Hello! This is a breakdown of the events that led to the Federation Klingon War of 2405-2410.
Known as the Third Klingon War, it was preceded by the Klingon-Gorn war and the results of
many political and military events alongside the manipulation of third parties. The build-up
is all interconnected and I have created several videos already on the history of different
powers and factors, but this one is about the general turmoil between the UFP and Empire.
That being said, The Trouble began with Romulans. In 2382,
The Klingon Empire invaded Khitomer and took it back from the Romulans Star Empire since
their brutal occupation for the last 36 years. The Federation in response considered imposing
a censure on the Empire for its actions but decided not to. However the very notion was
seen as an insult by the Klingons who expected the UFP to be in its corner after he comradery
built up during the Dominion War and withdraws Federation diplomats from UFP space.
In 2384: the IKS Quv is attacked by Gorn 207 Kligons die. King Xrathis of the Gorn denounces
the attack as rogues, but also refuses to hand over the surviving crew of the Quv. The
Klingons begin to militarise at the Gorn border. The Empire also expels its non-Klingon residence
from Khitomer in 2385. A year later, amid constant skirmishes, the
Klingons bombard Gila VI and land troops two days later seizing the territory from the
Gorn. The Federation continues to try to placate the two sides.
Of course, in 2387, the Hobus Event shakes things up and The Narada, under the command
of Captain Nero rampages throughout the Alpha and Beta quadrants attacking all he considers
responsible for the loss of the Romulus. Martok assigns a taskforce under General Worf to
intercept him but his favouritism of Worf is used to weaken his position as many simply
see Martok handing a Klingon fleet to a Federation official and seeing it lost at his hands.
Alongside this, the Empire refuses to aid in the Romulan Refugee crisis.
In 2389: Klingon attacks on the Gorn continue with them capturing Gamma Orionis and they
also begin to expand into Romulan space, taking the Tranome Star and Nequencia systems. The
Federation begins to patrol the new borders to prevent further Klingon advancement while
trying to provide succour to the Romulans. In 2390, the UFP offers to negotiate peace
talks between Klingon and Gorn to try to halt the deteriorating relations as simply adding
more Starships to patrol the boarder is going to just lead to more skirmishes. Klingons
say that the Federation needs to withdraw its vessels from the Romulan-Klingon border
before they’ll accept and the Federation agrees. For the duration of the negotiations,
the Klingons halt their advance and defend their newly acquired territory.
These actions culminate in the k7 peace talks in 2391 but peace talks are ruined by a bomb
which injures Gorn Ambassador Zogozin. Tensions increase as Starfleet security bars the diplomats
from leaving to find the culprit. A Klingon named J’dah was found dead and evidence
pointed to them as the culprit, but their killer was never found.
The Klingons and Gorn resume their attacks but while chancellor Martok is occupied with
these fronts, Councillor J’mpok invades Zeta Pictoris of the Romulan Empire and is
repelled by advanced Romulan ships. The choS battle group is dispatched to investigate.
Despite his defeat, J’mpok’s aggressive actions have made him an appealing alternative
to Martok’s more reserved rule. New Federation President, the Saurian Aennik
Okeg manages to secure new Gorn-Klingon peace talks and hosts them on Cestus III. During
a second conference, the Gorn invade the Klingon world of Ogat three weeks in and the talks
are broken off. In 2393 J’mpok supposedly kills Martok and
takes over as chancellor before banishing Worf from the Great Hall and declines to meet
with Aennik Okeg. In 2394 the Klingon begins to ally with the
Orion Syndicate which the UFP is appalled by citing the organisation as criminal.
The USS Kelso was destroyed in 2395 in the Devron System when a prototype federation
cloaking device exploded. This outrages the Romulans who point to the outlawing of Starfleet
cloaking devices as outlines in the treaty of Algeron. They also notify the Klingons
and both powers withdraw many diplomats from the UFP.
