Cloaking Device

A **cloaking device** is a technology which actively prevents all emissions from an object across the EM spectrum and, typically, bends any electromagnetic radiation from outside sources around the same object. A true cloaking device is virtually undetectable to the naked eye or even modern sensors, though few devices, if any, are able to render perfect invisibility. Regardless of the exact method used to achieve it, all such devices are referred to as a cloaking device.

# Common Limitations

The specifics of a cloaking device vary with its design. The vast majority require a great amount of energy to operate and require major cooling, historically precluding the possibility of weapons and shields from operating while a cloaking device is active. This weakness, however, is not universal, with certain ships being specifically designed to provide the ability to operate one or both systems while cloaked. Many cloaking devices make further concessions in order to make them practical for use on their designated platform, such as compromising effectiveness at bending visible light frequencies, a common sacrifice which creates the atypical shimmering effect when a cloaked ship passes nearby. Other common deficiencies include tachyon, neutron radiation, and neutrino.

In addition, cloaking devices do not typically handle exhaust, such as from propulsion, a flaw which has been a considerable hurdle to the novelty of "firing while cloaked". Modern starship design has invested considerably in several methods to mitigate this, creating more efficient drives, drives which operate at lower temperatures, pulsed propulsion to avoid a continuous trail, and even cloaking the ship's wake for a considerable distance to render its most recent maneuvers unknown. Warp trails and other subspace distortions may also reveal the presence of a cloaked ship, though many warp engines have been modified to mitigate this effect, particularly at certain speeds.

# History

The first known cloaking device was developed by the Romulan Star Empire, who had been developing the technology in secret for perhaps centuries. No record of early cloaking device development is known to exist, and it is believed that if any records existed, they were lost with the destruction of Romulus in 2387. Unconfirmed reports of ships disappearing without warning have existed since time immemorial, even by Starfleet's own Captain Johnathan Archer during their first deep space exploration aboard *Enterprise* (NX-01).

## 23rd Century

The first confirmed and publicized sighting was of a relatively ancient version of the cloaking device used by the Klingon vessel *Sarcophagus* encountered by the USS *Shenzhou* (NCC-1227) in 2256 at the Battle of the Binary Stars. During the following Federation-Klingon War, the technology was spread widely across the Klingon Houses and devastated Starfleet. Only the development of a special detection algorithm by the USS *Discovery* (NCC-1031) and rising instability in the Klingon Empire after the death of the leader of the House of Kor prevented the Federation from being conquered. By 2258, the algorithm was widely published and easily retrofitted to most existing sensor suites throughout the Alpha and Beta Quadrants in a move which effectively rendered the technology obsolete. This act has since been popularly regarded as the first act of the cold war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, which would persist throughout the latter part of the 23rd century.

Another cloaking device was then encountered in 2266 when the Romulan Star Empire committed a warbird to testing their newest technology and the Federation's defenses through attacks on their outposts along the Neutral Zone. This cloaking device proved capable of defeating the sensor algorithms developed during the Federation-Klingon War, but the warbird was ultimately destroyed by the USS *Enterprise* (NCC-1701) before it could return to Romulus. Faced with limited data, the Romulan Star Empire was forced to conclude that the Federation *Constitution*-class starship was far superior to any ship currently in their ability to build, and that they could not rely purely on the cloaking device to defend against enemy attack, or retaliation. Knowing of the Federation's war with the Klingons a decade before and the resulting cold war arms race which had developed, a faction of the Romulan Star Empire engaged the House of Kor with an arms deal proposal, offering their cloaking device, albeit an older but nonetheless effective model, for disruptors and D7 cruisers. Kor himself, driven by the stories of glory of his father Kol and faced only with dead ends in trying to make his own devices work against the Federation algorithms, agreed to the trade.

The Klingons were not the only ones interested in the technology. In 2268, the USS *Enterprise* would again encounter the technology in a gambit which came to be known as the Enterprise Incident. Two Romulan *D7*s and an escorting Bird of Prey intercepted the *Enterprise* and forced the Federation flagship's surrender as soon as she crossed the neutral zone illegally. In a ploy of intrigue, Captain James T. Kirk was able to steal a Romulan cloaking device for Starfleet Intelligence.

Despite now possessing a modern example of the technology, Starfleet had not yet developed a suitable countermeasure by the time Kor led an attack against Caleb IV. There, Kor used a feint to lure a Starfleet task force into an ambush of cloaked ships, destroying most of them and forcing remainder to surrender. It was only by the actions of the crew of the USS *Oceanic* (NCC-1421) that any of the task force escaped at all. While covering their retreat, however, the *Oceanic* lost warp power. With their prize gone, the Klingon fleet turned their disruptors on the sole remaining Starfleet vessel and left no trace of either it or its crew to exist. With the warning spreading across Federation space, Kor was forced to abandon his campaign when Starfleet immediately changed their tactics to account for the Klingon cloaking device.

