Romulan Neutral Zone

[Captain Seafort]

Also.. one additional thing. There was a Romulan Warbird following that invasion force during all that time?

Hasn't it been detected?

Why would it be? It was cloaked, and the Federation had only deployed it's first tachyon grid less than a year earlier. Over a year later the existence of a tachyon grid along any given stretch of the border was still only considered a possibility by a Romulan commander, not a probability or a certainty.

[Mark]

the Federation has no concept of ground warfare whatsoever.

And how many times has this been demonstrated?

[Deepcrush]

How many episodes and movies are there in Trek.

[Tsukiyumi]

When? I can't think of an occurence when they just opened fire on a ship with no provocation during TNG. They tried some sneaky things from time to time. But nothing so blatant as just letting rip at UFP ships.

Quick addendum about Romulans firing on Federation ships: TNG: Tin Man and VOY: Message In A Bottle. Both times, the Romulans opened fire, and in the latter, had actively seized a Federation ship.

[Mark]

Granted, but in Tin Man they had explicit orders to get Tin Man before Starfleet. So, that time, risking war was worth the risk it seemed.

In Message in a Bottle, they were going after a prize which would have given them a tremendous advantage.

[Lighthawk]

A little late to the party, but in regards to the idea of the neutral zone being a free fire area, that doesn't really mesh with some of the dialog we've gotten.

From The Defector
Data: Second officer's log, stardate: 43465.2. We have entered the Neutral Zone in direct violation of the Treaty of Algeron.

From The Neutral Zone
L. Q. 'Sonny' Clemonds: What's this 'Neutral Zone'?
Lt. Commander Data: It is a buffer between the Romulan Empire and the Federation.

[Reliant121]

When? I can't think of an occurence when they just opened fire on a ship with no provocation during TNG. They tried some sneaky things from time to time. But nothing so blatant as just letting rip at UFP ships.

Quick addendum about Romulans firing on Federation ships: TNG: Tin Man and VOY: Message In A Bottle. Both times, the Romulans opened fire, and in the latter, had actively seized a Federation ship.

Jeez, i really need TNG box sets.

I want to watch The Defector again.

[BigJKU316]

When? I can't think of an occurence when they just opened fire on a ship with no provocation during TNG. They tried some sneaky things from time to time. But nothing so blatant as just letting rip at UFP ships.

Quick addendum about Romulans firing on Federation ships: TNG: Tin Man and VOY: Message In A Bottle. Both times, the Romulans opened fire, and in the latter, had actively seized a Federation ship.

Yeah, but in Message in A Bottle you could always deny it if you got caught. Just write off the operatives and move on down the road. Tin Man was a circumstance where they clearly would risk war. What the objection is to is this notion that the NZ is a free fire zone. We have seen nothing to support that concept. The Romulans took some risk from time to time but opening fire on UFP ships just because they were in the NZ without thinking about it was not one of them.

[Tsukiyumi]

Okay, conceded. I don't recall whose space they were in in Tin Man.

[Mark]

Neutral space close to the NZ, wasn't it?