DS9...precedent for non-Starfleet standard starbases?

[WalkinMan]

I realize that the Federation would make use of any available resources in the area, and that Terok Nor was abandoned, and then jointly administered by Starfleet and the Bajorans...

However, has there ever been such a blatant use of an 'enemy' space station in this manner? I find it hard to believe that for instance abandoned Klingon outposts would become Starfleet starbases. It also was an unseemly reminder of the occupation to have Cardassian architecture there...or perhaps it is a "Deep Space" thing? But then again, I remember how Farpoint station was offered as a starbase. Yet DS9 was in a very significant, tactically vital space...an abandoned mining station was the best they could muster up?

I could make a larger argument, and I acknowledge that given the limitations on resources and other issues, Starfleet was probably right to use Terok Nor. However, in the long term, given Bajor's admittance to the Federation, would a more Starfleet standard facility eventually be built?

 

[eastman23]

Remember the station was originally in orbit of Bajor. Why build a new starbase in orbit when you've got a usable station already there regardless of what it was used for before? Also, when the Cardassians where in control, it wasn't just a mining/ore-processing station, it also doubled as the headquarters of the Cardassian occupation forces since that's where Gul Dukat was based.

Once DS9 was moved to the wormhole (a faster process than building a new station there), it was probably easier to just continue to maintain it than build a new station.

Maybe Bajor's admittance to the Federation will mean the construction of an actual Starfleet facility in orbit of the planet with DS9 remaining where it is. I mean, it still works (sort of ), so why trash it?

 

[AdmiralGarak]

I can't imagine Starfleet would scrap a perfectly good space station when they're recovering from devastating war loses. I don't really see why they'd need a major base in orbit of Bajor, either. A modest trading port perhaps, but nothing like the colossal Spacedocks the Federation likes to build.

As for why the Federation didn't build a new station when they were first invited to Bajor:
1. It was much more cost effective to keep an existing station than to build an entirely new one.
2. The Bajorans owned Terok Nor, and were very wary of the Federation's intentions. I doubt the offer to build a heavilly armed Starfleet base in the location of the Cardassian's former base would have sat to well with them.
3. Bajor was initially a war-torn podunk, which nobody had ever expected to gain prominence.

 

[nx1701g]

Perhaps legally the Federation wasn't permitted to build a new Mushroom Station. Bajor wasn't a Federation member and, by technicality, still wasn't at the end of the series (it is in the relaunch).

I tend to think of it as the only reason Starfleet is there is because the Bajorans asked them to be. Bajor would want the station because it would be a port of call for relief ships.

If the Federation was in the habit of taking unused or derelict stations then they should have went after Empok Nor. I always wondered why they ignored it.

 

[CaptainHawk1]

Well, here's the deal: Starfleet was hired by Bajor to be the administrators (and establish a defensive military presence) of that Bajoran station in Bajoran space. Starfleet isn't in the habit of building space stationsin other people's backyards so this whole discussion is kind of moot.

-Shawn

 

[sbk1234]

Agreed. I was going to say that!

 

[Kegek]

For all we know, Deep Space One was a Suliban refinery, Deep Space Two was a Xindi station, Deep Space Three was an abandoned Klingon outpost, and Deep Space Four was a Tholian escarpment. Mebbe Deep Space Five (a Regula one model and only other DS station ever shown, IIRC) was the exception.

 

[flandry84]

Why did the cardassians buld a spaceborne ore processing plant anyway?
Achieving escape velocities while hauling heavy ores around doesn't seem a logical way to do business.

 

[stormturmoil]

2 answers:

1: in it's original orbital location, Terok Nor was close enough to Bajor to transport stuff to and from the surfcae. Hence, bypassing the escape velocity problem and allowing easy loading and haulage to other systems (Cardassia et al)

2: It may not only have been from Bajor, but maybe also from Asteroidal or Lunar sources (I seem to recall a mining outpost on a moon of one of the Bajoran Systems outer gas giants, later used as a medical facility and a front for stockpiling Romulan Plasma Torpedoes...)

