What if the Romulan invasion of Vulcan was successful?

[Arpy]

Why does no one ever envision that Bajor can develop and flourish on it’s own without external interference? It is a shame that the Vulcan’s were not around to make first contact with the Bajoran’s after they made their first successful warp flight using the solar sail ship. Maybe the Vulcan’s did see them and detect their warp signature but chose to ignore it? Or perhaps the Bajoran’s beat them to it and had no one to greet them after achieving this milestone because they got there first? The Vulcan’s might have been too busy dealing with the Romulan uprising at the time, with all of their space resources focused on relocating those who did not follow Surak and his teachings to Romulus?

The Tzenkethi might have just kept themselves to themselves as they are not exactly a major player in galactic affairs? I know that they had a brief war with the Federation but I think it was a bit lob sided with the Federation having the upper hand. If the Tzenkethi *did* help Bajor, why would it have to lead to a defacto conquering? Can’t two or more species cooperate and build things together without any untoward agenda? Maybe they made a coalition together and the Bajoran’s helped to spread spirituality to the Tzenkethi, with both species eventually joining the Federation?

As for the undiscovered Bajoran wormhole, perhaps the Dominion discover it first and send Changelings from the Gamma Quadrant through to the Alpha and Beta Quadrants on undercover infiltration missions?

I think that the Alpha Quadrant species would have ended up discovering the wormhole eventually because eventually they would have picked up it’s neutrino emissions as/if it was being used frequently by anyone else?

The wormhole would not have been discovered because the Emissary would not have been there to do so. In this timeline it would be another individual at perhaps a future date. Maybe the Prophets would have manipulated Jake’s conception and it would be him twenty years later, if the Sisko DNA matters.

Bajor might have made it without help, but at a far slower rate. They’d be a single planet for decades trying to rebuild themselves. Help would get them on multiple planets & moons nearby and access to interstellar markets.

The Tzenkethi are nearby. As are the Talarians; I nearly said them but I think the Tzenkethi are more sinister. But the point is not that Bajor is useless by itself but that the nefarious Tzenkethi would utilize at the opportunity to gain an advantage over their rival Cardassians.

The Dominion was going to interfere with the Alpha Quadrant, but in this timeline/universe it looks like they could blow themselves up so they don’t need to do much more than watch the tragedy (to them a comedy) play out.

That is until the end of the millennium, when as Centurian Bochra put it in TNG’s “The Enemy,” “the Federation is extinct and the Romulan Empire spans the Galaxy.” They’ll have to do something about the Solids before it gets that far.

Though, they won’t. Because everyone will be assimilated when Voyager isn’t in the Delta Quadrant to destroy the transwarp hub.

 

[Orphalesion]

Why does no one ever envision that Bajor can develop and flourish on it’s own without external interference?

Why go it alone though and walk a harder road than necessary, when the Federation is right there to help, for free?
Bajor literally had nothing to lose, but everything to gain from their association with the UFP.

 

[Timofnine]

Why go it alone though and walk a harder road than necessary, when the Federation is right there to help, for free?
Bajor literally had nothing to lose, but everything to gain from their association with the UFP.

If indeed Bajor had a continued threat from the Cardassian’s even after their withdrawal, if the Tzenkethi did have malicious intent and there was a high probability of interference from other nearby species such as the Ferengi who could have tried to financially exploit the Bajoran’s or as also mentioned the Talarian’s who could have enforced a patriarchal society on Planet then yes, perhaps Bajor would have been better off with support from the United Federation of Planet’s and applied for a speedy membership application. Hopefully as a society they would have met the requirements for such an application, it might have ended up being a ‘complicated’ transition period though due to the political upheaval Bajor was facing at the time.

Also, if the Dominion did indeed decide to infiltrate the Alpha and Beta Quadrant’s, their first port of infiltration would have been the Bajoran Provisional Government; a small step just to get a foothold in the Quadrant for further expansion or infiltration in to the greater ‘powers’. The Federation would really have needed to nip this in the bud so to speak.

 

[Snowdrop82]

I feel like if they invaded Vulcan they would need to do a proper Federation - Romulan war, do an underhanded deal with the Klingons or Cardassians and have them team up against the Federation. The Federation loses Vulcan and is forced to withdraw from several border worlds. The tone of Star Trek takes upon a more desperate character, imagine a whole series about reclaiming Vulcan from the Romulans and dealing with the whole affair. It would have completely changed the tone of the Show and the Universe. A weakened Federation would likely not stand much of a chance against the Dominion, if and when they still invaded.

 

[Arpy]

I feel like if they invaded Vulcan they would need to do a proper Federation - Romulan war, do an underhanded deal with the Klingons or Cardassians and have them team up against the Federation. The Federation loses Vulcan and is forced to withdraw from several border worlds. The tone of Star Trek takes upon a more desperate character, imagine a whole series about reclaiming Vulcan from the Romulans and dealing with the whole affair. It would have completely changed the tone of the Show and the Universe. A weakened Federation would likely not stand much of a chance against the Dominion, if and when they still invaded.

The Federation and the Klingons have an alliance I think outlined in the Khitomer Accords wherein if either is attacked they would retaliate together. This is what kept the Romulans in check even after they returned from mysterious self-imposed isolation until "The Neutral Zone." The deal would have to be especially underhanded for the Klingons to invade with the Romulans, especially as they really hate each other.

