Not trying to hijack the entire thread, but here is my 'alternative' history for the period of 2266 to 2293 (End of TOS to the beginning of ST VI Undiscovered Country). It also covers some of the lost era, but not in any great detail (just in an apocryphal way). Well, it's not so much alternate as designed to 'fit in' between the films. It does in some way supplement the films and explains some of the changes that occur in each film and the motivations of characters and the attitudes of the the various nations involved.
So, for those not familiar with the PC Game "Starfleet Command", here's a quick replay. Basically in the first game, the Organians disappear. In 2266 (the TOS episode "Let this be your final battlefield" I think) the enigmatic Organians stop the Federation and the Klingon Empire going to war by making the controls on their ships red hot (or something similar). Between this and the next paragraph, the first 5 Star Trek films occur, with tensions gradually easing between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, as seen in ST V.
Anyway so since the Organians disappeared, it's apparently open season in the Alpha/Beta Quadrants. There is a massive war between the Alliance (Federation, Gorn Confederacy and Hydran Kingdoms) and the Coalition (Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire and the Lyran Star Kingdom) along two fronts. The 'Northern Front' is along the Federation-Klingon and Federation-Romulan Neutral Zones, with the Gorn Confederacy hitting the Romulans from the opposite direction. The 'Southern Front' is the opposite side of the Klingon Empire, with a limited number of Klingon ships (they are mainly in the 'North' against the Federation) and the Lyran Star Navy against the Hydran Royal Navy. This war starts in 2285, and it drags on for four years. Think of it as a Star Trek "First World War". Everyone gradually makes separate peace treaties, and by 2289 peace has pretty much returned, but there is a lot of rebuilding to do. This is basically the storyline of the original Starfleet Command.
Unfortunately (and you'll see why) the Organians return. They are horrified to see what the supposedly civilised races of the Alpha and Beta quadrants did to each other in their absence. As it turns out, they thought the two quadrants were in fairly good shape, and went to deal with a growing threat: The Borg. They were not entirely successful, but hoped that they could return, warn everyone about the Borg and have everyone unified to face them. Well, since the whole place was in ruins and everyone had turned on each other, they went to one of the other powers they knew of; The Interstellar Concordium. The ISC, despite their homeworld being thousands of light years away in a different galaxy, had been observing the two quadrants for some time. However, their local colonies were unfortunately located out beyond the Gorn Confederacy, so the first experience they had of the two quadrants races was the unremitting hostility and conflict between the Gorn and the Romulans. They were horrified that such brutality still existed, believing themselves to have removed the need for war in their own colonial territory through the 'Pacification' of hostile races. The Organians decided to ask the ISC to restore order and unify the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Ironically, the ISC's "War of Pacification" simply wrought even greater destruction.
Starting in the middle of 2289, the ISC rapidly swarmed into the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, using their Subspace Slipways (a form of mass transit device) to appear without warning. Soon, each power had been subdued by the overwhelming power of the ISC Pacification Force.
However, they didn't count on the races of the two quadrants finally unifying. Resistance first came from the Klingon Empire, naturally. While individual rebellions were swiftly crushed, eventually the insurgency became too organised and numerous to stamp out. (The War of Pacification is more or less the storyline of Starfleet Command 2)
In 2290, the unified forces faced a set back when after the repulsion of ISC forces from Klingon space, the Klingon Empire is engulfed in a civil war as Kalgor, and later his half-brother Melkor, try to ascend to chancellor after the death of the elderly Chancellor Lorak. With the aid of General Chang, Gorkon the former chief of staff under Chancellor Lorak, ascends as chancellor. (Basically, the events of Klingon Academy.) Eventually the other races follow suit; As soon as their space is clear of ISC forces, popular support for the war wanes and by 2292, only the Federation is still fighting.
Despite fighting alone, the Federation has done surprisingly well. Knowing that the ISC will return in even greater numbers if they could contact their home galaxy for reinforcements, the Federation's Prime Fleet has forced the ISC out into the very fringe of the Milky Way, back to their colonies. The ISC however are not beaten yet, and they managed to covertly construct a new subspace slipway in the Regula Badlands, part of the wild and dangerous area of space known as the Outback Region that forms a triangle between the Federation, Gorn and Romulan frontiers. After wiping out all ISC resistance in the area, the Federation Prime Fleet embarks on it's most ambitious offensive yet. Under the overall command of Admiral Cartwright, but commanded in the field by Captain James T. Kirk, the Prime Fleet uses the captured Subspace Slipway to reach the Concordium's colonies in the fringe. Striking at the ISC staging grounds and wiping out the military capabilities of the Pacification Force, the Prime Fleet suffers an enormous setback; the subspace slipway is destroyed after an ISC counteroffensive. The Enterprise-A, along with the ships that were unable to flee through the slipway before it's destruction, are stranded half a galaxy away from Earth.
