Romulan TOS / TMP starships

[BillJ]

I remember a Romulan Nova class from the first DC run that I believe originated with FASA.

 

[Kaiser]

I remember a Romulan Nova class from the first DC run that I believe originated with FASA.

Yep DC comics Used FASA designs alot in the TOS and TNG comics

 

[trynda1701]

The Romulan Nova class is one FASA design that could have easily looked amazing on screen had it been adopted for the TOS movies!

 

[Tallguy]

Wasn't Fontana's original script more explicit about the Romulan / Klingon alliance?

 

[ian128K]

What if the line about "now using Klingon design" meant something else: We know from the original script of Balance of Terror that there was a suspicion of espionage on the part of the Romulans. Some say the design similarities between the Enterprise and the Bird of Prey was meant to suggest this. (I have wondered if there isn't a Starfleet vessel with the same configuration as the Romulan ship, only with a more Enterprise-shaped components.)

So here's the question: what if the similarity of the later Romulan TOS ships was also espionage-related, not due to a treaty or sharing of technology? They look like Klingon ships, but maybe the relationship was more like the U.S. Space Shuttle vs. the Soviet Buran...? I like this idea better. I could never credit that the Klingons would just sell another militaristic species their ships.

I grew up with the FASA explanation, but it never quite sat right with me, especially as we got to learn more about the Romulans and Klingons over the years with the later series. Espionage would fit the Romulans' character quite well, but I've been thinking lately that perhaps the ships were actually just Klingon ships captured by Romulans.

Supposedly, the mission of the Bird of Prey in Balance of Terror was to test the power of their new plasma weapon against the Federation as a prelude to a full invasion. The cloak was news to Starfleet—Minefield aside—but it doesn't seem like testing the cloak was the mission so much as the plasma torpedo was. So perhaps some earlier mission (or missions) involved taking a cloaked ship (or ships) into Klingon space with the goal of capturing several of their ships and bringing them back to Romulan territory without getting caught. (Because, presumably, if the Klingons found out it was the Romulans, they'd have a war on their hands.)

Why would the Romulans want to capture several Klingon ships? As we saw in season 4 of Enterprise, the Romulans had previously attempted to use deception in order to trick other powers in the region into warring with each other by making them think they'd already been attacking each other. And, of course, in In the Pale Moonlight, Garek at one point remarked that the deception that he and Sisko attempted to convince the Romulans of was "exactly what the Romulans would've done in [the Dominion's] place". So what if the plan was to capture a bunch of Klingon ships, outfit them with their new and improved cloak, and use them in raids against the Federation in tandem with Birds of Prey armed with the new plasma torpedoes? The "Klingon" ships decloak outside sensor range of the target and begin their assault as soon as they're in range. Distress signals are sent out reporting Klingon D-7s, at which point the Bird of Prey decloaks and fires the plasma torpedo. The installation is destroyed, all ships re-cloak, and the only thing the Federation has is a distress signal implicating the Klingons in the attack.

Enough incidents like that occur, and the Federation might just declare war against the Klingon Empire. And every installation that's destroyed before that point arrives is one more defence that Starfleet no longer has. Meanwhile, the Federation and Klingons duke it out in a long, bloody conflict, wearing each party further and further down until neither are a match for the might of the Romulan Star Empire.

By now, hopefully, you're thinking "Wait, didn't the Klingon ships in 'The Enterprise Incident' have birds of prey painted on their bottoms, clearly identifying them as Romulan? Wouldn't that throw off the entire plan you just described?" And you'd be right! But what if they were only painted that way after the failure of the mission in Balance of Terror and it was decided not to move forward with that plan? At that point, the only issue from the Romulans' perspective would be making sure the Klingons didn't learn of the theft. But, of course, it would only be three years after The Enterprise Incident that the Klingons defeated the Romulans at the Battle of Klach D'Kel Brakt, so perhaps the Klingons did find out and were, predictably, not very happy about the whole thing.

 

[publiusr]

I like the FASA Stormbird.