Maybe if the Duras successfully took over the Empire and relations began to change. Or if they attacked in the middle of a civil war within the Empire. It would be a Hell of a strategy to take if you're the Romulans. Especially if your allies lose the civil war or turn on you in the middle of it, or say the Breen take the opportunity to attack while you're in a precarious position. Or maybe if you've neutralized the Klingons with a civil war, raise discussion about secession within Vulcan, and allied with say the Tholians or the Breen yourself. Or maybe a more recent Federation enemy -- the Cardassians, Talarians, or Tzenkethi -- still smarting from a loss.

 

[Snowdrop82]

@Arpy

Very much possibly. How do you think this would play out in TNG, from the POV of the Enterprise crew?

 

[Timofnine]

The Federation and the Klingons have an alliance I think outlined in the Khitomer Accords wherein if either is attacked they would retaliate together. This is what kept the Romulans in check even after they returned from mysterious self-imposed isolation until "The Neutral Zone." The deal would have to be especially underhanded for the Klingons to invade with the Romulans, especially as they really hate each other.

Maybe if the Duras successfully took over the Empire and relations began to change. Or if they attacked in the middle of a civil war within the Empire. It would be a Hell of a strategy to take if you're the Romulans. Especially if your allies lose the civil war or turn on you in the middle of it, or say the Breen take the opportunity to attack while you're in a precarious position. Or maybe if you've neutralized the Klingons with a civil war, raise discussion about secession within Vulcan, and allied with say the Tholians or the Breen yourself. Or maybe a more recent Federation enemy -- the Cardassians, Talarians, or Tzenkethi -- still smarting from a loss.

This just blew my brain! You are very correct theoretically, but I never even imagined these scenarios personally. This is some good role playing/alternate reality material! Well done!

 

[Charles Phipps]

Yeah, it was really stupid. I don't think you could successfully invade the Bahamas with only 2000 people, let alone Vulcan.

Well as we see in Russia, small groups of special forces disabling things can indeed be successful. I presume the 2000 there aren't meant as an occupying force but to cripple Vulcan defenses in lieu of the actual invasion-invasion. The whole point would be to create enough confusion to let them do this and set up a Vulcan puppet government or whatnot until they've secured the planet.

And no, I don't see even the featherheads at Starfleet falling for this and massive war not breaking out.

 

[FederationHistorian]

First of all, how could they possibly take over an entire world with a contingent of only slightly over 2000 Romulan soldiers, and hold out?

Either:

• Infiltrate the Vulcan government, and later the rest of the Federation, and attack/sabotage from within. Basically, what Commodore Oh did in PIC, but on a wider scale and with Romulan troops.

or

• Create a hostage crisis on Vulcan that results in siege warfare.

Both paths would result in political repercussions that would result in all out war between the Federation and the Romulan Empire. That was the idea.

Regardless as to which path was taken, combined with Spock being forced to say what Sela wanted him to say, this event was supposed to be Sela’s version of “in The Pale Moonlight”. The clear difference being that she failed.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

My explanation:

The 2,000 Romulan troops weren't part of an invasion in the traditional sense, but instead were carriers of a virus which the Romulans had long since built up an immunity to (though they were still asymptomatic carriers) but which the Vulcans were still fatally susceptible.

Their mission was for the three cargo ships to set down near the largest population centers of each continent on Vulcan and to spread out on public transportation and to intermingle with as much of the Vulcan population as they possibly could, exposing them to the virus, and from there the Vulcans would spread the illness even more before they became symptomatic.

As the Vulcan people started dying en masse and their population numbers had been drastically reduced, the Romulans would make an unprecedented diplomatic gesture of offering to swoop in an provide medical assistance and a vaccine, but only if Vulcan withdrew from the Federation and reunified with Romulus instead.

The timing of the Romulan offer and the nature of the virus made everyone suspicious as hell, but given how devastated the Vulcans and their colonies were by the virus, they simply had no choice but to take the Romulans up on their offer.

Once the Romulans had their hooks into them, the weakened Vulcan state would be incapable of mounting much of resistance and the conquest of Vulcan and reunification of the Vulcan and Romulan people would occur without a shot being fired.

That why it was necessary to destroy the ships and the troops on board; not just to preserve the secrecy of the mission, but to prevent the Vulcans from getting any live samples of the virus so they could have time and a controlled environment to work on a vaccine.

 

[captainmkb]

Not even them being 'entrenched' would save them.

can you imagine how short the discussion regarding the logic of a scorched earth policy would be to root out 2,000 troops? "the good of the many..." etc etc

"We've taken over the HQ and most of the city center! if you strike back at us you'll kill thousands of your own people!"
"Their service honors us." *pushes big red button*

 

[MarkusTay]

Vulcans would wear more leather (especially the women), but thats about it. That sort of 'intimate' contact with Vulcans and having forced contact everyday with the Federation (which would happen considering where they'd be) would probably eventually lead to a friendlier relationship with Romulans overall. In every instance where Romulans were actually allowed to 'drop their defenses' and work alongside Federation crews, they enjoyed it, and had a new-found respect. One would imagine the Romulan state that would control information and dispense misinformation, so learning the truth about the 'barbarian hordes from Earth' would probably shift their culture in the right direction, earlier than when it did happen. Plus, Romulans don't suppress their emotions, which is unhealthy - they simply deal with them like the rest of us do. They're pragmatic to a fault. They could teach the Vulcans a thing or two in that department.

Bajorans probably ran into the Cardassians first, and then maybe the Ferengi, and were like, "everyone is all ugly out here, lets go home and keep our cute bumpy noses to ourselves."

 

[Snowdrop82]

Honestly wish this happened in the show, it would have made a far more dynamic and interesting premise.