Federation-Klingon War (alternate timeline)

AT: "at" In an alternate timeline, the Second Federation-Klingon War was a major conflict between the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets. It took place in the mid-24th century, following the deterioration of relations between the two powers.

Origins and overview

The alternate timeline in which the war was fought had been created when the USS Enterprise-C essentially disappeared into a temporal rift in 2344, while defending a Klingon outpost on Narendra III from a Romulan attack. This incident ignited the war, which endured for the next twenty-two years.

By 2366, the war was going very badly for the Federation, far worse than most individuals knew. Forty billion lives had already been lost and Starfleet Command believed that defeat, with no choice but to surrender, was inevitable within six months. Although the Federation had emerged victorious in several battles, including one at Archer IV, Starfleet had lost over half the fleet, and all vessels were being pressed into service, regardless of age. However, the situation was such that the addition of a singular ship would make no considerable difference to the Federation's ongoing war effort.

A tactical map of the war was displayed in the captain's ready room aboard the USS Enterprise-D, a Galaxy-class warship which was under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and was capable of carrying over 6000 troops. Owing to the war, no children lived aboard the ship. For the Federation, the conflict also resulted in rationing of food due to concentrating power on defensive systems, and considerable advancement of deflector shield technology which increased the endurance of ships when in battle.

Prelude to conclusion

Two Enterprises meet

In 2366, on combat date 43625.2, the Enterprise-D encountered a radiation anomaly near Starbase 105, the same anomaly which the Enterprise-C had entered. The battle-damaged Enterprise-C then emerged from the anomaly, with 125 surviving officers on board. Shortly thereafter, Starfleet monitor stations detected a fleet of Klingon battle cruisers heading towards the two Enterprises, news which the stations relayed to the Enterprise-D. Although Captain Picard and Commander Riker from that ship arranged the salvaging of the Enterprise-C so Starfleet could make use of the newly returned vessel in the war, it was imperative for the Enterprise-D not to remain where it was for too long, due to the approaching Klingon fleet; Picard allowed nine hours for repairs. As the work progressed, Picard's personal confidante, the El-Aurian Guinan, who had somehow been able to intuitively sense the change in timeline, warned him that the war was not meant to be taking place and Picard realized the Enterprise-C's defense of the outpost was the pivotal point which would have prevented the conflict.

Enterprise-C commanding officer Captain Rachel Garrett ordered the repairs to her ship to be focused on the craft's photon torpedo launcher rather than the vessel's warp drive, due to the desperation of the Federation's war effort. It was expected that the pair of Enterprises would soon be engaged in battle, as Klingon warships had been detected in the same sector as them, by this time. Captain Garrett advised her crew to prepare to remain in the war, as the Federation was in desperate need of another ship to oppose the Klingons, but Picard planned for the Enterprise-C to return to the past from whence it came. He confidentially revealed to Garrett the truth of how badly the Federation was suffering in the conflict and how, by traveling back in time, the Enterprise-C could eliminate the war. These details convinced her to take the Ambassador-class vessel back through the rift in order to restore the intended timeline, in spite of the near-certain prospect of the ship's immediate destruction.

Unexpected attack

Shortly after Captain Garrett advised her crew that their vessel would be journeying back into the past, a Klingon Bird-of-Prey quickly decloaked and opened fire on the Enterprise-C. On that vessel's bridge, the assault came as an unexpected series of jolts. The Enterprise-C's shields were raised and the ship initiated evasive maneuvers with Gamma Sequence, preparing to return fire with phasers.

The Enterprise-D repeatedly fired phasers at the Bird-of-Prey, which was off its starboard bow. At least two of the Enterprise-D's phaser bolts struck the Klingon ship's starboard shielding; the first of these hit the starboard wing and the second battered against the bow. Concentrating fire on the Enterprise-C, the Klingon ship fired a disruptor volley at it.

Although a view of firstly the Enterprise-D firing two phaser bursts at the Bird-of-Prey and then the Klingon craft firing a pair of disruptor bolts at the Enterprise-C was included in the episode, these actions weren't in the installment's final draft script. [1]

The Enterprise-C retaliated with phaser fire. On the bridge, Captain Garrett ordered the loading of her ship's torpedo bays but, moments later, she was hit with debris and fell to the deck, dead.

