One Romulan Warbird in the Delta Quadrant

[Sarevok]

A Romulan Warbird has been stranded in the Delta Quadrant in the same place as Voyger. Can it make it back to Romulus ?

[Rogue 9]

Well, its drive is slower so it definitely can't warp home. Is a Warbird better armed than Voyager? I don't know how Voyager compares to a Galaxy in armament. They have quantum torpedoes, though. I don't know. It depends on the commander and crew more than anything. Since they don't have Main Character Shields (tm) they'd actually have to be competent. Given that its Trek, that's a big if. Probably not.

[El Moose Monstero]

Yes, because I doubt the Romulans would have any scruples about seizing the Caretaker array. But apart from that, they'd either keep very much to themselves (a cloaking device being a great asset) and go home the long hard way or they'd sell the technology and things in order to get upgrades. It would take them longer, IIRC, as arent Warbirds supposed to be slower than Federation starships?

[Rogue 9]

Yes, they are slower than Fed starships. I said as much in my post.

[Sarevok]

The Warbird is slower than a GCS and probobly slower than Voyger. However it has a quantum singularity based warp core which means dilithium or anti-matter is not going to be a big problem. It may even be able to maintain maximum warp indefinately giving it a higher speed in the long run.

In terms of strength the Warbird is equal to the Federation GCS. It has lethal disruptors and plasma torpedoes that rival Federation Quantums. The Warbird has twice the frontal firepower of a GCS according to an estimate made by Alyska. And with a kilometer long hull the Warbird can take more damage than a GCS.

The Warbird has a cloaking device giving it an edge over Voyger. It can travel undetected and avoid combat if it wishes.

Due to its huge size the Warbird can carry more crew and supplies than Voyger. That would a big factor. They also have no moral issues about looting other ships. Equipped with a cloaking and outgunning most delta quadrant ships by a great margin the Warbird would make a great pirate.

The Romulans dont follow the prime directive. They would use the Warbirds superior strength to crush inferior Delta Quadrant ships from the Kazons, Talaxians etc.

All this factors combined mean that the Warbird has a good chance of making it home.

[Sarevok]

Well, its drive is slower so it definitely can't warp home. Is a Warbird better armed than Voyager? I don't know how Voyager compares to a Galaxy in armament. They have quantum torpedoes, though. I don't know. It depends on the commander and crew more than anything. Since they don't have Main Character Shields (tm) they'd actually have to be competent. Given that its Trek, that's a big if. Probably not.

Neither Voyger nor the Galaxy has quantum torpedoes. The Warbird on the other hand has plasma torpedoes which are much stronger than photon torpedoes.

[NecronLord]

Yes. Assuming it's a D'deridex, and not a Valdore (Which IMO is a very fast interceptor type ship, probably for running down spies, pirates, and the like) they'd take longer, maybe 80 - 90 years, but they woudln't stop at every anomaly. However, the romulan science station they established contact with via wormhole in season one may help them, as the operator on the other end wouldn't be worried about being arrested for communicating with a romulan ship as he was for a feddie ship.

The question is, without the prime directive, would they just take over some sufficiently primative planet (In the name of the Star Empire, of course)?

[Sarevok]

The question is, without the prime directive, would they just take over some sufficiently primative planet (In the name of the Star Empire, of course)?

Two Ferengi with a shuttle were able to seize control of a Delta Quadrant planet. A Romulan Warbird could probobly conquer hundreds of such planets.

[General Zod]

i'd imagine the romulans wouldn't have any scruples about seizing the caretakers array and using it for themselves as soon as the caretaker expires. so they'd likely be home in under a week.

[NecronLord]

i'd imagine the romulans wouldn't have any scruples about seizing the caretakers array and using it for themselves as soon as the caretaker expires. so they'd likely be home in under a week.

Indeed. They'd probably try looting some of his tech as well...

[Death from the Sea]

The Romulans would have better disposition than Voyager in being stronger, but they are slower. Someone here said something about the Romulans quantam singularity power core allowing them to travel faster and longer, remember the TNG episode "Tinman" where the Romulan Warbird damaged its warp coils pretty much beyond repair trying to keep up with the Ent-D which was going faster and I am guessing longer than the Romulan Warbird could.
My only question is if they are not able to use the Caretaker array for some reason could the Romulans forge a treaty with some of the races that Janeway did like say the BORG??? or would they be assimilated? the cloak is great protection, but it is not perfect and who knows it might need maintenance every so many hours of operation that can only be done at a starbase.

[NecronLord]

No, they said the QS core wouldn't need refuelling with AM, they didn't say it would make it faster than Voy.

[Posbi]

Well, on the average it still would be faster than Voyager 'cause they wouldn't have to ration fuel and therefor probably could longer maintain a higher cruise speed.

[Rogue 9]

But they have other concerns than fuel. One fried its warp coils attempting to keep up with the E-D. Fuel was not a factor; their engines just couldn't take it.

[seanrobertson]

A Romulan Warbird has been stranded in the Delta Quadrant in the same place as Voyger. Can it make it back to Romulus ?

I think so, yes.

If, all things being equal, the length of a phaser "strip" and its power are pretty evenly ratioed, I estimate VGR's two biggest strips have ~ one half the firepower of the Enterprise-D's largest dorsal strip.

However, VGR only fires one of these strips at a time, so on a per shot basis, one-quarter the phaser power is more on the money.

That's a very rough guess, mind you. I'll come up with a more precise measurement one of these days, but given that the E-D has about 9 times VGR's volume and at least 6 times her mass, this differential is probably not far off the mark.

