In the future depicted in TNG "All Good Things...", the Klingons have conquered the Romulan Empire and had their sights set on the Federation. With the combined resources of the two empires, construction of new warships was almost double that of the Federation.
In this alternate future, the problems with the Dominion and the Borg apparently have been dealt with by now. The 3-engine refit of the Defiant uses some Dominion technology. The Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant almost 10 years ago, and has vast technology which the main Federation has been unable to duplicate.
While exploring the far rim of the Romulan Empire (beyond old ISC space), a Klingon expedition encountered an Ikonian Gateway (TNG "Contagion", DS9 "To the Death"). Seeing this as a possible way to gain new technologies, they entered it when the gateway displayed a technologically advanced society. What they encountered was a vast empire in the Delta Quadrant called the Krenim Imperium.
At this time I would like to explain the Hoshan/Zeator races; I will return to the Fed-Klingon Future War afterwards.
A version of the Hoshans (and their enemies the Zeator) are described in the Star Trek novel "Chain of Attack". They live in a different galaxy (not even in our local group), and were encountered by Captain Kirk when the Enterprise travelled through an anomoly. The anomoly was created tens of thousands of years ago as a gate between the Milky Way and the Hoshan's galaxy. Several Hoshan and Zeator ships used the anomoly shortly after Kirk's visit and they set up tiny empires just beyond Gorn space.
A long-time joke of my mine is to call the Hoshans "Kobolds" after the AD&D/Magic the Gathering race. This came from their ships (and the race itself) being so small. After coming into contact with the Federation, the Hoshans stopped their suidicial tendencies and worked towards self-preservation. Kobold Units act as Crew Units which cannot be destroyed in combat. Their other crew types (Boarding Party, Deck Crew, etc.) can be destroyed as per normal. Hoshans use Light Photons and Heavy Photons, these are the same as Mini Photons and Mega Photons published in various SFB products.
The Zeator are larger physically and kept their war-like practices. In a similar vein I dubbed the Zeator "Orcs". Orc Units can function as either Crew Units or Boarding Parties (but not both; each Orc may switch function during Energy Allocation). Zeator use Light Disruptors (presented in the First Part of the Beyond the Alpha Quadrant Series) and Heavy Disruptors. Heavy Disruptors (HDISR on the SSD) cost 3 energy on standard, 6 on overload. They do 3/2 times normal Disr damage (round down); thus an overloaded HDISR at range 0 does 15 damage. Heavy Disruptors have a BPV/Repair cost of 6.
The Early Ships: (these existed just before Star Trek I)
The Standard Ships: (these were around about the time of Enterprise-A)
The Late Ships: (these were around about the time of Enterprise-B)
The Klingons sent into the past their most secret experiment, a Super Cloak, making the ship able to cloak and fire at the same time. The Rohgahh, a Hoshan ship, used the time travel device to travel back in time, but it was sent back about 10 years later, about the time of the Enterprise-B (and the Late Hoshans above).
The Super-Cloak had already been studied by Klingon scientists in the past and was duplicated on the Dakronh (the ship seen in Star Trek VI). The Rohgahh, trying to keep hidden from the 1X/2X Federation, Klingon, and Romulan Empires, found the secret Klingon base where a second prototype was being tested.
The Abyssraker was destroyed, and the scientists were killed when the Deathgame self-destructed to prevent capture. The Rohgahh had no easy way to return home, so it decided to stay in the past in the 0Xl Hoshan Empire. Slowly the crew of the Rohgahh taught the Hoshans new technology. The Hoshans became a small but powerful empire by the TNG era, leading to the Crookshank and Crimson classes on the TNG page. The Zeator, still at war with the Hoshans, used spies to steal plans for technology, but they never were as powerful as the Hoshan.
OK, that's about it. Again, send comments or questions to smileylich@smileylich.com. I'll be working on the Third Part for the next couple of weeks, it seems like every 2-3 weeks will work well for this. I'm also still working on the Master Weapons Chart and the SSDPrint computer program, that should be up sooner (keep an eye out). Bye!