Much to the puzzlement and amusement of Michael and Denise Okuda, rocks were used in the footage that shows Captain Garrett's death. Ronald D. Moore also found this funny and thought "a good question" is why they're there. ("Yesterday's Enterprise" audio commentary, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray)

File:Garrett death.jpg

Captain Garrett is mortally wounded

The Enterprise-D returned fire on the Bird-of-Prey with three phaser shots which again hit the Klingon ship's starboard shields. The Bird-of-Prey next re-cloaked and Captain Garrett's death was reported to Captain Picard and the Enterprise-D. Its Ambassador-class predecessor had sustained moderate damage in the fracas and a piece of shrapnel had become lodged in Garrett's forehead.

Director David Carson once characterized Garrett's fatal wound as a "wonderful piece of expressive makeup which described the grizzly nature of the war." ("Yesterday's Enterprise" audio commentary, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray)

Interim

In the aftermath of the battle, Lieutenant Richard Castillo, formerly the helmsman of the Enterprise-C and now the only surviving member of the vessel's senior staff, volunteered to take command of the ship. The Enterprise-D detected additional instability in the temporal rift, which was possibly a result of the recent battle. Though there was no sign of other Klingon ships in the vicinity, it was now vital for the Enterprise-D to depart the area, because the vessel's coordinates had clearly been sent to the Klingon Command. Final preparations were made for the Enterprise-C to get under way, with Castillo in command and its tactical station manned by Lt. Tasha Yar, a tactical officer who voluntarily transferred from the Enterprise-D.

The Galaxy-class warship's long-range scanners meanwhile picked up numerous Klingon battle cruisers on an intercept course. Consequently, the Enterprise-D began to slowly head towards them.

In the final draft script, the news of approaching Klingon battle cruisers is reported by Wesley Crusher, at the Ops station on the Enterprise-D's bridge. The scene is set approximately fourteen minutes, thirty-one seconds before the crafts are due to arrive. Picard orders a red alert and the manning of all the ship's battle stations. As the script continues, the Enterprise-C is described as also being at red alert status, with all damage control teams having returned to the Enterprise-D. The Ambassador-class vessel raises its shields and charges its weapon systems. [2] In the episode, however, the announcement of the nearing Klingon ships is included in a supplemental military log entry spoken by Captain Picard and the rest of the scripted scene's details were excluded from the episode.

As the Klingon ships approached, the Enterprise-D was able to distinguish them as a trio of confidently uncloaked K'Vort-class Birds-of-Prey.

In the final draft script, Commander Riker states that the Enterprise-D "won't last long against" as many as three of the Klingon battle cruisers. The script implies Captain Picard is aware of this fact, too. [3] Contrastingly, Riker's pessimistic line isn't in the episode's final edit.

Readying his ship to return to battle conditions, Captain Picard orated a ship-wide message in which he stated that, though the Enterprise-D could obviously outrun the Klingon fleet, the crew had to ensure the Enterprise-C's protection until it entered the time rift. Picard also gave encouragement to his troops; the last engagement was about to begin.

In the final draft script, Picard addresses his message to merely the bridge crew, rather than the entire ship. During the scripted version of the speech, he even admits, "We may not survive." However, the script description of the speech ends by saying, "If this were a few centuries earlier, a cheer would go up." [4]

The final battle

As the Klingon warships proceeded steadily nearer the Enterprise-D at low velocity, they were arranged with two ships following a lead ship which was at the center forward position and opened fire with a series of twinned disruptor bolts. Ceaselessly continuing the approach, the starboard Bird-of-Prey soon joined in with the onslaught, firing similar blasts.

In the final draft teleplay, only the lead Klingon vessel is scripted as attacking at this point in the fray. [5]

The Enterprise's shields came under heavy fire but nonetheless held. The ship changed course, then launched a simultaneous array of five photon torpedoes grouped in dispersal pattern Sierra, which spread out in mid-flight and synchronously zeroed in on a particular Klingon ship from various angles. The torpedoes caused moderate damage to their target's forward shields. Another blow was delivered to the Enterprise, whose shields held despite receiving minor damage to its secondary hull. As the targeted Klingon vessel maneuvered across the Enterprise's primary hull on the starboard side, the other two Klingon warships opened fire with a pair of disruptor shots from each craft.

This assault was not scripted in the final draft teleplay. [6]

Captain Picard then set a course change for the Enterprise-D, which he soon corrected.

In the final draft script, it is Riker who sets the change of course and no course correction is made, with only the second of the two headings given. [7]

After the Enterprise-D detected that one of the Klingon warships was heading for the Enterprise-C, Picard ordered the Galaxy-class vessel be kept within 200 kilometers of the departing Starfleet craft.

