Star Trek AH: no peace with the Klingons

OTL: The Praxis moon explosion forced the Klingons to make peace with the Federation.
ATL: The Klingons still try to fight on all their fronts despite the Praxis explosion damage, and make no peace. This strains the Empire so badly that it breaks up in a wave of internal rebellions. Compare the Austro-Hungarian Empire or Russia after 1918 but much worse. Add a quantity of planetary Kolokotronis'es (as in the Greek War of Independence) freeing their worlds of the leftovers of Klingon rule. The Federation has to cope with a risk of Klingon incursion, not an invasion but refugees. This spreads to the Ferengi Union, and the same rebellions and revenge by subject peoples who are no longer subjects. Planets try to rid themselves of Klingon cultural overlay, and of such wldlife nuisances as qagh worms let loose to breed everywhere. Etc.

This was alluded to in Star Trek VI - the rogue Federation faction and General Chang's faction conspired to avert peace. They both knew that with the homeworld gone, the extinction of the species wouldn't be too far behind. Rather than be subverted to the Federation, Chang wanted glorious combat so he and all other warriors could enter Sto Vo Kor.

The rogue Federation faction knew the Klingons would impale themselves trying and the Federation would conquer the empire in the end.

A prolonged Cold War

Of course, it is also entirely possible that the Klingons maintain the 'cold war' of the late 2290's by strengthening ties with the Romulan Empire, trading off more technology in exchange for assistance. The Romulans, while not thrilled with dealing with the Klingns, go through with the various agreements as a way to tentacle their way into the Klingon bureaucracy. With no major shift in Klingon politics caused by the Khitomer treaty and no fear of a united Klingon-Federation threat, the Romulans will likely stay as an outward looking power past 2311. The Tomed Incident never occurs.

The Federation is stuck in the arms race for a few more decades, with a subsequent burden on the economy. However, in this period, new advances are coming more rapidly, with dilithium recrystallization technology and proto-isolinear circuitry spreading through the quadrants. More Excelsior class ships are filling the fleet, and by 2330, the first of the Ambassador class should be rolling off the assembly line. These ships will help dramatically shift the balance of power towards the Federation's side. Politically, the Federation will be on the lookout for new allies to counter the strengthened Klingon-Romulan alliance, which is becoming more and more Romulan in character. This search for allies may serve to drive the Federation and Cardassian Union, fearing the growing strength of the Klingon-Romulan alliance, into an uneasy alliance. Greater contact with the Cardassians may also bring about an earlier contact with the Ferengi, who are based somewhere near Cardassian space.

In the grand scheme of things, this tenuous peace can't hold. There may be a Dominion War-style fight between the two major alliances in the middle of the 2300's. By the time of the Borg and Dominion incursions of the 2360's and 2370's, all bets are off.

Given the stated aims of Chang and teh other conspirators an all out attack looks more likely than going to the Romulans for assistance.

What we can't forget is that the Klingons had Birds of prey that could fire while cloaked. Whilst the Federation would presumably develop tactics to minimise that advantage as Kirk did at Khitomer it would still allow the Klingons to make significant inroads; maybe enough to steal sufficient resources to pay for the clean-up.

The role of the Romulans in any war would be crucial, it could easily be what tips the balance.

Continuing on "The Cold War"

Here are a few more ideas about this TL:

-The Bajorans will still probably get the shaft here, despite whatever trade the Federation is having with the Cardassians. If the Cardassians decide to dig in around Bajor, they will probably not leave for quite some time. The Prophets (wormhole aliens) may decide that now is not a good time for the "Emissary" to appear (unless they want a Cardassian one for some stupid reason). As a result, there is no Ben Sisko or Bajoran wormhole.

-The Ferengi will, true to their nature, stay out of the whole alliance system, and trade with everyone around them. After all, war is good for business.

-The Breen and Tholians will likewise sit out of the alliance system. The Breen, because they generally don't like to get into that sort of thing, and the Tholians, because, no matter who they join, they will be crushed flat in any war. (Weren't the Tholians fairly weak in TNG/DS9?).

-With no wormhole, the Dominion will just putter along, happy as always.

-With more of a military threat, Federation ship design will become more militaristic. Expect very few Ambassador class ships to be produced, and there may never be a Galaxy class. However, there will likely be a greater abundance of smaller, more combat-ready designs, such as theAkira,Norway, andSteamrunner classes. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that the Defiant will be built 20 years early.

-The Borg:tricky to predict. According to various sources, the Borg became aware of the Federation by assimilating some wayward survey ships on the outskirts of Federation space. Later, the Borg attacked several outposts in the Federation-Romulan Neutral Zone to gain information about the local technology level. If the Federation curtails expansion in favor of greater defense spending, the Borg incursions may be delayed for a decade or longer.

Man, this is all good stuff. I should make a TL out of this!

Personally I think a better POD would be the Organian Peace Treaty. After all, what are the odds that the place where the Federation decided to stand up to Klingon imperialism would be inhabited by pacifist and omnipotent lifeforms. But hey, whatever you want.

---Alasdair Czyrnyj---

Didn't the borg find out about the Federation (or at least got interested in them) when Q took the Enterprise to the Delta Quadrant. No Enterprise probably would mean Q owuld fine some other race to annoy, so no Borg in the Alpha Quadrant. Addtionally different Cardassians would mean no Maquis (or at least as we know them) so no Voyager in the Delta Quadrant for the Borg to get distracted by. All of this would mean that the Borg would probably not needlessly waste resources attacking Humanity, leading the Borg to concentrate on consolidating and expanding their Delta Quadrant holdings.

Gedca said:

Didn't the borg find out about the Federation (or at least got interested in them) when Q took the Enterprise to the Delta Quadrant. No Enterprise probably would mean Q owuld fine some other race to annoy, so no Borg in the Alpha Quadrant. Addtionally different Cardassians would mean no Maquis (or at least as we know them) so no Voyager in the Delta Quadrant for the Borg to get distracted by. All of this would mean that the Borg would probably not needlessly waste resources attacking Humanity, leading the Borg to concentrate on consolidating and expanding their Delta Quadrant holdings.

Click to expand...

Not exactly. According to ST:VOYAGER, the Borg seemed to have taken a first glimpse of humanity when the S.S. Raven started poking around in Borg space. There was another episode that mentioned a ship, the U.S.S. Tombaugh, I believe, that was assimilated pre-TNG. Q just introduced humanity to the Borg, rather than vice versa.