From: sl6wv@cc.usu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech
Subject: Defense of DS9
Date: 12 Jan 93 16:56:05 MDT
Organization: Utah State University


	This, I believe, is a very critical question regarding Deep Space Nine
and to how believeable this new series can actually be:

	Just how important is Deep Space Nine to the Federation of Planets?

	I confess that its original position on the frontier of the Federation
didn't make it all that valuable, and the Federation appears to be expanding in
many directions throughout the galaxy, "seeking out new lifeforms and
civilizations, and boldly....."  Hey, the Enterprise has been quite successful
in its various forms over the past couple of centuries. (meaning the 23rd &
24th)  With the recovery after the Borg encounter, Starfleet must be stretching 
their defense parimiter quite thin, with even mere ensigns being the senior
officiers in some star systems.  But there are some important things to
consider about the location of DS9.

	#1:	Proximity to Bjor (sp?).  Despite Ensign Ro's appearance on the
Enterprise, the Bjorans don't seem to be that significant.  However, Captain
Piccard indicated that Bjor was on the road to full membership in the
Federation.  And as the home world of one of the major races in the Federation,
it would rank with Earth and Vulcan in terms of defense committments.  (The
Japanese might have thought about messing with Hawaii as a territory, but now
that it's a state....don't even think about it.  Maybe the analogy is thin
here, but consider it.)  OK, WHEN they are full members, then it is time to
worry about a major starfleet base.

	#2:	Cardassians.  These have proven to be the latest group of bad
guys that the Federation has come across, and for the moment, the most
menacing.  The Klingon Empire now has a peace treaty with the Federation (STVI,
as well as the hypothisis as to why Worf is on the Enterprise), the Borg are
kill or be killed (note how careful Piccard was to be in the chromosphere of
the starsystem they were in, from the episode "I, Borg".), and the Romulans are
at a virtual stalemate (and besides, Spock is on Romulus anyway, so how much
trouble can they be with his intervention), with only the Ferengi being the
only other opposition.  And the Ferengi seem to be easily bought out.  The
Cardassians seem to be so important that they risked losing a seasoned Captain
along with two ranking officiers equally capable of similar rank provided the
situation, just to try a risky attempt at throwing a monkey wrench into one
of their ploys.  The Federation certainly demonstrates that they take the
threat from the Cardassians quite seriously.

	#3:	(This is so substantial that I hardly dare mention it.)  The
stable wormhole.  In an earlier episode of TNG (I forget the exact name of it)
the Federation was prepared to go to war over a similar kind of phenonom.  I'm
not all that sure where the "Gamma" quadrant is located, but it seems to be a
considerable distance from most of the Federation, or even most of the bad guys
mentioned above.  Being so close to the frontier, indeed in disputed territory
similar to the neutral zone, makes it all the more challenging as to who
actually controls access to it.  I would venture to say it is as important to
the Federation as the Panama Canal is to the United States, for very similar
reasons. (Operation Just Cause wasn't entirely about Pres. Bush trying to catch
a drug smuggler, lest anyone forget.)


	The first two reasons were plenty of reason to put a full commander in
command of the post, and staff it with a full compliment of officiers.  Point
number three, however, changes the whole importance of it.

	I'm not a military statician, but there are some bare minimum
requirements that I feel Starfleet should do, given the gravity of the
situation.


	Bring in a couple of companies (or perhaps even a full battallion) of
engineers.  The base is obviously falling apart, and a detachment from the
Starfleet Corp of Engineers (mentioned in STII:TWOK) would certainly be in
order.  They could also be put under the command of a commander without too
much trouble either.

	A battalion of marines.  Besides the primary duty of marines to be
boarding-antiboarding soldiers, they would also prove to quell the civil
disorder going onboard DS9.  In addition, DS9 seems to have even MORE
civilians, especially in proportion to the "military" types, and enough cubic
space to even dwarf the Enterprise-D.  Perhaps line marines would be out of the
question (just look at the mess in Somolia), but a group of Shore Patrol
trained marines would do good.  If Bjor put up a fuss, then a training
detachment could be called up, and even be put in direct command of a Bjoran. 
This could also serve to form the core of a planetary military force that could
hold down the threat of civil wars, with loyalties only to Bjor and not some
other faction.

	Upgrade DS9 to a full starbase.  It seems to have at least the size of
a smaller one, and has weapon systems capable of delivering most of the
standard Trek-type weapons.  My roommate pointed out a good flaw, questioning
why the Enterprise didn't unload at least a good portion of its photon torps
while it was docked with DS9.  I assume that the Enterprise has at least more
than six of them.  They don't have to worry about things like warp drives and
the like, so there is must more of the station that can be devoted to weapon
systems, ect.


	Keep in mind that these things are only about the threats on THIS side
of the worm hole, from folks that would like to have it for their own. 
Wouldn't it be ironic if the other end of the wormhole was right next to the
home world of the Borgs.  Or something worse.  (I hearby declare war as to what
is next to come flying through the wormhole......Battlestar Galactica? Daliks? 
Star Destroyers?  Tardi? {plural of Tardis} Godzilla?.......OK, I know this is
opening up a whole new round of ST vs. ?, but it does add some depth.)  At the
very least I would think that no fewer than two starships would be on constant
post until appropiate upgrades to DS9 can be made.



		Rob "Woodchip" Horning
		Utah State University
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech