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Romulan-Vulcan war?
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Timo: [QB] The disadvantages of being a single-system empire aren't all that explicit in the Trek universe. Duranium and dilithium may not be present everywhere in the universe, but we have no explicit reason to believe the Romulans would be using either of these. Native products could suffice - and the Romulans might take pride on their self-sustenance, refusing to develop technologies that would make them dependent on other worlds. The Klingon lend-lease cruisers may have taught them a nasty lesson if the Romulan system lacks dilithium, for example... And once self-sustenance is established, being surrounded is no problem. The troops of the surrounded party are always ideally deployed, whereas the surrounding opponent is spreading his nonoptimally. Cloakships can run the blockade in modern days, thanks to the fact that you have to be very close to a cloakship to spot it - similarly, ships of yore may have slipped out even without a cloak if the sensors of that era required similar proximity for reliable detection. Total control of a single star system (especially a system the Romulans probably could choose carefully from a group of candidates, a luxury Humans or Klingons do not have) is IMHO sufficient basis for building a mighty starfleet and terrorizing the surrounding space. It's just a matter of the psychologigal makeup of the Romulans and the Klingons if the former consider a single system a "Star Empire", while the latter feel inferior if their Empire doesn't have the largest number of conquered planets in the galaxy. As for canon-based arguments for and against: -The fact that the RNZ is said to be monitored by a tachyon net in "Face of the Enemy" is either an oversimplification or then proof of a) incredible engineering prowess of the Federation or b) a relatively small RNZ. -The "Redemption" blockade of the Romulan border would be simpler technically if RNZ was small. But Klingon space would have to physically border the RNZ for this episode to work. It is a bit problematic to assume that Feds and Klingons would both have a well-defined border next to this single star system. One would assume such a state of affairs would have required a big war in the past, and at least one specific mention in the episodes. -The Gamma Hydra affair in "The Deadly Years" and STII could support either argument. GH would have to be located very close to the RNZ for a shortcut to SB10 to be necessary by pure coincidence. If GH was farther away than a couple of lightyears, then an incredible coincidence would be needed for SB10 to lie exactly on the line connecting GH and RNZ. But GH could indeed be a nearby system, a famous historical one even, so that it would feature in SF Academy simulations as the token "We are near the Neutral Zone" indicator. And the Zone in STII does look really small. -A multi-system RNZ is quite unlikely if we really interpret the Zone to be a sphere 1 ly across. A single-system one isn't likely if the shell of the sphere is 1 ly thick. What is the exact reference in "The Defector"? Then again, the TNG RNZ could be different from the TOS RNZ, perhaps renegotiated after the Romulans gained warp drive and stepped up their demands. Timo Saloniemi [/QB][/QUOTE]
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