So, you have a central processing and distribution centre for ores from throughout the system, that also doubles as a planetary defence installation and command centre, that allows you to bypass the ground to orbit haul using transporter technology. Seems pretty well though out to me.

 

[intrinsical]

Starfleet wasn't the one who made the decision, it was the Bajorans. Remember, Bajor is not a part of the Federation so Starfleet had zero jurisdiction.

The Bajorans simply decided to re-use Terok Nor and to invite Starfleet to co-administer it. Starfleet only had two choices, co-administer DS9 with the Bajorans or let the Bajorans run it themselves. Obviously they chose the first option.

 

[PorthosShadow]

I'm going to take a different side of this and thats of style. I am Star Trek fan and while most Star Fleet technology is pretty advanced, its fairly bland. I think maybe the creators of DS9 had this in mind as well and went with an alien space station because it wasn't something we had seen before. After many years there is only so much blue carpet, flourecent lighting, dull displays you can take. I for one appreciated the change in style DS9 brought.

 

[Timo]

2 answers:

1: In its original orbital location, Terok Nor was close enough to Bajor to transport stuff to and from the surfcae. Hence, bypassing the escape velocity problem and allowing easy loading and haulage to other systems (Cardassia et al)

2: It may not only have been from Bajor, but maybe also from Asteroidal or Lunar sources (I seem to recall a mining outpost on a moon of one of the Bajoran Systems outer gas giants, later used as a medical facility and a front for stockpiling Romulan Plasma Torpedoes...)

3: Refining machinery may be expensive and proprietary. Better concentrate it (and the valuable products of the process) in this orbital fortress than leave it vulnerable to surface rebellions. That is, when you already have this fortress in place for administration/intimidation purposes anyway.

Regarding #2, Empok Nor seemed to sit in the middle of nowhere. Does this mean it wasn't a mining installation? Or that it was mining some asteroids far away from large planets? Or that Cardassians tow their stations around to where they are needed?

Towing a station that doesn't have onboard warp propulsion may be rather tedious work - which is why Starfleet would favor local installations when setting up shop somewhere far away from Federation industries. OTOH, we saw a warp-mobile mining installation of primitive Earth manufacture in ENT "Terra Prime"; such a machine makes sense if the lodes it exploits are quickly used up. Perhaps the Cardassian stations come with attachment sockets for warp engines, too, and the Cardassians simply removed those once Terok Nor was in place and once Empok Nor was abandoned in mid-transit.

Noncanon stories refer to Terok Nor having been built in situ, perhaps even custom-designed for the job, but I don't think there was anything on that in the aired episodes. For all we know, Cardassians indeed complete their stations at some central dockyard and then move them to their destinations by towing. And the Feds probably do much the same with those smaller starbases of theirs (and DS5): they don't really look all that modular. Perhaps the dishes around the "waist" and the occasional cylinders along the "stem" are only installed once the station is in place, but the big main bubble looks like it has to be towed to the location in one piece.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[flandry84]

/\You forget the mining camp/prison that housed Li Nalas and the concentration camps such as Gallitep,surely ground based and more vulnerable to resistance action.
On a different topic ,have American fans attitudes to the Bajoran resistance changed in recent times?

 

[PorthosShadow]

flandry84 said:
/\You forget the mining camp/prison that housed Li Nalas and the concentration camps such as Gallitep,surely ground based and more vulnerable to resistance action.
On a different topic ,have American fans attitudes to the Bajoran resistance changed in recent times?

I'm guessing what you are referring to about any change in attitude towards The Bajoran "resistance" would probably be better discuessed in another forum. I'll just say this, I think certain events over the last few years have made me look at their resistance in a different light. Good or bad I couldn't say but reality has a funny way of making entertainment a little more dramatic.