10 Best Ever Romulan Stories In Star Trek

In the episode that was the final step away from Gene Roddenberry's vision of a bright and utopian future, Captain Sisko works with Garak on a plot to bring about an end to the Dominion War by tricking the Romulan Empire into taking up arms against the Dominion and its allies, on the side of the Federation and Klingon alliance.

The plot centers on Vreenak, a high-ranking Romulan Senator who they must convince of another plot, by the Dominon, to invade Romulus, despite the existence of a non-aggression pact between them. Despite all of the clever planning and compromising by Sisko, the plot fails and Vreenak leaves the station, vowing to expose the deception to the entire Alpha Quadrant.

That is, until Garak destroys his shuttle - which was his plan all along. Garak predicts the Romulan reaction will be to declare war on the Dominion, as the evidence he planted on the shuttle will point all fingers toward them. He is correct and the Romulans finally join the alliance, pledging their armies to liberate the Alpha Quadrant.

Never had Star Trek ventured into territory as dark as this. A Federation Captain lies and cheats his way into committing another Empire to war. That the Romulans believe him shows that their paranoia had evidently been leading them away from trusting the Dominion already. Garak of course understood this about the Romulans, having served as a spy on the home world some years prior.

The episode, as told in a log entry that would be deleted by the end, paints a desperate picture of Roddenberry's bright future. The good guys lie. The bad guys are innocent. The duplicitous Romulans are the only hope. Shades of grey as clear as the colour of the Romulan world itself.