The Post Dominion War Years

The Post Dominion War Years

2376-2380

Following the end of the Dominion War and the signing of the Treaty of Bajor, the Alpha Quadrant found itself in disarray-to put it mildly.  The Federation had lost in total at least 500 ships, the Klingons at least as many.  Romulan numbers are not known, although inside sources have indicated that losses for the Romulan fleet could be as high as 30 percent.  The Federation would provide aid to many devastated worlds, including core members like Betazed and Benzar.  Cardassia Prime was left in ruins and the Cardassian Union found itself leaderless and on the brink of societal collapse.  Repairs and rebuilding of Starfleet Headquarters in San Franscisco on Earth after the Breen attack would continue into mid 2376.  Although the most destructive war in the history of the Alpha Quadrant was ended, it would be some years before affairs returned to anything resembling normalcy.  

Starfleet

Starfleet would focus shipbuilding and repair resources on newer classes, primarily the so-called "Borg buster" classes (Akira, Defiant, Norway, Saber, Steamrunner, Sovereign).  The Galaxy class and its relatives (Nebula, New Orleans, Freedom, Cheyenne, Challenger, Springfield) would also be repaired and remain in service.  Galaxy class ships that were constructed during the war and launched mostly unfinished (internally) were drydocked and their internal construction was completed and they were fully crewed before being relaunched.  The Excelsior class would remain in service, but would be relegated to support roles, mostly within the UFP core.  The oldest remaining classes (Miranda, Constellation, Oberth) as well as any older previously retired ships reactivated during the war would be decommissioned and their crews and materiel reassigned to newer vessels in need of officers and supplies.  The USS Yeager and USS Elkins and their ilk, ships quickly cobbled together from Intrepid class primary hulls and parts from older ships would be decommissioned and scrapped after the Starfleet Corps of Engineers determined that rebuilding these ships to Intrepid class specifications would be unfeasible.  The Sovereign class, of which only a handful had been built before and during the war would go into full production.  More resources would also be allotted to building science focused ships such as the Nova class and development would begin on the Luna class.  Continuing the efforts started in 2374 Starfleet Communications would work to establish more regular contact with USS Voyager, stranded in the Delta Quadrant since 2371.  In mid 2376 a breakthrough would occur in the form of a brief voice contact with USS Voyager, then some 35,000 light-years away.  Subsequent developments the following year would allow for brief daily contact with the ship.  In early 2378 USS Voyager returned to Earth via a Borg transwarp conduit.  The Borg transwarp network and apparently a large part of the collective itself was destroyed by USS Voyager during her return, made possible by technology provided by a future version of Kathryn Janeway from 2404.  Following a homecoming ceremony for the crew and the promotion of Captain Janeway to Vice Admiral, the ship itself would be drydocked at Utopia Planitia for several months where she would undergo repairs and a full inspection of her new technologies by the Starfleet Corps of Engineers.  The Borg technology in cargo bay 2 (Seven of Nine's alcove) would be shut down and disconnected from the ships systems.  The technologies from future Admiral Janeway (transphasic torpedoes, ablative hull armor) would be removed and it and any data on the tech would be removed to a secured location by the Department of Temporal Investigations, in accordance with the Temporal Prime Directive.  Following the repairs and inspections USS Voyager would be decommissioned and placed in the fleet museum.  The following year the Starfleet Corps of Engineers with the assistance of USS Voyager chief engineer B'Elanna Torres would begin work on developing the Quantum Slipstream technology encountered by Voyager in 2374.  In 2380, with the Sovereign class in full production and fleet numbers increasing the Excelsior class, a nearly century old design, would be retired from service.  Also in 2380, Admiral William J. Ross, commander of the Federation forces during the Dominion War and commanding officer of Starbase 375 announced his retirement. 

Cardassia

With over one billion dead after the Founders attempted genocide and most of its major cities levelled, Cardassia Prime would begin the long processes of rebuilding, taking aid from the Federation and anyone else willing to provide.  The full rebuilding of Cardassia Prime would take decades to complete and would in fact not be finished before Cardassia became a Federation Member in the 25th century.  With no remaining leadership an entirely new civilian government would be elected, members of which initially included Legate Malyn Ocett, Elim Garak and former dissident leader Natima Lang.  In 2380 construction would begin in the former Obrek Park in Lakarian City on a monument to Legate Corat Damar, leader of the Cardassian Liberation Front and Cardassian revolutionary hero.  

Klingon Empire

The Klingon Empire under the leadership of Chancellor Martok would mostly focus on internal affairs, primarily repairing its ships and rebuilding the KDF fleet.  Additional Negh'Var class ships would be constructed, and the remaining K'tinga class ships would be retired or sold to private owners.  For 3 years (2376-78) Ambassador Worf, Son of Mogh would improve open relations between the Federation and the Empire.  Following the signing of the Treaty of Bajor Klingon ships would oversee the evacuation of all Dominion forces from occupied territories and escort Dominion ships to the Wormhole.  They would also work with Federation teams to secure or destroy any remaining Dominion installations in Cardassian space.  

Romulan Empire

The Romulan Star Empire would not fully abandon the wartime alliance with the Federation and Klingon Empire.  Following the end of the war the empire would begin developing a new class of warbird to replace the aging and depleted D'deridex class.  The IRW Neorexan would enter service in late 2377.  In 2378 Praetor Neral was assassinated by a radical member of Ambassador Spock's reunification movement.  In 2379 his successor Praetor Hiren, along with the entire Romulan Senate would be assassinated by a thaleron radiation weapon placed in the senate chamber by Senator Tal'Aura, a loyalist of Shinzon of Remus.  Shinzon, a failed clone of Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard created as part of a Tal Shiar plot to replace Picard decades earlier, would subsequently seize power as Praetor and lure the USS Enterprise-E to Romulus and attempt to kidnap the captain.  Following the captains escape from Shinzons ship the Reman Warbird Scimitar, the Enterprise, having detected thaleron radiation on the Scimitar would flee to warn Starfleet of Shinzons plan to attack Earth.  The Enterprise (aided by two Neorexan class Romulan Warbirds) would engage in battle with the Scimitar in the Bassen Rift, resulting in the Romulan ships being disabled and the Enterprise colliding with the Scimitar in an attempt to stop Shinzon from using the weapon.  The weapon was stopped and Shinzons ship destroyed, at the cost of the life of Commander Data.  Following these events the Romulans would make overtures to open relations with the Federation.  The USS Titan under newly promoted Captain William Riker would lead the diplomatic efforts.

The Breen

Although the Breen were a signatory of the Treaty of Bajor in the person of Thot Gor, the Breen would make no other attempt to either open relations or make reparations for their actions during the war.  They would withdraw all of their ships from Cardassian space and return to their territory and resume their isolation from the other major powers.

The Gamma Quadrant

Exploration efforts in the Gamma Quadrant would restart, although Federation ships would operate under standing orders to not enter Dominion space or engage Dominion ships.  Colonization would restart as well, with the rebuilding of New Bajor beginning in mid 2376.  By 2379 Starfleet had sent several ships on long term missions to explore the Gamma Quadrant coreward, away from Dominion territory.