Spoilers Pike, Enterprise and the Klingon War

[Mr. Laser Beam]

They mentioned the Dominion and the fact the Son’a made Ketracel white.

Or was that a deleted scene?

No, it was in the film, I remember it now. Riker says something about the diplomatic corps being busy with Dominion negotiations. And the scene with Riker and Troi at the computer did mention Ketracel-white.

In-universe, I don't know why the Enterprise-E would have been kept out of the Dominion War, but it could have been largely the same reason why the TOS Enterprise had to sit out the war with the Klingons (I like @Locutus of Bored 's explanation for that, BTW).

Out-of-universe: The Ent-E was always reserved for the movies. There was never any chance that the DS9 showrunners would ever use it, or any other Sovereign-class ship for that matter. That class was created specifically for the big screen and it would look bad if shown in a mere TV series.

 

[The Wormhole]

According to the episode, the Enterprise was held in reserve. While I don't get why Starfleet would want to keep one of its most advanced starships commanded by one of their most experienced and decorated captains out of the fight when 20% of the Federation fell to the Klingons, who also managed a foothold in the Sol system, I suppose this idea could be retconned to explain why the Enterprise E never took part in the Dominion War.

Wasn't the Enteprise-D similarly excluded from the retconned-in-after-the-fact Cardassian war?

I never got the impression Starfleet took the war with the Cardassians all that seriously. In The Wounded the Enterprise cripples a Galor class ship in only a few shots, and that's after the Galor attacked the Enterprise with its shields down. Later in the same episode, a Nebula class ship tears ass through Cardassian space destroying every ship it encounters relatively quickly, even the ones that have the Phoenix's prefix codes. I suspect Starfleet never sent any Galaxy or Nebula class ships to fight the Cardassians, if they had there's no way there could have been a war by any meaningful definition of the word. Starfleet most likely sent Excelsiors and Mirandas and Constellations off to fight the war, and left the advanced ships for other stuff.

 

[Nerys Myk]

According to the episode, the Enterprise was held in reserve. While I don't get why Starfleet would want to keep one of its most advanced starships

Isn't it nearly a decade old at this point?

 

[The Wormhole]

Isn't it nearly a decade old at this point?

And yet the Disco bridge crew completely jizz their pants at the sight of the Enterprise. Stamets even marvels at the technological wonder it is.

 

[Nerys Myk]

And yet the Disco bridge crew completely jizz their pants at the sight of the Enterprise. Stamets even marvels at the technological wonder it is.

And Nhan is jealous of the Discovery. The grass is always greener.

 

[The Wormhole]

And Nhan is jealous of the Discovery.

Much to the irritation of guy who got sneezed on.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Much to the irritation of guy who got sneezed on.

The Disco is nothing to sneeze at.

 

[Philip Guyott]

Isn't it nearly a decade old at this point?

I would think it has had a refit after its first five year mission, before Pike took command, to keep the tech up to date.

 

[Agony_Boothb]

And yet the Disco bridge crew completely jizz their pants at the sight of the Enterprise. Stamets even marvels at the technological wonder it is.

I took it as being like the way someone might react to a 60's muscle car. But also considering the Constitution Class were built for 5 year missions it's understandable they would have received the latest technologies available despite being over a decade old.

 

[Timo]

In hindsight, it was known that the Enterprise "wouldn't have made it in time" if it had been called back. However, at the time the war was raging, the Federation couldn't have anticipated how long it would last. It could have raged on for years and years, leading to continued mayhem and worsening levels of destruction, loss of territory, etc.

So I'm all for the model where Starfleet knew the war was about to swiftly end - in total Klingon victory. This would have been a schedule under UFP rather than Klingon control, certainly: the Feds could not have stomached further losses, and would be considering capitulating, knowing that Klingons aren't exactly genocidal and would merely enslave their conquests. Or then the Zakdorn could calculate down to the fourth decimal point the moment of ultimate defeat.

In relation to the war, the Enterprise was considered "an instrument of last resort," so it probably would have made short work of the war if it had been involved.

Or then sending helpless frontier explorers to the battlefield was a "last resort" maneuver of such desperation that it would not have been considered under most circumstances. Bringing the Enterprise in after defeat might be a role well suited for her, allowing the non-combat-oriented (if as such potent) vessel to practice skirmishing and guerrilla action, or perhaps to whisk key personnel to a new start elsewhere, or contact potential faraway allies.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[BillJ]

I'm still trying to figure out how the Enterprise-D/E crew managed to avoid the Dominion War. There was a TNG movie released during the time the Dominion War was going on in "Deep Space Nine", but that movie had nothing to do with the war.

Wasn't there a series of books about the Enterprise-E fighting in the Dominion war?

 

[The Wormhole]

"Series" is a bit generous. There was a Dominion War mini series which consisted of four novels: novelizations of the opening story arc of DS9 season 6 split over two novels, and two original novels about the Enterprise E during the War. Further adventures of the Enterprise E in the War are covered in the novel Battle of Betazed, which is basically about the Enterprise E liberating Betazed from Dominion occupation, Tales of the Dominion War, a short story anthology which includes a story about the Enterprise defending Earth when the Breen attacked, and The Sky's the Limit, another short story anthology which include a story where the Enterprise captures Cardassian POWs, among them Gul Madred.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I took it as being like the way someone might react to a 60's muscle car.

That's a good analogy.

The Constitution class is a '66 Corvette; the Discovery is a Tesla.