Unification - Attempted Romulan Invasion of Vulcan - consequences?

[Cadet49]

Sorry if this question has already been asked, but I was watching Unification the other day, and how the Romulans tried to sneak an invasion force onto Vulcan by using Spock's peace initiative as a cover. Once the plot was exposed, a Romulan warbird decloaked and destroyed all the Vulcan vessels that were carrying their hidden invasion forces, killing all their troops.

This seems to have been the end of the situation, but wouldn't there have been major interstellar consequences from the Romulans actions? They attempted to invade a founding member of the Federation, one that is very near, spatially and via alliances, to Earth. Was this considered an act of war? Did we ever see, in any other episodes/movies/tie-in literature a follow-up or consequences to the Romulans actions, either via a diplomatic or military response? I was just curious ... it seems like this would be a pretty major interstellar incident!

 

[Dukhat]

Sorry if this question has already been asked, but I was watching Unification the other day, and how the Romulans tried to sneak an invasion force onto Vulcan by using Spock's peace initiative as a cover. Once the plot was exposed, a Romulan warbird decloaked and destroyed all the Vulcan vessels that were carrying their hidden invasion forces, killing all their troops.

This seems to have been the end of the situation, but wouldn't there have been major interstellar consequences from the Romulans actions? They attempted to invade a founding member of the Federation, one that is very near, spatially and via alliances, to Earth. Was this considered an act of war? Did we ever see, in any other episodes/movies/tie-in literature a follow-up or consequences to the Romulans actions, either via a diplomatic or military response? I was just curious ... it seems like this would be a pretty major interstellar incident!

I don't think there was ever any official resolution to the Romulans' actions, although we do see Neral again several years later in DS9, and apparently the whole incident caused him to age well beyond his years (actually, he was played by a much older actor than the original)

 

[MikeS]

I was under the impression that Sela was acting alone, or that the Romulan government could claim this. It has been many years since I saw this though...

 

[Timo]

Considering how harebrained the Romulan scheme appeared to be, we might just as well decide that what transpired was the desired outcome.

Think about it from another angle. What did the Romulan Star Empire achieve?

1) They claimed they were making a peaceful attempt at dilomacy with Vulcan, and Starfleet gunned them down. Great diplomatic sympathy points there.

2) They were claimed by Starfleet to actually have attempted the conquest of Vulcan, one of the most important worlds in the Federation. Wonderful publicity for a star empire that otherwise hadn't exactly distinguished itself in recent decades - a great way to declare "We are back!".

3) Their mission was said to consist of a few transports full of peaceniks. Those ships were destroyed. An admirable way to get rid of shipfuls of peaceniks! And it was all Starfleet's fault, too.

4) Had Starfleet failed to respond, those few ships full of peaceniks might still have been destroyed in the "confusion" when the cloaked fleet of Warbirds with hundreds of thousands of troops aboard went and conquered Vulcan. An easy victory, even if Starfleet subsequently forced a withdrawal; again, great publicity for the empire.

For all we know, the Imperial Propaganda Office had speeches written for every possible outcome. At the turn of events we witnessed, they released the one that said that Starfleet had violently terminated an attempt at a peaceful overture, while their allies got the version that emphasized the bold plan behind the "overture" and perhaps also gloated on the efficient disposal of the peaceniks.

I doubt any of this had any major political impact, though. Romulans were already known to be ruthless, scheming bastards who violated the UFP borders at will. Nothing new there. And while the invasion attempt may have been bold (be it a feint, or for real), Romulan allies probably were less impressed by the audacity than by the fact that it ultimately failed.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Anwar]

Since we never saw Sela again after this, I'd say its safe to assume they said it was all the idea of a crazy renegade who only got her position because she was some Admiral's daughter.

 

[Timo]

They'd have arranged it that way regardless of the odds of success. It appears that Romulans are great at finding scapegoats and assigning personal blame. Just witness the Romulan Commander's reactions at the end of "The Enterprise Incident", where she has been wronged by Federation spies and fully expects to be held responsible, probably with her life.

The novels get great mileage out of the Commanders unto-the-seventh-generation shame, although in various contradictory ways. And "Face of the Enemy" again milks the idea of the Romulans harassing their own for failure. Taking a leading role in a campaign is probably always a gamble in the Romulan military, which is why the Decius in "Balance of Terror" is so keen on emphasizing the victories and the Commander is so careful in not declaring them prematurely - the Decius has a lot to win while the Commander can only lose.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[indolover]

I don't see how it couldn't have meant war. And a war the Empire had no guarantee of winning. Whilst they had a cloaking device, and the Federation didn't, Starfleet is large and must have devised contingency plans to plan strategy for any potential Romulan war.

Also, the alliance with the Klingons makes war with the Federation unlikely. The Klingons would share cloaking technology with the Federation, since the Treaty of Algeron would be void. There is also nothing to stop Starfleet from developing a cloaking device.

 

[Timo]

The Romulans had plenty of experience on performing acts of war against the Federation, though. They knew for a fact that the Feds would take it lying down.

Probably because the Romulans held some sort of a major strategic advantage. Perhaps it would be the cloaks combined with the extreme proximity of Romulus and Earth - or at least Romulus and Vulcan. That would allow the Romulans to deliver extremely deadly first strikes, essentially holding major UFP worlds hostage. A strategic drop like that would be a necessary explanation for the Romulan ability to negotiate the cloaking ban in the first place...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[sonak]

Throughout Star Trek, the Romulans, Klingons, Cardassians, etc. commit a lot of actions that could be seen to be acts of war, from the Romulans in "the defector," to the Cardassians in "chain of command," etc. Since Star Trek usually doesn't want an ongoing war as part of a storyline(with the exception of DS9) these incidents usually just end with a political victory for the UFP and then are forgotten about later.

 

[Mr Silver]

The way I see it the entire invasion was arranged by a breakout group from the Romulan Senate. Neral and Pardek both had their hands in it, although they were probably far too well connected politically and therefore avoided implication. Its safe to say that Sela was the mastermind of the operation and was given a big chunk of control despite her previous failings to destable the Klingon Empire.

Nobody wanted a war and its highly probable the Romulan Senate denied any knowledge of the events that unfolded (as they've likely done many times before). It probably didn't help the tensions between the Romulans and the Klingons (who were already heavily suspicious and distrusting of the Romulans) and you can imagine that the Federation had ships stationed at the Romulan Neutral Zone border for an extended period following the events.

 

[CoveTom]

A bit off-topic, but I must admit to being a little disappointed that we never got any sort of resolution to the arc of Sela's character. Yes, the whole idea was a little out there and perhaps ill conceived. But they ran with it, so I would have liked to see it resolved in some way, perhaps during the final seasons when they were tying up a bunch of plot threads.

 

[Terra Pryme]

A bit off-topic, but I must admit to being a little disappointed that we never got any sort of resolution to the arc of Sela's character. Yes, the whole idea was a little out there and perhaps ill conceived. But they ran with it, so I would have liked to see it resolved in some way, perhaps during the final seasons when they were tying up a bunch of plot threads.

I agree to an extent on that. If anything, Sela should have been the commanding officer of the Romulan ship in "Face of the Enemy". That at least could have given us some interaction between Sirtis and Crosby. But I still despise her for horning her way back to TNG considering she chose to leave the series before it became a big success, then realizing what a big mistake she made. Thankfully, we didn't have to put up with her on DS9.