Nemesis Nebula - how could the crew not anticipate an ambush there???

[DWF]

Re: Nemesis Nebula - how could the crew not anticipate an ambush there

If Shinzon was capable of catching the E-E, why should he wait for a specific ambush point? The sooner he struck, the sooner he would get his precious blood. Picard would have been thinking in such terms, too: since Shinzon had not yet attacked, he evidently had not yet caught up with the E-E.

Timo Saloniemi

Shinzon thought he had the location of the entire Federation fleet and afer disabling the Enterprise he sent his hologram to try and make Picard surrender telling him he'd spare the Enterprise since it didn't matter to him. I'm sure he was thinking that without warp drive the Enterprise couldn't catch him so the ship was useless to him and the shields didn't allow him to teleport Picard to him. Attacking them in the rift just ensured some surprise on Shinzon's part when it came to attacking the Federation fleet.

 

[Timo]

Re: Nemesis Nebula - how could the crew not anticipate an ambush there

What surprise would be left? Shinzon most probably knew that Data had impersonated B-4 in order to facilitate the jailbreak. That meant B-4 had been exposed, so all the data would be invalid - either falsified, or at least out of date because Picard would have warned Starfleet to change its deployment pattern.

Shinzon did not have the ability to jam Picard's transmissions. Indeed, Picard was demonstrably able to summon the Starfleet formation to wait for the Scimitar at the border. There'd be no surprise factor left to act in Shinzon's favor.

OTOH, he still had a ship that could kill Earth in seven minutes and fly at warp and fire with dozens of disruptor banks; the only thing he lost in the course of the battle was one layer of shielding and just possibly the cloaking device. So surprise might not have been necessary for him to complete his dastardly task. Although Picard seemed confident that even an intact Scimitar could be stopped by the waiting fleet... We'll never known which of the genetically identical captains would have been correct in his confidence.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[DWF]

Re: Nemesis Nebula - how could the crew not anticipate an ambush there

The Scimitar was badly damaged by the impact with the Enterprise and the disruptors were off line all he had was the main weapon and he then intended to destroy the Enterprise then head for earth and destroy it as well. But had run out of time by then he only had minutes to live I doubt if he would've made it to earth.

 

[Timo]

Re: Nemesis Nebula - how could the crew not anticipate an ambush there

The Viceroy was also out of the picture at that time. But the rest of the Remans could probably have completed the mission. That is, they would have had the will to do so - and also the means, provided the ship retained the ability to cloak and thus sneak past Earth defenses.

Still, I doubt Picard would have been so wrong in his estimate of Starfleet's stopping power that the ships between the Scimitar and Earth couldn't have eventually defeated the supership... As you say, the E-E and the two Romulan ships already did half the job, removing slightly more than one layer of the two-layered shielding, destroying the conventional armament, and ensuring that the two top officers did not survive.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[DWF]

Re: Nemesis Nebula - how could the crew not anticipate an ambush there

Still, I doubt Picard would have been so wrong in his estimate of Starfleet's stopping power that the ships between the Scimitar and Earth couldn't have eventually defeated the supership... As you say, the E-E and the two Romulan ships already did half the job, removing slightly more than one layer of the two-layered shielding, destroying the conventional armament, and ensuring that the two top officers did not survive.

Timo Saloniemi

That's true too but I think Picard made that decision before Shinzon attacked and he ahd some help from Donata. In the end I think it turned out to be an incredible battle and I do think Picard won it, Shinzon didn't seem to be expecting the Enterprise to crash into the Scimitar, since Picard had little shields and no weapons Picard was still able to cripple the Scimitar.

 

[MrJ]

Re: Nemesis Nebula - how could the crew not anticipate an ambush there

It would seem the Starfleet forces were waiting on that side of the Romulan Neutral Zone that would not ignite a war. From Picard's testimony, it would already be evident that Shinzon was only in very tenuous command of the Romulan military, and that the elimination of this lone Spartacus would bring back the status quo that was in UFP interests - but that invading Romulan space with a combat fleet would seriously endanger this.

This is likely the best explanation. Simple and logical.

Indeed it is. However, I have an even simpler and more logical explanation and that is Nemesis was an awful movie with terrible writing.
　
　
As to the OPs question of if there would be an inquiry after the battle. Pretty much every TNG film could have the heroes facing disciplinary action from Starfleet.

In Generations the Enterprise D is destroyed, and it is well established in Star Trek that even when there is no one at fault a court martial is held. Riker showed extreme incompetence in the battle against the Duras sisters and should have gotten some kind of punishment for the loss of the ship.

In First Contact, Picard disobeys a direct order to stay away from the battle with the Borg, even though that is completely contrary to their decision in "Descent". But it all worked out in the end and that is often all that Starfleet cares about, ends justify the means and all that.

In Insurrection, the crew goes rouge and disobeys both a Starfleet Admiral and the Federation council. But with a war on and other circumstances the crew get off.

So Nemesis and their inability to see an obvious trap until they blundered into it doesn't seem so bad.

 

[Timo]

Re: Nemesis Nebula - how could the crew not anticipate an ambush there

it is well established in Star Trek that even when there is no one at fault a court martial is held

Is it? We know it was "standard procedure" in cases like the loss of the Stargazer - but that particular case looks really suspicious to begin with. Perhaps only skippers who abandon their ships for the enemy to board and possess, without even attempting scuttling, get court-martialed - and then cleared of wrongdoing if the chance of the ship falling in wrong hands is shown to be slim enough.

Of course, we don't know if there were consequences to ST:GEN, ST:FC or ST:INS. Those would by definition have come after the respective movies ended, after all. And the careers of all the heroes do seem to have stalled from their first movie on...

Timo Saloniemi