In Star Trek: Picard: Firewall, Janeway was already in command of the USS Dauntless in 2381 when she helped Seven. Tysess was there, but so was Asencia.
From what I’m reading, the book takes place in 2381, yet the Protostar goes missing in 2382, meaning Asencia was already there before it disappeared.
Was she waiting for it to go missing so the time loop would happen, allowing her to find it with the weapon on board? I was wondering why she didn’t just sabotage the launch in the first place, but afaik, the Protostar wasn’t the first ship to make contact. So Solum would have already gone through the civil war anyway, meaning she wouldn’t have had much reason to stop the launch.
Could she have actually been the one to sabotage Chakotay’s mission in the Delta Quadrant, deliberately making the Protostar be pulled into the wormhole and coordinate the attack? That would explain how the Vau N’Akat and the Drednoks were so efficient in their assault.
That would mean she had her own time loop, which makes sense as to why the Protostar got pulled in the first place - because she knew it was going to happen and could sabotage the mission to achieve her goals.