Why does the Grand Nagus travel by shuttle?

[MatthiasRussell]

The Grand Nagus is the political and economic leader of Ferenginar. He is the most powerful and richest Ferengi.

As such, wouldn’t you expect the Grand Nagus to traverse deep space aboard a D’Kora-class Marauder or another large, well armed vessel, or at least aboard a large vessel with a well armed escort? Not only would such a vessel be more secure than a small shuttle, it carries more pomp, more servants, and more facilities.

Zek flying around deep space in a shuttle seems like the king of Saudi Arabia flying overseas in a small very light personal jet with no escort.

 

[DonIago]

Perhaps he was trying to be incognito?

 

[Timo]

He might also simply be stingy. Or at least he might want to create the illusion of being that.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[IntrepidMan]

I was going to ask a similar question about why Martok commands a BoP instead of a Vorcha. Maybe they just like little ships.

 

[Timo]

Martok isn't a particularly wealthy or prominent Klingon. In "Once More Unto the Breach", he laments that he lacks the pedigree - he's the son of fifteen generations of commoner warriors, and a self-made man who by tradition shouldn't even be an officer. The House of Martok probably can't afford a flashier flagship. Yet Martok no doubt vastly prefers using the lead ship of his own House to riding aboard an Imperial vessel.

It's unclear if any House in fact operates anything as big as a Vor'Cha; all those ships might be purely Imperial units, whereas the Houses would generally provide the Empire with swarms of older and smaller ships, much as we see in "Redemption".

In something of a reverse setup, the Nagus might not have direct control of any major starships, either through government ownership or fealty arrangements. Rather, the profitable arrangement for him might be some sort of a lease contract...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[IntrepidMan]

^I remember Martok saying that he doesn't have an ounce of noble blood. And given his honest and undevious manner it stands to reason that his house may not be particularly wealthy. But not prominant? Wasn't he at Gowron's side at the attack on DS9? True, he was a changing IIRC, but surely he was a prominent general before being abducted or else why choose to impersonate him? And we see him continue to keep council with Gowron and other Klingon dignitaries after he returns to the Alpha Quadrant. Doesn't he act as Gowron's representative on DS9? Doesn't Gowron fear him as a rival? He, along with Sisko and Admiral Ross, is one of the architects of the war. I think he is a most prominent Klingon indeed, though he certainly does not seek the limelight.

Interesting thought about Imperial vs. House ships, although I find it hard to believe that no Klingon house has Vorcha cruisers. Maybe not the smaller houses, but surely the larger houses and the political elite do.

 

[Timo]

I'd think the political elite would take care to distance itself from the day-to-day running of the military, much like they would distance themselves from the promotion-through-assassination thing. They would be happy to sail aboard large warships as long as they didn't have to command them and ward off constant challenges from the top officers. That would probably be the best reason for the Empire to have an Imperial fleet: to provide vessels where loyalty issues would be simpler. And aboard big vessels, one would need a lot of manpower, but OTOH these would be ideal for putting the masses of commoners and no-names to work. Let the BoP crews seek glory for their Houses in brave attacks - but let the big cruisers then reap the benefits in a more sensible manner.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Sykonee]

It wouldn't surprise me if Zek simply got fed up with starship crew members constantly trying to suck up to him (or maybe even assassinate him) that traveling solo in a shuttle made good sense in the long run.

 

[Timo]

Moving solo would also allow the Nagus to make "surprise inspections"; most of his visits to Quark or DS9 seem to be of that sort. It would be impossible for the Nagus to surprise anybody if he had crew to his starship: somebody would earn a little extra from letting the poor guy at the destination learn about the visit in advance. Riding solo is not quite the same as moving incognito, but it would appear to be an important part of the job of Nagus.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[MatthiasRussell]

Perhaps he was trying to be incognito?

Why does a Ferengi want to be incognito? I understand the occassional surpirse inspection, but he could use the Liquidators for that. It seems to me that the Nagus has too many responsibilities to be conducting several surprise inspections. When Zek did show up for an inspection, it typically was a cover for something else.

Ferengi are all about weath and showing off that wealth while living in luxury.

 

[MatthiasRussell]

He might also simply be stingy. Or at least he might want to create the illusion of being that.

Why be stingy? He is the Grand Nagus! That calls for a level of pomp and, well, GRANDNESS! Besides, if he had a big ship, it would be an investment, not simply throwing moneuy away. Also, being the head of the Ferengi political and business structure, such a ship wouldn't come out of his pocket anymore than the president pays to use Air Force One or CEOs pay to use corporate aircraft.

Maybe he doesn't want grovelling servants around? Why not!?! To a ferengi, having people grovelling for your attention is part of the glory of being rich. And then if they get annoying, you threaten them to go away before you have all of their earnings and tax payments thoroughly investigated.

 

[MatthiasRussell]

Martok isn't a particularly wealthy or prominent Klingon. In "Once More Unto the Breach", he laments that he lacks the pedigree - he's the son of fifteen generations of commoner warriors, and a self-made man who by tradition shouldn't even be an officer. The House of Martok probably can't afford a flashier flagship. Yet Martok no doubt vastly prefers using the lead ship of his own House to riding aboard an Imperial vessel.

