Was it mentioned in the novelization who would be in command of the Starfleet Battle Group Omega in sector 1045 in Nemesis?
Fleet Command
- Thread starter T'Girl
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All the other ships in the formation shared design features and thus appeared to be from a tried and true starship generation. It wouldn't be at all unexpected for Starfleet to avoid using the brand new Enterprise like plague, in case her novel design proved to be a complete dud; and in any case, she'd probably be missing most of the relevant gear, not to mention the trained and experienced officers familiar with that gear, required for commanding a task force. An important role like that should not be cast on an experimental and largely untested vessel.
It is also far from said that the Enterprise, even when fully certified and operational, would be a particularly powerful combatant or a particularly capable explorer. We know nothing of such abilities - all we know is that she was designed to be a flagship. And today, flagships hose tend to be virtually unarmed floating office blocks that shy away from all battle. That's how they can best lead the fighting that the other ships take part in. If Starfleet did anticipate combat at Vulcan, then having the command ship at the rear would probably be the smart thing to do.
I'd say Pike in the movie had no flag command role, nor did any of the skippers of the other starships. Starfleet Academy seemed well stocked in flag officers, and if they could send their cadets to do combat, then probably the instructors and clerks could do combat, too. I'd assume the Academy could spare a Rear Admiral or two to command the small flotilla that went to Vulcan.
Now all we have to do is view Kirk's promotion scene and find out which of the admirals familiar from the inquest scene is missing.
Timo Saloniemi
It is also far from said that the Enterprise, even when fully certified and operational, would be a particularly powerful combatant or a particularly capable explorer. We know nothing of such abilities - all we know is that she was designed to be a flagship. And today, flagships hose tend to be virtually unarmed floating office blocks that shy away from all battle. That's how they can best lead the fighting that the other ships take part in. If Starfleet did anticipate combat at Vulcan, then having the command ship at the rear would probably be the smart thing to do.
I'd say Pike in the movie had no flag command role, nor did any of the skippers of the other starships. Starfleet Academy seemed well stocked in flag officers, and if they could send their cadets to do combat, then probably the instructors and clerks could do combat, too. I'd assume the Academy could spare a Rear Admiral or two to command the small flotilla that went to Vulcan.
Now all we have to do is view Kirk's promotion scene and find out which of the admirals familiar from the inquest scene is missing.
Timo Saloniemi
A few points we don't know if there was an Admiral onboard one of those ships, command of the Fleet could have defaulted to the CO of the Truman in absence of Pike.
I beilieve VOY quatoed a regulation concerning command when 2 or more ships are present, which basically wented command defaults to the CO of the ship with the greatest tactical advantage. (can't remeber the exact line VOY:"Equniox")
A more interesting question might be how Vulcan was able to send a distress call when use of the Drill knocks out communication
I beilieve VOY quatoed a regulation concerning command when 2 or more ships are present, which basically wented command defaults to the CO of the ship with the greatest tactical advantage. (can't remeber the exact line VOY:"Equniox")
A more interesting question might be how Vulcan was able to send a distress call when use of the Drill knocks out communication
The message from Vulcan on "seismic disturbances" was sent long before the drill went active. We saw Amanda rush to the balcony to witness the activation of the drill when the starships were already underway...
So the interesting question becomes, what caused those "seismic disturbances" if it wasn't the drill?
- Was it Nero using red matter without drilling in a early, failed attempt to destroy Vulcan?
- Was it the aftereffect of Spock arriving from the future in his "space thunderstorm"?
- Was it the immediate effect of Nero arriving across space in another "space thunderstorm" he created with red matter?
- Was it a ruse, a false message sent by Nero to lure Starfleet's remaining strength to Vulcan for slaughter?
The latter is an interesting possibility. Most of Starfleet was already lured to Laurentius somehow. Was that Nero's doing, too? Did he falsify the "Klingon" message of a battle where a single Romulan ship took out 47 of the Empire's finest? That would certainly warrant the sending of a Starfleet warfleet to the region - but it wouldn't explain why Pike didn't know anything about this event even though he did know about the Laurentius mission.
Timo Saloniemi
So the interesting question becomes, what caused those "seismic disturbances" if it wasn't the drill?
- Was it Nero using red matter without drilling in a early, failed attempt to destroy Vulcan?
- Was it the aftereffect of Spock arriving from the future in his "space thunderstorm"?
- Was it the immediate effect of Nero arriving across space in another "space thunderstorm" he created with red matter?
- Was it a ruse, a false message sent by Nero to lure Starfleet's remaining strength to Vulcan for slaughter?
The latter is an interesting possibility. Most of Starfleet was already lured to Laurentius somehow. Was that Nero's doing, too? Did he falsify the "Klingon" message of a battle where a single Romulan ship took out 47 of the Empire's finest? That would certainly warrant the sending of a Starfleet warfleet to the region - but it wouldn't explain why Pike didn't know anything about this event even though he did know about the Laurentius mission.