Meanwhile, chaos erupts in the Alpha Quadrant. Despite being defeated in his attempt to cease the chancellorship of the Klingon Empire, Melkor resurfaces, previously believed dead. Succeeding where he had failed before (thanks to Romulan support), Melkor overthrows Gorkon. However, Gorkon managed to escape, and this along with his lack of honour causes the High Council to deny the legitimacy of Melkor's chancellorship. Instead, they declare him to be 'Warlord' of the Klingon Empire, a title from Klingon antiquity. Infuriated, Melkor sets about proving his legitimacy through achieving what no Klingon Chancellor had ever done; Defeating the Federation. Shortly after the departure of the Prime Fleet to the fringe, Melkor seizes the opportunity and strikes the Federation Reserve Fleet (essentially TOS vessels, the backup plan as it were for defending the Federation) in the Pearl System. The old ships of the Reserve Fleet are no match for the modern warships of the KDF, and soon the Federation is more or less defenceless. Urged by Ambassador Spock, and also compelled to save the Federation (who were a powerful deterrent against the Romulans), the elderly Gorn King, Glormasskt, sends the Grand Fleet of the Gorn Royal Navy to repel the Klingon invasion.
Lacking the tactical genius of General Chang, Melkors invasion soon floundered. The Gorn, while allied with the Federation, were never the less dismayed at their ally's naivety; The Klingon Empire had long had a revanchist government eager to avenge the failure of the KDF to break Starfleet during the Organian Conflict. The Gorn knew this, as did many in Starfleet. However, the Federation Security Council had apparently ignored the evidence. Somewhat angered at being dragged into another war due to what they saw as Federation incompetence, the captains of the Grand Fleet, and indeed it's commander, General Thormasskk, pursued the prosecution of the war with an aggression and brutality that shocked the Federation. In one case, a Federation colony in the Neutral Zone had been occupied by the Klingon Empire. The Gorn Royal Navy took the system, and suspecting the world was being used as a military garrison and supply depot for the KDF, performed a full planetary bombardment. Many of the Federation nationals on the world were killed (years later, official reports were released that said more civilians died than Klingon occupiers).
Soon after that event, it was discovered that Melkor was being supported by the Romulan Star Empire. Enraged, and without consulting the Federation Council, King Glormasskt ordered the Grand Fleet into a full scale invasion of the Klingon Empire. They had been dragged into the war, and the Gorn wanted to destroy anyone who stood between them and Melkor. The Star Empire was also assaulted by smaller Gorn fleets along its frontier with the Gorn Confederacy. After punching through several Klingon fleets and destroying a major Klingon shipyard through the use of captured Romulan cloaking devices, the Grand Fleet arrived at Qo'NoS. Annihilating the defending warships and occupying every populated planetary body in the system, General Thormasskk received a communication from Ambassador Spock and the deposed Chancellor Gorkon. As soon as the system was secured, Gorkon was reinstated as Chancellor.
Throughout the war, General Chang had been noticeably absent. It was known he hated Melkor, and so not supporting his attempt at chancellorship was not surprising, but the fact he had not been involved in the invasion was surprising. After all, he had planned and relished a war with the Federation. However, Chang was no fool. He knew the Gorn would come to the Federations aid (his simulated campaign in KA shows this, one of the missions is concerned with keeping the Gorn out of the war) should the invasion not be kept covert till the last moment. Melkor had blundered into a full scale conflict and naturally the Gorn had defended their ally to avoid a massive change in the status quo. With the Federation out of the picture, the Gorn would be alone against the Romulans, and with a hugely expanded Klingon Empire at their doorstep. Chang instead decided to bide his time, waiting for the right moment to put his own candidate for chancellor in the chair. (Unknown who, unlikely to be K'm'pec since he was shown to be fairly diplomatic during his time at the Academy in KA, hardly the generals choice for a fighting man. Maybe Torlek, the player character from KA, despite being disgraced in Changs eyes by forming the alliance between Chang and Gorkon, he won back the generals respect by the end of KA).
Things had gone wrong however when Gorkon turned to the Gorn General Thormassk to hunt down Melkor since the KDF had been largely destroyed. Naturally this sickened Chang. Firstly, the KDF, most of which he had personally trained at the Academy, had been all but destroyed thanks to the blunderings of Melkor, his sworn enemy. Then, Gorkon, his political rival turned forced ally, disgraced (in Chang's eyes) the KDF again AND the entire Empire by asking a foreign invading power to hunt down Melkor. He decided that Gorkon had to go. He also realised that any future war against the Federation would need to be orchestrated in such a way that the Gorn would not aid their ally. While they would probably be politically unwilling should yet another war occur, that couldn't be relied on. He had to make it look like the war was started by the Federation. He called favours, he made unholy alliances, and waited. (Hence, Star Trek VI...)
