In a way I would be going way beyond the initial intent of this project. Even if Matt Jefferies or Wah Chang ever did envision century old Earth and Romulan combat ships I seriously doubt they would be thinking up multiple classes.
I doubt they were as obsessive as me. And they likely wouldn’t have had my kind of time.
Okay, so allow me to ruminate...
In "Balance Of Terror" it's suggested the Romulans might be an offshoot of Vulcans. This idea, of course, would be cemented two seasons later in "The
Enterprise incident."
Even if we accept that asseruion in 1966 what we don't know is...
- how long ago the two peoples split.
- how did the Romulans come to be where they are, and how far did they get from Vulcan?
- is the name Romulan actually their name for themselves or just a name those of Earth and the Federation call them? And could the name actually be an old Vulcan word?
Yes, I know Diane Duane gave them the very cool sounding name Rihannsu, but that was many years after TOS ended production and something nowhere near on the radar in 1966.
- how long did the conflict last?
In the mid 1960s the understanding of what interstellar travel could entail wasn't much different than what is known today. The learned understood that interstellar distances were truly vast and that conventional chemical propulion systems were totally inadequate for the purpose. Hence the fictional invention of warp drive (an idea that predates
Star Trek by some decades). Another idea that existed (and was later seen in "For The World Is Hollow And I have Touched The Sky" was the idea of generation ships--massive vessels that could take ceturies to reach their destination while successive generations lived out their lives aboard the ship in deep space and never seeing their point of departure or their intended new home. Another idea that was known then was that of suspended animation, wherein the crew or passengers hibernated during the entire flight to be awakened upon arrival to their intended destination. And finally there was the idea of fast relativistic travel, where a ship travelling close to light would still take many years or decades to reach its target, but the crew experience the voyage in a much shorter span of time.
The problem with a generation ship is that it has to be self-sustaining for multiple generations of inhabitants over a greatly protracted period of time. And there are inherent societal challenges as well--keeping the passengers mindful of and committed to the purpose of their voyage.
A sleeper ship, as later depicted in "Space Seed," sidesteps the problems of a generation ship. You only need to keep a much smaller group of people alive in hibernation during the voyage. From the perspective of the 1960s this strikes me as a very plausible solution for a mass migration off planet assuming you don't possess any faster-than-light capability. And even if you do have some form of FTL then a sleeper ship still could be part of the solution unless your FTL can transport you at multiple times (likely hundreds) the speed of light.
A fast relativistic ship (.8
c or better) is a final option that has a measure of appeal. It might not be the greatest thing if you intended a round trip wherein decades to centuries have passed when you return home. But it could be more than ideal for a planned one-way trip. This idea was explored in Poul Anderson's novel
Tau Zero.
So lets assume sometime in the distant past--perhaps 1000-2000 years--a faction of Vulcans leave their home planet to establish themselves elsewhere. A generation ship would be a massive engineering, infrastructural and financial undertaking. Would those remaining behind really be that supportive of bearing the cost for such a thing? It's reasonable to assume the risks involved and the odds of success would be considered at length--is it worth it?
The other two options appear far more favourable and more likely. The question now becomes whether large numbers of people can be kept alive in hibernation for what could be decades to centuries of flight. However, if you combine a sleeper ship with a fast relativistic drive then you have to keep the passengers alive only for a much shorter period of time due to relativistic time dilation. And with a species as long lived as Vulcans some of those aboard might even be awake through parts or much of the voyage.
The final component of a mass migration is the destination. You want to improve your chances of success as much as you can. So you try to figure out the most likely targets that might have a world you can colonize. You might consider multiple targets to investigate during the voyage, but you're still going to want to minimize periods of deceleration and stopovers.
It's also possible the ancient Vulcans managed some limited form of FTL. The flight still took years, but it made the mass migration even more manageable.
However the ancient Vulcans, or Romulans, managed to leave Vulcan the indications are they didn't bother advancing their starflight capability much more after they reached their final destination. When the war with Earth begins the Romulans are no more advanced than we are and possibly even a bit less advanced.
For me that points to a ship type or design not wholly dissimilar from what Earth developed in the latter part of the 21st century. The Romulans possess a limited form of FTL, but they are outclassed, at least in terms of propulsion, by the mid 22nd century Earth ships by several decades. But the Romulans could enjoy an advantage of being relatively near home with a much shorter supply line to sustain their campaign.
Stay tuned...
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