Temporal Cold War

The Temporal Cold War is a conflict in Star Trek fought between several time-travelling factions operating from different points in time, each trying to impose its own preferred version of history, often in direct violation of the Temporal Accords policed by temporal agents of the 31st century. The factions mostly avoided direct confrontation and incited proxy conflicts instead: the Suliban Cabal worked for a mysterious benefactor in exchange for advanced technology, and the Sphere-Builders manipulated the Xindi into attacking Earth. Jonathan Archer first heard of it in 2151, when Sarin told him the Cabal were soldiers taking orders from the distant future.