While the Grand Fleet was pushing to Qo'NoS however, events had taken a strange turn in the fringe. While the Federation had thought all ISC vessels in the Alpha Quadrant had been eradicated, in fact one wily ISC Commander, Nortene, had survived and fought a guerrilla war in the Outback Region since the expulsion of the ISC from the Alpha Quadrant. It was Nortene who had orchestrated the building of the slipway in the Regula Badlands. When the last Federation ships had escaped to the badlands through the slipway, under orders from Admiral Cartwright (who knew Kirk was trapped anyway), the slipway was destroyed, to prevent any further ISC incursions. Commander Nortene and his small fleet however had survived and witnessed the destruction of the slipway. Using hit and fade strikes on Romulan and Gorn targets in the Outback (who given the state of war between them, probably accounted their losses to each other) , Nortene built up his forces and rebuilt a slipway so he could return to the Fringe and rally the ISC forces there.
He returned to the Fringe not to be welcomed by a large, prepared Pacification Fleet, but by the weakened remnants of the Prime Fleet trapped in the Fringe. Kirk revealed that during an assault on an ISC stronghold, a number of Federation AND Concordium ships had been fired upon by unknown assailants and destroyed. The ships seemed to be Tholian in origin, but unlike any the Federation had encountered. Nortene discovered that the ISC forces in the Fringe had been attempting to reach the ISC homeworld, and had accidentally reached another galaxy due to a coordinate error. Turns out this other galaxy was Andromeda, home galaxy to the Tholians. Most Tholians had fled Andromeda after the Seltorians (their slave species essentially) overthrew them. Some however remained. The Tholians had lost most of their advanced technology during the exodus, but some late departing ships survived and brought with them more advanced technology. The Federation had termed this new arrivals "Neo-Tholians" since they were "new" to Alpha Quadrant. They had no idea the Neo-Tholians were actually the survivors of the original Tholian species, hence the misnomer. So, after discussing the situation, Nortene and Kirk realise that the Neo-Tholians now have target coordinates for the Milky Way (they previously had had no idea that anyone who had left Andromeda had reached the Milky Way, after all no-one came back). They had reached the Tholian Assembly, and the two groups were orchestrating an invasion. Given as the Tholians had originally controlled the entirety of Andromeda, they seemed likely to be able to do the same to the Milky Way.
Kirk and Nortene agree to pool resources to stop the threat, and together they find the rift that the Neo-Tholians were using to enter the Fringe. (It was too far for the Neo-Tholians to jump from Andromeda to the Alpha Quadrant using the rift, they had to make a stop in the Fringe, then use another rift they had formed to reach the Alpha Quadrant). They managed to destroy the facilities that were generating the rift and escape back to the Alpha Quadrant through the collapsing rifts. Command Nortene tried to warn Kirk and the Federation about the Borg, (especially since Kirk had dealt with V'Ger), but the Federation Council once again ignored the advice. Kirk and Nortene then parted company, the ISC and Federation still 'at war'. Commander Nortene and the ISC in general were never seen again.
After the war, the events of Star Trek VI occur (the conflicts explain why the Klingon Empire and the Federation are somewhat at odds again compared to ST V, and it explains why the Enterprise-A looks all military again after looking very pre-TNG in ST V). The Khithomer Accords are signed etc etc.
Now, for what happens to everyone else, I covered this ages ago and saved the document, so here it is
Q: What happens to *insert race here* by TNG?
A: After a 50 year alliance, the dying wish of King Glormaskkt in 2320 was that the Federation and the Gorn Confederacy experience a more permenant joining. In 2325, the Gorn Confederacy joined the United Federation of Planets. Though relatively few in number (such is the decline in Gorn society), the actions of Gorn personnel in Starfleet have been exemplary. Gorn Marines distinguised themselves in the Dominion War and the Defiant Class was designed with assistance from renown Gorn captains.
After yet another argument with the Mirak Star League turned to war, both the Lyran Star Kingdom and the Mirak Star League were invaded and all but destroyed by the Interstellar Concordium (at the height of their power in 2288). The Primarch of the Mirak Star League and the Mirak Council of Elders perished when Miras, the Mirak homeworld was bombarded with plasma weaponry and reduced to a radioactive wasteland. The Lyran King-Emperor Charhthos VI was killed by ISC Pacification Teams (the ISC maintained that rebellious Lyrans killed Charhthos) during a riot on the homeworld of Lyra. After these events the governments of both powers collapsed, anarchy ruled over their former systems after the departure of ISC Pacification Teams, and refugees fled from these lawless worlds to the relative security of the Klingon Empire (in the case of the Lyrans) and the Federation (for the Mirak).
