding the WP to whichever system lay on the other side. They seemed intent on heading for the heavily defended Ferengi colony in Taulus and Tholian forces moved to cut off their rear, but the Ferengi moved to and leveleld a nearby Tholian colony. Afterwards they found a combined Tholian force 3-4 times their strength in a position to intercept them.

It is not the, frankly, exorbitant cost of Professor Smith's resources that I protest but his rather one sided account of things. All we get are events as the Tholians see them. Professor Smith seems so intent on acting as an apologist for the Tholians we see none of the decisions from their opponents point of view. He is so enamoured of the Tholians, he includes further within his book what can only be seen as blackmarket copies of Official Tholian security footage while ignoring the potentially catastrophic effect this would have should the Tholians, heaven forbid, ever discover our possesion of them. Considering the cost of the things they could only have been obtained via piracy. The cost is close enough to space robbery.

---I.M.Petty (Bursar)

The whole point of the book is to present things from a Tholian perspective. If you think it's so important to show what their opponents think then why don't you try writing a book. How about One Million and One years of Shadow Government, or better yet why don't you just stick to adding up numbers and I'll stick to writing books that inform people, rather than cooking them.

---G.Smith (Prof)

[2400.1]
There had been many battles within the Taulus system beforehand, not least the destruction of the colony on the first moon of Taulus V, but history records the first battle between fleet elements of the Ferengi and Tholians as THE First battle of Taulus. Despite being outnumbered two to one by Tholian warships and 4 to one in small units the Ferengi on finding themselves flanked by the Tholian response moved to attack.

The two fleets moved at full speed towards each other. The Tholian fighter forces immediately broke formation. As fighters were seen as a disposable weapon they were crewed by young Tholians. Newly budded, they had not fully developed the Tholian racial connection and thus were able to disobey orders. The fighters, taking on the front of the Ferengi advance unsupported, quickly fell victim to Ferengi point defence before a survivor withdrew to the safety of the fleet. Though their weapons had made little effect on the Ferengi shields they had managed to cause disorder in the Ferengi fleet, ships breaking formation and out of place as the Tholian fleet arrived.

The Tholians opened up with barrages of their crystalline missiles. The Ferengi ships had massive shield defences to combat the Tholians' crystalline advantage, but faced with the amount of missile fire they quickly collapsed. The Ferengi ships, left in small groups and unable to combine their PD effectively, were swiftly damaged, the Tholians' fleet moving from victim to victim as the enemy ships became unable to contribute further. As the Tholian fleet dealt with the main Ferengi contingent, Ferengi ships tried to move to the Tholian rear. At this stage the Tholian drones, left amongst the Tholian fleet after the loss of their guide fighters, fired, thus creating the second notable event of the battle (after the total loss of the Ferengi forces).

Till this point Tholian weaponry had been crystalline based (natural of course as the Tholians were crystalline). The main property of such weapons was that armour was useless against it. Ferengi, and Shadow ships before them, were easily destroyed. The Tholians' enemies thereore had naturally turned to equipping their ships with large amounts of shield protection. The tactic was obvious, so obvious in fact that some historians insist the Tholians had planned it all along. Their response was to become clear.

The drones momentarily glowed, before the energy formed at their point and fired. The rings of energy flew across the space to the Ferengi ships. Those Ferengi ships not already destroyed by the rearguard's missile fire took hits to their shields from the drone weapons. Instead of shrugging off the fire their shields instead began to glow. Then energy discharged across the surface of the shields, joining together in a web pattern, which then began to shrink. The Fernegi shields then imploded, causing feedback that destroyed most of the generators and, on some occassions, weapons. Some of the Ferengi designs still had armour, despite its uselssness versus Tholian weapons, and some had not bothered with armour at all, since it could make way for more shields. In either case it didn't matter, without any protection and in some cases their engines damaged by the feedback, the Ferengi ships had only enough time to realise their situation before the ships were destroyed, almost as an afterthought by the Tholian rearguard.

Elsewhere, almost unnoticed in comparison, two Ferengi scout ships entered Taulus, and the Shadows strangely sent their own scout ship which instantly turned and rammed an exhausted Tholian ship.

Despite their isolationism the Tholians were not so insular as not to accept assistance when necessary. With the declaration of war by the Shaodws there soon followed a message from the Dominion.

Cescin and its aides scuttled through the door and entered the room. Apart from several pieces of furniture the room appeared empty, no sign of the Dominion representative. Cescin took a moment to study the room further, the view wavering in the heat. The room was a bit cold but bearable. Cescin's carapace was in no danger of fracturing. The Dominion had insisted on a meeting. Normally their representative would have been one of their Vorta diplomats but not only did the Assembly have no time for dealing with subordinates, but they would have been unable to meet face to face. Even in the cool environment of this room a Vorta, or even one of the Changelings' Jem'Hadar, would have erupted in flames immediately. The Assembly had insisted on meeting one of the Changelings themselves. Cescin and the others took up their positions and halted. Mere moments later one of the pieces of furniture began to melt into what seemed like a pool of metal, then flowed forward and reformed. Cescin, and the other Tholians, had been taught to expect such things and no sign of alarm moved across the racial connection they shared. The Changeling slowly took the shape of a Tholian. The facsimile was accurate, though ruined by the lack of any emotion being transmitted. None of the true Tholians were impressed.

Without pause Cescin moved forward and held out the piece of crystal on which the treaty would be signed. The Faux Tholian moved its pincers about in a greeting, but Cescin instead motioned for the ceremony to continue. The Changeling paused for a second before it etched its agreement to the slab. Pieces of the changeling would be left upon the crystal, thus signing it. Cescin then etched thesign of the Assembly to the crystal. The ceremony over Cescin and the other Tholians turned and left. Behind them the room began to cool and the Changeling took a more humanoid form, but their task finished the Tholains did not look back.

Over the following months The Tholian/Dominion alliance moved forward. The process was slow and precise, as dictated by the Assembly. The Tholians were at first reluctant to agree to various terms but presented with reason the Assembly agreed to the various conditions. Most important of them was Dominion technology granted the Tholians, who in return delivered technology to the Dominion, except the technology unique to the Tholians. The Shadows soon found themselves faced on two sides by enemies of their own making. On the Tholian/Shadow border both sides continued periodic reconnaisance missions, sending ships across the border to gather information. The Shadows attempted an invasion of Tegmen but it was destroyed. Faced with the Ferengi the Tholains could not devote large forces to an attack on the Shadows. The Dominion then shared sensor and system information with the Assembly which made the Assembly aware not only of the Shadows position caught between the Assembly and the Dominion, but also that Dominion forces were penetrating deeply into the Shadows' space and the Shadows could not receive reinforcements from their allies the Ferengi for with the war any Ferengi fleet in Taulus was being destroyed by the Assembly. The Shadows must have found their postiion untenable for even as the Assembly recieved the information they learnt the Shadows had joined the Ferengi Eternity, completely annexed by them. The Shadows no longer existed as an independent power, but in return the Ferengi were substantially strengthened.

The Assembly had blockaded the Taulus system, but with their northern border weak in comparison they moved reinforcements to Segin. Even as it arrived the Ferengi struck. Breaking through the borders south and, surprisingly, north, of Segin the Ferengi fleets paused before moving to combine. The Tholian reinforcements could not combat both together and attempted to intercept the smaller fleet but was unable to reach it before it met the other invaders. The combined fleet attacked and destroyed a Tholian colony. The Tholian fleet instead decided to prey on reinforcements already entering the system, but instead sat surprised as all the Ferngi invaders suddenly turned and withdraw from Segin. Segin having been surprisingly saved, the defenders joined with reinforcements. The Ferengi did return, but only a single small warship that attempted to introduce a plague to one of the colonies of Segin. It was destroyed by the minefield in orbit.

In Taulus the Tholian defenders were warned of a Ferengi attack by a new attempt to break in by a reconnaisance ship. After dealing with the scout they turned back and reformed, preparing for the coming attack. The attack came soon.

One by one the Ferengi ships emerged. The Tholain defenders were placed well back so as to be a safe distance from the Ferengi fire. Consisting of two fleets and a task force of smaller units, the Tholains opened fire from various directions causing the Ferengi invaders to split up. One of the Tholian fleets would be destroyed but the other flanked the Ferengi fleet and fired wave after wave of missiles. The Ferengi defences fought off most of the mssile fire but could not deal with the large amounts. Casualties were large on both sides but although the Tholians were outnumbered, at least in warships, they emerged considered the victor. The WP was left with both sides hulks floating helpless. The Tholians had a substantial number of ships still operable while the Ferengi had less than a handful..

