Why No Romulan Ships?

[Captain Clark Terrell]

My question refers to the lack of Romulan ships seen orbiting Deep Space 9 during the Dominion War aside from episodes intended to feature the Romulans. Given the distance between Romulan territory and Cardassian space, would it not have made sense to station more vessels in the vicinity of DS9? One could argue that the ships are under cloak and therefore not visible, but that seems more like a cop-out than an actual explanation.

I suspect the off-camera reason has to do with not needing to produce new screenshots with warbirds in them, but I have a hard time believing it would have been that costly to produce few generic shots and then sprinkle them throughout any remaining episodes. Thoughts?

--Sran

 

[Tosk]

Even though the real-world explanation is probably most true, I just don't see the Romulans hangin' out with everyone on DS9, leaving their ships parked uncloaked, etc.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Even though the real-world explanation is probably most true, I just don't see the Romulans hangin' out with everyone on DS9, leaving their ships parked uncloaked, etc.

I'd agree it's not their style, but to see almost no ships after the formation of the alliance doesn't much sense. OTOH, Admiral Ross made several references to the Romulans fighting on a different front, which suggests that they were coordinating attacks and missions largely on their own.

--Sran

 

[dub]

I imagine the producers' response would be "there's always a cloaked Romulan ship nearby, especially when Romulans aren't prominent in the episode."

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^All the more reason to show the occasional ship cloaking or decloaking. Knowing the ships are there but not being able to see them adds to the intimidation factor.

--Sran

 

[Jono]

Why would there be Romulan ships on patrol around DS9? The station is already defended and the Ninth Fleet with Klingon and Starfleet forces seemed to be based out of there given how often Martok was around. The station didn't seem to be at risk since the initial attacks of the war and even after several months after it was recaptured the Dominion never threatened it again, so why would the Romulan waste their ships there?

The start of season 7 we hear the Romulans aren't using the station for medical needs instead going to their own space. We do hear of Romulan ships been at DS9 later in the season and there are concerns about shore leave for the crews due to the Klingons on the station. This with the also mentioned slowness to get to the Romulan ships in the same episode would make DS9 a less attractive option to visit. Given these things it isn't that surprising we see so little of the Romulans at DS9, apart from major joint operations

 

[Dukhat]

It was more of an alliance of convenience for the Romulans. They weren't all buddy-buddy with the Feds like the Klingons were. So there was no reason to have their ships around DS9. Even after the war was over, Nemesis showed that the Romulans pretty much went back to doing their own thing.

 

[R. Star]

Given the fact the Romulans took over Derna, a Bajoran moon, and armed it under the pretense of being a hospital, Bajor easily could've declared them persona non grata for the most part.

 

[diankra]

Space is big. Even a solar system. The Romulans could have had a designated rendezvous area within the Bajor system that was a few seconds away from DS9 at warp, yet so far away that they only showed up as a pixel on our screens.

 

[Crazyewok]

To be honnest I doubt the Romulans would want to get involved in joint operations unless absolutly nessary especialy when it involves klingons and likewise I think the klingons would want a large distance between them and Romulans.

 

[doctorfoto]

Much of the answer to this can be found in the opening scene of Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges, where during a meeting there is a debate between Worf and Romulan Senator Cretak about the priority of Klingon ships on the station's repair schedule over the Romulan's. It clearly states that Romulan ships were needing repairs by the station and were ultimately assigned O'Brien's repair crew and placement in the docking rings. In addition, Odo voices concern that the Klingons and Romulans were not to use the station for shore leave at the same time. The Romulans were there, despite the lack of effects shots.

 

[TheSubCommander]

Given the fact the Romulans took over Derna, a Bajoran moon, and armed it under the pretense of being a hospital, Bajor easily could've declared them persona non grata for the most part.

This!

And, I think given the prominence of the Klingons on DS9, that is the reason Romulans werenot around that station. Plus, the Romulans usually were suspicious of everyone else, so they likely were fighting on their own on a different front.

 

[DS9forever]

I don't know about in-universe, but a lot of the writers from TNG and DS9 didn't particularly like using the Romulans - the Cardassians were created in TNG because of this dislike.

 

[MacLeod]

Perhaps the Romulan's weren't interested in joint operations unless absolutly necessary. The Federations and Klingons had been on friendly terms for the most part decades, the Romulan's didn't have that same level of trust.

 

[bbjeg]

I agree with the cloaked theory. In a lot of Romulan episodes, in DS9 and TNG, they don't uncloak until they want to be seen.

 

[Rarewolf]

Speaking of Cloaks, why did the Defiant have a Romulan cloaking device, rather than Klingon?

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Speaking of Cloaks, why did the Defiant have a Romulan cloaking device, rather than Klingon?

Not entirely clear, but we know that the Federation agreed to provide the Romulans with intelligence reports on the Dominion in exchange for using the device. It may be that the Romulans reached out to Starfleet first wanting information, and Starfleet asked for the cloak in return.

--Sran

 

[-Brett-]

Speaking of Cloaks, why did the Defiant have a Romulan cloaking device, rather than Klingon?

Romulans were the original inventors of the cloaking device (at least according to canon at the time), so their version was probably superior.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Romulans were the original inventors of the cloaking device (at least according to canon at the time), so their version was probably superior.

That's correct, although there's no way to know if they still had that advantage by 2371. Their alliance with the Klingons was formed in large part because the Klingons wanted their cloaking technology, and they wanted the Klingons superior weapons.

By the twenty fourth century, Romulan warbirds were comparable with Federation ships in terms of their weapons, speed, and maneuverability. It's hard to know if the Klingons made similar strides in technology given the economic problems brought on by Praxis' explosion and changes in their military structure to pursue peace with Starfleet. Their ships always seemed to be upgrades of existing technology rather than completely new systems, at least until the Negh'Var class was introduced.

--Sran

 

[Captain_Amasov]

Speaking of Cloaks, why did the Defiant have a Romulan cloaking device, rather than Klingon?

The Treaty of Algeron, which established among other things the reinforcement and redefinition of the Romulan Neutral Zone, also had provisions that prevented the Federation from pursuing cloaking technology themselves.

If Starfleet now wanted to use a cloak, they'd have to consult and deal with the Romulans, even if they wanted to use someone else's cloaking device, so it's probably just easier to use a Romulan one since conditions would obviously be applied either way.