 File:Chang's Bird-of-Prey.jpg
The next major event was a Klingon Bird of Prey operated by General Chang which had been secretly upgraded with an experimental cloaking device which enabled the ship to fire photon torpedoes while cloaked. Chang used the ship in support of the Cartwright Conspiracy in the hopes of starting a war with the Federation, first using the technology to attack his own Chancellor by firing two photon torpedoes at *Qo'noS One* and framing the USS *Enterprise* (NCC-1701-A) for the attack. The conspiracy failed, and Chang's prototype was ultimately destroyed, and him with it, in a battle with the *Enterprise* and the USS *Excelsior* (NCC-2000) at Khitomer. Despite the achievement of designing a ship which could fire while cloaked, it was unable to mask the exhaust from its own thrusters, which it was forced to use in order to reposition after firing. The *Enterprise* was able to exploit this weakness by homing a photon torpedo in on the plasma trail.

## 24th Century

After the Tomed Incident in 2311, the Federation and the Star Empire signed the Treaty of Algeron. Among its accords, the Federation agreed to cease all research into cloaking technology. The Romulan Star Empire returned to isolation after the treaty was signed. In 2358, Starfleet began to test a new, experimental form of cloaking device called a Phasing Cloaking Device in secret aboard the USS *Pegasus* (NCC-53847) in direct violation of the treaty only to abandon the project after an accident resulted in the loss of the ship that same year. The entire project remained a secret until 2370, when a Romulan warbird, the IRW *Terix* discovered debris from the *Pegasus*. The project leader, Admiral Pressman, had the USS *Enterprise* (NCC-1701-D) attempt to retrieve the device in secret, believing correctly that the device was still intact. The *Enterprise* successfully retrieved the device, but upon learning its nature Captain Jean-Luc Picard used the device to escape the *Enterprise'*s own predicament only to decloak in front of the *Terix*, proving that the Federation had been researching cloaking technology. As promised, the Federation Diplomatic Corps subsequently contacted the Romulans over the incident, who was more than happy to make much of the incident public to force the issue. Nevertheless, the Treaty of Algeron was reaffirmed, but not before details of the technology was given to the Star Empire. The same research would later be referenced during the Star Empire's construction of the warbird *Scimitar*.

Despite the recent incident, the Romulan Star Empire agreed to loan one of their own cloaking devices to the USS *Defiant* (NX-74205) in exchange for information sharing on the Dominion and the Gamma Quadrant in 2371. The Romulans also provided specialists to assist with integration. For Starfleet at the time, only the *Defiant* possessed the combination of low mass and available power and heat dissipation to operate a Romulan cloaking device long term. This device was destroyed with the loss of the *Defiant* in 2375 during the Dominion War. A new one was never provided, as shortly after the Treaty of Bajor was signed, ending the Dominion War and seemingly the threat of the Dominion.

In 2378, the Romulan Star Empire completed the construction of the warbird *Scimitar* only for it to be requisitioned by Shinzon in his coup of the Romulan Senate, subsequently declaring himself Praetor. In a fit of madness, Shinzon pursued the USS *Enterprise* (NCC-1701-E) into the Bassen Rift, with plans to destroy the ship and destroy all life on Earth with the use of a Thalaron radiation weapon. Upon learning of the ploy, Romulan Commander Donatra took two warbirds, the only ones she could convince to take on the mission on such short notice, into the Bassen Rift to reinforce the *Enterprise* and bring Shinzon's rule to a short and abrupt end. During the Battle in the Bassen Rift, the *Scimitar* demonstrated its capabilities. All systems could remain operational even with the ship cloaked, including weapons, shields, and warp drive, and the cloak itself was described as "near perfect". The *Scimitar* could only be detected by effectively carpet bombing space and scanning for shield impacts, or by triangulating the source of her own weapons fire. The *Scimitar* was narrowly destroyed in the battle, taking nearly all of her technology with her. It would take time before the Romulans could replicate the ship, though the technology itself could not be easily transferred to other ships. Every aspects of the *Scimitar* had to be designed to support this capability.

Nevertheless, the Romulan Star Empire had the capability. The Federation immediately began diplomatic efforts to enforce arms treaties, quickly reasserting a ban on Thalaron research, but reaching an impasse on cloaking technology. By 2379, Starfleet Command considered the cloaking device itself to be one of the largest threats to the Federation, nearly on par with the Borg due to how modern space warfare warped around it, and due to the Treaty of Algeron, Starfleet was decades, perhaps centuries behind in its development, and they were unable to close the gap legally. Projects were limited to only developing countermeasures based on limited historical and modern data. While the Star Empire built new warbirds, the Federation poured entire stellar economies into massive tachyon detection Dyson swarms at home member systems to provide some measure of security against cloaked attack.

In 2387, Romulus was destroyed by the Hobus supernova, taking with it the construction facilities for *Scimitar* warbirds. A power vacuum formed with Rator III attempting to re-establish the Empire's government. The Treaty of Algeron was brought into question, but not for the first time. The treaty's relevance was also left unclear after Shinzon's coup in 2378. The status quo would ultimately be maintained over years of debates and pushes for the treaty to be renegotiated.