If there is one undeniable fact anyone with even the smallest amount of familiarity with Tholians knows it is this, Tholians are vehemently isolationist. They are paranoid, xenophobic and unwilling to accept what they see as irrelevant excuses, but most of all they do not care, nor do they spend any time considering, what happens outside their space. Indeed their conflict with the Shadows, followed by the Ferengi, is based solely on their opposition to what they see as invasions. Left alone they would have surely not cared what was happening elsewhere, so the supreme Irony of their joining the Dominion in their war with the Ferengi, and sharing intelligence and technology, was that it was solely a result of Ferengi agression. After all the Dominion had never given the Tholians any cause for concern. Of course who can say what might have happened otherwise, or what plans the Founders may have had prepared.

So the situation was that the Tholians had up till this point seen no need to dispatch ships any further than their border. After all if it wasn't Tholian space, it wasn't their problem. That is until it was made a problem. With the sudden withdrawal of Ferengi ships from a basically defenceless Segin system the Tholians finally came to consider that at least gaining some knowledge of what lay just outside the Assembly might be useful. There must be some reason why the Ferengi would suddenly withdraw when they had the advanatage.

So the Assembly began to construct, then dispatch, drones across the border. They were expendable, and though fully expected to be lost to whatever defences the Ferengi would clearly have placed they would give some information that would otherwise be unknown. So the Assembly soon gained knowledge of the systems across the border. On the whole it was no more than could be expected. The drones wouldn't see much before being destroyed and the systems entered would be seen to be normal systems leading back into Ferengi space. However the question of why the Ferengi withdrew from Segin was perhaps answered. North of Segin, and East of another, as yet unaffected, Tholian system was one system, which led to both. By Tholian thinking the Ferengi must expect Tholian reinfoircements to be pulled from elsewhere on the border, to Segin, and weaken it. Seeing this the Tholians now sent reinforcements back, and free to move also blockaded the WP out of Segin to the North. Perhaps acting quickly once their system was discovered the Ferengi did attempt to cross the border, but whereas the Tholian system's ships may have been diverted, it had instead focused on small units. The Scout forces that crossed the border were quickly destroyed, helped by small warship force, on one occasion the Ferengi ships never left the WP but were destroyed by the defences in seconds. Several small taskforces attempted to break in. All met the same fate and never advanced much further than the exit of the WP.

In Taulus the last of the Ferengi fleet, those that couldn't turn and retreat back to Ferengi space, were destroyed. The border died down for several months, eventually it turning out the Ferengi were merely massing their forces. In the meantime the Tholains received some diplomatic messages. An ally of the Dominion, situated north of the Assembly, proposed an exchange of technology in return for colonisation rights in Tholian space. The Tholian response was abrupt, and the same given to any exterior race, ally or not. Aliens would not colonise Tholian space. It was not a matter for dicussion. If the aliens found the Ferengi such a threat then why not give their technology to their allies. Another race, allies of the Ferengi, suggested a trade treaty. The proposal was a matter for discussion within the Assembly, not due to any actual consideration of accepting but because the Tholians could not understand what the aliens proposing the treaty could possibly expect. They were allies of the Ferengi, and they had in the past spied on the Assembly. A proposal to suddenly agree to trade couldn't possibly be serious, so not knowing what they were supposed to think of it the Assembly merely refused.

It is probably advantageous at this point to pause and give a better idea of the Tholian situation. The Tholian Assembly comprised [censored] systems located roughly left of center, and slightly south, in the local group. To their West lay the Dominion. To the East lay the Ferengi Eternity, and until their annexation by the Ferengi Eternity, the Space Khans (Shadows) lay south. To the north lay a number of other empires the exact position of which was of no interest to the Assembly as apart from a few minor trade treaties they did nothing to gain the Assembly's attention. The Tholians, admittedly hampered by their lack of interest in whatever might lie outside their space, had assumed the Shadows might possibly lead back from the Albireo system on the Assembly's southern border, along the southern edge of known space and probably encountering their Ferengi allies somewhere several sytems removed from the border. With the amount of information exchanged following the creation of the Tholian/Dominion Alliance the Tholians themselves were to discover something surprising. It appeared that the Shadows had been wedged into what can be considered the SW corner of local space, and in fact had no other outlet except Albireo and some system west of the Assembly but just south of the Dominion. Clearly at some point the Dominion prevented the Shadows making their presence there known. The Assembly had suspected that perhaps the Shadows had systems SW of the Assembly where they could have encountered the Dominion, but not that those were their only systems. It possibly, actually probably, explained their refusal to accept the Tholian border, but in Tholian eyes didn't excuse it. With the alliance formed however the Tholians were prepared to reinforce their border and fight the Ferengi, at least the Ferengi out of what was the Ferengi Eternity. Clearly, they thought, the Ferengi and their servants stuck in the formerly Shadow space, cut off from reinforcement, would be too busy with what at a glance looked like a continuous Dominion advance. Let the Dominion deal with them and keep their forces busy while the Assembly focussed its ships on the other border. The Assembly was well aware of how weak it was in the region, having to devote much effort to combatting the hidden Ferengi, and their allies, spy attacks, but it didn't have much of a choice. Perhaps they just felt that as long as they sat on the border and did nothing to bother the Ferengi forces stuck in Shadow space then they shouldn't expect to be bothered in return. History showed it to be a mistake. When dealing in such an area as the impulses of widely diverging races one can never guarantee what they might do, still it came as somewhat of a surprise when the Ferengi/Shadow forces attacked across the border. Still, If the remnants wanted to deal with two foes at once, and on opposite sides of their space, that was up to them.