Timo Saloniemi
How about the 5-mile long, 3-mile wide Narada lowering itself into ultralow geosynch orbit for drilling?
Having such a minuscule mass in freefall orbit would not create much in the way of seismic disturbances. I mean, the pedantic and accurate Vulcans would probably notice them all right, but they wouldn't declare national emergency over the issue.
However, "low geosynch" appears to call for non-freefall, essentially dictating that the Narada be using some sort of a drive to hover over Vulcan. That drive, especially if antigravitic in nature, might register as a seismic disturbance of such an exceptional type that Vulcans would be within their rights to get alarmed.
However, later on, Pike's starship enters a similar hover right next to the Romulan vessel. It doesn't appear to be an exceptional event at all.
Basically, three things specific to the movie could create noticeable, exceptional and alarming seismic disturbances: drilling with the beam drill, creating a subterranean black hole with red matter, or creating a timehole with red matter. All of these could be plausible explanations for the event.
1) We know Nero started drilling after the disturbances were recorded. But that might have been the second time he started drilling; the first hole might have failed for some reason, perhaps hitting too thick a stretch of bedrock, and forcing Nero to start anew next to the Sarek mansion.
2) We know Nero inserted red matter into Vulcan through the hole he drilled. But perhaps he first tried it without drilling a hole, and this black hole just fizzled out because it didn't have enough surrounding matter feeding into it. The pressure of Vulcan's mantle would provide the hole with this crucial mass feed.
3) We know Nero and Spock were delivered to the 23rd century thanks to the deliberate release of red matter into the 24th century supernova by Spock; this created the timehole into which both parties then accidentally fell. But Nero, knowing this and now possessing red matter in abundance, might have deliberately released more red matter to create a second timehole that allowed him to take Vulcan by surprise (perhaps bypassing some of the heaviest defenses ever devised by the Federation, namely those between Vulcan and Romulus). A bit unlikely for a mentally unstable bluecollar, I guess - unless he blackmailed Spock into doing it for him.
A variant of this would have Nero defuse the supernova in the 23rd century, using the same technique Spock used too late in the 24th. He did claim he had "prevented genocide"; dropping some of Spock's red matter into the would-be supernova would fit that bill. And if the red matter were dropped into a star dangerously close to Romulus, it might also be dangerously close to Vulcan...
Timo Saloniemi
However, "low geosynch" appears to call for non-freefall, essentially dictating that the Narada be using some sort of a drive to hover over Vulcan. That drive, especially if antigravitic in nature, might register as a seismic disturbance of such an exceptional type that Vulcans would be within their rights to get alarmed.
However, later on, Pike's starship enters a similar hover right next to the Romulan vessel. It doesn't appear to be an exceptional event at all.
Basically, three things specific to the movie could create noticeable, exceptional and alarming seismic disturbances: drilling with the beam drill, creating a subterranean black hole with red matter, or creating a timehole with red matter. All of these could be plausible explanations for the event.
1) We know Nero started drilling after the disturbances were recorded. But that might have been the second time he started drilling; the first hole might have failed for some reason, perhaps hitting too thick a stretch of bedrock, and forcing Nero to start anew next to the Sarek mansion.
2) We know Nero inserted red matter into Vulcan through the hole he drilled. But perhaps he first tried it without drilling a hole, and this black hole just fizzled out because it didn't have enough surrounding matter feeding into it. The pressure of Vulcan's mantle would provide the hole with this crucial mass feed.
3) We know Nero and Spock were delivered to the 23rd century thanks to the deliberate release of red matter into the 24th century supernova by Spock; this created the timehole into which both parties then accidentally fell. But Nero, knowing this and now possessing red matter in abundance, might have deliberately released more red matter to create a second timehole that allowed him to take Vulcan by surprise (perhaps bypassing some of the heaviest defenses ever devised by the Federation, namely those between Vulcan and Romulus). A bit unlikely for a mentally unstable bluecollar, I guess - unless he blackmailed Spock into doing it for him.
A variant of this would have Nero defuse the supernova in the 23rd century, using the same technique Spock used too late in the 24th. He did claim he had "prevented genocide"; dropping some of Spock's red matter into the would-be supernova would fit that bill. And if the red matter were dropped into a star dangerously close to Romulus, it might also be dangerously close to Vulcan...
Timo Saloniemi
You can't have an ultralow geosynch orbit, as a geosynch orbit is an orbit which matches the rotation. For Earth this is approx 36 000km above the surface.
You can have an ultra low stationary orbit where you use thrusters to maintain position.
But I doubt the mass of the Narada could impact on a planet.
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