''Behind Enemy Lines'' is the first book in a four-part series titled "The Dominion War," which is based on the ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

franchise. It was written by

John Vornholt John Blair Vornholt (born February 14, 1951) is an American author, screenwriter and journalist. As an author, he has written numerous media tie-ins, including many ''Star Trek'' novels. As a screenwriter, he worked on several animated children ...

in 1998.

Plot

The book begins with

Ro Laren Ro Laren is a fictional character appearing on a recurring basis in the fifth, sixth, and seventh seasons of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation''. Portrayed by Michelle Forbes, she is a member of ...

, a former ''Enterprise-D'' crew member (the recurring character played by

Michelle Forbes Michelle Renee Forbes Guajardo (born January 8, 1965) is an American actress who has appeared on television and in independent films. Forbes gained attention for her dual role in daytime soap opera ''Guiding Light'', for which she received a D ...

in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'') turned

Maquis Maquis may refer to: Resistance groups * Maquis (World War II), predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance * Spanish Maquis, guerrillas who fought against Francoist Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War * The network ...

officer, taking command of a ship in the hopes of heading to

Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

lines to safety. Ro Laren and the ship soon run into trouble when they are attacked by Jem'Hadar's craft. Another

Starfleet Starfleet is a fictional organization in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. Within this fictional universe, Starfleet is a uniformed space force maintained by the United Federation of Planets ("the Federation") as the principal means for conduc ...

ship, the ''Aurora,'' comes to assist but it is of no use. Both the ship Ro Laren is commanding and the ''Aurora'' send distress calls, and one ship comes to their aid: the ''Enterprise-E''. As this is happening, another former ''Enterprise'' crewman is being herded onto a

Dominion The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 1926 ...

space station in a distant galaxy when he witnesses the destruction of a

Cardassian The Cardassians () are a fictional extraterrestrial species in the American science fiction franchise '' Star Trek''. They were devised in 1991 for the series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' before being used in the subsequent series '' S ...

mining craft. The

space station not only houses prisoners of war, but also serves as a base of operations for Dominion attempts to construct an artificial

wormhole A wormhole (Einstein-Rosen bridge) is a hypothetical structure connecting disparate points in spacetime, and is based on a special Solutions of the Einstein field equations, solution of the Einstein field equations. A wormhole can be visualize ...

. Sam Lavelle finds Taurik, yet another former crewman, also being herded into the station and up to the male prisoners' compound. Upon entering, Sam is berated for agreeing to be the Liaison Officer of their pod, but he is "rescued" by the call of the

Vorta '' Star Trek'' is a science fiction media franchise that began with Gene Roddenberry's launch of the original ''Star Trek'' television series in 1966. Its success led to decades of films, novels, comics, and spinoff series. A major motif of th ...

in command of the station and, upon entering a ball, is confronted by a

Founder Founder or Founders may refer to: Places *Founders Park, a stadium in South Carolina, formerly known as Carolina Stadium * Founders Park, a waterside park in Islamorada, Florida Arts, entertainment, and media * Founders (''Star Trek''), the ali ...

with the message that he is to be given command of a ship. On Sam's crew are Taurik and the mastermind of the whole wormhole operation, Enrak Grof, a

Trill TRILL (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) is an Internet Standard implemented by devices called TRILL switches. TRILL combines techniques from bridging and routing, and is the application of link-state routing to the VLAN-aware custom ...

who values his work over alliances. The ''Enterprise'' enters the battle and rescues the

Bajoran The Bajorans (variously pronounced , , ) are a fictional species in the science-fiction ''Star Trek'' franchise. They are a humanoid extraterrestrial species native to the planet Bajor, who have a long-standing enmity with the Cardassians, owi ...

transport, but the ''Aurora'' is destroyed in the battle.

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Jean-Luc Picard Jean-Luc Picard is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, most often seen as the captain of the Federation starship . Played by Patrick Stewart, Picard has appeared in the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (''T ...

learns of the wormhole's construction and prepares to take Ro Laren, Chief Engineer

Geordi La Forge Geordi La Forge ( ) is a fictional character who appeared in all seven seasons of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and its four feature films. Portrayed by LeVar Burton, he served as helmsman o ...

, and a small crew in an attempt to destroy it. The crew disembarks, and after some encounters with

Cardassians The Cardassians () are a fictional Extraterrestrial life in popular culture, extraterrestrial species in the American science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. They were devised in 1991 for the series ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' before b ...

, Jem'Hadar,

Ferengi The Ferengi () are a fictional extraterrestrial species in the American science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. They were devised in 1987 for the series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', played a prominent role in the following series '' St ...

, and

Romulans The Romulans () are an extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial race in the American science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. They first appeared in the series ''Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek'' (1966–1969). They have appeared ...

, they reach the wormhole. Using a tractor beam, they attempt to send thousands of small asteroids careening into the wormhole, but instead decide to destroy the mining craft and apparently halt any chance of completing the wormhole. They prepare to fire but learn that the craft is full of Federation prisoners: they save the prisoners and destroy the craft. Upon returning home, they learn from Grof that their ship was not the only one sent to mine the metal, meaning that the wormhole still could be completed and used.

References

1998 American novels Novels by John Vornholt Novels based on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine {{1990s-StarTrek-novel-stub