The Mutara Nebula Is Restricted

[Starborn Dragon]

So i just finished watched ST III and I just realized something for the first time. I don't know if it has been brought up before.

When bones is trying to buy his way to the Mutara sector, the freighter captain says the Mutara sector is restricted and he can't go there.

So of course we know what happens next. but I've come to realize something about the sector.

If the sector was so restricted, then wouldn't the Federation have ships that would be patrolling the boundaries to keep people out?

If they did then how would Kirk have gotten past those patrols? After all, he was concerned about the Grissom firing on them.

Kruge is pretty much easy to explain. his ship had a cloaking device.


So now I'm wondering, either the Federation had patrols, or they didn't.

I think it could make for an interesting scene to see how Kirk would have gotten past those patrols. But I don't think he could have. The Enterprise, at least as far as I know, doesn't have any kind of stealth capabilities. And I mean stealth capabilities like our stealth bomber has.

So I don't know how Kirk got to the Genesis planet.

 

[nx1701g]

I would assume that Starfleet had patrols of the region in place from some of the events of the movie. It wouldn't be hard for the Enterprise to avoid them, theoretically, because they are familiar with Starfleet's procedures for patrol. They had McCoy running active scans of the region and Chekov was monitoring communications, they'd see the enemy coming.

 

[Pauln6]

I would assume that Starfleet had patrols of the region in place from some of the events of the movie. It wouldn't be hard for the Enterprise to avoid them, theoretically, because they are familiar with Starfleet's procedures for patrol. They had McCoy running active scans of the region and Chekov was monitoring communications, they'd see the enemy coming.

The Enterprise would have to disable her beacon to avoid broadcasting her position but could still track the other patrol vessels at least until their signals are next encrypted. It's doubtful the Federation would re-encrypt the fleet after a theft like this although the show has always been a bit vague on how beacons function.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

The Federation kept ships back because they didn't want the rest of the galaxy to get the impression that they were militarizing in preparation to conquer the galaxy with their new super-weapon. Kinda wonky, but there it is.

 

[MacLeod]

Monitoring could be done by long range sensors, no ships needed. And of course

"Space is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly hugely mindbogglingly big it is. I mean you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space."

So how big is a sector? How many cubic light years does it contain? How many ships would you need to fully cordon off a sector?

 

[Starborn Dragon]

In Star Trek a sector is 20 light years.

As far as how many ships you would need, well that's like the old how many beans are in this jar contest.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Still, in the TOS era, there were always so few ships that the Enterprise was "the only ship in the sector".

I know it's a plot driven thing, but how many ships could SF afford to have guarding one nebula, even if they had lots of ships?

 

[T'Girl]

The restriction was for civilian ships, it was in the form of a navigational advisory. There were no patrol ships. It was like with American civil aviation, there are restricted areas all over the country, they appear on the maps the private and commercial pilots use, but the restricted areas aren't typically patrolled.

Starfleet would have to be totally dense (not an impossibility) not to have know exactly where Kirk was taking the Enterprise, likely before the Enterprise even cleared the spacedock doors.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

The restriction was for civilian ships, it was in the form of a navigational advisory. There were no patrol ships. It like with American civil aviation, the are restricted area all over the country, they appear on the maps the private and commercial pilots use, but the restricted areas aren't patrolled.

Starfleet would have the be totally dense (not an impossibility) not to have know exactly where Kirk was taking the Enterprise, likely before the Enterprise cleared the spacedock doors.

According to what Admiral Morrow told Kirk, the restriction was also for Starfleet ships: "The Council has ordered that no one but the science team goes to Genesis!"

I agree that Starfleet knew where Kirk was headed, based in part on his conversation with Admiral Morrow.

Of course, Starfleet didn't know about the Klingon ship in the area until it was too late.

 

[Search4]

And why wouldn't Mutara be restricted before the events of Star Trek II?

After all - they had a super secret development project there. Perhaps it has been restricted for a very long time.

 

[BillJ]

The Federation kept ships back because they didn't want the rest of the galaxy to get the impression that they were militarizing in preparation to conquer the galaxy with their new super-weapon. Kinda wonky, but there it is.

This is the way I've always interpreted it.

 

[Morpheus 02]

Also, considering all the areas that could be patrolled , the LEAST protected would be the side facing Earth...presumably that side is "safe" being Federation territoty, as opposed to other sides such as facing Klingons or ROmulans

 

[Ithekro]

Starfleet sent a warning to USS Grissom warning them about Enterprise. I wonder if any patrol ships, if they even had any in the area, could even catch Enterprise. Even in her damaged state her engines were going full out.

 

[Mytran]

Indeed; what was previously a three day journey (TWOK) they managed seemingly overnight!

 

[xvicente]

I heard a theory (maybe it was the novelization) one of the reasons Uhura stayed back was from Old City Station she could jam Starfleet comunications so nobody else could be scrambled after the Enterprise.

 

[Timo]

I'm not sure why they would want to do that, though. Kirk would have access to the whereabouts of most ships, and would know what the events later verified: the Excelsior really was the only ship capable of intercepting them and preventing a quick in-and-out in which Spock's body was recovered.

There was the Grissom, of course. But she sort of didn't count: Kirk could idly wonder whether she would join his cause, or fire back, either option being fine because nothing they did could stop Kirk anyway.

If they did jam Starfleet alerts, they would bitterly regret it when stranded on Genesis, with the clock ticking... But there was no indication the heroes ever considered sending out an SOS, which would be consistent with them knowing there was no help around anywhere within range.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[MacLeod]

But isn't a distress call meant to get the attention of all ships regardless of distance?

 

[Grendelsbayne]

But isn't a distress call meant to get the attention of all ships regardless of distance?

If there's a maximum range on the communications system, then there's a maximum range on the communications system. Even if there isn't, if you know for a fact that there's no ship close enough to help you, then sending a distress call is just wasting time that would be better used trying to help yourself...

 

[MacLeod]

But isn't a distress call meant to get the attention of all ships regardless of distance?

If there's a maximum range on the communications system, then there's a maximum range on the communications system. Even if there isn't, if you know for a fact that there's no ship close enough to help you, then sending a distress call is just wasting time that would be better used trying to help yourself...

Except in TNG's WNOHGB we are told a subspace communication from 2.7m ly away should be recieved. (true tech could have improved ) Besides you can't know the location of every ship, just because you know where they should be doesn't mean they are actually there.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

But isn't a distress call meant to get the attention of all ships regardless of distance?

If there's a maximum range on the communications system, then there's a maximum range on the communications system. Even if there isn't, if you know for a fact that there's no ship close enough to help you, then sending a distress call is just wasting time that would be better used trying to help yourself...

Except in TNG's WNOHGB we are told a subspace communication from 2.7m ly away should be recieved. (true tech could have improved ) Besides you can't know the location of every ship, just because you know where they should be doesn't mean they are actually there.

If you know roughly where every nearby ship should be and none of them should be anywhere near close enough to arrive
in time to save you, then the principle still stands. Sure, some might be a bit closer than you expect but a bit closer doesn't help if they still aren't close enough to arrive in time. Better off helping yourself, instead.