What if the Klingons won the war?

[Pluribus]

The Klingons have had on again off again wars with the Federation though pretty much every series. What would happen if they actually won one of those wars?


I imagine that as long as a race or planet didn't make too much of a nuisance of themselves they would simply subjugate them. For instance, I imagine Earth having a Klingon star base orbiting it and only Klingon ships allowed to land or take off from the planet. Basically saying "No space travel for you, but keep inventing stuff for us."

That and/or they allow people to operate, but under the Klingon thumb. Like most ships requiring a Klingon supervisor on board.


That's all I'm really coming up with so far. I would love suggestions or advice from the forum.

[Pericles]

I can see the Klingons succeeding in the Four Years War as they had both better ships and the advantage of surprise. However, I doubt they could reach Earth as it is so far from the Klingon border. I rather envision the Germany invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, they could gobble up massive chunks of space, but they were biting off more they could possibly chew.

Even if the Klingons would have reached Earth, they'd have had a front that would be similar to the British lines during Operation Market Garden in 1944. A long, deep, but very narrow corridor that would be screaming to be cut off at multiple points and defeated in detail.

[Lord Kjeran]

I tend to agree. If the Klingons ever won a war, it would only be on the frontier. I really can't see them pushing into the Federation core worlds. I would think that the Empire (especially as portrayed in TOS) would take the long view. that is, gobble more and more of the frontier areas and move toward the core.

[K.G. Carlson]

Well, I'm dusting off my Trek Coda campaign wherein the Four Years War just started, so I'll let you know how that turns out

[PGoodman13]

Does this mean we'll start seeing more ships from you in the future, K.G.?

[K.G. Carlson]

Does this mean we'll start seeing more ships from you in the future, K.G.?

I dunno, my ships seem kind of vanilla compared to the other ships being submitted to your site*; its like Etch-a-Sketch vs. Van Gogh


*still awesome, by the way (your site I mean)

[selek]

I suspect there are a number of issues involved in this possibility, but the best insights would come from the Mirror Universe episodes and the Gul Dukat/Weyoun conversations in Deep Space Nine.

Any such victory- almost by definition- would have had to have come before the founding of the Federation. Once the Vulcans, the Andorians, humans, Tellarites and all the rest had a mutual defense pact set up, it was already too late.

(In that regard, it would be very much like the German conquest of Europe in World War II- Germany could have defeated any one Allied power, possibly any two or even three by taking them one at a time. Defeating all of them was never a real possibility).

Assuming that the Klingons managed to defeat Earth, they would have had their hands full keeping it subjugated- just as the Klingon/Cardassian Alliance did in the DS9 MU episodes.

It would not have been sufficient to install an Imperial governor and garrison (as we saw on Organia in TOS Errand of Mercy).

The Klingons would be forced to either eradicate the population (as Weyoun advocated) or try to utterly destroy the Terrans will to fight (which would require almost the same thing).

The hand of tyranny has never rested easily on human populations- and Klingon rule of Earth would be no different.

Assuming that the Klingons were able to take and hold Earth, I suspect that- as witnessed with the mirror-Jennifer Sisko, certain human "pets" would lead sheltered and or privileged lives compared to the population at large, but that would be rare- and temporary.

I suppose it's possible that the Klingons might try to integrate the humans through interbreeding- but given the Klingon emphasis on blood and lineage, I consider it to be highly unlikely.

Ultimately, I suspect you'd see a scattered, balkanized Alpha Quadrant- with little trust, few real alliances, and the Klingons feeding off the rivalries (the Vulcan-Andorian conflict seen in Star Trek: Enterprise cries out for Klingon agents provocatuer to stir the pot.

Earth would be an occupied, armed camp- with heavily fortified and ruthlessly controlled enclaves and roaving bands of human guerillas/resistance fighters.

Given what we know of Klingon ruthlessness and a habit of waging biological/chemical warfare, I suspect that much of the planet would have been laid waste and the population only a fraction of its Federation numbers.

Even if they aspired to more, those few humans fortunate enough to make it into space would be pirates, renegades, and smugglers more than anything else- closer to the humans in Deep Space Nine's Mirror Universe than to the Maquis.

More likely however, is the idea that even if the Klingons managed to temporarily occupy the Earth, the would be overthrown once the humans got their act together.

A post-Occupation Earth would be much like a post-Occupation Bajor- wounded and angry.

Not exactly fertile ground for a galaxy-spanning union such as the Federation. Again, you'd likely see a Balkanized Alpha Quadrant, with the various allied powers joined more in a decentralized Confederacy than in a united Federation.

[Thakowsaizmu]

I can see the Klingons succeeding in the Four Years War as they had both better ships and the advantage of surprise. However, I doubt they could reach Earth as it is so far from the Klingon border. I rather envision the Germany invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, they could gobble up massive chunks of space, but they were biting off more they could possibly chew.

Even if the Klingons would have reached Earth, they'd have had a front that would be similar to the British lines during Operation Market Garden in 1944. A long, deep, but very narrow corridor that would be screaming to be cut off at multiple points and defeated in detail.

Space doesn't work like that, despite what Star Trek thinks.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

The WWII pacific campaign is probably the only historical military conflict which is even remotely comparable to what fighting in space would be like.

[selek]

The WWII pacific campaign is probably the only historical military conflict which is even remotely comparable to what fighting in space would be like.

Very true.

I wrote a short treatise on the subject for the Battlestar Galactica RPG.

I'll have to see if I can find it...