The Battle of Procyon V Tells us A Lot

Star Trek showed us the Battle of Procyon V between the Sphere Builders and Starfleet thanks to Agent Daniels time travel bringing captain Archer aboard the Enterprise NCC-1701-J. This event is revisited in Star Trek Online too and plays a climactic role in the Temporal War as well as the history of the Star Trek timeline.

Star Trek Online developed by Cryptic Studios and Perfect World.
Star Trek Picard/Strange New Worlds/Enterprise/Voyager/Deep Space Nine/Discovery and The Next Generation are all owned by Paramount Pictures/CBS and distributed by CBS.
This Video is for critical purposes with commentary.

[CollinBuckman]

It seems to me like the Battle of Procyon V is simultaneously a battle that never occurred, and a battle that never ends.

[christopherg]

It is worth remembering the Sphere Builders themself are still part of normal time flow. They are not time _travelers_ in any sense of the word.
They can observe other timelines and realities - but they can only act in the moment.
They _have_ to gamble on the battle, one way or the other.
They _know_ it is coming.
But every work they do to change the outcome, they have to do in their timeframe of existence. They played a pretty long game grooming the Xindi to be their agents. And when they failed, they had no way to make a "do-over".
Other powers with proper time travel most definitely tried to change the outcome.

[Adam-ulpx]

Agree with Janeway, temporal mechanics gives me a headache

[AaronDuncalf]

Always wondered why the prometheus class was still in service so far in the future, and thinking about it the temporaral agents using different starships from the past, through out time actually makes sense.

[John.S]

Watching TNG, TOS, Voy, DS9 and ENT, we are just seeing the events of the time, passive observers, we see the same timeline the whole time, events of the ENT series are legitimate history that a young Jean-Luc Picard would've read about in the e-history class.

[Kitsula]

This battle makes remember a line from Doctor Who's "The End of Time: Part 2":

Time Lady: Perhaps it’s time. This is only the furthest edge of the Time War. But at its heart millions die every second. Lost in bloodlust and insanity. With Time itself resurrecting them to find new ways of dying, over and over again. A travesty of life. Isn’t it better to end it at last.

The horror of fighting and dying again over an over in an endless temporal battle.

[prismpyre]

The writers of STO deserve so much respect- they wring gold from lead, sometimes. I just rewatched season 3 of Enterprise recently and I couldn't believe how much better and more enjoyable it was with the added context and the benefit of their retcons to Brannon Braga...

[bsmnt]

From what I was able to determine, the battle itself IS the war, through retro causality. The victory conditions of the battle itself is who fights in it. This is determined by the history that leads up to it retroactively which is where the war is fought.

[AzraelThanatos]

There is also the theory that Enterprise is in a timeline that continues from First Contact, and the Borg playing with time travel is what triggered the temporal cold war.

Things like the NX-01's shape being due to Cochrane's observation of the Enterprise-E, meaning that things were shifted there heavily

[dajonaneisnoah]

Procyon 5 is Andoria? I had missed that connection. Man, that really ups the stakes for that battle. Makes me wonder if the Andorians were able to shield their planet, or if the spatial distortions...depopulated it.

[BaconMinion]

The whole problem with this is that it just adds another layer to the multiverse.

That is, "if I don't like it, it's just another timeline" being added onto "if I don't like it, it's just another universe". Now, it becomes "if I don't like it, it's just another timeline of the universe that I like".

[allnamesaretakenful]

I wish Agent Daniels had gotten his own spin-off.

[ServantOfOdin]

I think TOS, TNG, DS9, Voy and Enterprise are still well within their same continuity.
In Yesterdays Enterprise (I know, alternative reality, but still closely related to the prime reality), Riker remarks about a planet called Archer (IV or V, doesn't matter). At the time it was made this was a throwaway line, but given Captain Archer, who later became president, this system is likely named after him, no matter the reality.
Or in TOS/TMP, Khan and his gengineered band are settled on Ceti Alpha V. Which coincidentially happens to be the same planet the Human refugees settle in the Enterprise episode Twilight

[TerrisH]

On the inconsistencies on how time travel affects the various "presents" of star trek.. There are multiple methods of time travel available, so it might matter HOW one achieves the time travel, And if the means are artificial, how the device is set up along with the intent of those seeking to use it.

[Jayjay-qeum]

"If the Federation had lost, the Sphere-Builders would have spread throughout the galaxy. They would wiped out everything." -- Daniels, 26th century

[UCannotDefeatMyShmeat]

I’m amazed temporal problems aren’t more common, considering you can time travel by doing basically anything that seems weird enough to work in the ST world

[JoacinoDaGona]

I feel sorry for Daniels, he has to be present at every possible iteration of the Battle of Procyon V, no wonder he starts to look like scarred mess as the favor shifts against the Temporal Accord.

[garyheighway]

Just did that mission tonight going in destroying the sphere. Definitely loving the content of this game.

[UCannotDefeatMyShmeat]

I always liked doing this mission in sto since it has the unique poison swamp health drain, while you take on waves of pretty tough and varied ships

[PeoplecallmeLucifer]

5:15 The loss of the battle is why the sphere builders are interveining in the timeline IMO