Geordi went (or was supposed to go) all the way to Risa and back in one of those little pods.
The Captain's Yacht
- Thread starter c0rnedfr0g
- Start date
Geordi went (or was supposed to go) all the way to Risa and back in one of those little pods.
LOL! Yes and a very nice one at that.
Yeah, but from where to Risa? For all we know he was dropped off at the edge of the system, which depending on the system and travelling at impulse could be a few hours or a day at the outside.
Far enough away that the Romulan warbird wasn't picked up on Risa's or the Enterprise's sensors. That implies a distance of possibly several light-years.
Then again, the special effects suggest he was not at warp:
http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s4/4x24/themindseye000.jpg
http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s4/4x24/themindseye002.jpg
http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s4/4x24/themindseye006.jpg
Essentially, LaForge could have chosen that tiny shuttlepod specifically because it was so tiny that he could hitchhike on just about any warp-powered ship. Thus, a drop-off at the edge of the Risan system, then a passage back on a Starfleet transport - but the schedule would be altered when he managed to hitchhike on a faster ship, or one that was available sooner (or so the Romulan cover story went).
And I'd vote for the Romulans going deep inside the Risan system to do the grabbing, out of sheer audacity. That sort wins funding from the adventurous Praetors, even if Senate may balk.
Timo Saloniemi
And I'd vote for the Romulans going deep inside the Risan system to do the grabbing, out of sheer audacity. That sort wins funding from the adventurous Praetors, even if Senate may balk.
Timo Saloniemi
I thought, perhaps, that star system had some kind of speed restriction -something along the lines of the later Warp 5 speed limit. If they were going to have to crawl through the system in any scenario, might as well just drop the two of them in a shuttle rather than divert the whole ship, although the E likely would have been somewhat better at impulse.
the delta flyer did somewhat solve the "infinite shuttle" crisis on Voyager. a lot of hard working people got to take a break from creating shuttles so they could focus on their torpedo building
So, do those tiny shuttle craft have miniature warp cores then? Is that how they can go to warp?
according to TMP, going to warp in a star system causes a wormhole....
That wasn't a problem by the time of TNG, though.
according to TMP, going to warp in a star system causes a wormhole....
Wrong, according to TMP, going to warp with unbalanced, untested warp engines causes a wormhole.
Then again, it was argued in DS9 "The Sound of Her Voice" that a warp core would prevent entry to the planet surrounded by the strange field, and the solution our heroes came up with was to use a shuttlecraft.
This may mean that
1) shuttlecraft don't have warp cores, even though they generally can travel at warp speeds, and even though a shuttlepod smaller than the craft portrayed in the episode was implied to be warp-capable, or
2) shuttlecraft have easily removable warp cores, and this particular craft ditched its core before going in - something the mothership could not have done, at least not in any practical way.
It's quite possible that "warp core" is the name for just one type of powerplant for warp engines, and that most shuttles use a different sort of powerplant going by some other name, like "warp capacitor" or "low-warp core" or something.
Timo Saloniemi
This may mean that
1) shuttlecraft don't have warp cores, even though they generally can travel at warp speeds, and even though a shuttlepod smaller than the craft portrayed in the episode was implied to be warp-capable, or
2) shuttlecraft have easily removable warp cores, and this particular craft ditched its core before going in - something the mothership could not have done, at least not in any practical way.
It's quite possible that "warp core" is the name for just one type of powerplant for warp engines, and that most shuttles use a different sort of powerplant going by some other name, like "warp capacitor" or "low-warp core" or something.
Timo Saloniemi
It seams to vary between shuttle types. For instance I'm reasonably certain the speedboat shuttle 'Cochrane' was said to have suffered a core breach.
I suppose since all a warp core supposedly does is power the nacelles it's possible some types of shuttles run off a power cell of some sort, instead of a reactor.
This would seriously limit the range of such a shuttle but it would make sense from a safety and resource allocation point of view. Imagine a shuttle hanger the size of the Galaxy class main hanger and imagine how dangerous it would be having 20-30 little warp cores sat right next to each other. If for whatever reason just one of them breaches, or even an antimatter containment pod fails, it would probably set off a chain reaction that could potentially blow the ship in half...and probably breach the main core too. Makes much more sense for most of them to have a "Warp Capacitor" for lack of a better term, that gets recharged after every trip.
Also, from a flight operations point of view, how time consuming would it be to prep a shuttle from a cold start? Although there are probably a number on hot standby, in a state of emergency when you need the shuttles in a hurry it could be a big problem getting 20 warp reactors running from cold, plus the pre-flight checks of course.
The TNG Tech Manual speaks of maintaining some shuttles on hot standby, and makes perfect sense. And one wonders how Decker in "Doomsday Machine" was able to confiscate a shuttlecraft all by himself, when apparently the starship wasn't expecting any shuttlecraft action; somebody must have prepped the craft for him, suggesting a hot standby practice there, too. Then we have Harry Mudd picking a shuttle out of at least six available in "Mudd's Passion"... And the kid whose name I forget in "Coming of Age", and the powerless Q in the episode whose Qte name I forget, who also have no trouble taking a joyride while apparently lacking all related authorization and training. At least a few shuttles clearly must remain in a state of immediate launch readiness, requiring not a hose to be disconnected, not a latch to be released.
Perhaps this is related to how seldom our heroes use the resources of the onboard shuttles when the resources of the mothership fail. There just might not be powered-up shuttles available for immediate action when the anomaly of the week takes over the mothership computers or transporters or communicators. Although typically, such anomalies could of course be expected to corrupt the shuttles along with the mothership.
Timo Saloniemi
Perhaps this is related to how seldom our heroes use the resources of the onboard shuttles when the resources of the mothership fail. There just might not be powered-up shuttles available for immediate action when the anomaly of the week takes over the mothership computers or transporters or communicators. Although typically, such anomalies could of course be expected to corrupt the shuttles along with the mothership.
Timo Saloniemi
There's a rough one of the D's in the TNG tech manual.
