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Archer and Daniels in the Temporal Observatory
The Temporal Cold War was an ongoing conflict being fought between several time-traveling factions in different time periods, each trying to manipulate history for its own benefit, in violation of the Temporal Accords. The origins, locations, and battlegrounds of the war were highly complex and rapidly shifting, with new incursions and alterations made by factions making it almost impossible to keep track.
Factions of the Temporal Cold War
Temporal powers
- Mysterious benefactor of the Suliban Cabal (28th century). Unable to travel through time, only able to communicate. Motives very mysterious: has tried to both assist and thwart Earth interests in the 22nd century. Usually opposing the Federation. Also opposes the Sphere Builders.
- Na'kuhl (29th century). Led by Vosk, this race vehemently opposed the Temporal Accords because they believe time travel is something to be used by all races for self-improvement. Responsible for the Cold War temporarily igniting into open conflict.
- Sphere Builders (21st and 22nd centuries, until 26th century in a possible timeline). Beings from a transdimensional realm able to examine alternate futures, but seem to have limited time travel abilities as well. Tried to destroy Earth to prevent the Federation from ever existing, to stop their race's defeat at the Battle of Procyon V.
- United Federation of Planets (31st century). Represented to Enterprise by temporal agent Daniels, who claims the Suliban Cabal's benefactor violated the Temporal Accords. Has acted against Cabal interests on several occasions. Also opposes the Sphere Builders and the Na'kuhl.
Proxy powers
- Andorian Empire (22nd century). Assisted Earth during the Xindi conflict.
- United Earth (22nd century). See "Enterprise and the Temporal Cold War" below.
- Klingon Empire (22nd century). The Suliban Cabal tried to destabilize them and start a civil war.
- Nazi Germany (20th century). The Na'kuhl provided an alternate timeline version of the Nazis with advanced technology in exchange for resources and assistance.
- Suliban Cabal (22nd century). Performs actions for their mysterious benefactor in exchange for technology. Led by Silik.
- Suliban renegades (22nd century). Former members of the Cabal, such as Sarin, who have left and now oppose its actions. Assisted both Earth and the Klingons during the Broken Bow Incident.
- Tandar Prime (22nd century). The Tandarans have been at war with the Suliban Cabal since 2144, aware of the Temporal Cold War, but their degree of involvement is unknown.
- Tholian Assembly (22nd century). Tried to acquire a future timeship. Alliances with any temporal powers unknown, though they seem to be opposed to the Suliban Cabal.
- United Federation of Planets (26th century). Battled the Sphere Builders and defeated them at the Battle of Procyon V in a timeline now likely defunct.
- Xindi (21st and 22nd centuries). Manipulated by the Sphere Builders into attacking Earth.
Enterprise and the Temporal Cold War
The Enterprise NX-01 had frequent involvement in different aspects of the Temporal Cold War, and indeed, its captain was responsible for its discovery by Earth. This involvement goes all the way back to before the launch of Enterprise when a Klingon courier ship piloted by Klaang crash-landed in Broken Bow, Oklahoma on Earth while being pursued by two Suliban in April 2151. In returning Klaang to Qo'noS, Enterprise captain Jonathan Archer learned from Sarin that the 22nd century was a major front in the Temporal Cold War, and that the Suliban Cabal was attempting to disrupt the history of the Klingon Empire by inciting civil war. This was averted by the return of Klaang and the information he carried showing the Suliban were responsible.
Silik, leader of the Suliban Cabal
That September, Enterprise learned of another faction in the Temporal Cold War, represented by Captain Archer's own steward, "Crewman" Daniels. Daniels revealed that he represented a 31st century faction working against the faction backing the Suliban Cabal, which took orders from a mysterious benefactor from the 28th century. He claimed that the Suliban's faction was in violation of the Temporal Accords, though Silik, leader of the Cabal, claimed the same about Daniels' faction. Silik attempted to obtain Daniels' temporal observatory, but was thwarted by Captain Archer.
In March of 2152, the Suliban engineered the destruction of the Paraagan mining colony on Paraagan II, setting it up in such a way that Enterprise was to blame. The ship was recalled to Earth, but Daniels transported Archer to April 2151 to explain to him that the Suliban were to blame and enabled him to prove it. When Daniels attempted to transport Archer to the 31st century to save him from a Suliban attack, he inadvertently altered future history, wiping out his own civilization as well as the Suliban's benefactor. Daniels did, however, succeed in returning Archer to his proper point in time, restoring the timeline.
In late 2152, Enterprise learned that the Tholians were in some way involved in the Cold War when it was drawn into a three-way battle with the Tholians and the Suliban for the possession of a 31st century timeship. Though Enterprise had no direct contact with any future forces this time, Daniels' faction apparently recovered the timeship once its temporal distress beacon was activated.
In March 2153, the Cabal’s benefactor informed Captain Archer of yet another faction in the Temporal Cold War, explaining that this one had informed the Xindi that humanity would destroy their homeworld in the 26th century, leading to the Xindi attack on Earth. He also provided information on the location of the Xindi, the Delphic Expanse.
