TNG The Pegasus Season 7

[USSHermes]

Am I the only one that thinks that Picard made a mistake by decloaking in front of that Warbird? He could have started an intergalactic war then and there!

In my humble opinion he should have said nothing, got the Admiral and the device back to HQ and then convene a meeting of a number of admirals and present the device and the events of the episode to them.

They can then quietly make a decision about the future of the project without potentially causing a war costing billions of lives.

Also, I bet the Romulans insisted heads must roll over this. If he had kept it quiet the Starfleet personnel involved could have been demoted or given early retirement, but thanks to Picard they were no doubt fired. Watch your back at HQ Jean-Luc.


Perhaps he should have listened to his own advice from the last wesley episode :


Picard: "Inexcusable! You defied the orders of the ranking officer on the scene! You put the lives of the entire away team in jeopardy, and you've made an already tense situation worse!! Your actions reflect very badly on this ship and on that uniform. Now I want an explanation, Mr. Crusher, and I want it now!"


Wesley Crusher: "I know Admiral Necheyev gave you an order, and she was given an order from the Federation council, but it's still wrong."

Picard: "That decision is not yours to make, Cadet! I don't know what has gotten into you lately; and quite frankly, right now, I don't care. But I will tell you this: while you wear that uniform, you will obey every order you are given, and you will conform to Starfleet regulations and rules of conduct. Is that clear!?"

[Admiral Shran]

I've always thought this as well. It really was a blunder on Picard's part.

He's lucky the Romulans didn't decide to press the issue right then and there, since a Galaxy-class ship has always been shown to be no match for a Warbird.

[Lor'Vela]

I have to admit I didn't like that moment very much either, but on reflection, it was probably better to reveal yourself in that moment than let the Romulans discover later, which would be very likely considering the Enterprise was trapped within the asteroid. How else would they account for a ship just disappearing like that?

[Nick086]

Well, what ever happened both governments seem to work something out together. War was avoided between the Romulans and the Federation by good diplomency.

[Marten]

Admiral Shran wrote:

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I've always thought this as well. It really was a blunder on Picard's part.

He's lucky the Romulans didn't decide to press the issue right then and there, since a Galaxy-class ship has always been shown to be no match for a Warbird.

̈́

That really is strange. If one warbird can outmatch a Galaxy-class ship, which is supposed to be one of the better ones in the fleet, would the Romulans not be extremly superior, considering that a warbird is standard in the romulan fleet?

[Alrik]

Marten wrote:

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̈́

That really is strange. If one warbird can outmatch a Galaxy-class ship, which is supposed to be one of the better ones in the fleet, would the Romulans not be extremly superior, considering that a warbird is standard in the romulan fleet?

I think the OP was incorrect in that statement. I'm pretty sure that the Galaxy class and the Warbird were evenly matched. The only times Enterprise was forced to back down was in the case of multiple Warbirds.

[Lor'Vela]

Alrik wrote:

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I think the OP was incorrect in that statement. I'm pretty sure that the Galaxy class and the Warbird were evenly matched. The only times Enterprise was forced to back down was in the case of multiple Warbirds.

That's my belief as well. I seem to recall somewhere that the Warbirds have slightly greater firepower, but the Galaxy-classes have greater agility. In any case, both would take a beating if it came down to a fight.

[Admiral Shran]

Lor'Vela wrote:

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That's my belief as well. I seem to recall somewhere that the Warbirds have slightly greater firepower, but the Galaxy-classes have greater agility. In any case, both would take a beating if it came down to a fight.

You're right. Thinking back on it now I remember something about the Warbirds having greater firepower, but the Enterprise having greater speed and agility. So, they could probably both inflict great damage to each other, but a Galaxy-class could then retreat more easily if it had to.

[buckeyenation]

Alrik wrote:

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I think the OP was incorrect in that statement. I'm pretty sure that the Galaxy class and the Warbird were evenly matched. The only times Enterprise was forced to back down was in the case of multiple Warbirds.

First off, yes, it was a mistake for Picard to decloak in front of the Romulans. Better to let Starfleet handle the matter internally rather then let the Romulans know Starfleet Intelligence was running amuck.Secondly, a Warbird-Galaxy battle (or Soviergn class, better yet) mano y mano showdown would have just been so bitchin' to see

[Nick086]

Admiral Shran wrote:

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You're right. Thinking back on it now I remember something about the Warbirds having greater firepower, but the Enterprise having greater speed and agility. So, they could probably both inflict great damage to each other, but a Galaxy-class could then retreat more easily if it had to.

I remember watching a DS9 episode it was during the Dominion War. I could see there were less Warbirds then Klingon and Federation ships in the fleet. I'm guessing the Warbirds were the Romulans only way of defense. I'm just suprise they have didn't more ship classes. Whatever happen to creating an advance verison of their BirdOfPrey in the TNG and DS9 series. This was something the writers and the ship modelers forgot to do. We did see anything new until Star Trek Nemesis.

[Anwar]

The Warbird is apparently a "bark louder than bite" vessel. It got trashed more than most other ships in the war, while the Galaxy took a beating and kept going in most battles. I think that's the point of it being such a huge vessel as well: the size intimidates, to make up for the lack of weapon power and speed/maneuverability.

[Brikar99]

The Romulans probably saw that Picard was giving them a sign of respect - he thought coming out with the truth to everyone was more important than continuing to hide the fact that the Federation was in the wrong and breaking their treaty. This way he says, "Listen, we effed up here... But I'm going to fix it." And the Romulans thought that was pretty awesome.

By not revealing that they had the cloaking device, frankly I think that would be more of a risk for war. The Romulans would be PISSED if they found out the Enterprise had continued to use the device and break the treaty to get away. The whole point of this episode is Riker follow his conscience and come out with the truth... having Picard squash it the same way he did would completely ruin that.

[indolover]

Picard is obviously a highly moral person. So considering this, he would see the violation of the Treaty as wrong, and would do everything in his power to rectify it.

I think the Romulans would have quickly dismissed it, since Starfleet seemed pretty adamant to expose the conspiracy.

[CoveTom]

USSHermes wrote:

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They can then quietly make a decision about the future of the project without potentially causing a war costing billions of lives.

"Quietly making a decision" was precisely what Picard wanted to prevent. Because there was no decision to be made. The project had no future. It was illegal. The fact that a few admirals decided to do it anyway doesn't make it legal or right. By decloaking when he did, Picard made sure that none of the weasels back at Starfleet could hide the truth, either from their superiors or from the Romulans. He acted out of principle, even at risk of his own career, as he often does. And that was really the whole point of the episode. To have him try to sneak away quietly and preserve the secret would undermine the entire story.

As for his speech to Wesley the week before, he was dressing down a cadet. This is not the same thing. We know that Picard really doesn't believe that an officer should blindly follow every single order he is given, no matter what. He has said that time and again, and he's put his career on the line for his principles more than once.

[Degobunny]

yeah I think picard did the wrong thing there. I think it is silly though that the Federation can not use cloaks becuase of a treaty with the Romulans, who can use cloaks. I wonder though if the other captains would have made the same decision he did. I am also dissapointed it never came up again, I would like to have seen exploring with the possibility of phasing technology.