Starting Voyager -- dumb plot questions
I have been watching the shows in order that they come out, so I have seen TOS, TNG and DS9. I took a bit of a break so its been over a year since I finished DS9. There seems to be a bit of the political plot setup that seems like it comes off of what happens in DS9 but I can't fully put it together (I don't have a great memory). I know I could look it up, but I really don't want to be spoiled as I don't know anything about Voyager yet, and spoilers are impossible to avoid on a fan wiki lol, so I hope someone can help me while avoiding any post DS9 spoilers.
My questions are basically this:
The intro text scroll implies Cardassia and the Federation are allies, did this happen at some point in DS9 or is implied to be off screen? Or did I totally misread the original plot setting and they were allies the whole time?
I have heard Tom Paris was based on a DS9 character, which episode was this, so I can rewatch?