The Ferengi struck on two borders. In the north they crossed yet again into Segin, and the Tholian defences having been given a chance to invest the WP managed to practically destroy the Ferengi attack. Granted they took great losses but they were succesful in their mission. Of course to gain their victory they needed as many ships as available and this unfortunately meant they couldn't guard the southern WP in Segin concurrently, at least not in such numbers as to guarantee any success in either case. So even as the Tholian fleet won its victory, the Ferengi moved from the south unopposed in numbers previously unseen and destroyed one of the remaining Tholian colonies in Segin. The Tholian fleet couldn't escape so without hesitation they stayed where they were in the hope they could destroy some of the Ferengi hulks, and escape pods, floating near the northern WP. Unfortunately then a new enemy fleet emerged and in return detroyed the all but helpless Tholians. To Tholian thinking why they hadn't merged the first fleet with its follow up, and therefore ensured less losses, was a mystery. But then it was Tholian nature to move slowly, mass forces first, then act, not throw forces in, but then who can say which works better.

In Tegmen the understrength defenders of the WP leading to Albireo reacted swiftly as a large combined Shadow/Ferengi fleet appeared. Emplaced satellites, fighters, drones and the small force of warships did their best, in fact dealing some appreciable damage, but were inevitably overpowered. The Tholians were left with a large enemy fleet in their space and a need to come up with some form of response.

The response was to come in part by a reconsideration of Tholian motivation. Tholian intransigence was always a result of their requirement to ensure their security, but it wasn't going to help ensure their security to refuse their allies the right to enter Tholian space, whilst their joint enemy was rampaging in Tholian space. So just as the Assembly had allied with the Dominion when they had a joint enemy now they allowed Dominion ships into Tholian space. The Tholians had their own ships but if the Dominion could spare ships, then why not allow them to help fight off the enemy in Tholian space. As was coming to be expected the Ferengi, having broken into Tholian space, simply sat on the warp point. Then they seemed to reconnoiter the system before finally deciding to actually attack. The Tholians, heavily outnumbered even as their ships arrived, were shocked by the result. Not of any losses, there would follow a few, but that the Tholians could not be considered at any level to have lost. Faced with the disparity in their strength compared to the size of the Ferengi the Tholians made a lot of use of unmanned drones, a technology apparently unused by the Ferengi, and as a result there were some difficulties connecting the various drone types into a coherent force. The combined AI weapons flew fruitlessly about the invading Ferengi force before withdrawing, although not until after the Ferengi supply ship and a warship were crippled. The Ferengi fleet pursued the small drone force, passing by the Tholian planet as they did so. Surprisingly they did not fire on what was essentially a defenceless colony. Eventually they caught and destroyed the Tholian drones, but then they withdraw from the sector, leaving their crippled ships helpless. Tholian reinforcements soon arrived and destroyed the floating hulks.

As massive Dominion fleets arrived the Ferengi tried again to attack the System capital, but each time their fleets would approach the colony before continuing on and withdrawing without attacking. As more and more Dominion ships arrived the Ferengi finally turned and withdrew from Tholian space.

In the Taulus system the Ferengi sent through a fleet comprising almost 150 ships. The Tholian defenders acquited themselves well but were outnumbered and destroyed. Elsewhere the Ferengi crossed over the border with large fleets of around 50 ships. In each case, having broken into Tholian space, the Ferengi would simply invest the warp point, clearly satisfied enough that they could be assured of no Tholian ships massing to attack across the border. In each border system they would send a few reconnaisance ships, and the occasioanly plague bomber, but in each planets case their defenders managed to destroy the ships. In Taulus the massive 150 ship fleet moved across the system to enter what was once Shadow space. The Tholian's Dominion allies, having moved into the Albireo system from Tegmen withdrew in the face of the Ferengi reinforcements.

