The Burn

The Burn is a galaxy-wide cataclysm in Star Trek that occurred around 3069, when most dilithium suddenly went inert and every active technology that used it to regulate energy, from starship warp cores to planetary reactors, detonated at once. Countless ships were destroyed and millions of lives lost, Qo'noS and most of the Klingon Empire's primary planets became uninhabitable, and the Federation nearly collapsed. It was caused by Su'Kal, a Kelpien born on the dilithium planet Theta Zeta in the Verubin Nebula, whose traumatised outburst on seeing his mother die sent out a subspace shockwave; a true recovery only became possible when the USS Discovery arrived with its spore drive 120 years later.