The Hydran Kingdoms resurrgence was shortlived. By 2315 the former Lyran Star Kingdom had been occupied by the Klingon Empire, and what had once been the Mirak Star League, allies of the Hydrans by proxy, was conquered by the Romulan Star Empire. Fighting alongside Mirak freedom fighters, the Hydran Royal Navy made its valiant last stand in the Targreth System in 2323, in a battle known as the Battle of the Last Alliance.
The Sha'Kurian Duchies, through unusual tactics and their extremely powerful sensors (which could detect cloaked vessels with ease) survived far longer than their neighbours in the southern octants of the Beta Quadrant. However, with their brethren the Mirak gone, and the Federation reluctant to get involved in another war with the Romulan Star Empire (only 20 years after the Tomed Incident), the final Sha'Kurian House was tracked down to the Enroth System by a Romulan task force in 2330, and their fleet was quickly destroyed by the powerful Melak Class Warbirds. However the Romulans (who had conquered most of Sha'Kurian space by 2320) was plagued by Sha'Kurian vessels (whos captains turned to piracy after the loss of their state) for years to come.
The Lyran Democratic Republic (or LDR) ceded from the Lyran Star Kingdom in 2276, and survived well into the 24th Century, long after the Star Kingdom had been destroyed by the ISC. However, the LDR was economically poor, and with the destruction and invasion of the other smaller powers of the quadrants her government knew their time was limited. In 2315 President Skavrock held a referendum, and overwhelmingly the people of the LDR voted to join their close allies, the Klingon Empire. Unusually for most Klingon "annexations" the people of the LDR were left to run themselves in a largely autonomous state and were treated as fellow warriors by the Klingon High Council. Lyran refugees from the former Star Kingdom flocked to this remote corner of the Empire and with her population booming, the Autonomous Lyran State (ALS, as the LDR became under Klingon rule) began to provide locally built Klingon warships complete with Lyran crews to the Klingon Defence Force. These Lyran crewed vessels were part of the Klingon mobilisation during the Dominion War, and served with honour during that conflict.
The Tholian Assembly still exists as of 2375, although far smaller than it was during the 23rd Century. The Tholians used several humanoid species for the purposes of gathering resources on worlds inhospitable to Tholian life, and for military purposes such as marines and ground assault troops. In 2320, unbeknownst to the rest of the quadrant, a civil war erupted in the Tholian Assembly between the Tholians and one of their member races. An ignored, backwater civilisation during the 23rd Century, the Cardassian people rose up against their Tholian overlords and managed to reassert control over their homeworld and several nearby systems. The Tholians had no hope of controlling this rebellion as another member race, the Breen, inspired by the Cardassian uprising, had followed suite and rebelled also. The Cardassians expanded rapidly into the weak collection of planetary governments to the north of the octant, including Bajor. The history of the Cardassian Union, as the state became, is beyond the scope of this document but the rise of the Union was the fall of the Assembly. As any Federation citizen knows, the Cardassians and the Breen both became grave threats to the Federation during the middle of the 24th Century, coming to a head in the Dominion War.
The Tholians meanwhile, became little more than an annoyance, although Starfleet regularly simulated Tholian attacks in her wargames well into the 2360s.
Q: Who were the nameless ones? What happened to the Sha'Kurians in the Delta Quadrant?
A: The Sha'Kurians once held a massive territory almost the size of the Klingon Empire on the edge of the Beta and Delta Quadrants. Some time in the mid 21st Century, they were invaded by a powerful race of cybernetic beings that would not become known to the Federation until the 2360s:- The Borg. Not fully understanding the assimilation process, the Sha'Kurians believed the assimilated members of their government were collaborating with the Borg, and a massive civil war erupted. With the Borg invasion and the internal strife of a civil war, 15 families fled the Delta Quadrant, and arrived in an undeveloped backwater of the Beta Quadrant. This area was hidden from the Gorn Confederacy and the Romulan Star Empire by a vast nebula known then as the Abyss Cloud. This cloud was slowly dissipating, both a blessing and a curse to the Sha'Kurians. They explored tentatively into the Abyss Cloud, hoping to find untapped resources. However, their sensors detected advanced technology on the planet of Baku, and fearing the Borg, the Sha'Kurians halted all exploration of the cloud. Eventually they were discovered by a Romulan cruiser squadron that attempted to bypass Gorn lines in the 3rd Gorn-Romulan War of 2282. The Sha'Kurians were unfamilar with cloaking technology and were unaware that the Romulans believed they were hidden. The Sha'Kurians hailed the Romulan vessels and demanded they leave the area. Sha'Kurian Xenophobia and Romulan Expansionist Dogma clashed violently and a war erupted. The history of the Sha'Kurians in the Beta Quadrant from this point on is documented elsewhere.