During this time the Tholains had been the target of repeated acts of espionage and sabotage, various labour popualtions clearly having been bribed with Ferengi money to risk the wrath of their masters. The Tholians were outmatched, inexperienced as they were in acting outside the Assembly. In return though the Dominion, already in a state of conflict occupying the Shadow remannts, and now reinforcing the Tholian/Ferengi border, stepped up their acts of sabotage. Across the Ferengi Eternity, and its ally the Zor, whose ships were now to be found in the Ferengi fleets invading the Assembly, the Founders of the Dominion, the Changelings, shapeshifting aliens able to take on any appearance, infiltrated Ferengi and Zor colonies and ships, setting off bombs that damaged facilities, damaged the atmosphere, environments, event the food supply of the enemy, killing off millions of their people. In some cases the officers of enemy ships were replaced and their crew tricked into acts of force against their own people. The Tholians continued to take damage from enemy perfidy but it did not weaken their resolve to destroy this threat to the Assembly.

After several months, and the results of conflicting orders, the Tholians finally combined a force deemed strong enough to deal with the Ferengi. It was decided they could not deal with a large Ferengi fleet, but simulations showed it would suffice to deal with one of the smaller ones. In this case the small, by Ferengi terms, fleet controlling the Ferengi warp point into the Assembly. The Tholian fleet moved to outflank the Ferengi perimeter, but an old saying goes that no plan survives contact with the enemy. The Tholian plan was based on the assumption that the Ferengi ships,s epearted from their main taskforce, would rush to engage the Tholian fleet before the rest of the fleet complement could cross from the other side of the sector. Instead however they turned and moved to reform their formation with the others. The Tholian fleet comprised three taskforces. A main Warship force, a supporting minesweeping force, and a substantial force of drones. The mine sweepers, not being suitable for combat withdrew to the edge of the sector. The warship taskforce advanced on a satellite field but some glitch in their combat network caused them to drift to halt, sitting motionless while a solitary satellite fired on the task force leader. The dones, 67 of them, meanwhile flew towards and atatcked the Ferengi fleet. The space between them was momentarily lit up as the Ferenfi point defence quickly dealt with them. The drones totally destroyed for few losses the Ferengi fleet moved and engaged the Tholians. Only as their enemy neared did the Tholains finally move, but not by much. Staying in one small section of space they were swiftly surrounded on all sides and a fierce firefight broke out. When it ended the Tholians, even by their appraisal, had lost. Almost wiped out they had only destroyed about a third of the enemy ships in return. However, the Ferngi had not emerged unscathed. About 2/3rds of their ships that survived did so in substantially damaged states. Surrounded by the enemy, damaged Tholian ships had no choice but to die fighting, while damaged ferengi ships could withdraw. What little comfort the Tholians could draw was that of the 6 Battleships the Ferengi had begun to use, 2 had been destoyed, and 1 significantly damaged. Also a substantial Dominion fleet was nearby. Were it to move quickly it could most likely destroy the damaged Ferengi vessels before they escaped.

Even as the loss was studied dire news came from elsewhere. The Mardon, supposedly an ally of the Dominion, and thus at least ostensively a Tholian ally, crossed their joint border with the Assembly, which was practically unguarded, destroying the sentry there, before moving to a nearby Tholian colony and destroying its defenders and the colony itself. Faced with Mardon treachery and a new enemy the Assembly needed to reconsider its plans, starting with the redeployment of ships to fight the Mardon invasion.