In the final draft script, Picard additionally instructs that the previous course change, having been set by Riker in the script, be belayed. [8]

The Enterprise-D therefore started to move, at two thirds impulse speed, roughly between the Enterprise-C and its attacker. The Klingon assaulter rained two pairs of disruptor volleys against the Enterprise-C's shields. In its role as protector, the Enterprise-D fired two phaser bolts at the Klingon opposer, both of which struck the antagonistic warship; the first hit the bow whereas the second walloped the starboard wing. Another couple of disruptor shots were fired from the Klingon warship, this time hitting the Enterprise-D's shields dead center and causing the bridge to shake violently.

The on-screen exchange of fire, at this point, is not detailed in the final draft script. The teleplay merely describes the Enterprise-D maneuvering to protect its forebear from the Klingons, then the violent impacts perceived on the Enterprise-D bridge. [9]

The Enterprise-D was now beginning to suffer considerable stress. Damage control teams were required on and sent to deck fourteen, the ship's starboard power coupling was no longer working and there was an imminent danger of losing antimatter containment. The Klingon warships were concurrently flanking the Enterprise-D, trying to draw it away from its Starfleet kin. On Picard's instruction, the Galaxy-class ship kept its course and released continual bursts from all its phasers, targeting multiple directions. One of the phaser streaks punched through the shields surrounding one of the Klingon vessels and resulted in its destruction; the defeated craft erupted in a huge explosion, through which another Klingon ship flew.

The final draft script doesn't specify that, when the Enterprise-D fires all its phasers, they were to have been emitted in various directions. Also, the teleplay omits the sight of a second Bird-of-Prey flying through the detonation of the exploding ship. [10] Denise Okuda referred to the view of the Enterprise-D firing all its phasers, in myriad directions, as "a cool shot." ("Yesterday's Enterprise" audio commentaries, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray)

Four massive jolts were then registered on the bridge of the Enterprise-D, a crewman being thrown from his post, which sparked, during the second thump.

Contrastingly, at this stage in the final draft script, no casualties are described. [11]

Afterwards, there were heavy casualties in the secondary hull, the navigational sensor array was broken and antimatter containment failure was looming. The ship shuddered twice more and the shields were starting to buckle. In Engineering, another bang caused a coolant leak in the engine core.

The final draft script includes two explosions in the engine core, instead of only one. [12]

Owing to the coolant leak, a warp core breach was unavoidable and Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge estimated a duration of two minutes until it happened. Following an additional explosion, crew members began to evacuate Engineering. The ship shuddered even more. Fortunately, the Enterprise-C was merely fifty-two seconds away from entering the time rift. Captain Picard instructed all of the Enterprise-D's remaining power to be diverted to the defense systems. The forward phaser banks were no longer responding and, on the bridge, another eruption threw Commander Riker from the tactical station to the deck, killing him with a bloody gash at his neck.

A Klingon commander demanded the crew of the Enterprise-D surrender and prepare to be boarded. These orders were followed by repeated pounding of the craft.

Originally, this scene was to have involved a brief cameo appearance by the alternate timeline's version of Worf, dressed in Klingon regalia and demanding the Enterprise-D's surrender via viewscreen. Because finances didn't allow for the construction of a set for use as a Klingon bridge, the viewscreen appearance became a voice-over instead. ("Yesterday's Enterprise" audio commentary, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray) The final draft script describes the scene thus; "A Klingon voice is heard on the com (possibly Worf)." [13] Executive Producer Rick Berman didn't want to use Worf for the scene, so the audio was performed by someone other than Worf actor Michael Dorn. Ron Moore and Ira Steven Behr later agreed with one another that the cameo might have seemed too "cute." ("Yesterday's Enterprise" audio commentary, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray)

Defiantly, Captain Picard softly answered, "That will be the day." He then jumped over the wooden handrail to assume the controls at the tactical console.

