THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS AND IS NOT COMPLETED. MORE COMING SOON...
This alternate timeline covers the growth of Second Republic of Bajor, the Klingon takeover of the Cardassian Union, the outbreak of the destructive Federation-Klingon War in 2380 and its aftermath, and the eventual UFP colonization of the Jenolan Dyson Sphere. I am using a completely different map than the other timelines I have used in the past, and will be posting new original artwork in this section as well. Enjoy!
IMPORTANT BAJORIAN REPUBLIC HISTORY
In the Star Trek universe, the Bajoran civilization has historically stretched back more than half a million years. The ancient Bajorans were renowned for their accomplishments in science, mathematics, philosophy, and the arts. The greatest of these early Bajoran civilizations was the First Republic, which flourished between 20,000 and 25,000 years ago. During this time, magnificent cities such as B'hala were built.
The next great phase of Bajoran civilization (the Second Republic) began approximately 10,000 years ago, when the Tears of the Prophets were discovered orbiting Bajor. These artifacts ushered in a new era of spiritual connection with the Bajoran gods, the Prophets. Around 5,000 years ago, the Bajorans had developed sublight space travel and began exploring their home star system with solar-sail spacecraft. Some Bajoran explorers even reached the Cardassian System but a popular religious leader, Vedek Sustaan, believed he received a terrible warning from the Prophets about this new alien race. These people (the Cardassians) he announced would do horrific damage to the Bajorans in the future. Having a powerful reputation on Bajor, both the everyday people and the government began to take Vedek Sustaan seriously and although having a pronounced spiritual and pacifist nature, they began to significantly change the Second Republic in light of these prophecies. To ensure the survival of their people, newly-built colony ships were sent from the Bajoran Homeworld to nearby planets and R&D into weapons and space warships was continually conducted. By the foundation of the United Federation of Planets in 2161 AD, the Second Republic of Bajor included more than 30 colony worlds and a significant array of automated defenses around each planet, as well as a naval task force to ensure their sovereignty.
When the time the Bajoran Wormhole was first opened and the Dominion Empire was discovered in the Gamma Quadrant (in 2370 AD), the United Federation of Planets and the Second Republic of Bajor had a close trade relationship, as well as some cross-military training and technology sharing. The neighboring Cardassian Union had grown into a major interstellar power and had harassed the Bajorans time and again, but their lengthy border with the Romulan Star Empire left them on the defensive militarily and diplomatically with their pointy-eared neighbors. The Cardassians had also fought a decade-long war with the Federation which ended in stalemate and created a vast Demilitarized Zone between the two powers. Throughout the 2300s, relations were poor between the Cardassians and nearly everyone on their borders. Then, suddenly and without warning, the Cardassian Union abruptly sealed its borders against outsiders, cutting off all diplomatic ties and shooting down any vessel that approached their space.
Later that year, in 2372, reports emerged through the sealed borders of the Cardassian Union that the militant Central Command had been overthrown by a popular uprising, restoring power to the civilian Detapa Council. This growing underground Cardassian movement had finally been able to remove one of the most oppressive regimes in the Alpha Quadrant.
On the Klingon Homeworld of Qo'noS, the news was received in a different light. Chancellor Gowron and the Klingon High Council became convinced that the revolt on Cardassia Prime was instigated by the Dominion and that the Detapa Council had been replaced by shape-shifting Dominion "Founders". One of the most influential officers in the Klingon Defense Forces (General Martok) called for a massive invasion of Cardassian space to end the "Changeling threat". Many Klingons, who had grown restless after decades of peace, rallied around him. They were unaware that Martok himself had been replaced by a Changeling, whose mission to weaken the Dominion's enemies was proceeding perfectly. Initially Emperor Kahless condemned the invasion, to no effect.
The beginning Klingon invasion involved a third of the Empire's standing forces, with over five hundred ships in the first wave alone. The plan was to mount a lightning thrust into the heart of Cardassian territory and conquer the Cardassian homeworld. After a hopeful victory, the traditional Klingon practice would call for the execution of all government officials and the installation of an Imperial Overseer to put down any further resistance. The advance task force of over fifty warships, led by Martok aboard the IKS Negh'Var, was dispatched to a Bajoran starbase (Jia'kaja Station) under the guise of defending the station against a Dominion incursion. This space station had been built near the mouth of the wormhole when it was discovered and although owned by the Bajoran government, many interstellar nations had an interest in the strategic gateway.
