Rebel ship stranded in Alpha Quadrant

[Captain Piett]

(I did a search for "Rebel" and didn't find anything like this pasted in the past few years-- although there are a few vaguely similar topics, they mostly dealt with the impact access to the AQ would have on the civil war over in the GFFA. If I missed a similar topic, uh... sorry?)

I find discussions of the Empire interacting with the Federation to be rather boring, since they're so one-sided. If any substantial Imperial assets made it to the Alpha Quadrant, they'd crush the Federation within a week, since while Deep Space Nine (my only real exposure to Star Trek) might have nuanced characterization, accomplished acting, and good writing ("Profit and Lace" notwithstanding), none of those things can deflect turbolasers or hurl the USS Defiant into Hyperspace or whatever.

So I find the Rebels more interesting, since they have some ideological similarities to the Federation-- freedom, democracy, species equality, that sort of thing. There's more potential for interesting interactions other than one side immediately blowing away the other.

So say in 2373, after the Klingon-Federation War ends with the exposure of the Changeling Martok, but just before open war with the Dominion starts, a Rebel blockade runner more or less equivalent to the Tantive IV, with its full crew and droids and a Rebel political leader on board is suddenly disgorged from the Bajoran wormhole in the general vicinity of Deep Space Nine. They have no way to get back to where they came from, so they're stuck in the Milky Way permanently. Assuming the stranded rebels manage to not panic and blow up DS9, the Defiant, and possibly most of Bajor before jumping to hyperspeed in some random direction, what happens next? What impact would it have on the Dominion War when it breaks out? Do the Rebels make nice with the Federation? Can they reconcile themselves with the glorious socialist utopia of the 24th century? Will they adjust to holograms that aren't blue and staticy? Will they be really embarrassed on behalf of these odd humans who think that jumpsuits are flattering and pretend to be Sherlock Holmes or Robin Hood for fun? Does Rom still drive in a home run in the 9th inning, providing a much-needed manufactured triumph to the Niners?

Just to make things interesting, let's say that this is after the Bashir changeling is placed on Deep Space Nine, so word of these events is making its way to the Dominion.

[The Romulan Republic]

I'm sure its has been done before (hard to think of a Trek vs Wars scenario that hasn't been), but yes I'd say its a different situation from a contact with the Empire, primarily because the average Rebel captain isn't going to be interested in conquest, and would have to be rather desperate before they would resort to the sort of tactics many Imperial officers would readily employ (torture, slavery, forcibly taking whatever resources they needed).

By giving the Rebels a single corvette, you've more over created a situation where the Rebels, while still possessing the firepower to easily deal with a typical Alpha Quadrant fleet in a straight fight, will be unable to:

a) take and hold much territory, or

b) keep going for long before they run out of supplies.

Moreover, if there hyperdrive were some how disabled, a single corvette might be vulnerable to an all-out Borg assault, just as it would be vulnerable to encounters with quite a few spacial anomalies and superbeings like Q.

While the Rebels could hold a world to ransom with the threat of turbolaser bombardment, they likely won't unless they're desperate. The most plausible situation will be an alliance with one of the local powers, perhaps offering technology/information in exchange for supplies (the Rebels do not appear to have any Prime Directive equivalent). The Federation is most plausible, due to some similar ideals and the fact that both factions appear to be somewhat human-dominated.

I think the Rebels and the Federation would get along pretty well. There is enough diversity in the Rebel's home galaxy that I doubt they would be too shocked or disturbed by a "Communist" system, especially one that is comparatively benign. However, the broader implications are somewhat concerning. Specifically, I'm wondering how badly a Federation alliance with a Star Wars warship (albeit a small one) would upset the balance of power in the Alpha Quadrant, and how badly the Klingons, Romulans, and others would be likely to take it. Having a Corvette on their side would give the Feds an advantage, but how likely is a Rebel captain out on his own to involve himself in the Federation's wars? And in the end, one ship can't be everywhere at once. Of course, it could bombard an enemy power's worlds, but neither the Federation nor the Rebels are likely to take that approach with civilian populations except as an absolutely last resort. However, any battles involving the Corvette (presuming it fights on the Federation's side), would likely go in Starfleet's favor, and it can jump from battlefield to battlefield rather quickly. It could also do a fine job of smashing any fleets coming through the Bajoran wormhole, which should hopefully answer your questions regarding the Dominion war . All of the above, however, is merely speculation, of course.

Actually, I just thought of another thing the Rebels could trade in exchange for supplies: speed. The Corvette would be an extremely fast and almost invulnerable (to conventional attack anyway) explorer/scout. A smart Federation admiral could strike the following bargain, for example: "we'll give you supplies, if you go pick up that crew stranded in the Delta Quadrant."

Just my personal take on the idea. I do think this could make a good fanfic, though.

[Ghost Rider]

Been there, done that.

All it can do is either sit there and run out of supplies or settle down, make colony, lose technology through time and lack of repairs.

Why Romulan feels the need to make some overblown halfassed essay must be because he enjoys wasting space.