## 25th Century

In 2409, the Federation began supporting the Romulan Republic over objections from the Romulan Star Empire. The Empire's attack on Vulcan only solidified that support and resulted in conflict which ultimately led to the final collapse of the Romulan Star Empire as a legitimate power. President Okeg subsequently recognized the Romulan Republic as the true legitimate successor state and reasserted all former treaties, as well as negotiating new ones to promote friendly relations and establish trade. What went largely untouched was the Treaty of Algeron. President Okeg pushed for peaceful coexistence which he did not believe could exist if an arms race for cloaking technology started, yet seeing the practicality and under pressure from Starfleet Intelligence, Okeg pursued cooperation with the Republic in establishing a limited number of Starfleet ships to be equipped with cloaking devices. Since the formation of the Alliance and the Iconian War, the Republic has been more amenable to granting these requests, and today Starfleet possesses at least forty ships with cloak capability.

# Cloaking Device Operators

Cloaking technology remains limited throughout the galaxy. Never again since or before the deal with Kor have the Romulans ever given their cloaking technology to another, and the Klingon Empire has remarkably kept the technology secret themselves, constructing each cloaking device as a black box in secret facilities. Kor's deal revolutionized Klingon warfare. Since that deal was struck, the vast majority of the Klingon Defense Force has equipped cloaking devices. Cloaking devices are similarly widespread, if not more so, in the Romulan Star Empire and the Romulan Republic. Of all operators, only the Romulans and the Voth are believed to have developed the technology independently.

Meanwhile, the Federation also possesses cloaking technology, though their ability to further develop or even equip cloaking devices is governed by the Treaty of Algeron, currently signed with the Romulan Republic, though historically by the Romulan Star Empire. Presently, the Treaty of Algeron allows the Federation to deploy cloaking devices on a small number of starships. Other fleets with limited capability typically lack the technology to equip larger vessels, or the ability to deploy the technology in general.

## Fleetwide or Near Fleetwide Cloak Capability

* Romulan Star Empire
* Romulan Republic
* Klingon Defense Force
* Na'kuhl Fleet

## Limited Cloak Capability

* Starfleet *(Limited by the Treaty of Algeron)*
* Voth Fleet
* Suliban Cabal

## Starfleet Cloak Capability

Though Starfleet has long possessed some cloaking technology, the complex policies and politics in the Federation surrounding the device, such as the Treaty of Algeron, has stunted its practical development within the organization for over a century. Starfleet's experience in fighting against the technology stretches even longer. Traditionally, the Federation has instead invested in counter technologies and advanced sensor algorithms to mitigate the technology rather than use cloaking devices themselves, but sometimes not before tragic losses. Generally, a small group in Starfleet Command has always existing pushing for a change in policy to allow the use of the technology, at least twice leading to secret projects to develop the technology illegally.

Today, the restrictions have slightly relaxed thanks to allowances by the Romulan Republic and pressure from recent conflicts. President Okeg maintains strict policies regulating and limiting the number of starships equipped with such technology to heavily reviewed necessity. Until 2416, Federation cloaking technology was limited in tactical use due to long windows of vulnerability between dropping shields and fully cloaking. With technical assistance from the Romulan Republic, this changed at the introduction of the *Valiant*-class starship which meets the strict requirements for Battle Cloak capability. Later that year, Starfleet independently integrated the technology onto a larger platform, the *Archon*-class assault cruiser.

Starfleet does not publicly declare which specific ships are actually equipped with cloaking devices, but only a few classses of their starships are even technically capable of it. The following classes have cloaking capability:

**Cloaking Capability**

* *Defiant*-class, *Gallant*-class, *Vigilant*-class, *Sao Paulo*-class Tactical Escorts
* *Avenger*-class, *Arbiter*-class Battlecruisers
* *Devron*-class, *Venture*-X-class, *Yamato*-class Dreadnought Cruiser

**Battle Cloaking Capability**

* *Valiant*-class Tactical Escort
* *Archon*-class Assault Cruiser

# Phasing Cloaking Device

The Phasing Cloaking Device is a variant cloaking device originally developed by the United Federation of Planets based on different principles. Instead of disguising emissions and bending light around it, it shifts matter out of phase with normal spacetime, allowing only a very limited amount of external emissions to be absorbed by sensors. A ship cloaked in such a way is not only undetectable, but does not interact with normal matter, allowing it to pass through solid objects. The Federation had a project to research the technology in 2358, only to abandon it after an accident threatened to reveal the project's existence, which was at the time illegal due to the Treaty of Algeron. The project was nonetheless revealed in 2370, ultimately resulting in the Romulans gaining access to the same research. Although known to exist, the technology is classified by both the Romulans and the Federation.

Although the technology has existed for half a century, no known practical device exists. The only known, functioning prototype encountered major power draw issues and failures when used long term, and posed substantial risk even when decloaking normally due to stellar radiation. A ship equipped with the technology must take care when decloaking to avoid decloaking within fields of radiation or any even remotely significant amount of matter. Even decloaking in an otherwise habitable atmosphere could compromise ship systems, create a sudden pressure wave harmful to the crew, or damage the ship's structure. Although potentially even more powerful than existing cloaking devices, these flaws so far appear to have been proven untenable.