After the Balance of Terror, "Then What?"

[James Staley]

I've just finished watching one of my favorite Trek episodes, "Balance of Terror", and I'm left with the question, "What will the Federation do next?" How should they respond to this "provocation" by the Romulans? Rebuild the outposts that were destroyed and make them stronger, able to withstand the Romulan weapon should they attack with it again, and put more weapons on the outposts so they can defend themselves better? Possibly. Build up a better military presence along the neutral zone by putting more starships there? ABSOLUTELY!!
How do we contact them and let them know that if they try that again, it WILL mean a war with the Federation? In order to make sure they "get the message", some kind of personal envoy needs to meet with them in person face to face, assuming of course that the Romulans would do that? I can't imagine that they would accept any responsibility or even knowledge of the attack ("wasn't us, we didn't do it, this is a Federation trick to start a war, etc. etc").
Your thoughts?

 

[Poltargyst]

I'm thinking the Enterprise has the recorded conversation between Kirk and the Romulan commander so there is no chance of denial for the Romulans.

 

[CaptainMurdock]

Perhaps the events of Balance of Terror lead to the operation that would eventually be The Enterprise Incident.

 

[C57D]

Maybe the hurried reassignment of ships to the RNZ left the Klingon border less well defended? And the Klingons saw a weakness too good to ignore, and an opportunity to heat up the previous cold war - hence "Errand of Mercy"?

 

[Timo]

Or at the very least the Klingons might think that if they launched unrest first, the Romulans in turn would grab the opportunity to do the same, and the UFP would have to fight on two fronts anyway.

The real mystery is what the Romulans did, or failed to do. What was the purpose of the mission, and why did it not result in further action?

- Was it to show that invisible ships can bring down the fortress chain? Resounding success there, and it's unlikely Starfleet could stop a second go at it, either, as it only takes two shots to finish off a fortress.
- Was it to show that invisible ships can attack enemy starships? Resounding failure there, certainly, but nothing they couldn't solve by assigning two invisible ships against one starship. Close to home, before their fuel ran out. And stopping an attacking starship would seem futile if the speed difference were for real. (But "The Deadly Years" puts that in some doubt.)
- Was it to punch an exploitable hole in the defenses? Resounding success there again - so why not exploit it? Surely the only way to exploit would be to stand in readiness to do so, and then to move immediately. Was it like Cambrai in WWI, with tanks triumphing but nobody expecting a triumph and thus nobody being ready to exploit it?
- Was it just a show of force for reasons of internal politics? Difficult to judge, then: the Praetor received confirmation of success of mission but failed to get his ship back, so he or his enemies could have declared either victory or defeat, whichever suited them better.

What Starfleet would need to do is fairly straightforward. The fortress chain could no longer hold, but OTOH these "space submarines" would be no threat to the starship fleet, nor capable of long transit for strategic attack. So Starfleet would have to find out whether the conventional "surface" fleet of Romulus was strong or weak, and scale its own conventional response to match. The cloak could be defeated in time with sigint or covert ops similar to "Into the Forest" or "The Enterprise Incident", but it wouldn't be a priority, now that the Feds had seen how passive and cautious the Romulans were in its use in comparison with Klingons.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[johnnybear]

The Romulans Would have returned I guess if those ears hadn't been so damn expensive! The Klingons mostly only needed a browning and they were ready to go unless your name is Koloth and Kras I guess!
JB

 

[Poltargyst]

The Romulans Would have returned I guess if those ears hadn't been so damn expensive! The Klingons mostly only needed a browning and they were ready to go unless your name is Koloth and Kras I guess!
JB

Which is a shame because I really like TOS Romulans.

 

[C57D]

Which is a shame because I really like TOS Romulans.

Yeah me too.
Just sneaky, deadly and aggressive enough to make a good antagonist and nearly honourable enough to be sympathetic. Similar enough to us to understand, but mysterious enough to peake our curiosity.
I love the TOS Klingons, but also think it is a shame that a few fake ears got in the way of portraying the Roms more in TOS.

 

[johnnybear]

Which is a shame because I really like TOS Romulans.

Yeah it would have been good to see the Romulan captains in The Deadly Years too!
JB

 

[Doc Mugatu]

I've just finished watching one of my favorite Trek episodes, "Balance of Terror", and I'm left with the question, "What will the Federation do next?" How should they respond to this "provocation" by the Romulans? ...

One of my favorites as well. In fact, it was my favorite for many years as a kid.

I always figured they rebuilt their outposts and added a ship or two to patrol. Romulans probably withdrew with minimal diplomatic interaction. Also, did Trek canon ever address if and/or how the Organian imposed peace treaty affected te Romulans?

 

[Poltargyst]

Also, did Trek canon ever address if and/or how the Organian imposed peace treaty affected te Romulans?

I don't believe it had anything to do with the Romulans.

 

[Timo]

Or even with the Organian Peace Treaty, for that matter. I gather the two enemies just squeezed some lemonade out of the cease fire forced upon them and agreed on a treaty where both sides saw openings for sneaky underhanded tricks and propaganda victories and quiet rearming and whatnot.

That Romulans did not bother to attack after having demonstrated that their invisible ships could make short work of Earth defenses is sort of proof enough that the Romulans had no will to attack, period. Either their ability to fight Starfleet starships was categorically lacking, or then war simply wasn't on the tables, regardless of the Commander's misguided speculation.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[C57D]

I don't believe it had anything to do with the Romulans.

No, not directly.
But in the FASA timeline, the Klins and Roms shared a technological exchange and (very limited and shaky) peace treaty. Hence Roms flying Klin ships in TEI. Klins couldn't get past the Organians so tried to use the Roms to fight a war by proxy with the UFP.
And if the Roms exhausted themselves against the UFP, then win-win for the Klins.

 

[Phaser Two]

Klins?

 

[Kor]

Klins?

Klingons.

And I believe "TMOST" also discussed a Klingon/Romulan treaty, although it was never explicitly addressed in the show.

... Build up a better military presence along the neutral zone by putting more starships there? ...

Wait... before we can discuss this possibility, we must first address that eternal nagging question, "Is Starfleet military?"

Perhaps the events of Balance of Terror lead to the operation that would eventually be The Enterprise Incident.

The events of "The Enterprise Incident" were instigated because the Romulans had significantly improved their cloaking technology over what they had in "Balance of Terror."

Kor

 

[Phaser Two]

I know, I just thought "Klins" and "Roms" sounded strange.

 

[Mytran]

If we throw ST5 into the mix, the events following BOT become very clear: The Klingons, Romulans and Humans come together to found the "planet of galactic peace".
This was not going to happen until the Organians brought the Klingons to heel however, so prior to that there must have been some consolidation of Romulan influence in the area. Specifics are unclear, but given the devastation wrought by the Rommies' invisible weapon, I can see the old 21st Century treaty falling by the wayside extremely quickly.

 

[johnnybear]

The Romulans probably had an overstretched military budget due to all those campaigns the Romulan Commander mentioned in the episode! The Remans were continually disruptive to the Romulan order so were always being punished plus there are many different inhabited planets in Romulan space that we got to hear of during TNG which needed being brought to heel!
JB

 

[C57D]

I know, I just thought "Klins" and "Roms" sounded strange.

RL necessity I'm afraid. Using my idiosyncratic abbreviations to get the post finished before leaving for work.
Also a nod to John M Ford's "Final Reflection" (and/or the FASA Klingon supplement he co-authored) where "Klin" is the word used for the spirit and soul of being a true Klingon.

 

[Shawnster]

I got the impression from BoT that the more shocking tech was the plasma torpedo and not the cloak.