Seizure of USS Prometheus by the Tal Shiar?

[SicOne]

In the Voyager episode "Message In A Bottle", taking place in 2374, the prototype USS Prometheus had been seized by Romulan Tal Shiar operatives and was heading for Romulan space, only for the episode to end with Prometheus back under Federation control. Has this event been discussed in Trek Lit anywhere? I'd be interested to hear how this came about in the first place. Clearly, for the events of MIAB to occur, the Tal Shiar had to be successful in hijacking the ship, but I was looking for more detail of HOW it happened.

And if I'm not mistaken, by the time this event took place, the Romulans had allied with the Federation and Klingons after that messiness with Senator Vreenak, so I was also looking for some closure after the fact, to see if there was later mention in any of the books. Clearly this adventure didn't wreck the war effort.

Thanks, folks.

 

[JD]

I don't remember it being mentioned in any of the Relaunch era books.

 

[David cgc]

And if I'm not mistaken, by the time this event took place, the Romulans had allied with the Federation and Klingons after that messiness with Senator Vreenak, so I was also looking for some closure after the fact, to see if there was later mention in any of the books. Clearly this adventure didn't wreck the war effort.

I'm not sure what their methodology was, but according to a chronological list of Trek episodes I have, "Message in a Bottle" took place a little while before "Pale Moonlight," around the same time as "Waltz."

So that helps.

There was an SNW story that showed the Romulans actually hijacking the Prometheus (or maybe it was in Tales of the Dominion War? I'm pretty sure it was SNW), but that's all I remember talking about it.

 

[Tim Thomason]

And if I'm not mistaken, by the time this event took place, the Romulans had allied with the Federation and Klingons after that messiness with Senator Vreenak, so I was also looking for some closure after the fact, to see if there was later mention in any of the books. Clearly this adventure didn't wreck the war effort.

I'm not sure what their methodology was, but according to a chronological list of Trek episodes I have, "Message in a Bottle" took place a little while before "Pale Moonlight," around the same time as "Waltz."

So that helps.

There was an SNW story that showed the Romulans actually hijacking the Prometheus (or maybe it was in Tales of the Dominion War? I'm pretty sure it was SNW), but that's all I remember talking about it.

Strange New Worlds V, the aptly named "Who Cries for Prometheus?". Like the episode, it states quite clearly that the Romulans aren't involved with the Dominion War (i.e. it's during the nonagression pact period). The episode aired almost three months before "In the Pale Moonlight".

I just re-read the story, and my takeaway is that the Romulans are acting quite boldly, probably knowing that the Federation can't retaliate harshly (the Dominion War and all that) and certainly in desparate preparation should the War shift against them and they have to defend themselves against the Federation and/or Dominion.

I like to imagine that part of the deal bringing the Romulans into alliance with the Federation was probably to wipe the slate clean for the attempted hijack and slaughter of the 50 Prometheus crew members. Of course, Rekar and his Tal Shiar compatriots were all taken into Federation custody, so most likely the Romulan Empire disavowed his "rebel group" and that was that.

As for how the hijacking took place: We aren't really shown it firsthand in "Who Cries for Prometheus?" (which takes place in Sickbay, at first). What the story reveals is that it happens very quickly, and appears to start from the Romulans somehow beaming onto the bridge, slaughtering the bridge crew as they alert the rest of the ship, and within a matter of seconds, slaughtering all but six of the Prometheus crew. The Romulans, of course, are aided by their own sensor readings in hunting down the Starfleet crew, and our three heroes (Ethan, Nancy, and Stephen) take to hiding their biosigns with some sort of super-secret concoction ("Facade Three") to evade the Romulans throughout the story.

But none of them make it out alive. The character Stephen is killed when he attempted to send out a message to a nearby alien array (hmm...) and Ethan is the dying officer that the Doctor meets at the end of the story and in "Message in a Bottle".

 

[The Wormhole]

And if I'm not mistaken, by the time this event took place, the Romulans had allied with the Federation and Klingons after that messiness with Senator Vreenak,

Not at all. As already mentioned above, Message in a Bottle aired before In the Pale Moonlight, Message in an Bottle's stardate is earlier than Pale Moonlight's, and in Message in a Bottle when asked by the Doctor if the Federation is currently at war with the Romulans, the EMH Mark 2 states the Romulans have not been involved in the war against the Dominion. So that's three pieces of evidence placing Message in a Bottle before In the Pale Moonlight.

 

[Markonian]

In Christopher's notes for Places of Exile

Spoiler: Places of Exile backstory spoiler

the Prometheus is successfully captured by the Romulans in two out of three timelines.

In STO, the Romulans have developed ships capable of MVAM based on what they learned from the Prometheus.

 

[Christopher]

In Christopher's notes for Places of Exile

Spoiler: Places of Exile backstory spoiler

the Prometheus is successfully captured by the Romulans in two out of three timelines.

Well, two of those specific three, of course, not 67% of all timelines. Basically, timelines where Voyager wouldn't have been in range of the communication relays at that particular time.

 

[flandry84]

Also remember,that to execute such a hijacking in the first place there had to be Romulan infiltration of the construction project.It reminds me of that first action taken by the Typhon pact ie. The sabotage at Utopia planetia.
There seems to be a trend among some Treklit authors in portraying Starfleet security/Intel as totally incompetent.It really boils my blood.

 

[The Wormhole]

There seems to be a trend among some Treklit authors in portraying Starfleet security/Intel as totally incompetent.It really boils my blood.

Well, it's kind of like that in the shows, too. Hell, on DS9, even though the Federation was at war against an enemy known to be led by shapeshifters, someone can successfully pose as a high-ranking four-star Admiral and travel all the way from Earth to Bajor simply by telling everyone they meet they're asking a "stupid question."

 

[flandry84]

In the Typhon pact book I mentioned someone in the aftermath of the attack casually mentions the name of the saboteur and jokes that they weren't sure whether it was the saboteurs given name or that of his species.....at a secure Starfleet facility...

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Hardly good enough but it keeps on happening.

 

[SicOne]

Folks, thanks for the answers and discussion; will check out that Strange New Worlds entry.