Vau N'Akat Civil War

The Vau N'Akat Civil War was a civil war fought between the Vau N'Akat on the planet Solum in two separate timelines.
==Original timeline==
In the original timeline, the Vau N'Akat Civil War was sparked by first contact with the United Federation of Planets and a divide on whether to pursue relations with aliens, which resulted in the fall of their civilization and the near-extinction of the species.
===Prelude===
At an unknown point after 2384, the United Federation of Planets made first contact with Solum when a starship arrived at the planet. ()
===Civil war===
Afterward, a schism developed within Vau N'Akat society between those who were tempted by the promise of other worlds and wished to align with the Federation, and those who sought to preserve their old way of life and disdained joining a "primitive allegiance". Years of infighting eventually erupted into decades of civil war that left Solum irreparably devastated; extinction was thought to be inevitable. The Federation remained neutral during this conflict. ()
===Aftermath===
Fifty years after first contact, the was ejected over Solum by an unstable wormhole, having been brought from the 2380s. The surviving Vau N'Akat, bitter at how the Federation had "abandoned" them by remaining neutral during their civil war, saw this as a fateful opportunity for revenge and to save their species. They captured the ship and installed their last surviving living construct aboard, hoping to send it back into the past to destroy the Federation and avert first contact.
However, Captain Chakotay and his crew managed to escape and send the Protostar into the wormhole unmanned, losing it in time and space. With their greatest minds estimating no better than a one percent chance of finding the Protostar again, the Vau N'Akat formed the Order and sent the last of their fleet, one hundred starships, into the wormhole to complete their mission. Each was crewed by a single soldier who forsook their name and former life in dedication to their cause, and was accompanied by a Drednok. Most of the ships were destroyed as the wormhole collapsed, but The Diviner and The Vindicator survived, emerging in different times and locations. ()
However, this plan was foiled when the Protostar was found on Tars Lamora in 2383 and taken from the Diviner by a group of young aliens whom he had enslaved to find the lost ship. Although the Vindicator did succeed in launching the Vau N'Akat weapon in 2384, the Protostars young crew destroyed their ship in order to save Starfleet, foiling the plot. ()
The Diviner's daughter Gwyndala subsequently decided to travel to Solum and stop the civil war from ever happening. Even if the Federation were to not initiate first contact, Gwyn recognized that outside contact was inevitable someday, and sought to unite the species to see such contact in a positive light. ()
==Altered timeline==
In an altered timeline, the civil war was sparked when Asencia, the last surviving member of The Order who had traveled back in time, established a tyrannical rule over Solum, intending to destroy the Federation using temporal technology stolen from the mind of Wesley Crusher. Asencia was opposed by the Uprising led by Ilthuran who was supported by Federation forces led by Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway.
===Prelude===
Following the defeat of The Order's plan to destroy the United Federation of Planets using the living construct in 2384, Gwyndala traveled to Solum to make peaceful first contact with her people on behalf of the Federation, hoping to prevent the civil war. Even if the Federation were to not initiate first contact, Gwyn recognized that outside contact was inevitable someday, and sought to unite the species to see such contact in a positive light. However, by the time that Gwyn arrived six months later, Asencia had already arrived and won the trust of the council, revealing to them the devastation that would come and convincing them that Gwyn was a spy and a puppet. ()
With the help of her father Ilthuran, Gwyn challenged Asencia to Va'Lu'Rah in order to prove herself to be a true Vau N'Akat and get the council to listen to her. Asencia expressed a belief that the civil war was inevitable as long as the outsiders came to Solum, so she intended to make sure the right side won. Due to the circumstances behind the 's launch in the future being inadvertently altered, Gwyn began phasing in and out of existence, allowing Asencia to win. Asencia was hailed as a true Vau N'Akat who would lead her people unto their greatest future while Gwyn was rescued by her friends in the . ()
===Civil war===
Asencia subsequently overthrew the council and rose to power as the tyrannical ruler of Solum. Capturing Wesley Crusher, an omnitemporal Traveler, Asencia extracted temporal technology and weaponry from his mind to launch war against the Federation, intending to destroy it in order to save Solum from destruction. In response, Ilthuran organized the Uprising to stop her with Asencia's younger self being one of his supporters. Unbeknownst to anyone, Wesley deliberately allowed himself to get captured in order to manipulate Asencia into building the technology that would be needed to send the back in time to Tars Lamora and repair the broken timeline. ()
The citizens of Solum were left living in fear in a police state with the streets patrolled by Drednoks and Asencia's loyal guards. Prisoners were sent to the Wastes on a train where they never returned. In the Wastes, Asencia was holding a captured Loom which she used as a method of execution. ()
Ilthuran eventually managed to make contact with the and warn the crew of the situation on Solum before being captured by Asencia. Asencia dispatched the Rev-1 to destroy Voyager and the Protostar, but the attack failed, and the Rev-1 was destroyed by Nova Squadron using the Boothby Supernova. Starfleet Command ordered the two ships to Solum to find and neutralize Asencia's temporal weaponry to prevent all-out war with Starfleet which was spread extremely thin at the time. ()
After arriving at Solum, Gwyndala suggested that since she wasn't Starfleet and neither were Dal R'El, Rok-Tahk, Jankom Pog, Murf, and Zero, they could go to the planet and find the source of Asencia's weaponry without a provoking a war between Starfleet and the Vau N'Akat. As it wouldn't technically violate their direct orders or the Prime Directive and seeking a peaceful solution, Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway agreed to the plan. Although the Prime Directive prevented Starfleet from taking sides in the civil war, Janeway agreed to allow the team to rescue Ilthuran and to grant him political asylum aboard Voyager as Ilthuran's contacts might know Asencia's plans, and he could be the key to achieving peace. By the time Voyager and the Protostar arrived, Asencia's fleet was nearly ready to launch.