It's unclear if any House in fact operates anything as big as a Vor'Cha; all those ships might be purely Imperial units, whereas the Houses would generally provide the Empire with swarms of older and smaller ships, much as we see in "Redemption".

That may be the case and your command ship may be largely about the wealth of your house but Martok was the General of the entire Klingon military, then the Chancellor. In those roles, he would have had great wealth and influence. And, like the Nagus, the state should have covered the expense at that point.

Maybe he liked flying around in a BoP and being bare bones with his boys but I would hope the military head would realize his need to be in a tough ship when going into vessel because if he is killed in the middle of a battle, it could cost his troops a victory.

 

[DonIago]

Honestly, our overall exposure to Ferengi culture has been so minimal (we especially know next-to-nothing about normal shipboard interactions) that I'd question any assumptions we might choose to make based on what we've seen. Quark may generally constitute a "normal" Ferengi, but even if we stipulate that, the Ferengi he normally interacted with are clearly established to be atypical.

 

[Sci]

The Grand Nagus is the political and economic leader of Ferenginar. He is the most powerful and richest Ferengi.

As such, wouldn’t you expect the Grand Nagus to traverse deep space aboard a D’Kora-class Marauder or another large, well armed vessel, or at least aboard a large vessel with a well armed escort? Not only would such a vessel be more secure than a small shuttle, it carries more pomp, more servants, and more facilities.

Zek flying around deep space in a shuttle seems like the king of Saudi Arabia flying overseas in a small very light personal jet with no escort.

Seems pretty obvious to me:

He flies in a shuttle because it's cheaper! You don't get to become Grand Nagus by spending money frivolously.

ETA:

I suspect that when he was a General in the Klingon Defense Force, Martok commanded a bird-of-prey as much because of his own personality as anything else. Martok is a "man of the people;" he's the sort who would eschew shows of pageantry. He has a working class sensibility, even if he has risen to the top of the Defense Force hierarchy.

In the novels, once he becomes Chancellor, he does take the Negh'Var-class I.K.S. Sword of Kahless as his personal flagship.

 

[RoJoHen]

He flies in a shuttle because it's cheaper! You don't get to become Grand Nagus by spending money frivolously.

This is my guess, too. The only reason a Ferengi would own a fancy, expensive ship is because they're planning to sell it for even more money.

 

[IntrepidMan]

Still, you would think the Ferengi gov't would insist on Zek traveling in something bigger. One torpedo and his little shuttle is blown to bits.

 

[MatthiasRussell]

Seems pretty obvious to me:

He flies in a shuttle because it's cheaper! You don't get to become Grand Nagus by spending money frivolously.

But this doesn't make sense because a ship would be an investment, an asset which would contribute to your net wealth. Even the cheapest of the richest of the rich today don't drive in Priuses and fly economy.

Even if they did privately, they wouldn't travel as such while on business. As I said before, the Ferengi state would likely be covering his travel arrangements and would no doubt pay for they leader to travel securely and with the decorum due to the symbol of their culture.

 

[RoJoHen]

Still, you would think the Ferengi gov't would insist on Zek traveling in something bigger. One torpedo and his little shuttle is blown to bits.

Maybe he splurged on really nice shields.

 

[Sci]

He flies in a shuttle because it's cheaper! You don't get to become Grand Nagus by spending money frivolously.

This is my guess, too. The only reason a Ferengi would own a fancy, expensive ship is because they're planning to sell it for even more money.

Oh, I'm sure plenty of Ferengi would buy a big, expensive, luxurious starship to travel in if they could. But if you're smart? If you really "have the lobes," as the Ferengi put it, to become Nagus? Then you'd do the equivalent of flying coach and save some moolah.

Still, you would think the Ferengi gov't would insist on Zek traveling in something bigger. One torpedo and his little shuttle is blown to bits.

I think that's a contemporary cultural bias, to think of things like that in terms of security and potential assassination attempts.

The Ferengi aren't like that. They aren't a violent people -- or at least not as violent as modern Humans. According to Quark in "The Jem'Hadar," the Ferengi have never had formal slavery, nor concentration camps, nor world-wide wars, nor acts of genocide, etc. (Obviously, Quark's not being entirely fair or accurate -- the level of economic exploitation the Ferengi engage in against their lower classes is probably not meaningfully different from slavery, and goodness knows their oppression of women is a form of violence that might as well be slavery for all the practical differences it has.)

But I suspect that that still holds; most Ferengi just wouldn't conceive of such acts of violence against the Grand Nagus, because it's not a part of their political culture. Add to that the fact that the Ferengi Alliance in general is a relatively smaller power that's been able to maintain good and neutral relationships with most of the major galactic powers, and I think most Ferengi would think there no credible reason to fear for the Grand Nagus's life.

Besides, who knows what kinds of advanced defense systems are onboard that shuttle?

 

[MatthiasRussell]

The Ferengi aren't a violent people? Did you watch TNG? They are profit driven and will be violent, marauding pirates when there is a profit to be gained.