I'm sorry it's been so long, but I hope you have enjoyed my story.

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X

A Different Future Unfolds.

Noys Lambent leaned back from her time viewer, immensely pleased by the results of her planning so far, and as she checked the Temporal Observatory so she could oversee the results of her time meddling for the next few months, she was pleased by the results.

When the fleet led by Soval and T'Pol arrived at Earth, they told the United Earth government of how the Xindi had launched a number of attacks on their own worlds - their homeworlds and their colonies, and they were later joined by other species like the Tholians, and Starfleet, reluctantly, offered to give them knowledge of hyperdrive technology and shield technology in order to combat the Xindi, although they made sure the shield technology was from the Defiant. Noys could understand the logic behind the decision there, and with how advanced the different technologies were, the last thing anyone would do would be to give away all of their technology.

It seemed that the humans had relearned a very old lesson from their past. Trust no-one. It might just save their lives, and considering how much so many people disliked aliens, no politician or military officer would make such a risky or stupid decision, especially if it meant your people would be safe, and in a time when Earth was being attacked from an alien race who wanted them wiped out, it was a thought that was forever within the minds of everyone.

While Starfleet refused to let or entertain the thought of giving the aliens their new technologies, they did allow them to study the Xindi technology and give them access to Starfleet's research into Xindi science in order to better prepare themselves. As the fleet prepared for the inevitable war, the humans and the aliens who'd come to Earth defended the planet just like the forces left to defend their own worlds did the same, and they found common ground despite the clear rivalries and suspicions of the others.

In the end, all of them would go into the Delphic Expanse, in pursuit of the Xindi and they would track down and destroy the Sphere after learning more about them, cutting off the connection the Transdimensional beings had from their realm into this one, and making it impossible for them to live in this reality, never mind galaxy-form it the way they wanted. What would happen to them after that, Noys had no idea, but she had been changing and manipulating the history and the timelines of various universes to make sure the Sphere-Builders didn't gain the same kind of foothold.

What happened to the Xindi, Noys neither knew nor cared; in the original timeline before she added so many divergences for it to remain the same, Archer would have cosied up to them in the hopes of forming peace, in the long term while it had gone a long way to improve relations, the stubborn and belligerent arrogance of the Xindi Reptilians and the Xindi Insectoids, and certain groups within the other races, would make the Xindi aggressive towards the Federation, but notably towards humanity.

In the divergent timelines, Noys was responsible for creating, the Xindi were either beaten back to the point where they wouldn't be able to stand for some time and in the meantime, Starfleet would keep them under a tight leash to ensure they didn't make any stupid mistake. In more than one timeline, some of the Xindi had tried to turn over a new leaf and make peace with the humans, but in others, they had continued believing in the lies of the alien Sphere-Builders without listening to their own common sense.

But if there was one constant to her alternative realities, it was she had noted that despite the very clear justification to ensure their race survived above the Xindi, Starfleet and United Earth never once crossed the dark line and commit genocide against the Xindi.

Noys had never once created a new universe in such a way as this before. She had never once focused on more than one race before. It had been interesting to include the Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, the Suliban, and the Klingons; all of those races had their own knowledge and expertise, and they would bring something new to the table.

Intrigued, Noys leaned forward over her Temporal Observatory, so she could see what this meant for the future of this reality, and as she studied the Tempograph, where the new timelines were unfolding and diverging from one another, Noys could see for herself that in one reality, the Klingons would steal as much Xindi technology as they could, massacring as many as they could find and when the thermobaric cloud perimeter dissipated they would conquer a large chunk of the Expanse. Noys studied that timeline with interest, seeing for herself that the Klingons plundered Xindi Reptilian technology and used it against its former masters and massacred them until they had conquered many Xindi colonies; Noys grimaced, she knew full well the Klingons would have put the Xindi under the cruel whip of slavery, executing government officials and making life unbearable for the few unlucky enough to survive.

However, in many timelines that she could see unfolding, for every single timeline where one or more of the races involved in this new iteration of interstellar history would work together very well, and then they would create a version of the Federation; it would be far from the Federation seen in the prime universe, but it would be close enough. Even better, was the inclusion of the Klingon Empire, who would see their allies were honourable and made worthy allies.

But even if that didn't happen, the scope for what could happen was endless. Noys didn't care if a series of wars played out in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, and disrupted the previous timeline. This was a new reality, it didn't have to have much of the original timeline to make it work. In any case, while she knew war brought pain, suffering, misery and poverty, and a number of scars that were both visible and invisible and took many years, if never, to heal from, it also brought with it many benefits in the long term. Namely growth, and technology.

Wars on Vulcan accelerated the growth of that civilisation until they had nuclear weapons and primitive spacecraft, the essential building blocks needed to rebuild their culture when Surak laid down the foundation stones of his new logician philosophy. Afterwards, the Vulcans tapped into the tectonic plates and found untapped supplies of water, and they had hydroponic technology in order to feed their people. During the Time of Awakening, the pre-Romulan people fled Vulcan in primitive spacecraft, the technology surviving well enough for the Vulcans to improve upon it.

The Andorians, while a warlike people, had fought a perpetual war against their own world, clawing desperately for resources while their planet condemned them to eternal imprisonment in an icy tomb.

On Earth since Roman Times and the Medieval period, there had been constant warfare among the separate nations with weapons like the mace, the battle-axe, the spear, and the sword being used with the man in armour, the Knight and the Samurai, fought against the longbow and the crossbow, military tactics improving over decades, before in the West as well in the East, gunpowder was invented while the Japanese Samurai were joined by the Shinobi, or Ninja warriors, spies who were so good at what they did, people believed them to be supernatural wraiths. Once gunpowder was discovered, guns and cannons are invented and were used to bring down the walls of the proudest castles.

Medieval warfare, prolonged as it was, led to such things as the first voyages of Captain Cook, who explored the Pacific Ocean and opened new doors, discovered new knowledge of the world around, and the Napoleonic wars, a very long period of war for Europe, led to shockwaves which changed Europe for good, to say nothing of the technological growth in weapons, shipbuilding which even included primitive submersible craft and new advances in primitive medicine. But the growth was there. And the trend continued on, with the First and Second World Wars of the 20th century; by the end of the Second World War, nuclear power was pioneered and the building blocks of a new branch of understanding of the way the universe worked came about.

So no, Noys Lambent truly did not care one little bit if a war began in this part of the galaxy. Such a war would have great rewards further down the line; even if the first contact was different, there was a strong possibility that in the future, maybe earlier than what was recorded in the history Noys knew, and what she had encountered since in some realities, it was inevitable Earth and the Federation, if it existed at all, would soon encounter the Borg.

Compared to the Klingons and the Romulans, the Cardassians and all the other enemies Starfleet encountered in the earlier years of its reign, the Borg made them look like amateurs. A single Cube was able to destroy a large percentage of Starfleet, with hundreds missing and assimilated into drones. The Battle of Wolf 359 was a brutal wake-up call. Without it, the Federation would never have been able to deal with the harsh reality they lived in a galaxy fraught with danger. Without the Battle of Wolf 359, Starfleet would have been ill-prepared against the Dominion War. And since she had introduced more advanced forms of propulsion, Noys had a feeling both wars would come sooner than what was recorded originally.

Perhaps it was for the greater good.