The final draft script instead gives Picard's soft reply as, "Like hell," and doesn't detail how he moves to the tactical station. [14] The line, "That'll be the day," was a tribute, by Ira Steven Behr, to John Wayne. ("Yesterday's Enterprise" audio commentary, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray)

Picard fired a phaser streak along the underside of a passing Klingon craft but, as flames started to engulf the bridge, the ship was pummelled by the two remaining Klingon vessels, which closed in on the Enterprise-D. Moments later, the Enterprise-C managed to finally enter the rift, eradicating the war and the timeline containing it by returning to the craft's own time. (TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise")

The script refers to this firefight as "another round of combat in a long and hard war" and characterizes the battle, at least by the end, as "raging." The Klingon vessels involved in the combat weren't scripted to be Birds-of-Prey (and are nowhere referred to in dialogue as such. and are described as using phasers rather than disruptors. The visuals of the battle show Birds-of-Prey firing disruptors, however. [15] In the viewpoints of Ronald D. Moore and Ira Steven Behr, this encounter was the largest battle sequence TNG did for quite a while. David Carson recollected, "This was very, very effective because of its complexity. Its complexity in all areas was great. And so, once again, in the battle scenes at the end, the great Star Trek crew came to the fore and made them all happen within the time [...] that had been scheduled." ("Yesterday's Enterprise" audio commentaries, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray) Seth MacFarlane was highly impressed with the battle sequence, considering it the first episode-ending action set piece he had ever seen and one that not only worked well but still does, "beautifully" so. Agreeing, Brannon Braga called the battle footage "cinematic." ("Inside the Writer's Room", TNG Season 3 Blu-ray) Denise Okuda and Ron Moore were under the mistaken impression that the battle sequence includes Geordi La Forge doing a humiliating "unnecessary roll on the floor," in Moore's words. ("Yesterday's Enterprise" audio commentary, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray)

With the conclusion of the war, Ron Moore and Ira Steven Behr hoped to pay homage to "last stand" movies in which, at the end of the film, all the heroes were defeated or nearly so, with a final noble sacrifice made. (Star Trek Magazine issue 122, p. 83) A particular influence was the film Bataan, in which a World War II platoon is decimated. Regarding how he pitched this idea to the writing staff, Behr recounted, "I said, 'The thing we're gonna do is we're gonna kill all the actors. In this alternate universe, everyone's gonna die.'" Though the writing staff had been angry because they had to work on the Thanksgiving holidays, the notion of having all the main characters killed at the end of the war intrigued and excited the writing staff. ("Resistance is Futile, Assimilating Star Trek: The Next Generation, Part Two: Technological Distinctiveness", TNG Season 3 Blu-ray) Major fans of last stand movies, Behr and Moore were very eager to develop particularly gory death scenes for all the senior officers aboard the Enterprise-D. "It was a chance that we thought we'd never get to do with the Star Trek cast [....] We wanted everyone to go down blazing," stated Behr. For example, he and Moore imagined Data being electrocuted, Wesley Crusher being decapitated and Commander Riker being mutilated. (Star Trek Magazine issue 122, p. 83) "At the time, we thought, you know, we were gonna be able to film all of those," Behr noted. Due to budget and time constraints, though, most of the death scenes were very quickly edited out of the story, leaving only Riker's demise. The remaining footage, in common with Captain Garrett's death scene, used rocks as debris. ("Yesterday's Enterprise" audio commentary, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray) As a result of the other death scenes being omitted, Behr and Moore felt betrayed and disappointed. (Star Trek Magazine issue 122, p. 83) At the time, they suspected the reason most of the death scenes had been deleted was that the producers felt leaving them in would be too depressing for the audience. ("Yesterday's Enterprise" audio commentary, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray)

The concept of Picard defiantly standing and firing repeatedly at the end of the battle was, in Ira Steven Behr's words, "a direct steal" from the film Bataan. (Star Trek Magazine issue 122, p. 83) Behr recalled how he suggested the concept to the writing staff; "I said, 'It's like the old World War Two movie Bataan, where the defenders are killed off, one by one. The movie with the last man standing at his machine gun with the enemy coming at him until the smoke from his gun obscures the screen.' I told them, 'At the end, we'll have Picard alone, firing phasers in the smoke of the burning bridge, and that's how we'll go out.'" (Star Trek: The Next Generation 365, p. 137) Behr also remembered, "I said, 'The last thing we'll see is Picard standing. He won't have a machine gun [....] It's not quite the same, but he'll be hitting buttons, you know, firing phasers.' And everyone got, kind of like, revved up. 'Okay, that's cool.'" ("Resistance is Futile, Assimilating Star Trek: The Next Generation, Part Two: Technological Distinctiveness", TNG Season 3 Blu-ray) Even though this scene made it into the episode's final edit, Behr was ultimately disappointed that there's nothing for Picard to fire with in the scene apart from the flat tactical console. The fire on the bridge was represented using a small fire bar. "In fact, the implication is that it [the Enterprise-D] is within seconds of being destroyed," David Carson pointed out. ("Yesterday's Enterprise" audio commentaries, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray)

