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Reverse Engineering...

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Captain
Captain
While the Romulanss loaned the cloaking device to the Federation on Deifient, to be used on in the GQ and with the agreement that the Federation would share all information gathered in the GQ with them. Would it have made sence to reverse engineer the device while they had possession of it, so the Federation would have it's own cloaking device.I am certain that if the situation were reversed the Romulans would have tried to Reverse Engineer the device. Still, realizing, that the Romulans did place one of it's own officers to moniter it's usage, the Federation could at least have made the attempt.

However, a better question is why the Federation never came up with it's own cloaking technology. I mean the Klingons had the technology way back in the days of TOS, I find it hard to believe that in all those years later, the Federation would have to depend on Romulan technology to get a device. Was there somekind of a treaty that prevented the Federation from developing it's own, if there was it was a stupid treaty to sign onto. If not, what were those all those Federation engineers smoking anyway??

Resistance is Futile
 
However, a better question is why the Federation never came up with it's own cloaking technology.

They did:

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/The_Pegasus_(episode)

And they had devices to reverse engineer:

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/The_Enterprise_Incident_(episode)
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Star_Trek_IV:_The_Voyage_Home

Since they know how to make cloaking devices, they don't need to reverse engineer them. The Feds, though, can't/won't use them:

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Treaty_of_Algeron
 
This line from the memory alpha article caught me:

According to Sisko, a Romulan officer (T'Rul) was supposed to join the Defiant crew to operate the cloaking device and ensure its safekeeping. However, no Romulan liaison officers were seen aboard the Defiant after DS9: "The Search, Part II".

Now how interesting would THAT have been? A Romulan crew member's story arc?
 
This line from the memory alpha article caught me:

According to Sisko, a Romulan officer (T'Rul) was supposed to join the Defiant crew to operate the cloaking device and ensure its safekeeping. However, no Romulan liaison officers were seen aboard the Defiant after DS9: "The Search, Part II".
Now how interesting would THAT have been? A Romulan crew member's story arc?

This is one of the biggest things about DS9 that bugs me. Not only is the "I won't tell them if you don't" (about how they get away with using the cloak in the Alpha Quadrant) just lazy writing but do you really think the Romulans would have just given the Feds one based solely on the honour system? Just dumb and a missed opportunity for some interesting drama. Not that DS9 lacked that at all.

I wish they didn't have the cloak at all.
 
Yeah, and I liked T'Rul. Martha Hackett is an excellent actress and an excellent quasi-villain.

:rommie:
 
Whatever reasons (excuses) the writers came up with to justify the dramatic advantages the Romulans and the Klingons possessed over that of the Federation in possessing cloaking devices in TNG's 7th season episode "The Pegasus" is something that I just did not buy as a viewer 15 years ago.

The reason and justification behind it was naive. Something you try to sell to a 5 year old.

Same goes for the Ba'ku planet in Star Trek: Insurrection, and why the Federation made it into a protectorate that no outsiders may benefit from. That whole film was a "middle finger" to Star Trek fans, where one writer went out of his way to impose his own personal beliefs onto an already established Star Trek template. :rolleyes:

I just don't buy it, especially when a treaty or a prime directive overwhelmingly favors an gives and advantage to your enemies. It does not make sense, and it is the kind of logic that fails in real life.
 
I just don't buy it, especially when a treaty or a prime directive overwhelmingly favors an gives and advantage to your enemies. It does not make sense, and it is the kind of logic that fails in real life.
So what was it the Romulans agreed not to do, or agreed to let the Federation do, in exchange for the Federation not developing cloaking devices?

It's not intellectually honest to declare a treaty implausibly one-sided when you refuse to consider the other side of it.
 
Well, the Treaty of Algeron also redefined where the Neutral Zone was and it caused the Romulans to go into isolation for a half-century. While the redefining of the Neutral Zone might not have been towards the Federation's benefit (it's difficult to say without more info), Romulan isolationism is something very beneficial to the peace-loving Federation.
 
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