Anyway:

VGR was struggling with the Kazon battleship in "Caretaker," but she was still able to do some damage and, for better or worse, escaped intact. A Galaxy's weaponry should at least let her stand on equal footing with the Kazon ship; and a Warbird, which I very conservatively figure has 1.5 to 2 times the Enterprise-D's firepower*, should whip the Kazon pretty convincingly.

Once that's done, a Warbird's crew only need figure out how to use the Caretaker Array to send their ship back home. IIRC, VGR's crew thought it was doable (hence their laughable "dilemma"), so I wouldn't put that past the Romulans.

Finally, if a Romulan commander was very generous and decided to honor the Caretaker's wish (destroy the Array), they could simply leave a timebomb on the thing. The Rommies could get back home, and awhile later, the bomb goes off. Everything's peachy.

*Evidence for this available upon request.

[Posbi]

But they have other concerns than fuel. One fried its warp coils attempting to keep up with the E-D. Fuel was not a factor; their engines just couldn't take it.

Yes, because they were pressing every MW of energy out of them. In this scenario they don't have to!

[Rogue 9]

*Evidence for this available upon request.

If you don't mind, I'd like to request that evidence. I don't claim to be an expert, but the E-D has faced down too many Warbirds and come away intact (I remember three simultaneously at least once) to justify asking for it, I think.

[Kamakazie Sith]

*Evidence for this available upon request.

If you don't mind, I'd like to request that evidence. I don't claim to be an expert, but the E-D has faced down too many Warbirds and come away intact (I remember three simultaneously at least once) to justify asking for it, I think.

What episode did the E-D face down three warbirds?

[Rogue 9]

I don't remember the name. I came in late. Just about as the E-D was sitting facing one Warbird, and two more decloaked behind it.

[Howedar]

It was TNG: The Chase. No battle occured.

Bear in mind that at this point the Warbird is still of unknown strength to the Federation.

[Col. Crackpot]

I don't remember the name. I came in late. Just about as the E-D was sitting facing one Warbird, and two more decloaked behind it.

yeah, the ace in the hole that you are forgetting is the 3 Klingon BoP's that decloaked and flanked the warbirds.

[Rogue 9]

I don't remember the name. I came in late. Just about as the E-D was sitting facing one Warbird, and two more decloaked behind it.

yeah, the ace in the hole that you are forgetting is the 3 Klingon BoP's that decloaked and flanked the warbirds.

Ah.

[Solauren]

A Romulan warbird pulled to the Caretaker array the same time Voyager did is handing the Star Trek galaxy to the Romulans.

Let me explain.

The Romulans would first be abducted, examined, etc. They'd find a crew man missing, not find him on the array, and he'd be on Occompa (naturally).

Romulans are many things, but they appear to have a fairly decent sense of loyalty within there own race.
They also might conclude that Ocompa was the controlling planet for the array. (Someone had to build it besides that old Romulan playing an old instrutment...)

So, they go to Occompa, find Neelix along the way (let's say they don't kill him, after all, they purchased his services with water, and cheap help is so hard to find...), and meet the Kazon.

Any competent Romulan Military commander (or anyone without the prime directive nutting off the oxygen supply to there brain) would realise

'These guys lack our modern technology by about 100 years, and that space station sucked my ship literally across the galaxy. This gives me an idea'

'Hey, Kazon leader. You want to trade for our technology? We want help capturing that Array....'

So, after a Romulan raid on the Occompa city, and the Romulan seeing indications of free slave labor just waiting to happen....

The Romulans go back to the Array, and the caretaker dies. Fine and danny.

However, they have bribed the Kazon, they don't need to fight them. Hell, if anything, there about to become allies of the Romulan Star Empire.

The Romulan crew figures out the array (Tuvok did it with his Tricorder...) and send a shuttle back to Romulan space with the report 'You'll never believe what we found', and with instructions where to meet the next displacement wave.

The array sucks say a squadron of Warbirds into the Occompa system, and Occompa just became a slave colony, (and so did the nearest class M planet). The Kazon would either be conquered or convinced to join the Romulan Star Empire in exchange for gifts. Either that, or simple brainwashing like they did to LaForge during the TNG series.

How quickly do you think the Romulans would move forces into the DQ to set up a new province of the Empire and study and use the array?

The array is probably one of the best tactical advantages the Romulans ever had now.

Instead of fighting a tradiational war against an enemy, they can grab enemy ships from thousands of lightyears away, and move them into a rather nice trap. Better yet, it would appear that the array damages ships it moves (i.e Voyager). Image how easy it would be for 4 Warbirds to deal with a Sovereign Class Federation cruiser that is without shields, sensors, or weapons. Just beam the crew into space or prison cells, and start repairs. They get a new ship, the enemy loses one.

Also, with time to study the array, they might be able to find a way to shield there own ships from it's effects.

Imagine the possiblities just based on that alone. Any invading fleet that attacked, the Romulans would just grab with the array, damage them, and deposit them somewhere out of the way and deal with the crews.

The only threat I can see to the Romulans at that point, if they proceeded carefully (and they are romulans, not that idiot from Nemesis), and build up in secret in the DQ, they could finally overrun the Federation and Klingons in very short order, capture and refit there ships and military assets, and then return them with Romulan crews.

Repeat process until all non-Borg, non-Voth, etc assests are captured
(heck, for all we know, the spatial displacement wave might wreck havok on a Voth ship. Now there's a nice piece of equipment to capture).

Then take your new fleet of thousands of ships, technologies and weapons from hundreds of spieces, combine them, augment them, etc, and then go teach the Voth and Borg who's in charge.

[NecronLord]

I must say, I'd much prefer to see that series...

[Stofsk]

I must say, I'd much prefer to see that series...

I'll echo that sentiment, and add: "perhaps someone should consider this as a fanfic idea?" I'd consider it, but my knowledge of Voyager and the Delta quadrant universe isn't up to it.