So, for those not familiar with the PC Game "Starfleet Command", here's a quick replay. Basically in the first game, the Organians disappear. In 2266 (the TOS episode "Let this be your final battlefield" I think) the enigmatic Organians stop the Federation and the Klingon Empire going to war by making the controls on their ships red hot (or something similar). Between this and the next paragraph, the first 5 Star Trek films occur, with tensions gradually easing between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, as seen in ST V.
Anyway so since the Organians disappeared, it's apparently open season in the Alpha/Beta Quadrants. There is a massive war between the Alliance (Federation, Gorn Confederacy and Hydran Kingdoms) and the Coalition (Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire and the Lyran Star Kingdom) along two fronts. The 'Northern Front' is along the Federation-Klingon and Federation-Romulan Neutral Zones, with the Gorn Confederacy hitting the Romulans from the opposite direction. The 'Southern Front' is the opposite side of the Klingon Empire, with a limited number of Klingon ships (they are mainly in the 'North' against the Federation) and the Lyran Star Navy against the Hydran Royal Navy. This war starts in 2285, and it drags on for four years. Think of it as a Star Trek "First World War". Everyone gradually makes separate peace treaties, and by 2289 peace has pretty much returned, but there is a lot of rebuilding to do. This is basically the storyline of the original Starfleet Command.
Unfortunately (and you'll see why) the Organians return. They are horrified to see what the supposedly civilised races of the Alpha and Beta quadrants did to each other in their absence. As it turns out, they thought the two quadrants were in fairly good shape, and went to deal with a growing threat: The Borg. They were not entirely successful, but hoped that they could return, warn everyone about the Borg and have everyone unified to face them. Well, since the whole place was in ruins and everyone had turned on each other, they went to one of the other powers they knew of; The Interstellar Concordium. The ISC, despite their homeworld being thousands of light years away in a different galaxy, had been observing the two quadrants for some time. However, their local colonies were unfortunately located out beyond the Gorn Confederacy, so the first experience they had of the two quadrants races was the unremitting hostility and conflict between the Gorn and the Romulans. They were horrified that such brutality still existed, believing themselves to have removed the need for war in their own colonial territory through the 'Pacification' of hostile races. The Organians decided to ask the ISC to restore order and unify the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Ironically, the ISC's "War of Pacification" simply wrought even greater destruction.
Starting in the middle of 2289, the ISC rapidly swarmed into the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, using their Subspace Slipways (a form of mass transit device) to appear without warning. Soon, each power had been subdued by the overwhelming power of the ISC Pacification Force.
However, they didn't count on the races of the two quadrants finally unifying. Resistance first came from the Klingon Empire, naturally. While individual rebellions were swiftly crushed, eventually the insurgency became too organised and numerous to stamp out. (The War of Pacification is more or less the storyline of Starfleet Command 2)
In 2290, the unified forces faced a set back when after the repulsion of ISC forces from Klingon space, the Klingon Empire is engulfed in a civil war as Kalgor, and later his half-brother Melkor, try to ascend to chancellor after the death of the elderly Chancellor Lorak. With the aid of General Chang, Gorkon the former chief of staff under Chancellor Lorak, ascends as chancellor. (Basically, the events of Klingon Academy.) Eventually the other races follow suit; As soon as their space is clear of ISC forces, popular support for the war wanes and by 2292, only the Federation is still fighting.
Despite fighting alone, the Federation has done surprisingly well. Knowing that the ISC will return in even greater numbers if they could contact their home galaxy for reinforcements, the Federation's Prime Fleet has forced the ISC out into the very fringe of the Milky Way, back to their colonies. The ISC however are not beaten yet, and they managed to covertly construct a new subspace slipway in the Regula Badlands, part of the wild and dangerous area of space known as the Outback Region that forms a triangle between the Federation, Gorn and Romulan frontiers. After wiping out all ISC resistance in the area, the Federation Prime Fleet embarks on it's most ambitious offensive yet. Under the overall command of Admiral Cartwright, but commanded in the field by Captain James T. Kirk, the Prime Fleet uses the captured Subspace Slipway to reach the Concordium's colonies in the fringe. Striking at the ISC staging grounds and wiping out the military capabilities of the Pacification Force, the Prime Fleet suffers an enormous setback; the subspace slipway is destroyed after an ISC counteroffensive. The Enterprise-A, along with the ships that were unable to flee through the slipway before it's destruction, are stranded half a galaxy away from Earth.
