are there routinely Galaxies and Nebulas in Earth orbit?

[RyuRoots]

Starfleet called for more defense in preparation for another Borg attack on Earth, which is the heart of the Federation. Ships warp there. Warp drive is really fast. 18 ships plus 9 more incoming in a fairly short span of time isn't the slightest bit unreasonable.

 

[Cyke101]

The idea that they'd intentionally lie to the ships, or that the ships would be more likely to try to come and do their best to defend Earth from imminent attack if they thought they would get to steal all the glory, is just absurd.

...you've no sense of humor, do you? I'd like to think that the line about being the only ship in the quadrant (re: 1/4th of the galaxy) would have added to the absurdity

 

[Timo]

^just a quick correction, in FC, the fleet was assembled in the Typhon sector, not Sol. I don't see it any different than when they assembled at Wolf359

I know. I'm just arguing that the fleet that eventually destroyed the Cube was not the one hastily assembled at Typhon - but the sum total of the tattered remains of that hastily assembled fleet, another fleet residing in the Sol system in preparation for Dominion war, and any and all vessels that could be summoned to join the fray as it moved from Typhon to Sol.

Outside the timeframe when Starfleet was massing forces for the Dominion war, I still don't see any logic in maintaining a permanent fleet of starships to defend Sol. Starships are piss-poor at such work. They have warp engines, which are just so much dead weight when fighting inside a star system. They also have all sorts of unnecessary ballast, such as shuttlecraft, laboratories, and crews. And they move too damn much. It would be vastly better to have defensive installations that omit all these major shortcomings of starships, and concentrate on that which is important: phasers, torpedoes, shields, deflector guns, merculite rockets, subtri-isophasic maulers, and lots and lots of tricobalt bombs...

Really, defending a star system with starships is akin to defending an airfield with jet fighters. It makes no sense: an airfield is defended by military police and their dogs in Hummers, by SAM sites, by machine gun pillboxes, by surveillance system networks. The jets are the thing to be defended...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[EmperorTiberius]

^just a quick correction, in FC, the fleet was assembled in the Typhon sector, not Sol. I don't see it any different than when they assembled at Wolf359

I know. I'm just arguing that the fleet that eventually destroyed the Cube was not the one hastily assembled at Typhon - but the sum total of the tattered remains of that hastily assembled fleet, another fleet residing in the Sol system in preparation for Dominion war, and any and all vessels that could be summoned to join the fray as it moved from Typhon to Sol.

Outside the timeframe when Starfleet was massing forces for the Dominion war, I still don't see any logic in maintaining a permanent fleet of starships to defend Sol. Starships are piss-poor at such work. They have warp engines, which are just so much dead weight when fighting inside a star system. They also have all sorts of unnecessary ballast, such as shuttlecraft, laboratories, and crews. And they move too damn much. It would be vastly better to have defensive installations that omit all these major shortcomings of starships, and concentrate on that which is important: phasers, torpedoes, shields, deflector guns, merculite rockets, subtri-isophasic maulers, and lots and lots of tricobalt bombs...

Really, defending a star system with starships is akin to defending an airfield with jet fighters. It makes no sense: an airfield is defended by military police and their dogs in Hummers, by SAM sites, by machine gun pillboxes, by surveillance system networks. The jets are the thing to be defended...

Timo Saloniemi

I don't know if it's ever been made clear if there was a running battle from Typhon to Sol, or if there were two separate fleets.

And that's really what I meant by my opening post. Having a ship like Galaxy or Nebula defending Earth or being in vicinity is such a stupidity of epic proportions. What a waste of resources.

The only thing I can think of is what some others have suggested, they happen to be in the area accidentally. In real life, it was stupidity by the leading guys on the show fan boyishness and ratings ploy

 

[Cyke101]

^just a quick correction, in FC, the fleet was assembled in the Typhon sector, not Sol. I don't see it any different than when they assembled at Wolf359

I know. I'm just arguing that the fleet that eventually destroyed the Cube was not the one hastily assembled at Typhon - but the sum total of the tattered remains of that hastily assembled fleet, another fleet residing in the Sol system in preparation for Dominion war, and any and all vessels that could be summoned to join the fray as it moved from Typhon to Sol.

