A Cardassian novel by Preloc, set in a future war between Cardassia and the Klingon Empire, which Elim Garak presents to Julian Bashir at the end of The Wire.
Meditations on a Crimson Shadow is a work of Cardassian fiction by the author Preloc. It appears in the second-season Deep Space Nine episode The Wire, set in 2370, as part of the running exchange of literature between Garak and Bashir over lunch.
The episode begins with Bashir complaining about another Cardassian classic, The Never Ending Sacrifice, and goes on to the failure of the implant in Garak's head and a series of contradictory confessions about his past in the Obsidian Order.
When Garak has recovered, he hands the doctor the new book and describes it as a story of the future in which the Klingons and Cardassians are at war. Bashir asks who wins, and Garak tells him not to spoil the ending for himself. The two powers did go to war in earnest two years later.