Where is NIMBUS III located?

[bionicbob]

So I am reading Geoffrey Mandel's Star Charts and trying to figure out where NIMBUS III from FINAL FRONTIER is located.

One would assume it would be at a point in space where the Federation, Klingon Empire and Romulan Empire neutral zones meet since the world was founded by all three.

But the only Nimbus reference I can seem to find in the book is on page 66, on the far side of the Romulan Empire near Outposts 9 and 10, closer to the Galactic Core.

Though Memory Alpha has the following listing:
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Nimbus_III

Any theories? More than one system named Nimbus?

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Well, it didn't take them long to get to the galactic core from Nimbus III.

 

[C.E. Evans]

So I am reading Geoffrey Mandel's Star Charts and trying to figure out where NIMBUS III from FINAL FRONTIER is located.

One would assume it would be at a point in space where the Federation, Klingon Empire and Romulan Empire neutral zones meet since the world was founded by all three.

But the only Nimbus reference I can seem to find in the book is on page 66, on the far side of the Romulan Empire near Outposts 9 and 10, closer to the Galactic Core.

I don't see a problem. It's closer to Romulus than to Earth or Qo'noS in Star Charts, but it could very well have been at almost any arbitrary point out there if it was simply chosen as a neutral ground by the three major powers involved, IMO.

Nimbus III was likely chosen because it was a barren, dustball of a planet that none of the three galactic powers were all that terribly interested in fighting over, IMO.

But Mandel's placement of Nimbus III out on the hindcorner of the Romulan Neutral Zone does give it a pretty clear shot to the Great Barrier without having to duck around or cut through Klingon and/or Romulan space, though...

 

[arch101]

...In the Neutral Zone



Well, that's what they said in the film

 

[Nerys Myk]

Between Nimbus II and Nimbus IV.

 

[Timo]

We notice that a ship launched from Earth, and after some delay at that, arrives at Nimbus III first, before Klingon or Romulan assets. But that doesn't tell us much, because apparently the Romulans and Klingons weren't even playing; the only reason a Klingon ship eventually arrived was because the hothead skipper learned that Kirk was going.

Were the planet to be located between all three Empires, it probably wouldn't be neglected, but instead contested. Also, random ships from the disinterested two Empires would still feel it their duty to intervene in some manner. Furthermore, Starfleet doesn't seem to have assets between Nimbus III and the galactic core, which would be a bit unlikely if Nimbus III were in the thick of things.

Interestingly enough, the planet is said to be in "the Neutral Zone", while in ST6 "the Neutral Zone" is used to describe a zone between the Feds and the Klingons. Do we have to think that there's only one Neutral Zone in existence, and that from ST2 to ST6 it's a Fed/Klingon one, while the Fed/Romulan one has been disbanded? Or do we assume that there are plenty of Neutral Zones and that the definite article "the" is applied based on context? The context is crystal clear in ST6, but not at all clear in ST5...

Of course, we may also decide that at the time, there was a single Neutral Zone in existence all around the UFP, buffering its relations with all of its hostile neighbors.

Or then in ST5 there was only one NZ (the RNZ), removing all confusion, while in ST6 there were at least two (RNZ + KNZ) but confusion was removed through context. Certainly the potential for confusion is there, but it's the fault of ST6 and perhaps ST2, not of ST5 yet...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JarodRussell]

Interestingly enough, the planet is said to be in "the Neutral Zone", while in ST6 "the Neutral Zone" is used to describe a zone between the Feds and the Klingons. Do we have to think that there's only one Neutral Zone in existence, and that from ST2 to ST6 it's a Fed/Klingon one, while the Fed/Romulan one has been disbanded? Or do we assume that there are plenty of Neutral Zones and that the definite article "the" is applied based on context? The context is crystal clear in ST6, but not at all clear in ST5...

If two American soldiers get sentenced by a North Korean court, and then get shipped to a prison near the "Demilitarized Zone", everyone knows it's the zone between North and South Korea, and not the DMZ in Colombia. Starfleet knows where the Excelsior was, too, so Sulu doesn't need to say it was the Klingon Neutral Zone all the time.

