DumbDumb2007
Commander
Was the nose cone of the Starship Defiant ejectable ? Why wasn't it fired off the ship in First Contact ?
Defiant Nosecone : ejectable ?
- Thread starter DumbDumb2007
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Tech Manual says it can be fired as a last-ditch warhead, containing as it does a substantial part of the ship's self-destruct package.
So, if you mean why didn't they use it as a weapon, I dunno. Probably figured if the Borg ship could take repeated photon/quantum torpedo volleys, it wouldn't have much effect compared to ramming a starship into it.
If you mean why not use it as a lifeboat, not enough room.
So, if you mean why didn't they use it as a weapon, I dunno. Probably figured if the Borg ship could take repeated photon/quantum torpedo volleys, it wouldn't have much effect compared to ramming a starship into it.
If you mean why not use it as a lifeboat, not enough room.
In the Relaunch's "Avatar" duology, it was used as a last ditch effort when both the Defiant and DS9 were crippled and there was no other way to stop a Jem'Hadar ship that was about to destroy the station.
Worf probably didn't use it in First Contact because he was about to ram the Borg anyway. Best to concentrate all of that damage at a single point.
Worf probably didn't use it in First Contact because he was about to ram the Borg anyway. Best to concentrate all of that damage at a single point.
Not that the nose cone would truly look ejectable or anything. What we know canonically about the bow end of the ship is that there is a docking port there, and a navigational deflector beneath, with an orifice capable of firing probes, torpedoes and sometimes phaser beams. To pack all that in a "jettisonable warhead" sounds insanely complicated and counterproductive IMHO.
Even if we take the Tech Manual at face value, we might say that the original warhead function was removed from the bow as useless and unsafe when Sisko acquired the ship in "The Search".
As for the bow being a lifeboat, surely it could hold a crew of 40 in comfort, if not luxury? It's bigger than a runabout, even if we think the ship is just 120 and not 170 m long.
(The original plans for the ship suggested that the "cheek pods" would be the lifeboats, with the bow being the bridge. That was when the ship was envisioned as barely 50 m long, but that's basically why the bow and cheeks look like they do.)
Timo Saloniemi
Even if we take the Tech Manual at face value, we might say that the original warhead function was removed from the bow as useless and unsafe when Sisko acquired the ship in "The Search".
As for the bow being a lifeboat, surely it could hold a crew of 40 in comfort, if not luxury? It's bigger than a runabout, even if we think the ship is just 120 and not 170 m long.
(The original plans for the ship suggested that the "cheek pods" would be the lifeboats, with the bow being the bridge. That was when the ship was envisioned as barely 50 m long, but that's basically why the bow and cheeks look like they do.)
Timo Saloniemi
If taken at face value, considering there's a deflector array and airlocks in it, I've thought perhaps the warhead was meant to push through Borg shields, either launched or still in place, deploying space-suited Starfleet commandos onto invading Borg cubes...
Ok ok, fanwank over. But it's the best rationalization for the thing I can think of.
Ok ok, fanwank over. But it's the best rationalization for the thing I can think of.
Me likes. The exterior surface of the nose doesn't readily allow for a single centerline airlock, but it would allow for two side-by-side ones, hidden behind the beige panels there. Why off Earth have two airlocks? Forcible boarding seems the only reasonable application.
...Not that I'd think Starfleet would voluntarily choose hand-to-hand combat as the means of opposing the Collective.
Timo Saloniemi
...Not that I'd think Starfleet would voluntarily choose hand-to-hand combat as the means of opposing the Collective.
Timo Saloniemi
I've always thought that those dual panels on the front of the nosecone must each have an airlock myself, and the Defiant just shifts slightly (and imperceptible to the human eye) when docking at DS9. Timo, I'm sure you recall my as-yet still unfinished re-imagined blueprints of the Defiant. *sigh* Ah, for some ambition.
I don't really think they would favor H2H with the Borg either, but perhaps there was a heretofore unmentioned plan by Starfleet to use the Defiant to get close enough to invading Borg vessels to plant explosives in critical areas and destroy them, requiring direct penetration of the ship via forcible boarding.
Hm, I kinda want to finish those plans now. The DS9TM was just willful misinformation methinks.
I don't really think they would favor H2H with the Borg either, but perhaps there was a heretofore unmentioned plan by Starfleet to use the Defiant to get close enough to invading Borg vessels to plant explosives in critical areas and destroy them, requiring direct penetration of the ship via forcible boarding.
Hm, I kinda want to finish those plans now. The DS9TM was just willful misinformation methinks.
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