More Planetary Shields and Defenses in Star Trek

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Mike DiCenso
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More Planetary Shields and Defenses in Star Trek

Post by Mike DiCenso » Sat Mar 07, 2020 3:44 am

In the Star Trek: Picard episode "Absolute Candor" we get to see and hear more about a full planetary shield around the Romulan refugee world of Vashti:

http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/obser ... candor.jpg

Though this looks like an impressive set up, it is described in the episode as being "primitive but effective" and was purchased second hand by the refugees. It also had a number of orbital killer drone satellites and it was capable enough to protect the planet from attack by marauders, but was implied not the be able to handle much more than that.

We also hear that Mars had a planetary shield as well as defense platforms, but they were sabotaged by rogue synths. ("Remembrance", "Maps and Legends")
-Mike

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2046
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Re: More Planetary Shields and Defenses in Star Trek

Post by 2046 » Sat Mar 07, 2020 9:37 pm

There hasn't been a great deal of good continuity with the Original Universe in STP, plot-wise, but that (and, arguably, the "antique" RBoP) was one nice example.

Indeed, other than the "surplus" KBoPs from the TNG episode we needn't mention further, the whole topic of surplus military hardware sales is rather a quiet one in Trek canon, whereas arms dealers (generally presumed to be new equipment) are more common.

In the world today there are numerous examples of military vessels sold between powers . . . Soviet carriers in Chinese hands being a notable example. However, Starfleet ships are almost never seen elsewhere. Klingon houses as ship owners and selling parties makes good enough sense, but is sufficiently rare that we only know of the one example.

In STP having Romulan military hardware "in the wild" either makes sense or not . . . like post-USSR Russia they probably needed to sell, but unlike Russia we would think the shipyards no longer existed, apparently (not that a lack of shipyards matters ((cough) Scimitar (cough)). That would suggest a need to hang on to what they had.

In that vein, antiques being sold isn't the worst idea.

Edit: Regarding ships operated by other species, I am also reminded of the not-Romulan D'Deridex from the game "A Final Unity", which never actually made sense since it was a front line vessel class used by another group, with cloak and weaponry seemingly indistinguishable from Romulan standards.

Instead, I am imagining something like a space nation that doesn't have much shipbuilding. The thought that comes to mind is the Nyberrite Alliance (sp?) that Worf was thinking of joining . . . imagine such an astrocracy which used surplus Starfleet hulls, for instance, but for some reason wasn't interested in joining the Federation. Indeed, given the ease of set and FX re-use, it's actually almost weird they never went there in the shows.

Mike DiCenso
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Re: More Planetary Shields and Defenses in Star Trek

Post by Mike DiCenso » Fri Mar 27, 2020 3:51 pm

Indeed, other than the "surplus" KBoPs from the TNG episode we needn't mention further, the whole topic of surplus military hardware sales is rather a quiet one in Trek canon, whereas arms dealers (generally presumed to be new equipment) are more common.
We've only seen one or two arms dealers, such as Quark's cousin Gaila. He and his associates seemed to be interested in selling top-of-the-line hardware, though they sold other powers' hardware, like the Breen CRM-114 rifle.
In the world today there are numerous examples of military vessels sold between powers . . . Soviet carriers in Chinese hands being a notable example. However, Starfleet ships are almost never seen elsewhere. Klingon houses as ship owners and selling parties makes good enough sense, but is sufficiently rare that we only know of the one example.
You're forgetting the Klingon D-7 seen floating along with Federation starship wreckage at Surplus Depot Z15 in orbit around Qualor II as seen the TNG "Unification" two-parter. A surplus depot indicates that the Federation does sell/trade old ships for scrap or reuse. Otherwise it would be a mothball facility that would be holding the ships in reserve as the United States' Navy does for potential reactivation and use in a major war until the hulls are no longer worth keeping.

The Oberth-class S.S. Vico with its apparent civilian registry of NAR-18834 may also represent an example of surplus operated by non-Starfleet groups and that kind of ship being sold to civilians or gifted to them makes sense since this is not anything like a major potential warship and would not need much in the way of "demiling" that a Miranda, Constellation, or Constitution would.
In STP having Romulan military hardware "in the wild" either makes sense or not . . . like post-USSR Russia they probably needed to sell, but unlike Russia we would think the shipyards no longer existed, apparently (not that a lack of shipyards matters ((cough) Scimitar (cough)). That would suggest a need to hang on to what they had.
The Romulan Star Empire no longer exists as a result of the supernova (the same one that caused the Kelvin Timeline to be formed) as far as we can tell, a new Romulan Free State now does (making an apparently nice bit of profit from the derelict Borg Cube). But it may not even represent all of the apparently fractured remains of the Star Empire with others doing their own thing which is why that warlord was going around marauding in the old Bird of Prey. So in this wild almost "Space Somalia" setting, someone getting a hold of a hand-me-down, out of date planetary defense system makes sense. And the Federation went to lengths to shield and arm an archeological site's planet ("Gambit") and an insane asylum ("Whom Gods Destroy") so Romulan remnants and refugees protecting themselves this way again shouldn't be too much of a surprise.
-Mike

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