DemiMon Elgur looked about the bridge as various lesser Ferengi scuttled about. At times some junior crewman might cross in front of Elgur but on each occasion they were sure to cringe (Position 49: "I bow before someone who could dock my pay"). Elgur kept an especially close eye on helmsman Krak. The other week he had caught him cheating during the compulsory Tongo game. It wasn't that he cheated, who didn't, it was that he was caught. Elgur couldn't trust someone who couldn't avoid being caught. Earlier Elgur had been paid by some crewmmembers to let them off their duty shift but apart from that the last few hours had been boring. Elgur didn't like boring. It didn't allow for oppurtunities for profit. He just wished the DaiMon would appear, then he could perhaps bribe him, get off duty, and go join the Tongo game in the cargo hold he was sure the absent crewmembers had run off to. As first officer he got his cut anyway, but he was sure he'd make more if he took part. As if summoned, DaiMon Gilmer entered the bridge. Elgur got up from the command chair and moved aside, assuming position 49. The DaiMon, sat.
"What is our course?" The DaiMon questioned.
"We are on our way to the border to deliver the contingent of Debt Collectors we took on board" Elgur informed him.
"There are new orders. Set course for Trantor Prime" Gilmer said as he seemed to look around the bridge. Elgur paused for a moment. He wasn't aware of any communications since they had launched.
"Far be it from me to disbelieve the DaiMon, but....." Elgur stuttered, while presenting the smallest target. Gilmer also paused in his perusal of the bridge, before several slips of latinum appeared,as if by magic, on his chairs arm. Elgur pocketed the slips before continuing "...of course, you're the boss"
Elgur issued the orders to Krak, who merely shrugged before obeying, after all it didn't pay to refuse orders. Unless of course you had a better offer.
The ship turned back and flew onward into the Trantor system. As the ship neared the target planet Elgur queried the DaiMon.
"Why exactly are we going back to Trantor Prime" Elgur asked off hand. He had some interest on the planet and insider information always paid. DaiMon Gilmer turned to his first officer
"The planet has been invaded by the Tholians. The collectors we have onboard are to land and take it back". Elgur was shocked. He had not heard of this. He had holdings on the planet. His profit margin!.
"What?" he gasped, dumbfounded. Gimler turned to look at him with stare 12. "Do you want me to penalise your pay?". Elgur closed his mouth.
The transport continued on, nearing the planet. From Communications Dren spoke up.
"We are being hailed by an approaching cruiser"
"Is it..Is it Tholian?" Elgur asked
"No. It is a Ferengi ship"
"Continue on" order Gilmer.
"The cruiser is ordering us to stop and prepare to be boarded" Dren said. Gilmer turned to Dren.
"Disregard all communications from the cruiser" he ordered. Elgur stood shocked.
"But we can't just ignore an order. We might be penalised". Gilmer looked at Elgur with stare 12 again.
"The ship has been taken by the Tholians. They are trying to stop us taking back the planet" the DaiMon said. "Continue to the planet". Elgur did not know what to do. Then the cruiser opened fire.
"Direct hit to the cargo hold" a crewmember informed them.
"losses?" Elgur asked
"Complete loss of contents" was the reply. Elgur moaned. His kickback!.
"We must surrender" Elgur pleaded to the DaiMon. No one ever made latinum getting killed, though he had heard of some scams. The DaiMon turned to Elgur, who cringed. Then Gilmer smiled, before collapsing into a pile of orange goo, that then flew across the bridge into a ventilation duct. Elgur hadn't thought things could get any worse. Now he stood in shock. Around him more reports came of damage from the cruiser's fire. It soon became clear that the transport was doomed. Time to cut his losses.
"Abandon ship" Elgur ordered, somewhat superfluously since many of the crew already had ideas in that direction. Elgur turned and ran out of the bridge, turning down the corridor he ran towards the nearest lifepod. Several crewmembers were already pushing slips of latinum into the slot to gain entry as Elgur approached. He reached the crowd, pushed his way past and ran on until he reached his quarters. Around him the ship rang, not only with the alert but also with sounds of further damage being inflicted. Leaping across his quarters Elgur reached his safe and quickly entered his password. He swung the door open and reached inside for several bars of latinum. As he touched them the hull nearby broke open and Elgur was sucked out into space, along with a glittering trail of latinum bars.

Before the ship's destruction several lifeboats did escape, their occupants holding onto what few riches they had managed to grab. One of the occupants did not appear to have saved anything so the others, busy keeping an eye on other potentially grabby hands, ignored him. The changeling looked around at the Ferengi filling the lifeboat. A display showed that the lifeboat was heading for the nearest planet. Already plans for the infiltration and overthrow of whatever regional government the nearest planets might have was crossing what it had for a mind. Before it reached the planet however the lifeboat would clearly be intercepted by other Ferengi ships prepared to extort some bounty by saving the survivors. If however the lifeboat showed no signs of life it would not be worth anyone's while to catch it.

The Changeling stood up, and got to work.

I was deliberately vague about where everything was because I did not wish to give away too much information about my space. My enemy is ancient so I suppose they know where evrything is anyway. I just hope my ally, who pressed me to write this anyway, will excuse risking too much information. It is for the good of the story after all.