Outside the timeframe when Starfleet was massing forces for the Dominion war, I still don't see any logic in maintaining a permanent fleet of starships to defend Sol. Starships are piss-poor at such work. They have warp engines, which are just so much dead weight when fighting inside a star system. They also have all sorts of unnecessary ballast, such as shuttlecraft, laboratories, and crews. And they move too damn much. It would be vastly better to have defensive installations that omit all these major shortcomings of starships, and concentrate on that which is important: phasers, torpedoes, shields, deflector guns, merculite rockets, subtri-isophasic maulers, and lots and lots of tricobalt bombs...

Really, defending a star system with starships is akin to defending an airfield with jet fighters. It makes no sense: an airfield is defended by military police and their dogs in Hummers, by SAM sites, by machine gun pillboxes, by surveillance system networks. The jets are the thing to be defended...

Timo Saloniemi

I don't know if it's ever been made clear if there was a running battle from Typhon to Sol, or if there were two separate fleets.

We know the Defiant was one of the first and one of the last ships to fight the Borg. But you're probably right about the uncertainty, as one ship being at both locations doesn't necessarily mean a running battle. For all we know, Defiant was badly damaged at Typhon, rested up, and regrouped with the Sol fleet.

Of course, I'd like to think it was a running battle, as the imagery in my mind is just fantastic... but that's all I have to go by.

 

[EmperorTiberius]

I know. I'm just arguing that the fleet that eventually destroyed the Cube was not the one hastily assembled at Typhon - but the sum total of the tattered remains of that hastily assembled fleet, another fleet residing in the Sol system in preparation for Dominion war, and any and all vessels that could be summoned to join the fray as it moved from Typhon to Sol.

Outside the timeframe when Starfleet was massing forces for the Dominion war, I still don't see any logic in maintaining a permanent fleet of starships to defend Sol. Starships are piss-poor at such work. They have warp engines, which are just so much dead weight when fighting inside a star system. They also have all sorts of unnecessary ballast, such as shuttlecraft, laboratories, and crews. And they move too damn much. It would be vastly better to have defensive installations that omit all these major shortcomings of starships, and concentrate on that which is important: phasers, torpedoes, shields, deflector guns, merculite rockets, subtri-isophasic maulers, and lots and lots of tricobalt bombs...

Really, defending a star system with starships is akin to defending an airfield with jet fighters. It makes no sense: an airfield is defended by military police and their dogs in Hummers, by SAM sites, by machine gun pillboxes, by surveillance system networks. The jets are the thing to be defended...

Timo Saloniemi

I don't know if it's ever been made clear if there was a running battle from Typhon to Sol, or if there were two separate fleets.

We know the Defiant was one of the first and one of the last ships to fight the Borg. But you're probably right about the uncertainty, as one ship being at both locations doesn't necessarily mean a running battle. For all we know, Defiant was badly damaged at Typhon, rested up, and regrouped with the Sol fleet.

Of course, I'd like to think it was a running battle, as the imagery in my mind is just fantastic... but that's all I have to go by.

Yeah, I like the running battle idea too. Pursuit and battle at high warp all the way from the Typhon sector to Sol. The borg probably didn't even stop at Typhon, they probably blasted their way through two or tree ships, damaged some, then resumed course towards Earth.

 

[I am not Spock]

It makes sense that Starfleet would have a permanent defence fleet around Earth after the events of DS9s last two seasons. And the two Borg attacks.

And I like the idea of the Galaxy class being the mobile command centre.

 

[Timo]

Why should one need a mobile command center when one has half a dozen inhabited planets for use as command centers?

Also, if Starfleet hadn't positioned permanent fleets inside Sol system for defense prior to the Dominion war, they sure as hell wouldn't start doing so after the war. They had previously (in ENT, TMP, ST4, "BoBW" etc.) had plenty of time and "educational events" to learn about defending Earth - and each and every time, they had chosen NOT to position permanent fleets there afterwards. It simply isn't something that Starfleet finds worthwhile.

In contrast, we know that during the Dominion War, the 3rd Fleet was specifically tasked with defending Earth (at least just prior to Sisko's counterattack and retaking of DS9). But as far as we know, they didn't do it by being at Earth. Probably the Starfleet logic goes along the lines that the enemy has already won if he has gotten as far as the Sol system...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[nx1701g]

^ I always took it that the Third Fleet, at the time, was meant to patrol the core systems of Andor, Sol, Tellar, and Vulcan personally.