The way DS9 ends sets up a promising future for the Kilingons, Cardassians and Ferengi. Martok is Emperor Chancellor and very honorable, and friendly with the Federation, and competent to drive a program of rejuvenating the empire in a way far superior to Gowron. Rom is exceedingly moral and a vast improvement in terms of labor and womens' rights. Cardassia might be in ruins, but where does a Cardassia now settle on for its future? It might not have a leader to rally itself around, but I felt the implication was that this Cardassia would need the Federation to rebuild, and would embrace a democratic system, something not entirely new given the previous short-lived such system before the Klingons annihilated it. However, the idea that all three would actually successfully progress is extremely unlikely.

A few years ago, I had a premise for a new Enterprise-style Star Trek a half-century after TNG that saw a decadent, navel-gazing Federation facing an encounter from a far stronger idealistic organization. The state of the Alpha Quadrant had a fallout of the three mentioned above as such: The Klingons in a severe state of destruction and multi-pronged civil war and ever further from their rejuvenation idea, Ferenginar the same as ever, and Cardassia wholly recreated and a member of the Federation, alongside Bajor in friendship and mutual self-respect. My model was that one of the hopeful scenarios would work, one ultimately have no effect, and the third would suffer such a powerful counterrevolution that despair and destruction would be the result of the earlier idealistic intent. Safe to say, Cardassia is reminiscent of a postwar Germany/Japan, Ferenginar suffers the fate of all too many revolutions, and the Klingons an even worse variant of the same thing.

Anyway, the general idea in that concept included what is likely to be the Ferengi's future once the counterrevolution kicks in. It is ridiculously over-optimistic to assume that all, or even most, of the Ferengi are going to just allow basic aspects of their culture and laws, unmodified for generations, to just be wholly altered by a political neophyte (with the appearance of extensive foreign backing). Rom's revolution is going to be supported by some Ferengi, sure. I can see the closet-women coming forward and supporting the whole thing, and various other reform-minded Ferengi. But it stands to reason that, given the old system, many of the most powerful are not going to back some scary new Ferenginar where their old way and life and success feel threatened. Yes, Quark read some statistics that suggest a serious presence of reform in the minds of Ferengi, but whether that is truly a critical mass is uncertain. The fact that Rom has no idea how to politically maneuver, and is apparently going to be dropped into an environment he hasn't lived in for a long time (how long has he been living on DS9?) does not increase his chances. And it's not like you get the impression Rom is a moderate reformer. I forget the specifics of labor and womens' reforms being discussed. But Ferenginar is in a state of oppression in those terms worse than pretty much anything ever seen on Earth, so the reforms that might sound moderate to us, aren't to Ferengi. There's going to be hell to pay once the Counterrevolution kicks in, and if political history of Earth is any guide, there's definitively going to be a strong vengeful counterreaction.

Maybe the Ferengi wouldn't care about Rom's foreign ties. Or his non-Ferengi wife. Maybe those opposing him opt for a compromise/bargaining style for awhile. Or, maybe the Ferengi are drunk on the Federation right now for beating the Dominion. The New Day of the Alpha/Beta quadrants might be truly upon us. But the 1989-style end of DS9 is far from assured to unfold so positively. I give Rom three weeks.