Ja’rod uncovers undine conspiracy, more on this can be found the Undine video history
I did as part of the STO series. Klingon-Gorn operations continue over the next few years
with assaults on the Orelious System but in 2397, J’mpok finally acquiesces to a third
round of Federation hosted peace talks on Casperia Prime.
In 2398 Klingon Empire refuses to partake in the Federation’s the dual citizenship
movement and the Thrid peace talks fail from another attack and K’mtok, the Klingon Ambassador
dies from his wounds. The culprit is suspected to be Toral of house Duras, wanted by both
the UFP and KDF, but he escapes. Before the talks can be continued however,
the IKS Kang returns to Qo’Nos to meet with Captain Jarod who has uncovered proof that
the Gorn Hegemony is under the sway of species 8472 and begins to invade with a combined
Klingon-Orion armada. This marks the full eruption of the Klingon-Gorn War. J’mpok
askes the Federation for aid in protecting the Alpha Quadrant as negotiated in the Khitomer
Accords but instead, the UFP outcries against this seemingly extreme action and demands
that the Empire return to negotiate. The Klingons pull out of the Khitomer Accords.
The Klingons continue to refuse to meet the UFP representatives and Starfleet deploys
starships to protect its borders in case the fighting spills over. Outer Gorn colonies
are lost to the Klingons who are steadily advancing but the Gorn are making them pay
for every lightyear. In 2401, Captain Zachary MacAllister attacks
the Klingon to aid the Gorn and the crew of the USS Lindberg mutinied to remove him from
command. In 2402 Gornar is blockaded by the Klingons
and a siege begins. The siege lasts into the new year with the Gorn transporter inhibitor
network failing and the Klingons making landfall. Despite the Gorn hurrying to protect civilian
sectors, the Klingon make no effort to slaughter the inhabitants and instead move straight
to occupy the capitol. The battle lasts 28 hours until the soldiers of the fifth fleet
manage to enter the royal palace. The Klingons agree not to harm any civilians and not enforce
martial law in exchange for the Gorn’s surrender, very restrained behaviour for a Standard Imperial
conquest. Chancellor J’mpok arrives to Gornar and
executes leading Gorn officials after revealing they were undine, this is broadcast across
the galaxy and then he turns the Hegemony into a vassal state of the Empire. Many other
powers, such as the Nauscicans begin to see the empire as vindicated and are tempted by
a potential coalition. Bolstered by their successes, the Klingons
lay claim to the Hromi Cluster in UFP space in 2404. On stardate 82001.36, President Okeg
refuses the Klingon’s claim. He states; "We will continue our explorations of the
cluster. We will not uproot Federation settlements that have been in these sectors for decades.
You claim you have ancient claims to this region of space. I say that current possession
counts for something. We do not want war, but we will defend ourselves."
Three days after, in response, Korvat is invaded making the beginning of the Third Klingon-Federation
War. It is not a strategic location, but a symbolic one as the site of previous negotiations
between these two powers. The USS Montgomery Scott is heavily damaged
defending Korvat but Starfleet efforts prevail. Initially the Federation was weathering the
attacks just fine and Aennik Okeg is re-elected. Sherman’s Planet is targeted by the Gorn
and Station K7 is moved to defend the sector. The Federation begins to give Admiral Jorel
Quinn greater control of Starfleet and instigates a number of changes to war-time doctrine
In 2406, the Archanis Sector is sieged by Starfleet, bolstered by the deployment of
new personal shielding technology. Alongside this, the Federation has to divert resources
to deal with a plague in the Carnegie System, a major supplier for the Federation.
J’mpok refuses peace summit in 2407 saying that during peace times, the Empire withers
and infighting takes hold, it is only in war that they thrive. Meanwhile the plague continues
to erupt in other systems such as Phylos. In 2408, Cestus III is invaded by Gorn-Klingon
forces and Starfleet moves to defend its colony. In early 2409, the system of Tostig and several
in Kassae are attacked by the Gorn and the USS Break Even is used as bait to lure out
Starfleet into a trap by the IKS Chot. Soon after, Vega colony is attacked by the
Borg marking the emergence of a threat long thought dealt with.
