The Enterprise Incident - Why does Sub-Commander Tal allow herself to be taken prisoner?
- Thread starter cgervasi
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I'm pretty sure I remember Klingons having cloaking devices in TAS, so it never bothered me to see Klingon ships with cloaking devices in the movies.
I think Tal was really into Spock.
That would be the logical choice, what with his slate/green eyes and all!
It was intended to be even smaller by Fontana. Her idea was that it was some key component that could be slipped into a pocket or bag by Kirk, so he wasn’t walking around with this huge lamp under his shoulder.
It also explains why, when Kirk goes into the cloaking device room, he looks everywhere but the giant glowing white orb in the center of the compartment while searching for it, and then he has to trick the Romulan guard into showing him where it is by telling the guard someone wants to steal the cloaking device and following his gaze when he checks if it’s still there, even though it’s the most obvious possible object in the room.
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My treknobabble head canon: Those things are the important security and technological features of the cloaking device. Firstly, the cloaking device is portable for security reasons; it can be removed and locked up when not in use, and it can be easily destroyed to keep it from falling into enemy hands. Secondly, the device itself is a marvel of technology that controls a ship's deflector shields such to bend light around the ship. It is also designed to universally adaptable to all makes and models of ships used in the Romulan fleet. YMMV
I do not find any reference to a Klingon cloaking device in TAS. I believe you might be thinking of the Stasis Field Generator weapon the Klingon ships used in "More Troubles, More Tribbles"
She's probably had a dozen different names in the various novels.
My favorite is the one that the 'extended novelverse' had gone with, Liviana Charvanek.
Not sure how. Starfleet was aware of cloaking back in "Balance of Terror" and then this new device was updated and require additional espionage in the "Enterprise Incident." It definitely looks more like an arms race, with data needed and updates required to keep the device relevant.
Which answers nicely the question as to why/how such an important device could be carried under someone's arm. Kirk didn't need to steal the entire cloaking device. He just needed to steal the new/updated component. Starfleet already knew the basic mechanics of the cloak and that's why Scotty was able to integrate the new component into the Enterprise's existing shield system.
Kinda like the flux capacitor. You don't need to steal the entire DeLorean. You just need to steal the flux capacitor.
I wonder if that was inspired by Livia, the wife of Augustus?She's probably had a dozen different names in the various novels.
My favorite is the one that the 'extended novelverse' had gone with, Liviana Charvanek.
Memory Alpha asserts that "Liviana" is probably from a role Joanne Linville played in an episode of The Twilight Zone, a character called Lavinia, though I think it's also possible it was riffing on her last name.
I figured it wasn't exactly one of Scotty's picture-perfect installs, just enough to scoot past the Romulans and back into the Federation. Kind of like how you can't put a Honda part in a Toyota car...weeeeeeellll, maybe you can, and it'll definitely void the warranty, but the car might run...if it doesn't blow up. (Which I think Scotty said as he was switching on the cloak.)
She's probably had a dozen different names in the various novels.
My favorite is the one that the 'extended novelverse' had gone with, Liviana Charvanek.
LOL
I must've missed that before and don't think I've read the book. Spock heard her name and said it was "rare and beautiful" but that must've been some pretty good Romulan Ale, because to me "Liviana Charvanek" sounds like the name of a school librarian in the upper midwest.
I think they developed it to work with existing shield systems. These systems were already installed on ships and they projected a forcefield that would block objects and weapons. The cloaking system was similar, except it refracted light and sensor pings so they would pass through as if nothing were there.
We know from Balance of Terror and ST:III The Search for Spock that cloaking devices are not perfect. If ships are doing a careful scan, they can detect the presence of a cloaked ship. I imagine Kirk used such methods to detect the distortion from the bird of prey. Kirk only used glasses for near vision; if he had been watching a display closer than a meter away, he would have needed glasses.
I imagine there being an "arms race" of sorts where one power develops a stealthier cloaking device and their enemies develop better sensors to detect the latest cloaking system. The mission in The Enterprise Incident was to steal the cloaking device to develop better detection systems or a Federation cloaking device. As @Ssosmcin points out, Spock and the Romulan acknowledge that the advantage from stealing the clocking device will be fleeting. This "arms race" led to the controversial Treaty of Algeron, in which the Federation agreed not to develop any cloaking device, possibly in the hopes of obviating the need for future covert missions to steal technology from one another.
To me the cloaking device being good but not 100% effective makes logical sense and it works for story plots.
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