Quite. We don't see 40 ships, we only see something like a dozen in the two episodes combined. So we have to rationalize a bit.
Umm, how could the force have a flank or a rear?
The whole setup calls for some careful explaining. For some reason, Starfleet thinks the Borg will pass through the Wolf 359 region. Why is that? Because it's on the exact beeline between Jouret and Earth, and the Borg are known for following beelines?
Okay, let's accept that. Starfleet would then have to position on that beeline. How wide is it? Half a lightyear? Two-three lightmonths? It can't be much narrower than that, I guess.
Let's settle for a lightmonth or so. How does Starfleet intend to stop the Cube? By shooting at it until the warp field is disrupted? That has often worked against all sorts of targets, so say they try it again. But one ship hasn't managed to do much in the recent engagements. How to concentrate firepower?
There'd seem to be three options. Spread out the 40-50 ships evenly across a disk measuring a lightmonth across, with orders to converge on the eventually observed approach path of the Cube; or form ship clusters of supposed decisive size, and then spread those out; or concentrate the entire force for maximum effect, and wait for it in the middle of the disk. In each case, it would take lots of warp maneuvering to move the ships to where the Cube is before the battle could ensue for good.
None of these cases would feature a formation with a "flank" or a "rear": all of the battleground, indeed all of the universe, would be "flank" or "rear" to the Starfleet side, and all of it would be "center" to the Borg side. And in all but the last case, the battle would indeed start with less than 40 ships engaging the Borg.
Was the Cube forced out of warp, perhaps moments before the "Emissary" camera cut in? Perhaps Starfleet had prepared for doing so, but Locutus decided to engage in impulse battle all on his own, and Starfleet did not have to do any firing before the cameras started to roll. The interception formations would still stand, and would in the first two cases match what we saw: a handful of ships within range.
Alternately, we could be looking at the third case, and the handful of ships is what was left after the majority had been expended in forcing the Cube out of warp.
The dialogue as such doesn't establish things one way or the other. Even though writer intent apparently was for the DS9 episode to show the very first shots of the battle, and the VFX people were initially intent on showing the middle of the fight but then changed that for the beginning of the fight, none of this really shows up on screen. Say, there could be massive wreckage there from the already performed warp intercept, only spread out so that it wasn't visible.
Timo Saloniemi
Umm, how could the force have a flank or a rear?
The whole setup calls for some careful explaining. For some reason, Starfleet thinks the Borg will pass through the Wolf 359 region. Why is that? Because it's on the exact beeline between Jouret and Earth, and the Borg are known for following beelines?
Okay, let's accept that. Starfleet would then have to position on that beeline. How wide is it? Half a lightyear? Two-three lightmonths? It can't be much narrower than that, I guess.
Let's settle for a lightmonth or so. How does Starfleet intend to stop the Cube? By shooting at it until the warp field is disrupted? That has often worked against all sorts of targets, so say they try it again. But one ship hasn't managed to do much in the recent engagements. How to concentrate firepower?
There'd seem to be three options. Spread out the 40-50 ships evenly across a disk measuring a lightmonth across, with orders to converge on the eventually observed approach path of the Cube; or form ship clusters of supposed decisive size, and then spread those out; or concentrate the entire force for maximum effect, and wait for it in the middle of the disk. In each case, it would take lots of warp maneuvering to move the ships to where the Cube is before the battle could ensue for good.
None of these cases would feature a formation with a "flank" or a "rear": all of the battleground, indeed all of the universe, would be "flank" or "rear" to the Starfleet side, and all of it would be "center" to the Borg side. And in all but the last case, the battle would indeed start with less than 40 ships engaging the Borg.
Was the Cube forced out of warp, perhaps moments before the "Emissary" camera cut in? Perhaps Starfleet had prepared for doing so, but Locutus decided to engage in impulse battle all on his own, and Starfleet did not have to do any firing before the cameras started to roll. The interception formations would still stand, and would in the first two cases match what we saw: a handful of ships within range.
Alternately, we could be looking at the third case, and the handful of ships is what was left after the majority had been expended in forcing the Cube out of warp.
The dialogue as such doesn't establish things one way or the other. Even though writer intent apparently was for the DS9 episode to show the very first shots of the battle, and the VFX people were initially intent on showing the middle of the fight but then changed that for the beginning of the fight, none of this really shows up on screen. Say, there could be massive wreckage there from the already performed warp intercept, only spread out so that it wasn't visible.
Timo Saloniemi