 

[The_Baroness]

IT'S BEHIND YOU!!

 

[Timo]

If two American soldiers get sentenced by a North Korean court, and then get shipped to a prison near the "Demilitarized Zone", everyone knows it's the zone between North and South Korea, and not the DMZ in Colombia. Starfleet knows where the Excelsior was, too, so Sulu doesn't need to say it was the Klingon Neutral Zone all the time.

Yes, there's no problem with the use of "the Neutral Zone" in ST6 where the context is clear.

However, in ST5, Starfleet Command tells Uhura the following: "Enterprise, this is Starfleet. We have a Priority Seven situation in the Neutral Zone.".

There's no way Uhura receiving the message could divine which of the supposedly multiple Neutral Zones might be the "the" here. If Starfleet had given some background first, perhaps mentioned Nimbus III or either Klingons or Romulans, then Uhura might make a guess. But since there's no such information available to her, we must think that either Starfleet is deliberately trying to confuse our heroine, or then there's an idiot at the other end of the line - or then only one Neutral Zone exists at the time.

I mean, yeah, Starfleet could start out by giving a very generic announcement, and only later specify locations and involved parties. "Priority Seven" obviously means something generic our heroes would recognize (say, "hostage situation", or "stop studying of gaseous anomalies or any work less serious than that, but do not abort a pirate hunt or anything more serious than that"), and "Crisis in Neutral Zone" might equally prepare our heroes for a specific type of reaction or state of readiness regardless of which Neutral Zone was in question. But how much extra would it have cost for Starfleet to say "Klingon Neutral Zone" or "Romulan Neutral Zone" or perhaps "Tripartite Neutral Zone" here?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

If anyone remembers FASA's heavily disputed Triangle reigon between Federation, Romulan and Klingon space - that would be an ideal placement for Nimbus III.

 

[Timo]

...Only, nothing about Nimbus III or its surroundings seems even remotely "disputed".

One might think that making a diplomatic deal with the Romulans would be the event of the century. Klingons would have been old news when the Planet of Galactic Peace was founded, but Romulans would have just emerged from a hundred years of isolation. It might make sense, then, to locate the PGP in the Romulan Neutral Zone where it would facilitate dialogue with the still isolationist Romulans (a bit like the sky-blue barracks between the two Koreas) and to leave the Klingons largely out of it (because there's a Russian Embassy right there in downtown Washington DC anyway).

Who knows, the move may even have paid off, considering how good buddies the Romulans appear to be with the Feds just one movie later!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JarodRussell]

If two American soldiers get sentenced by a North Korean court, and then get shipped to a prison near the "Demilitarized Zone", everyone knows it's the zone between North and South Korea, and not the DMZ in Colombia. Starfleet knows where the Excelsior was, too, so Sulu doesn't need to say it was the Klingon Neutral Zone all the time.

Yes, there's no problem with the use of "the Neutral Zone" in ST6 where the context is clear.

However, in ST5, Starfleet Command tells Uhura the following: "Enterprise, this is Starfleet. We have a Priority Seven situation in the Neutral Zone.".

There's no way Uhura receiving the message could divine which of the supposedly multiple Neutral Zones might be the "the" here. If Starfleet had given some background first, perhaps mentioned Nimbus III or either Klingons or Romulans, then Uhura might make a guess. But since there's no such information available to her, we must think that either Starfleet is deliberately trying to confuse our heroine, or then there's an idiot at the other end of the line - or then only one Neutral Zone exists at the time.

I mean, yeah, Starfleet could start out by giving a very generic announcement, and only later specify locations and involved parties. "Priority Seven" obviously means something generic our heroes would recognize (say, "hostage situation", or "stop studying of gaseous anomalies or any work less serious than that, but do not abort a pirate hunt or anything more serious than that"), and "Crisis in Neutral Zone" might equally prepare our heroes for a specific type of reaction or state of readiness regardless of which Neutral Zone was in question. But how much extra would it have cost for Starfleet to say "Klingon Neutral Zone" or "Romulan Neutral Zone" or perhaps "Tripartite Neutral Zone" here?

Timo Saloniemi

LOL, you have way too much time on your hands.