Flare Sci-Fi Forums: Karemman ship variants

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Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :

Are there one or two variants of the Karemman freighter? The Fact Files and the Encyclopedia show a ship with two long prongs at the bow, and with barely noticeable "cheek" fairings. However, DS9 "Shadows and Symbols" has a Karemman-like ship in the ragtag fleet blockading the hospital moon against Romulan shipments, and it lacks the prongs but has pronounced "cheeks".

And now I found at "ST in Sound and Vision" this Fact Files or The Magazine Dominion ships comparison chart which clearly has the prong-less variant tagged as the Karemman freighter.

Are the old FF and the Encyclopedia completely in error, and the model has always been prongless? Or was the model altered when CGId for "Shadows and Symbols", like the Bajoran freighters were subtly altered? Does anybody have screencaps from "Starship Down" that would prove the existence of the prongs? The badly framed photographs in the Fact Files do not provide conclusive proof.

Timo Saloniemi

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[This message has been edited by Timo (edited July 31, 2000).]

Posted by Galen (Member # 72) on :

Good question. I just watched "Shadows and Symbols" and noticed the differences as well. The engines were missing that "see-through" part in the back and were situated farther forward. I tried modifying the standard Karemma picture to make a Bajoran 'version' for my own starship chart.

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Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :

Another question is why do the Bajorans have Gamma Quadrant tech? I gather that they traded with the Karemma for new ships and either got a "different class" or altered the ships for Bajoran needs.

Andrew.

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Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :

The Karemma could have been shipping their merchandise using their own ships instead of just Ferengi ones. When the wormhole became intraversable in the fourth season, some Karemman ships probably became stranded in Alpha. The captains may have decided to sell either their services or their ships to the highest bidder, which in this case happened to be Bajor.

The Bajorans have bought Gamma warpships before - we see them operating the Wadi vessel as a passenger liner in "Rejoined" and as Bareil's VIP transport in several episodes where he visits the station, and the scavenger in "Indiscretion" also uses one in the Badlands. (Never mind that the same ship also served as the Xepolite freighter of "The Maquis" - it was filmed from such an odd angle there, and in such a huge scale, that it was virtually unrecognizable as the same design.)

I'd wager that Bajor suffered a major shortage of ships after the occupation, and took whatever it could get (case in point, they hired Kasidy Yates and SS Xhosa). Most of the triangular ships we see are probably abandoned Cardassian vessels, since we see ships of those designs in Cardassian hands as often as we see them in Bajoran use. And Gamma warpship captains in the first season probably always found themselves bombarded by offers for their ships from both private and corporate Bajorans and the Bajoran goverment.

Timo Saloniemi

Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :

Actually, I can't think of one occasion where the triangular Bajoran ships were seen in Cardassian usage. You sure, Timo?

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Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :

Cardassians have used the following ships in a cargo-carrying role:

*The dedicated "Groumall" design (Groumall herself, convoy ships in "Rules of Engagement", evacuation ship in "For the Uniform")
*The Hideki (freighter, "Profit and Loss")
*The Pakled ship (supply ships, "The Wounded")
*The Merchantman (civilian freighter, "The Maquis")
*The nacelled Bajoran (convoy ships, "Rules of Engagement")
*The nacelle-less Bajoran (convoy ships, "Rules of Engagement")

Of course, it may be that the convoy of "Rules" did not consist solely of Cardassian ships, even though it brought supplies to Cardassians. Somehow I still doubt Cardassia would have accepted Bajoran ships if it could field ships of its own. And the color scheme of the nacelled triangulars is "Cardassian" enough...

Timo Saloniemi