The commander of the starbase (Bareil Antos) was suspicious of the Klingons' motives as there had been no significant Dominion activity near the Bajoran wormhole for months. Thus, he ordered intelligence agents to discover the real reason they had come to Jia'kaja Station. A Starfleet operative posted to the starbase (a Starfleet Commander, Worf) eventually learned of the true nature of the "visit" and warned Bareil. Once appraised of the planned invasion, Bareil urged Martok to call off the attack and informed him that neither the Bajorans nor their allies the Federation would not support an unprovoked military assault upon Cardassia. Martok paid his warning no heed and shortly after commenced the invasion of Cardassian space. In response the Bajoran government and the Federation Council quickly condemned the invasion and in retaliation an enraged Gowron withdrew from the Khitomer Accords, ending the long-standing alliance between the Klingon Empire and the Federation.
The Federation Council ordered Starfleet to not interfere with the Klingons until they could re-establish a dialog with Gowron. However, the Klingons were free to cross Federation space into Cardassian territory. A Cardassian spy (Elim Garak) aboard Jia'kaja Station, was able to send warning to the Cardassian government about the imminent invasion. Although the outlying Cardassian colonies were overwhelmed almost immediately, the Cardassian fleet did mobilize in time to offer greater resistance as the Klingons pressed closer to Cardassia Prime.
Nevertheless, the Klingons still broke through the Cardassian lines after a pitched battle, leaving them only mere hours from Cardassia Prime. Realizing the planet could not hold, Bareil offered to shelter the Detapa Council aboard Jia'kaja Station. The senior military adviser, Legate Dukat evacuated the council members and they reached Jia'kaja Station safely with a small naval force of 18 warships. With this development, part of the Klingon fleet turned away from Cardassia and attempted to take the council members from Jia'kaja by force. Fortunately, the weapons of the station had been heavily augmented in anticipation of a Dominion invasion, and it was able to withstand the siege long enough for Starfleet reinforcements to arrive (forcing a Klingon retreat).
Following their defeat at Jia'kaja Station, the momentum of the Klingon invasion was somewhat blunted and Cardassia Prime was out of danger. Gowron, fearing assassination from his failure to quickly conquer the Cardassians, refused to stand down his forces and continued attacking random targets with his reinforced fleets. The Federation and the Bajoran Republic tried using diplomacy to stop the conflict but they failed and the Klingons, refusing to relinquish the colonies they had conquered, began fortifying their positions and deploying orbital defense systems in preparation for a longer war of attrition.
In the following months, cloaked Klingon warships continued to rampage throughout Cardassian space alone and in small groups, destroying targets of opportunity and plundering Cardassian shipping. The outmatched Cardassians responded with unconventional tactics such as sensor ghosts and holo-projections, which earned the respect of some Klingons.
The Klingon attacks devastated the Cardassian infrastructure, resulting in an enormous humanitarian crisis within the Union. Diseases once under control swept through Cardassian colonies, while the government struggled to even meet the basic needs of its people. With their fleet occupied, the Cardassians were forced to ask the Federation for assistance, such as in providing escort vessels for medical relief convoys responding to an epidemic of Rudellian plague in the Pentath System. The Federation also provided twelve large industrial replicators to help rebuild Cardassian industries though they were hijacked at Jia'kaja Station by a member of Starfleet (a Lieutenant Commander, Michael Eddington) who was secretly a agent of the Maquis. The war had virtually granted the Maquis free reign in the Demilitarized Zone, as the Cardassians no longer had the resources to combat them.
In spite of their losses, the Detapa Council remained unwilling to lose what was left of its fleet and remained on the defensive, aspiring for a diplomatic solution. Finally with all hope lost, the Cardassian government signed a union treaty with the Dominion during a secret meeting at Jia'kaja Station.