Aftereffects

Only Guinan remembered what had happened during the change in the timeline. One other remnant of the timeline survived: the alternate Tasha Yar, who had journeyed aboard the Enterprise-C into the prime timeline. (TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise", "Redemption II")

Background information

In a story which provided some of the roots for "Yesterday's Enterprise", the origins of the Federation-Klingon war were evident in a timeline inspired by the mirror universe, from TOS: "Mirror, Mirror". [16] Eric A. Stillwell, the writer of this influential Star Trek: The Next Generation storyline, conceived an alternate timeline in which the Vulcans turned violent – due to Surak having been killed in the past – and joining forces with the Romulans in a super empire that wiped out the Klingons and turned on the Federation. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion) In fact, the Vulcan-Romulan Empire was on the verge of destroying the Federation when the timeline was reset. (Conversations at Warp Speed, "Eric A. Stillwell: 'Star Trek Changed My Life'") Stillwell recalled, "The Vulcan-Romulan Empire had conspired to destroy the Federation by seeking to capture the Guardian planet and use it to their own nefarious purposes [....] In the altered universe, the Guardian planet becomes the last stand for the battleship Enterprise in an effort to prevent the destruction of the Federation." [17] Ronald D. Moore offered, "Yes, the Federation was at war, but it [the Enterprise-D] didn't feel like a warship." ("Inside the Writer's Room", TNG Season 3 Blu-ray)

It was Ron Moore who devised the idea of the Federation fighting a losing war against the Klingon Empire, in the alternate timeline established in "Yesterday's Enterprise". ("Yesterday's Enterprise" audio commentary, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray) "Of course, the whole thing with the Romulans and Klingons got switched round," remembered Eric A. Stillwell, "because we thought it would be cool now if the Klingons were the ones who got pissed off." (Conversations at Warp Speed, "Eric A. Stillwell: 'Star Trek Changed My Life'") Moore also originated the conditions of the war, such as the grimness and militarism of the alternate timeline. He hit upon all these notions while writing a couple of story outlines for the episode. Moore later stated, "I've heard from time to time, I wish you'd do some war stories, but this is the reality of war. It's not a pretty place. But it was a lot of fun to watch that ship [the alternate Enterprise-D] move." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 21, No. 2, 46) He clarified, "I just really like the fact that the Federation is losing the war and they're doomed [....] There was something just really interesting about that idea." Additionally, Moore reckoned that, if the writing staff had had sufficient time, the effects of the war on TNG's main characters could have easily been explored in a two-part version of the story. ("Yesterday's Enterprise" audio commentary, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray)

The alternate timeline and the war therein hinted at the idea that the utopian future and Starfleet code of ethics usually presented in Star Trek could easily crumble when faced with the opposition of a serious external threat. Ira Steven Behr, who co-wrote "Yesterday's Enterprise", was deeply sceptical that Starfleet's ideals could survive any such hostility. (BFI TV Classics - Star Trek, p. 102) He said of the episode, "It was a chance to see the crew fighting in a big, nasty battle."(Star Trek Magazine issue 122, p. 83)

The war was also a hypothetical analogy for what the world might be like if Earth's real Cold War had become hot. This was apt because, for a long time, the Klingons had been metaphorical for the Russians and the United Federation of Planets had represented the United States of America. (Star Trek and History, "Part Two: Kirk and Spock Take on Earth History", "Chapter 5 – The Final Reflection?: A Mirrored Empire?", "Too Klingon to Be Human")

In David Carson's opinion, the final events of the war had an even more stressful impact on the characters than they were used to. "There is an intensity and an urgency about everything that is going on that is, sort of, beyond the fact that they're at war," he commented. "I mean, they've been at war for twenty years. You would think that they're [...] somewhat used to it. However, the story itself instilled in the actors a great sense of urgency and tension. It was as if every day was a new day of war for them. They're also able to play in a different way [....] The battle scenes were greatly helped by the multi-level appearance of the new battle bridge [on the Enterprise-D]." ("Yesterday's Enterprise" audio commentary, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray)

The visual effects incorporated into the depiction of the war were due to Visual Effects Supervisor Dan Curry. The fatal injuries which killed Captain Garrett and Commander Riker were represented by Make-Up Supervisor Michael Westmore. ("Yesterday's Enterprise" audio commentary, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray)