Call to Arms...

See also "Call to Arms", one of the episodes adapted in this book.

Call to Arms...: Novelization of the end of "Call to Arms" all of "A Time to Stand" and "Rocks and Shoals" and most of "Sons and Daughters".

Summary[]

2nd Battle of DS9 — The Dominion attacks DS9.

Gul Dukat leads a Dominion attack on Deep Space 9, while the crew of the Defiant mine the entrance to the wormhole. Captain Benjamin Sisko's crew are able to hold off the Dominion warships, but Sisko was forced to order the evacuation of the space station. Kira Nerys, Odo, Jake Sisko, Quark and Rom remain behind, while Sisko, Jadzia Dax, Miles O'Brien, Julian Bashir, Nog and Garak leave on the Defiant and Worf joins Martok's crew on the Rotarran. Dukat is pleased to have the station back and while Weyoun demands Dukat find a way to bring down the minefield to allow Dominion reinforcements through the wormhole, Dukat plans to delay this work to benefit Cardassia and make it stronger, strong enough to take on both the Federation and the Dominion. Dukat brings Damar into his confidence to stall bringing down the minefield, as it will give Dukat time to strengthen his power on Cardassia.

Three months later, the war is going badly for the Federation, with Sisko comparing it to Valley Forge during the American Revolution. Doctor Bashir brings more bad news when he reports that the Seventh Fleet has been decimated. Martok believes that Changeling infiltrators must have obtained classified fleet movements, but Sisko feels that the Starfleet admiralty are at fault with their combat tactics and resolves to find a way to get more influence. Martok also mentions a battle in the Argolis Cluster in which he detected automated Dominion repair facilities, although Sisko wonders if they are sensor arrays that are watching starship movements. Sisko asks Martok to investigate the facilities but to keep their findings between them for now. Sisko meets with Admiral Warner, who he knew two decades earlier and is owed a favor, who promises to talk to Admiral William Ross.

On Starbase 375, Sisko meets Charlie Reynolds, an old friend from his days at Starfleet Academy and now the CO of the Centaur. Captain Reynolds relates how he had to evacuate a colony that he set up ten years previously. Reynolds's current assignment is getting Starfleet Intelligence agents in and out of targets in Cardassian space in infiltration missions.

On DS9, which has reverted to the Cardassian name Terok Nor, Major Kira finds herself in an unenviable position of dealing with Gul Dukat. Quark points out that life under Dominion rule is not as bad as it was years earlier under Dukat, something that Odo points out may be due to Weyoun.

Sisko hears word back from Martok that the Dominion installations are indeed sensor stations as Sisko thought and likely what led to the Seventh Fleet being detected and ambushed. Sisko considers how to attack the sensors and asks Martok to report his findings to Admiral Ross. Sisko later meets with Admiral Ross himself, who gives Sisko the assignment with Starfleet Intelligence that Sisko has been working for. The downside is that Sisko is relieved of command of the Defiant.

Dax convinces Sisko that now is the time to contact his father and tell him that Jake stayed behind on DS9. Joseph is shocked and implores Ben to get him back. Joseph also comments that he wonders why if space is so big why people can't leave each other alone. Sisko wishes that were the case.

Admiral Ross gives Sisko and his crew a mission into Cardassian space to destroy a ketracel-white facility using the Jem'Hadar ship that Sisko recovered from the Gamma Quadrant a year earlier. Several hours after leaving Starbase 375, the ship is attacked by the Centaur, Charlie Reynolds's ship. Sisko orders the ship to cross the border, hoping that Captain Reynolds will not pursue, but to no avail. Sisko's ship fires on the Centaur's weapons but the arrival of three more Jem'Hadar ships forces the Centaur crew to break off their attack and flee. The Centaur crew are able to fight off the Jem'Hadar.

Jem'Hadar fighter A Time to Stand — Sisko's damaged Jem'Hadar ship

Sisko's crew reach the ketracel-white supply facility and transport empty canisters to it, including one with an ultritium explosive. Suddenly, the facility raises a security net which blocks their escape. Fortunately, the explosive detonates early and the crew are able to move off as the facility explodes but take heavy damage. The ship is left without warp drive and seventeen years from the Federation at impulse speed.

On Starbase 375, Captain Reynolds confronts Admiral Ross about the Jem'Hadar ship he encountered at the Cardassian border. To prove that he isn't a Changeling, he intentionally cuts himself and shows Ross the blood. Reynolds correctly surmises that Sisko was commanding the Jem'Hadar ship and comments that they need more efficient ways to detect Changelings.

On DS9, Dukat calls Kira to a meeting, where he tries to defend his actions of allying with the Dominion. Kira comments that he has betrayed everyone, even his own people. Kira asks Odo to approach Weyoun, who, over Dukat's objections, immediately approves Odo's request that his deputies be given weapons and allowed to patrol the Promenade again. Weyoun asks Odo to join a ruling council that will oversee the running of the station. Odo agrees, although Kira is unsure it is a good idea.

On the Jem'Hadar ship, Sisko's crew come under attack by two other Jem'Hadar ships. Dax is injured during the attack and the ship crashes on an uncharted planet. A Jem'Hadar crew, led by Remata'Klan and commanded by the Vorta Keevan, are also marooned on the planet. Keevan has been injured and is expected to die soon. Remata'Klan questioned Keevan's actions and, even though the First and the Second are dead, he believes that Keevan will not promote him to First because of it. Their supply of ketracel-white is also a problem.

Sisko's crew make a camp within a cave and sends out a team to reconnoiter the area. When Garak and Nog fail to return, Sisko, O'Brien and two security officers set out to find them, but come under attack by the Jem'Hadar. The Jem'Hadar stop their barrage, leading Sisko to wonder why. Garak and Nog are brought before Keevan who asks if they have a doctor. Learning from Garak that they do, Keevan sends Remata'Klan to negotiate with Sisko: they will release Garak and Nog in exchange for Dr. Bashir and Sisko himself. Sisko points out that Vorta that he has encountered before have been manipulative and treacherous. Sisko agrees to the prisoner exchange.

References[]

Science and classification[]

aerial strategy simulation • antimatter • anti-proton • battleship • blood screening • border cutter • cloaking device • Cochrane • dark matter nebula • deep space station • docking clamp • fathom • gravitational spike • guidance matrix • guidance thruster • gyrodyne • hardware configuration sensor • headache • heavy cruiser • isoton • ketracel-white • minefield • phaser array • phaser coil • reactor core • replicator • resonance emitter • self-replicating mine • shapeshifter • shroud • starbase • ultritium • viewscreen • virtual scanner headset • warp nacelle

Occupations and titles[]

bekk • commodore • Emissary of the Prophets • facilitator • First • flag admiral • gul • Sixth • Third • vedek • vice admiral • yeoman

Other references[]

armada • armory • asparagus • asteroid • attack wing • Bajoran lily • baseball • bat'leth • battle simulation • blood feud • bloodwine • Boogeyman • Bregit lung • Cardassian-Klingon War • centaur • dabo • damage control team • Decapus salad • devil • d'k tahg • Dominion War • dragon • Gettysburg Address • Grapok sauce • horse • ice cream • kar'takin • Klingon wedding • labor camp • MajKkah • martial law • mek'leth • nonaggression pact • Nordic • Norpin falcon • Occupation of Bajor • permanent documentation file • Program Sisko 197 • raktajino • ramufta • ration • Rokeg blood pie • root beer • sandwich • Saurian brandy • Second Battle of Deep Space 9 • shore leave • Sisko's baseball • star chart • stellar cartography • tar'g • Terran • warnog

Appendices[]

Background[]

Call to Arms... features an image of Captain Sisko from "Rocks and Shoals" just after the cover page.
In between the chapters are quotes from several fictional and real individuals. These include one of Benjamin Sisko's statements in "Call to Arms" ("One thing's for certain. We're losing the peace"), the Charge of the Light Brigade ("Was there a man dismay'd?" and "Theirs not to make reply/Theirs not to reason why/Theirs but to do or die"), Theodore Roosevelt ("The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be willing and able to pull his own weight"), Lord Bowen ("The rain it raineth on the just/And also on the unjust fella/But chiefly upon the just, because/The unjust steals the just's umbrella") and Abraham Lincoln ("Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it").

Images[]

Connections[]

Timeline[]

published order
Previous novelization: Trials and Tribble-ations	DS9 novelizations	Next novelization: ...Sacrifice of Angels
Previous novel: Behind Enemy Lines	The Dominion War	Next novel: Tunnel Through the Stars
chronological order
Previous Adventure: Change of Heart	Pocket	Next Adventure: What Dreams May Come
Previous Adventure: Change of Heart	Deep Space Nine Adventures	Next Adventure: ...Sacrifice of Angels

Publication history[]

Translations[]

2000: German language: Verlorener Friede, translated by Andreas Brandhorst. (Heyne)

External link[]

Call to Arms... article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki

Call to Arms...

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