As the war dragged on into a second year, the Cardassian General Gul Dukat entered secret negotiations with the Dominion, placing himself at the head of the new joint Dominion-Cardassian military. In mid-2373, a massive Jem'Hadar fleet of over 500 ships crossed through the wormhole in a single day and entered Cardassian space. Three days later the Dominion signed a non-aggression pact with the Second Republic of Bajor, assuring them that they would be kept out of any of the fighting if the wormhole and Jia'kaja Station remained open. This decision was pushed through the Vedek Assembly by Kai Winn but it was extremely unpopular with the masses: most Bajorans refused to trust the militant Dominion and many prayers were offered up to the Prophets of the wormhole. Later that same week, Bareil himself went inside the wormhole to meet the Prophets face to face and he was never heard from again: the wormhole was abruptly sealed and remains so to this day. The Klingons, seeing this lucky opportunity inflicted crushing casualties on the remaining Dominion and Cardassian forces, conquering the entire Cardassian Union and neighboring Talarian space in another 2 years of heavy fighting, permanently marking the end of the Dominion threat to the Alpha Quadrant.
After the Cardassian/Klingon War ended, the victorious Gowron rebuilt much of his damaged warships and quickly consolidated his hold over the Cardassians. He sealed the areas in former Union space against any potential Romulan incursions by staging warfleet "games" up and down both borders, the one adjoining Empire space and the other against former Union space. With the Alliance gone and the Klingons rebuilding their fleets, the Federation and Second Republic were left in a precarious position, one which eventually fell apart in 2380 AD when the Klingon Empire tried to forcibly annex the Archanis Sector in Federation space. The Klingons declared it was once a part of the Empire, and that it would be so again. Archanis was also the location of the newly discovered (and vastly valuable) Jenolan Dyson Sphere. All out war between the Federation and Empire began in late September of the same year, and here is where our story begins....
BAJORAN GLOSSARY LOCATED HERE
SECOND REPUBLIC TIMELINE
10,000 BC: Second Republic of Bajor is formed
4055 BC: Bajorans first contact with the aliens of the Thul Sphere
2205 AD: Second Republic of Bajor reaches its largest size (in worlds)
2347 to 2360 AD: UFP/Cardassian War
2362 AD: "The Gift", Starfleet transfers over 100 slightly outdated ships to Bajor(1)
2364 AD: Picard takes command of the USS Enterprise
2367 AD: Borg attack Earth (Wolf 359 and Picard assimilated)
2370 AD: Five Borg cubes attack Alpha Quadrant (second Planet Killer)
2371 to 2378 AD: Voyager becomes lost in the Delta Quadrant (2371 to 2378)
2372 AD: Thallonian Empire falls apart
2373 AD: Borg attack Earth (timetravel and Zephram Cochrane)
2372 AD: Cardassian vs Klingon Empire War begins, Gowron breaks Alliance treaty (spring, 2372)
2373 AD: Cardassia joins the Dominion (June 15th)
2373 AD: Bajoran Wormhole sealed (July 11th)
2375 AD: Cardassian/Dominion vs Klingon Empire War ends
2375 AD: Klingons destroy/take over Talaran space
2375 AD: Klingon/Gorn War (fall, 2375)
2378 AD: USS Voyager back from Delta Quadrant
2378 AD: UFP discovers a dyson sphere in Archanis Sector
2380 AD: UFP/Klingon War begins, Bajor neutral
2382 AD: The Skorr Intervention
2385 AD: Romulans intervene (on UFP side)
2385 AD: Children of Tama intervene (on UFP side)
2386 AD: Talosians aid UFP, Valtese side with UFP
2387 AD: Breen raids against Klingon-occupied Cardassian space
2388 AD: "Genesis" torpedoes used by UFP against 3 Klingon worlds
2388 AD: UFP/Klingon War ends
2390 AD: First Transwarp gates built by the UFP
2390 AD: UFP allies with rebel Borg (technology exchange)
2395 AD: The Builders discovered (they build small ringworlds)
(1) 6 Miranda-class, 3 Springfield-class, 12 Leavenworth-class, 8 Cheyenne-class, 3 Oberth-class, 12 modified Akula-class, 4 New Orleans-class, 8 Hornet-class, 16 modified Spokane-class, 2 Ambassador-class, 3 tugs, 2 tankers, 2 large medical ships and 3 smaller vessels, 3 Buisearch-class fast supply ship, 22 micro-freighters, and 14 colony ships.
CLICK ON A MAP TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION
PRE-FEDERATION/KLINGON WAR MAP
WAR MAP: MIDWAY THROUGH THE WAR
WAR MAP: THE ROMULAN INTERVENTION (AND TAMA/KRIOS)