The Sphere Builders monitor potential timelines
Archer's encounters with Daniels while hunting for the Xindi superweapon in the Expanse showed that the faction responsible for the Xindi foreknowledge was the same species who had built the Delphic Expanse spheres. These "Sphere Builders" (or Guardians) were trying to prevent their invasion of our dimension from being stopped by the Federation in the 26th century at the Battle of Procyon V. Their intention was to destroy Earth (using the Xindi), and thus stop the formation of the Federation in 2161. Archer's destruction of the Xindi superweapon in 2154 stopped that plot, and Enterprise's eradication of the sphere network halted their invasion wholesale.
The Cold War heats up
Vosk, leader of the Na'kuhl
The end of the Temporal Cold War constituted a predestination paradox, in which no one event could be considered to be the beginning. The Cold War escalated into an all-out conflict in which various operatives stationed throughout the timeline were given orders to change history. One of these changes was the assasination of Vladimir Lenin in 1916. This changed history in that Russia never turned to Communism. Not considering Russia to be a threat, Adolf Hitler was able to focus his war efforts on the West, eventually engaging in a successful invasion of the East Coast of America. It was at this point that the most dangerous faction in the Cold War arrived: the Na'kuhl. Led by Vosk, a fanatic from the 29th century who believed that it was his innate right to use time travel to mold the timeline to his own wishes.
The Na'kuhl had just narrowly escaped capture by Daniels’s faction by using a form of stealth time travel, but found themselves trapped in 1944 due to the one-way limitation of this technology. For this reason, the Na'kuhl allied themselves with the Nazis, providing them with advanced weapons with which to fight their war in exchange for materials and manpower to build a temporal conduit with which to return to the future. Their plan worked and, using the conduit, the Na’kuhl launched an attack on Daniels and his faction, igniting the very conflict which led them to escape to 1944 in the first place.
In a last-ditch effort to restore the timeline, Daniels transported Captain Archer and Enterprise to 1944, in the hopes that they could stop Vosk before he launched his attack on the 31st century. Due to the massive alterations to the timeline which had taken place, multiple paradoxes occurred, causing temporal anomalies to rip through the timestream. These anomalies severely injured Daniels, who died in Enterprise’s sickbay, but not before informing the crew of the necessity of stopping Vosk.
In the meantime, the Suliban Cabal’s benefactor decided to take advantage of the chaos, and ordered Silik to stowaway on Enterprise when Daniels sent them to 1944. Silik was given orders to steal the specifications of the temporal conduit the Na’kuhl were constructing so that his master could gain the ability to physically travel through time instead of just communicate through it. Silik was eventually discovered and imprisoned in Enterprise’s brig. Deciding that they had a common enemy in Vosk, Archer and Silik teamed up to stop him. Infiltrating Vosk’s compound, they were successful in deactivating the shields around it, although Silik was killed in the process.
Daniels monitors the reset of the timeline
With the shields around Vosk’s compound deactivated, Enterprise was able to move in and destroy it with photonic torpedoes, just as Vosk was about to enter the conduit, preventing him from initiating the conflict which led to his arrival in the first place. This had the effect of resetting the timeline and reversing Daniels’s death. Bidding farewell to Captain Archer, Daniels informed him that the Temporal Cold War was coming to an end thanks to Archer’s actions, and Daniels subsequently returned Archer and Enterprise to their proper place and time.
| Federation wars |
|---|
| Klingon War (2256-57) • Klingon War (2267) • Cardassian War • Galen border conflict • Tzenkethi War • Dominion cold war • Klingon War (2372-73) • Dominion War • Temporal Cold War • Klingon War (2340s-2366) |
Appendices
Appearances
Background
- According to Brannon Braga, the Temporal Cold War arc was created at the request of the studio, which wanted something more "futuristic". While Braga called it a "nifty idea", he later admitted that it "probably would have worked better as a separate show." (Star Trek Time Travel: Temporal Cold Wars and Beyond, ENT Season 1 DVD special features)
- Rick Berman commented, "The idea that in the distant future...that time travel became possible but there were very very arduous rules about who could do it and what you could do, but there were people who were breaking the rules and there were people who were messing around, and there were other groups who were kind of watching over, and if you combine that with a variety of alternate timelines you can have a ball...Because you can deal with changing things that can be historical changes that can immediately be undone by resetting things. It gives us a lot to play with." (Star Trek Time Travel: Temporal Cold Wars and Beyond, ENT Season 1 DVD special features)
- Regarding the end of the arc, Manny Coto remarked, "I felt that everything that had been said about the Temporal Cold War had already been said. I felt a heavy reliance on time travel at the beginning of Enterprise. I wanted season four to be a relatively time travel free season and that's why I debated writing it into season four." [1]
- Actor John Billingsley recalled, "I definitely felt as if there was a dictate on high from the network level, or from the studio level, to end the temporal time war, wrap it up immediately. I tended to concur on the broader point that the temporal time war never really got off the ground, the storytelling was too attenuated, and that it needed to die. At the same time I think the network forced them to tie it all up so abruptly that the way in which they had to do it was not as deft as it needed to be." [2]
External links
- Template:NCwiki
- Temporal Cold War at Wikipedia
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