Tholians are notably reluctant to make available maps of their systems.

There are also Zentraedi and the Clarkian Magi, which all evidence indicates are Centauri. I haven't got the slightest idea where they are. The other side of the Ferengi maybe.

By 2406.8 general opinion on the war with the Ferengi was that the Tholian assembly was doomed, being surrounded on most sides by seeming threats. A sequence of reversals over the following months however were to herald a turn of fortune towards the Tholians and their allies.

All evidence indicated that the Tholian Assembly faced a new foe in the form of the Mardon Union. The Mardon had suddenly crossed the border, a border the Tholians had considered safe and which they had treated as a minimum priority to enforce, destroying the lone sentry. They had embarked on a campaign across the system which over the following months destroyed several colonies, their defenders and the defenders of another warp point. Even as the Tholians prepared themselves to deal with this new crisis, frantic diplomatic efforts via the Dominion established that the sudden conflict had been a near catastrophic error. By the Mardon's own words they had mistaken the Tholians territory as belonging to the Ferengi, and that the Tholians were somehow allies of the Ferengi. Eventually disabused of this notion the Mardon offerred their apologies whilst vowing their support to the fight against the Ferengi.

A suspicion little spoken was that the Tholians had already lost. They valiantly fought the Ferengi invaders, bearing the brunt of attacks and suffering as their allies grew effectively untouched. There was little doubt they had fought back galantly, but they were massively outclassed by the might of the Ferengi Eternity. The Tholians held that ship for ship their designs were superior, but they could not muster the numbers to ensure their victory. Already they held the facade of being independent and fighting the enemy by themselves, but the truth was less palatable. Dominion resources flooded into the Assembly, and Dominion technology was gifted to an empire which for some time had devoted their infastructure to building a mere handful of ship at a time whilst trying to combat Ferengi, and other enemy, acts of espionage, sabotage, and terrorism. The Tholians had turned to mass production of relatively cheap drones, but in the face of the amount of specialised point defence Ferengi fleets could mass these were becoming near useless. The Tholians chief goal was to ensure their independence, and their security, but they were becoming nothing more than an appendage of the Dominion.

Previously a large fleet of nearly 150 Ferengi vessels had broken into the Taulus system. Instead of striking the Tholians further they had made a direct line for their redoubt in Albireo, the system held by the Ferengi between Taulus and Tegmen. After the Ferengi withdrawal, and the arrival of significant Dominion reinforcements, the Dominion had been left to defend Tegmen while the Tholians concentrated what they could in Taulus. The Dominion sent some ships into Albireo but withdrew in the face of the Ferengi reinforcements, instead electing to harass the Ferengi fleet as it made its way through Albireo. Time and again small forces of Dominion drones would strike the enemy fleet, swiftly tiring the fighters onboard the Ferengi carriers, whilst delaying the fleet as a handful of ships were disabled. Eventually the Ferengi seemed prepared to make a return to Tegmen and they made transit of the warp point.

Historians have debated endlessly ever since whether the following confrontation could be described as a battle, nevertheless the majority seems to, if mostly for the sake of consistency, record it as the First battle of Tegmen. Dissenters just call it the Tegmen Massacre.

No one bothers to present diagrams of how the "battle" unfolded, for the purpose of such diagrams is to present the opposing movements, tactics and responses. It shall soon become clear why this is not appropriate.

The Dominion had surrounded the warp point with a massive fleet, and it if it helps to envision the situation just imagine a fleet of close to one hundred warships, this number being perhaps somewhat exagerated, all as close as they could be surrounding the warp point. It is not clear if the Ferengi bothered to reconnoiter the warp point before commiting themselves to their attack, but history records the following. The Ferengi fleet appeared ship by ship through the wromhole, and ship by ship they were faced with the massed fire of the Dominion defences. A single ship simply cannot hold enough point defence to fight off the entire barrage of a fleet. The "battle" was notably one sided, and the only competition was to see if the Dominion ordnance, or the Ferengi ships, ran out first. The Ferengi ran out first. Which is not to say they turned and retreated. No, rather they admirably kept coming and coming. Followed by dying and dying. It may be that the following ships simply didn't know what was happening, it being quite likely each victim died before being able to send back a message to stop. The Dominion in return lost a drone that ventured too close. The entire Ferengi fleet was not lost however, for one of their ships, a Zor gifted vessel, bringing up the rear was not included in the attack. The reason for this being that a Changeling infiltrator had succeeded in taking control of it. It turned, destroyed the previously disabled support ships, then left in pursuit of nearby enemy freighters.