Meanwhile, chaos erupts in the Alpha Quadrant. Despite being defeated in his attempt to cease the chancellorship of the Klingon Empire, Melkor resurfaces, previously believed dead. Succeeding where he had failed before (thanks to Romulan support), Melkor overthrows Gorkon. However, Gorkon managed to escape, and this along with his lack of honour causes the High Council to deny the legitimacy of Melkor's chancellorship. Instead, they declare him to be 'Warlord' of the Klingon Empire, a title from Klingon antiquity. Infuriated, Melkor sets about proving his legitimacy through achieving what no Klingon Chancellor had ever done; Defeating the Federation. Shortly after the departure of the Prime Fleet to the fringe, Melkor seizes the opportunity and strikes the Federation Reserve Fleet (essentially TOS vessels, the backup plan as it were for defending the Federation) in the Pearl System. The old ships of the Reserve Fleet are no match for the modern warships of the KDF, and soon the Federation is more or less defenceless. Urged by Ambassador Spock, and also compelled to save the Federation (who were a powerful deterrent against the Romulans), the elderly Gorn King, Glormasskt, sends the Grand Fleet of the Gorn Royal Navy to repel the Klingon invasion.
Lacking the tactical genius of General Chang, Melkors invasion soon floundered. The Gorn, while allied with the Federation, were never the less dismayed at their ally's naivety; The Klingon Empire had long had a revanchist government eager to avenge the failure of the KDF to break Starfleet during the Organian Conflict. The Gorn knew this, as did many in Starfleet. However, the Federation Security Council had apparently ignored the evidence. Somewhat angered at being dragged into another war due to what they saw as Federation incompetence, the captains of the Grand Fleet, and indeed it's commander, General Thormasskk, pursued the prosecution of the war with an aggression and brutality that shocked the Federation. In one case, a Federation colony in the Neutral Zone had been occupied by the Klingon Empire. The Gorn Royal Navy took the system, and suspecting the world was being used as a military garrison and supply depot for the KDF, performed a full planetary bombardment. Many of the Federation nationals on the world were killed (years later, official reports were released that said more civilians died than Klingon occupiers).
Soon after that event, it was discovered that Melkor was being supported by the Romulan Star Empire. Enraged, and without consulting the Federation Council, King Glormasskt ordered the Grand Fleet into a full scale invasion of the Klingon Empire. They had been dragged into the war, and the Gorn wanted to destroy anyone who stood between them and Melkor. The Star Empire was also assaulted by smaller Gorn fleets along its frontier with the Gorn Confederacy. After punching through several Klingon fleets and destroying a major Klingon shipyard through the use of captured Romulan cloaking devices, the Grand Fleet arrived at Qo'NoS. Annihilating the defending warships and occupying every populated planetary body in the system, General Thormasskk received a communication from Ambassador Spock and the deposed Chancellor Gorkon. As soon as the system was secured, Gorkon was reinstated as Chancellor.
Throughout the war, General Chang had been noticeably absent. It was known he hated Melkor, and so not supporting his attempt at chancellorship was not surprising, but the fact he had not been involved in the invasion was surprising. After all, he had planned and relished a war with the Federation. However, Chang was no fool. He knew the Gorn would come to the Federations aid (his simulated campaign in KA shows this, one of the missions is concerned with keeping the Gorn out of the war) should the invasion not be kept covert till the last moment. Melkor had blundered into a full scale conflict and naturally the Gorn had defended their ally to avoid a massive change in the status quo. With the Federation out of the picture, the Gorn would be alone against the Romulans, and with a hugely expanded Klingon Empire at their doorstep. Chang instead decided to bide his time, waiting for the right moment to put his own candidate for chancellor in the chair. (Unknown who, unlikely to be K'm'pec since he was shown to be fairly diplomatic during his time at the Academy in KA, hardly the generals choice for a fighting man. Maybe Torlek, the player character from KA, despite being disgraced in Changs eyes by forming the alliance between Chang and Gorkon, he won back the generals respect by the end of KA).
Things had gone wrong however when Gorkon turned to the Gorn General Thormassk to hunt down Melkor since the KDF had been largely destroyed. Naturally this sickened Chang. Firstly, the KDF, most of which he had personally trained at the Academy, had been all but destroyed thanks to the blunderings of Melkor, his sworn enemy. Then, Gorkon, his political rival turned forced ally, disgraced (in Chang's eyes) the KDF again AND the entire Empire by asking a foreign invading power to hunt down Melkor. He decided that Gorkon had to go. He also realised that any future war against the Federation would need to be orchestrated in such a way that the Gorn would not aid their ally. While they would probably be politically unwilling should yet another war occur, that couldn't be relied on. He had to make it look like the war was started by the Federation. He called favours, he made unholy alliances, and waited. (Hence, Star Trek VI...)
