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"Omigod. Singing meat. This is altogether too much."
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"That's your plan? Wile E. Coyote would come up with a better plan than that!"
- Crighton, Farscape.
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Frank's Home Page
"That's the last time I have a headcheese hoagie before bedtime." - Leonard Nimoy
What does this mean for Ross? Was he sitting in the Engineering set of a Defiant-class ship, directing the battle from there? Not likely. What I like to think is that Ross was on the bridge of a ship designed at the Defiant tech level (thus explaining the set), doing his thing from the rear lines / vanguard (and leaving Sisko as a group commander in the fleet proper, as I've proposed on the newsgroups). An Oberth? Maybe, if it was refitted with extra comm gear and strategic sensors and computers. If he were on an old Excelsior (as we've seen frequently on TNG), that'd be okay too.
Or, if his "personal ship" (like Riker in "All Good Things...") was actually the Intrepid-class USS Bellerophon we saw in "Inter Arma...", that'd may even work best. Intrepids are tough, but probably wouldn't have the sheer firepower of the larger ships. Ross could command his fleet from the high-tech Bellerophon, and with that ship's speed and maneuverability he could zip back and forth along the battle lines as needed and stay relatively safe.
Mark
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"Why build one, when you can build two at twice the price?"
- Carl Sagan, "Contact"
Staying behind the lines? The Romulan flagship conspicuously failed to do that, and of the three Allied powers, they're the least likely to get stuck in there.
Thinking of Sovereign sightings in DS9 - can anyone confirm/disprove an inkling I have from "By Inferno's Light". I think we saw one from below, hanging on the edge of the fleet next to the docking ring. If memory serves, it's not the scene where the Romulans arrive, but the act before. My friend and I saw it, went "Was that just a Sov-?" and then the shot was gone. Can't seem to find the tape anywhere. Damn.
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"A gathering of Angels appeared above my head. They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said..." -Styx
Aban's Illustration www.alanfore.com
The Martok on the Negh'Var was most likely the Changeling. When the "real" Martok showed up on the Dominion prison, he said he'd been stuck there for two years. That episode occurred halfway through the fifth season, whereas WotW is of course at the beginning of the fourth. It's possible he was rounding up, but given the pro-war attitude of Martok in WotW, I'm of the belief that it was indeed the Changeling.
Still, it doesn't mean that Martok HAD to be on a Negh'Var in WYLB. Yes, he likes his little Rotarran, which has been mentioned as his flagship. But since he made the switch to Chancellor, he may have upgraded. He's done so before, inexplicably switching to the Ch'Tang in "Once More Unto the Breach", and then back to the Rotarran by "Inter Arma...". I'm still trying to figure out why he did that. Battle damage to the Rotarran, perhaps? There's no production reason he made the switch, since they used the same sets and only installed a teeny little console on the side of the command chair.
Mark
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"Why build one, when you can build two at twice the price?"
- Carl Sagan, "Contact"
Martok: I don't really think he's aboard on one of the V'orcha or Negh'Var Cruisers. The Rotarran is his personal ship... maybe upgrated Bird of Prey with a lot of escort.
The Rotarran is also mentioned in the book.
Romulans: No real clue. Again in the book the Flagship has the name D'ridthau.
[This message has been edited by Nemesis (edited January 02, 2001).]
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[Bart's looking for his dog.]
Groundskeeper Willy: Yeah, I bought your mutt - and I 'ate 'im! [Bart gasps.] I 'ate 'is little face, I 'ate 'is guts, and I 'ate the way 'e's always barkin'! So I gave 'im to the church.
Bart: Ohhh, I see... you HATE him, so you gave him to the church.
Groundskeeper Willy: Aye. I also 'ate the mess he left on me rug. [Bart stares.] Ya heard me!
I guess Martok could have operated the small Rotarran as the flagship of the fleet of the House of Martok. When in Imperial service, he would probably use Imperial ships bigger than the ones his House could afford. In "Tacking Against the Wind", Martok has just led a task force of fifteen Vor'Chas against the enemy - obviously, those were Imperial ships, and I very much doubt Martok would have used his little BoP in this battle when he felt even those fifteen attack cruisers were too weak against the target given. Martok is not a brave fool - he would sensibly go for overkill if offered the possibility. So in the final assault, Martok would use the biggest and baddest ship he could get his hands on. A Negh'Var might be too sluggish and passive for his tastes, but the Rotarran in turn would offer LESS chances for hands-on, down-in-the-trenches fighting since it was so much less powerful than a Vor'Cha.
Probably Martok's House owned at least a couple of BoPs, being so influential (even the disgraced House of Mogh had several in "Redemption"), so Martok could switch between these at will. Perhaps his only asset in the DS9 front for a long time was the Rotarran, since his position back home was precarious due to his dishonorable imprisonment, and he needed most of the House ships back there for insurance. When his position stabilized, he could assign more ships to the DS9 front and use them instead of the war-weary Rotarran.
Timo Saloniemi
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"This is cooling, faster than I can..." Tori Amos "Cooling"