A historically one sided victory to be sure, but the Ferengi response was for another 185 warships to move into Taulus.

In the north, Ferengi ships, if not in the numbers of those in the south, were basically free to move without opposition. Tholian defences fought when they could but were inevitably outmatched by fleets of up to 50 ships that destroyed Tholian colonies with seeming impunity. Nevertheless the Ferengi seemed reluctant to atatck outright and the situation, from the Tholian point of view, could have been worse.

The newly arrived Ferengi force in Taulus, instead of moving again to Albireo, instead began to engage Tholian colonies. One major colony nearby was attacked and raised, and a second was attacked by a small landing force which took the planet. Such tactics were used elsewhere, but in a change from the usual they were so weak as to be destroyed by planet based defences. In particular, Tholian drones now dedicated to Kamikaze attacks. An indication of Tholian superior technology were drones that as they neared Ferengi ships would fire the Tholian web weapon, now improved so that it would heavily damage Ferengi targets rather than merely bring down their shields, then ram the now helpless ships destroying them.

Severely outnumbered the Tholians had no choice but to strengthen their own navy by incorporating ships gifted from the Dominion, thus increasing their ability to fight, but at the cost of a growing dependence on the Dominion. The vast Ferengi fleet nearby witnessed this handover and moved quickly to defeat it before it could be reinforced. The Tholians, expecting this, gave orders not to engage the enemy. This left the colony they were orbiting defenceless, but it could not be helped. Tholian sentiment held that though a substantial loss it was preferable to throwing ships in unprepared and losing them. Nevertheless a handful of the newly gifted ships did not join the fleet in time and engaged the Ferengi when they did arrive, before being destroyed.

The following month the Tholian ships retreated, joined with others, and returned. In an attempt to coordinate with the Dominion, in fact the newly arrived victors of Tegmen, they tried to engage the Ferengi at the same time. A small splinter taskforce did manage to coordiante successfully, but their orders from before not to engage had not been changed and they took little part. The main force however was late. As it turned out their help was not required after all.
Even outnumbered two to one the Dominion forces engaged without a second thought. The Founders had ordered them to attack, and attack they would. Who were they to doubt the orders of the Founders? It wasn't important that they understood, only that they obey, and victory brought life [ed: ok, ok. We get it]

The Ferengi fleet was just finishing the levelling of the Tholian colony, and so strung out in orbit of the planet they turned and advanced. Ferengi fighters advanced ahead of their main fleet. Likewise Dominion drones flew on ahead of their forces. The first contact between them was brief. The Ferengi fighters were quickly destroyed, the survivors retreating. They were chased and destroyed before the drones were encountered by the Ferengi main force. The drones struck but were swiftly destroyed in turn. Ferengi massed PD dominating. The Ferengi however, occupied fighting the drones, failed to observe as the Dominion moved along the flanks. Soon the Ferengi were surrounded on three sides and the major part of the battle, an exchange of fire from capital ships erupted. As the battle flowed the outnumbered Dominion ships demonstarted their superiority. They weathered and held off the Ferengi fire, whilst simultaneously attacking from three sides, and the Ferengi force simply collapsed. Damaged Ferengi ships tried to escape but the Dominion tightened their noose, surrounded the Ferengi completely and destroyed everyone of them. The Ferengi fleet destroyed, they then finished off a lone carrier left in orbit and then the fleeing unsuppplied fighters left after that. The final toll, Ferengi: 185 ships, and countless fighters, Dominion: 41 drones and 9 ships.

Elsewhere the Dominion continued their subjugation of the Shadow remannts. Moving in from the western border via the Centauri system they invaded Pleione, taking minmal losses while destoying a handful of Ferengi ships and 400 fighters. The Pleione system was strategically important, for to capture it would not only cut off the Gorgonea Quarta system, but leave that system surrounded on both sides. Further Dominion forces then attacked Albireo via Tegmen, destroyed the defenders there, before withdrawing to resupply.

The Mardon, now definitely Tholian allies, attacked in the north, but low on supplies they could only exchange a handful of barrages before left helpless and falling victim to the defending Ferengi. A reasonable amount of damage was inflicted on the enemy but only at the loss of the attacking force.

The destuction of the second Ferengi Fleet.


The order of ranking as of 2407.1

The Reduction of the Shadow Remnant