Klingons invade and attempt to occupy the the P’Jem monastery in order to intercept
Federation Ambassador Sokketh, claiming him to be an undine imposter. Starfleet officers
defend the Ambassador until it is revealed that the Klingons are correct and the imposter
makes his escape, disguising himself as a Klingon. Starfleet Intelligence continues
to study the emerging evidence that Species 8472 has compromised the Federation.
There are also strikes conducted on Klingon listening posts in the lackey and Bomari systems
to protect Starfleet communications. Kassae IV is occupied by the Gorn who say
they have a territorial claim to the sector. This situation remains unresolved but Federation
Research teams were safely rescued from occupying forces.
Starfleet Intelligence then dispatches operatives to the Hromi Cluster to investigate a Klingon
base under the command of Ambassador B’vat. Leads uncovered inform Starfleet intelligence
of a planet Killer weapon that has been located and activated by the Klingons in an attempt
to escalate and prolong the war in the Imaga system.
While this was unfolding, operations in the Argelius Sector continue to try to halt the
Gorn Advance as the Federation tried to defend its territory while Starbase 24 is raided.
As of the many reworkings of Star Trek Online, I’m no longer sure of the canonicity of
Miral Paris’ kidnap at the hands of B’Vat so I’m not including that story arc here.
However, the beginnings of the end for the war are on the horizon as of 2409 when the
breakaway nation of the Romulan Republic, under the skilful leadership of D’Tan manages
to negotiate treaties with both the Federation and the Klingon Empire, placing it in a position
to mediate and support both powers without risking attack from either.
During this time, Starfleet is beginning to take the undine infiltration of the Alpha
and Beta quadrants more seriously and mounts an excursion in to Fluidic space to investigate
the reason for their renewed aggression. A wary Klingon task group is assigned to accompany
the effort to back up their claims that their war with the Gorn years earlier was about
protecting the quadrant. Attacks from the Borg also serve to unite
the two powers temporarily as whenever a cube shows up unannounced or an assimilation risks
snowballing, the two old adversaries of Starfleet and the KDF often put aside their conflict
to force the Borg back, both powers aware of the threat the collective poses.
This has the knock-on effect of reducing many hostilities from both parties, especially
as the Romulan Republic stumbles upon Iconian technology on its homeworld and offers both
powers a chance to join in its study. This serves to bolster the Republic’s own standing
among the local powers and over the course of 2409, we see a gradual de-escalation of
conflict. This is compounded by the discovery of an advanced Dyson sphere that yields troves
of ancient but comparatively advanced technology which both sides take an interest in studying.
For this purpose a joint taskforce is established and in this instance at least, hostilities
have ceased between the two. This tenuous alliance threatens to break down however on
the discovery that the Jenolan sphere has relocated to the Delta Quadrant and that a
whole new region and sphere are up for grabs. All the powers lay claim to the sphere and
it becomes apparent that there needs to be a formal treaty put in place. To this end,
the Jenolan Summit is held to ascertain the truth of the undine threat and the ownership
of the Dyson spheres. Most major powers attend and put forwards their agendas but the negotiations
are interrupted with an attack on the Sol System by species 8472.
When the true target of Qo’Nos is revealed and the Federation moves to preserve the lives
of those Klingons on the homeworld, the Klingon High Council reaches out to talk with the
Federation and ratifies a formal alliance, built on the Joint Command, the Khitomer Accords
and the unified threat of the Iconians who were revealed at the conference to be behind
almost everything. This formally ended the Third Klingon-Federation
war, but began to bleed into an event known as the Iconian War. Collectively, historians
would refer to the Gorn War, 3rd Klingon War and the Iconian War as just the “Long War”
as the events were all interconnected. Thanks for watching this recap of the Klingon
War. There are numerous encounters and smaller tales that crop up throughout the war and
many on both sides will have a hard time putting the events behind them, but in the face of
a much greater threat, they’ll have to. Until then, thanks for watching, I’ve been
Ric and until next time, goodbye!