Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The Fallen
Convergence Plotline

When the Ulysses crashed after being ambushed, on SRIII, they had recovered a lost Orb of the Pah'Wraiths, and Sisko was successful in retrieving that Orb from the Ulysses wreckage. Unknown until know, the Ulysses was not just at SRIII for the reasons stated, but for a much more clandestine purpose.

The scientists aboard the Ulysses had discovered that these ancient Orbs were created by the Pah'Wraiths with the help of a unique crystal form of DiLithium, a unique variety of the original Starship's reactor power source. As it turns out, it's only known source was discovered on SRIII.  SRIII is a particularly nasty place, subject to ionic storms and frequent meteorite impacts, as well as many hostile and dangerous indigenous species of plants and animals.

A highly secret, select group of Starfleet military and science personnel were assigned to investigate a means to synthesize and produce duplicate Orbs, if they could harness the DiLithium and determine the means by which the Pah'Wraiths had created these immense power sources so long ago. The purpose of these Orbs, if created, was even more alarming.

This "rogue" element of StarFleet personnel aligned themselves with a like-minded contingent of Cardassians. In an unholy alliance, they forged plans for creation of a super-weapon, allegedly to be deployed as a planetary protection system, capable of penetrating any shielding, and of immense power.

The Cardassians, together with the Starfleet conspirators constructed a research and development facility on SRIII. SRIII is difficult to scan from orbit due to the ionic distortion from all of the storms, and the risk of meteorite impacts makes the surface very dangerous to negotiate. The alliance was able to construct most of the development facility underground, with some areas on the surface. They plotted locations for the facilities that were to be above ground away from areas in the path of the known meteorite shower impact areas. Just for good measure, they also installed cannons capable of intercepting the occasional stray meteor.

It took almost 12 years to construct the facility in secret. At the time of construction, all that StarFleet had to go on was data that was sent from the Ulysses regarding their efforts, and their discoveries of the DiLithium crystals. Construction of the facility was begun with this research data in hand, but with no Orb to study. Based on what notes the Unholy Alliance had from the research data sent by the Ulysses staff, they have been able to synthesize a duplicate Orb or 2 within the last few months of operation.

The location of the Ulysses wreckage went undiscovered by the weapon's facility staff all this time, due to the inability to accurately scan the surface of SRIII, and the nature of the terrain. The staff of The Weapons Research Center (code name Omega) only located the Ulysses when they intercepted regular Starfleet channels when they sent the newly discovered wreckage location to Capt. Sisko, commanding him and the crew of the Defiant to retrieve the Orb believed to be among the Ulysses remains.

In an effort to maintain utmost secrecy, all the Omega facility personnel could do is monitor Sisko's efforts, for fear of discovery. After their departure, construction was undertaken to retrieve the contents of the Ulysses, and obtain any further research data that may have been left behind. The weapon's facility team constructed a new entrance into the cargo bay of the Ulysses, along with a bridge and tunnel facility to unload and transport the cargo to the research center for further study.

and at the time of Convergence, the unholy alliance is just about ready to conduct live testing of the new planetary defense system prototype.

There was one problem for the Cardassians, which they didn't anticipate. They had to send a coded message to their operatives, onboard ships positioned for assault on SRIII in a nearby sector. In order to send the message, the Cardassians on SRIII had to use a very high power transmitter, and on frequency that might be detected, if anyone was listening. It was a risk they had to take....

Dominion forces had taken up positions near SRIII. They had detected anomalous reading of an unusual nature that emanated from SRIII, though very rarely and intermittently. They identified these as the telltale signs of an Orb, a verteron cascade. This could only mean one thing...someone had an Orb of the Pah'Wraiths, and they were using it. The Vorta commanded whole legions of Jem'Haddar to secure SRIII and take possession of the Orb and any technology being developed there.

Meanwhile, light-years away, the dreaded scavengers, the Grigari, just happened to be cruising open space looking for easy targets for them to attack and lay claim to the spoils. All of a sudden, their com systems were overloaded with an intense signal, coming from SRIII......they had intercepted the Cardassian signal.....and in a matter of hours, had decoded it. The Grigari captain communicated the news to their commanders, who immediately dispatched an attack force to invade the facility on SRIII and recover the weapon technology for their own.

Almost at the same time, Jem'Haddar, Cardassian and Grigari ships had arrived at SRIII, and the battle had begun. All 3 races converged on the facility and a battle of epic proportions was underway. The Starfleet personnel were slaughtered by the dozen, in a vain attempt to protect the facility and deny the technology to their betrayers, the Cardassians, and the horrendous forces of Jem'Haddar and Grigari now overrunning the facility.

In a last-ditch, desperate attempt, a StarFleet scientist sent an open channel emergency distress call.

Captain Sisko, Commander Worf, Major Kira and the crew of The Defiant were on their way.....to rescue whoever they could, and above all, to prevent anyone from possessing the technology, and possibly, being able to bring the Federation to its knees.....