While the Grand Fleet was pushing to Qo'NoS however, events had taken a strange turn in the fringe. While the Federation had thought all ISC vessels in the Alpha Quadrant had been eradicated, in fact one wily ISC Commander, Nortene, had survived and fought a guerrilla war in the Outback Region since the expulsion of the ISC from the Alpha Quadrant. It was Nortene who had orchestrated the building of the slipway in the Regula Badlands. When the last Federation ships had escaped to the badlands through the slipway, under orders from Admiral Cartwright (who knew Kirk was trapped anyway), the slipway was destroyed, to prevent any further ISC incursions. Commander Nortene and his small fleet however had survived and witnessed the destruction of the slipway. Using hit and fade strikes on Romulan and Gorn targets in the Outback (who given the state of war between them, probably accounted their losses to each other) , Nortene built up his forces and rebuilt a slipway so he could return to the Fringe and rally the ISC forces there.
He returned to the Fringe not to be welcomed by a large, prepared Pacification Fleet, but by the weakened remnants of the Prime Fleet trapped in the Fringe. Kirk revealed that during an assault on an ISC stronghold, a number of Federation AND Concordium ships had been fired upon by unknown assailants and destroyed. The ships seemed to be Tholian in origin, but unlike any the Federation had encountered. Nortene discovered that the ISC forces in the Fringe had been attempting to reach the ISC homeworld, and had accidentally reached another galaxy due to a coordinate error. Turns out this other galaxy was Andromeda, home galaxy to the Tholians. Most Tholians had fled Andromeda after the Seltorians (their slave species essentially) overthrew them. Some however remained. The Tholians had lost most of their advanced technology during the exodus, but some late departing ships survived and brought with them more advanced technology. The Federation had termed this new arrivals "Neo-Tholians" since they were "new" to Alpha Quadrant. They had no idea the Neo-Tholians were actually the survivors of the original Tholian species, hence the misnomer. So, after discussing the situation, Nortene and Kirk realise that the Neo-Tholians now have target coordinates for the Milky Way (they previously had had no idea that anyone who had left Andromeda had reached the Milky Way, after all no-one came back). They had reached the Tholian Assembly, and the two groups were orchestrating an invasion. Given as the Tholians had originally controlled the entirety of Andromeda, they seemed likely to be able to do the same to the Milky Way.
Kirk and Nortene agree to pool resources to stop the threat, and together they find the rift that the Neo-Tholians were using to enter the Fringe. (It was too far for the Neo-Tholians to jump from Andromeda to the Alpha Quadrant using the rift, they had to make a stop in the Fringe, then use another rift they had formed to reach the Alpha Quadrant). They managed to destroy the facilities that were generating the rift and escape back to the Alpha Quadrant through the collapsing rifts. Command Nortene tried to warn Kirk and the Federation about the Borg, (especially since Kirk had dealt with V'Ger), but the Federation Council once again ignored the advice. Kirk and Nortene then parted company, the ISC and Federation still 'at war'. Commander Nortene and the ISC in general were never seen again.
After the war, the events of Star Trek VI occur (the conflicts explain why the Klingon Empire and the Federation are somewhat at odds again compared to ST V, and it explains why the Enterprise-A looks all military again after looking very pre-TNG in ST V). The Khithomer Accords are signed etc etc.
Now, for what happens to everyone else, I covered this ages ago and saved the document, so here it is
Q: What happens to *insert race here* by TNG?
A: After a 50 year alliance, the dying wish of King Glormaskkt in 2320 was that the Federation and the Gorn Confederacy experience a more permenant joining. In 2325, the Gorn Confederacy joined the United Federation of Planets. Though relatively few in number (such is the decline in Gorn society), the actions of Gorn personnel in Starfleet have been exemplary. Gorn Marines distinguised themselves in the Dominion War and the Defiant Class was designed with assistance from renown Gorn captains.
After yet another argument with the Mirak Star League turned to war, both the Lyran Star Kingdom and the Mirak Star League were invaded and all but destroyed by the Interstellar Concordium (at the height of their power in 2288). The Primarch of the Mirak Star League and the Mirak Council of Elders perished when Miras, the Mirak homeworld was bombarded with plasma weaponry and reduced to a radioactive wasteland. The Lyran King-Emperor Charhthos VI was killed by ISC Pacification Teams (the ISC maintained that rebellious Lyrans killed Charhthos) during a riot on the homeworld of Lyra. After these events the governments of both powers collapsed, anarchy ruled over their former systems after the departure of ISC Pacification Teams, and refugees fled from these lawless worlds to the relative security of the Klingon Empire (in the case of the Lyrans) and the Federation (for the Mirak).