The Protostars crew, joined by Maj'el who resigned from Nova Squadron to be able to be a part of the mission discovered managed to rescue Ilthuran, Kathon and Borom, sending the latter two and the younger Asencia who had helped with the rescue to the Uprising. Although the crew also rescued Wesley, he revealed that in the future that he had foreseen, the crew didn't split up and rescued him alone. By sending the Protostar into the past, Ilthuran would've been safe and led the overthrow of Asencia, but with this change, Wesley didn't know what would happen next. The entire crew, Ilthuran and Wesley were then captured by Asencia and her forces and Asencia declared that she could keep Wesley and his knowledge and crush the insurrection against her by killing Ilthuran, thus ensuring that Solum's future was Asencia's alone. However, on Gwyn's signal, Dal used a site-to-site transporter to beam Wesley and Ilthuran to Voyager as Asencia attempted to execute Ilthuran, removing them both from Asencia's clutches. ()
On Voyager, Wesley's injuries were treated by The Doctor, although the torture left Wesley without his Traveler powers for the time being. Asencia made a subspace broadcast revealing the Protostar crew's capture as proof that alien spies had infiltrated Solum and sowed discord amongst them, challenging Janeway to come herself. Accompanied by Chakotay, The Doctor and Wesley, Janeway launched a rescue mission for the Protostar crew using a Vau N'Akat ship built using the Protostars vehicle replicator with Ilthuran's help as Asencia had initiated transporter scramblers planet-wide to prevent beaming in or out. Janeway instructed Ilthuran to remain on the Starfleet vessels in asylum as he was the best chance for a peaceful future for Solum. Although Asencia attempted to execute the Protostar crew by feeding them to her captured Loom, Janeway's team successfully slipped past her defenses, rescued them and released the Loom which briefly attacked Asencia and her forces before departing.
Afterwards, Ilthuran made a broadcast encouraging the people to reject Asencia's war and revolt against her, announcing that he had met the off-worlders and they were not the enemy, pointing out what Asencia had turned their once-peaceful planet into. Solum broke out into a full-scale civil war between Asencia's forces and the Uprising. Gwyn was dismayed that even with the changes to the timeline, Solum had still fallen into a civil war. Having been reminded that boldness wasn't only for the young and that when Starfleet was united, they could always overcome, Janeway agreed to help save Solum. ()
The situation quickly turned against Asencia with the city being thrown into chaos by the resistance being mounted and the Uprising demanding peace with Starfleet. Desperate, Asencia began to launch her invasion of all key Federation targets despite the fact that opening up that many wormholes would tear apart the fabric of subspace. Asencia declared that Solum was already tearing apart and their enemies could join the Federation in death. Voyager detected dozens of rifts leading to every major Federation starbase across three quadrants, but it also gave them the chance to send the Protostar back in time and fix the dying timeline. Rok realized that they could merge the energy of the rifts to create a temporal wormhole which would stop the invasion and allow them to send the Protostar to the past where it belonged.
As Dal, Jankom, Murf, Gwyn, and Ilthuran beamed to the surface, Wesley, Rok, Zero, and Maj'el figured out the science regarding the opening of the wormhole and Voyager and the Protostar engaged Asencia's fleet to buy time. At the research spire, Ilthuran stayed behind to hold off the Drednoks while Dal, Jankom, Gwyn and Murf climbed the spire. At the top, Asencia and her attacked. While Gwyn fought off Asencia, Murf attacked and ultimately destroyed Drednok, allowing Dal and Jankom to open the wormhole, causing the other rifts to close on Asencia's ships, destroying them and ending her attempted invasion of the Federation.
With Gwyn about to be killed by Asencia, Ilthuran and the rest of the Vau N'Akat, including the younger version of Asencia, united together behind her, giving Gwyn their strength. Gwyn was able to reclaim her heirloom and overpower Asencia, seemingly burning out Asencia's powers, causing her tendrils and facial markings to take on a darkened look. With the defeat of Asencia and her plans, the civil war ended and Asencia was taken to be imprisoned for her crimes. ()
===Aftermath===
However, immediately afterwards, the Loom started to attack, threatening to consume the entire prime universe starting with Solum due to the dying timeline. With the help of Voyager, the Protostar crew sent the ship through the wormhole to Tars Lamora, fixing the broken timeline and ending the Loom attack.
After the timeline was repaired, Voyager landed on Solum where the Federation, represented by Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway and her crew, and the Vau N'Akat led by Ilthuran, made peaceful first contact, leaving them facing a brighter future together. Voyagers crew dismantled Asencia's temporal technology and removed it from Solum to ensure no one could ever use it again. ()
==Appendices==
===External link===
Category:Conflicts