The Hydran Kingdoms resurrgence was shortlived. By 2315 the former Lyran Star Kingdom had been occupied by the Klingon Empire, and what had once been the Mirak Star League, allies of the Hydrans by proxy, was conquered by the Romulan Star Empire. Fighting alongside Mirak freedom fighters, the Hydran Royal Navy made its valiant last stand in the Targreth System in 2323, in a battle known as the Battle of the Last Alliance.
The Sha'Kurian Duchies, through unusual tactics and their extremely powerful sensors (which could detect cloaked vessels with ease) survived far longer than their neighbours in the southern octants of the Beta Quadrant. However, with their brethren the Mirak gone, and the Federation reluctant to get involved in another war with the Romulan Star Empire (only 20 years after the Tomed Incident), the final Sha'Kurian House was tracked down to the Enroth System by a Romulan task force in 2330, and their fleet was quickly destroyed by the powerful Melak Class Warbirds. However the Romulans (who had conquered most of Sha'Kurian space by 2320) was plagued by Sha'Kurian vessels (whos captains turned to piracy after the loss of their state) for years to come.
The Lyran Democratic Republic (or LDR) ceded from the Lyran Star Kingdom in 2276, and survived well into the 24th Century, long after the Star Kingdom had been destroyed by the ISC. However, the LDR was economically poor, and with the destruction and invasion of the other smaller powers of the quadrants her government knew their time was limited. In 2315 President Skavrock held a referendum, and overwhelmingly the people of the LDR voted to join their close allies, the Klingon Empire. Unusually for most Klingon "annexations" the people of the LDR were left to run themselves in a largely autonomous state and were treated as fellow warriors by the Klingon High Council. Lyran refugees from the former Star Kingdom flocked to this remote corner of the Empire and with her population booming, the Autonomous Lyran State (ALS, as the LDR became under Klingon rule) began to provide locally built Klingon warships complete with Lyran crews to the Klingon Defence Force. These Lyran crewed vessels were part of the Klingon mobilisation during the Dominion War, and served with honour during that conflict.
The Tholian Assembly still exists as of 2375, although far smaller than it was during the 23rd Century. The Tholians used several humanoid species for the purposes of gathering resources on worlds inhospitable to Tholian life, and for military purposes such as marines and ground assault troops. In 2320, unbeknownst to the rest of the quadrant, a civil war erupted in the Tholian Assembly between the Tholians and one of their member races. An ignored, backwater civilisation during the 23rd Century, the Cardassian people rose up against their Tholian overlords and managed to reassert control over their homeworld and several nearby systems. The Tholians had no hope of controlling this rebellion as another member race, the Breen, inspired by the Cardassian uprising, had followed suite and rebelled also. The Cardassians expanded rapidly into the weak collection of planetary governments to the north of the octant, including Bajor. The history of the Cardassian Union, as the state became, is beyond the scope of this document but the rise of the Union was the fall of the Assembly. As any Federation citizen knows, the Cardassians and the Breen both became grave threats to the Federation during the middle of the 24th Century, coming to a head in the Dominion War.
The Tholians meanwhile, became little more than an annoyance, although Starfleet regularly simulated Tholian attacks in her wargames well into the 2360s.
Q: Who were the nameless ones? What happened to the Sha'Kurians in the Delta Quadrant?
A: The Sha'Kurians once held a massive territory almost the size of the Klingon Empire on the edge of the Beta and Delta Quadrants. Some time in the mid 21st Century, they were invaded by a powerful race of cybernetic beings that would not become known to the Federation until the 2360s:- The Borg. Not fully understanding the assimilation process, the Sha'Kurians believed the assimilated members of their government were collaborating with the Borg, and a massive civil war erupted. With the Borg invasion and the internal strife of a civil war, 15 families fled the Delta Quadrant, and arrived in an undeveloped backwater of the Beta Quadrant. This area was hidden from the Gorn Confederacy and the Romulan Star Empire by a vast nebula known then as the Abyss Cloud. This cloud was slowly dissipating, both a blessing and a curse to the Sha'Kurians. They explored tentatively into the Abyss Cloud, hoping to find untapped resources. However, their sensors detected advanced technology on the planet of Baku, and fearing the Borg, the Sha'Kurians halted all exploration of the cloud. Eventually they were discovered by a Romulan cruiser squadron that attempted to bypass Gorn lines in the 3rd Gorn-Romulan War of 2282. The Sha'Kurians were unfamilar with cloaking technology and were unaware that the Romulans believed they were hidden. The Sha'Kurians hailed the Romulan vessels and demanded they leave the area. Sha'Kurian Xenophobia and Romulan Expansionist Dogma clashed violently and a war erupted. The history of the Sha'Kurians in the Beta Quadrant from this point on is documented elsewhere.
