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Old 06-30-2020, 04:17 PM
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Explaining Errors in DS9, Part Five


In the page for "Shakaar" there's a bit of conversation about why the Cardassians left Bajor. One person thinks that Bajor's resources were used up, so it wasn't worthwhile to stay there anymore. In the show they hint that the Detapa Council made the decision in the name of the treaty, which angered the military. The existence of a "Demiltarized Zone" implies that the Cardassian War ended in a stalemate and both sides didn't feel it was worthwhile to continue fighting.



There's confusion about why DS9 isn't orbiting Bajor in the Mirror Universe episodes. Remember that the station was only moved to stake a claim on the wormhole. I hadn't noticed because as I've mentioned elsewhere I don't rewatch DS9 Mirror Universe episodes, they're just depressing.


It's brought up that Mirror Sisko shouldn't exist because the Prophets orchestrated his conception in our universe and wouldn't in the Mirror Universe. A good point.



In "The Ship" there's a Benzite that doesn't use a portable gas emitter. Of course there would be advances in medical technology. Remember that in TNG Benzites only recently started joining Starfleet. It stands to reason that Benzar only joined the Federation recently. Once they joined the full power of Starfleet Medical could be dedicated to eliminating the gas emitter. Perhaps later Benzites have a gas infuser under their uniform that can pump the gas directly into their bloodstream.



Also from "The Ship" the Changeling is able to stay hidden (i.e. shapeshifted into a bulkhead) for well past Odo's established 16 hours, and that's in a wounded state! I would argue that our heroes wouldn't be scanning for something when they have no reason to suspect a Changeling is there. My big question is why it would pretend to be part of the ceiling instead of hiding in some remote part of the ship.


A commenter wonders why it's okay for Bashir to kill Sloan. My response is that Bashir never intended to kill Sloan, he didn't know about the suicide pill. You could also argue that since Section 31 members go through a lot of trouble to avoid the responsibilities of Federation citizens, that they forfeit their rights as well. "I killed Sloan? Who's Sloan? Federation records show that nobody of that name exists, so obviously I killed nobody!" Furthermore, Sloan killed himself, had he cooperated no harm would've come to him (besides imprisonment and a lengthy trial, of course).


In "Empok Nor" someone asks why they didn't scan and detect the Cardassians that were in stasis. Two simple explanations: they didn't expect anyone on board so they didn't check, and the stasis pods were well shielded to block conventional scans.


In "The Seige of AR-558" it's asked why the Defiant was carrying freight. I ask why the Defiant is able to carry freight at all! It's only four decks, where would you find room for a cargo bay? And again I have to ask, WHY is the Defiant so small?


In "Shadows and Symbols" the only explanation offered for Ezri forgetting Verad in her list of the previous hosts is "he was unsanctioned, so it doesn't count." My explanation is "hosts don't count until the buffer period is over and the joining is complete."


In "The Search" Jake mentions that last week they were on Earth taking things out of storage, and now they're on the station. Since when does a few days count as "deep space"? I always had a problem with the entire Federation being traverseable in a few days at high warp. The DS9 Tech Manual states that Bajor is 50.3 light years from the Federation's inner perimeter. Let's define "inner perimeter" as the established core of the Federation, not counting the fringe regions. In the Star Trek Encyclopedia the core of the Federation is 8000 light years across, with fringe regions being 10,000 light years across. At Warp 9 it would therefore take 5 years to go across the inner perimeter.



Cestus III is mentioned to be at the other end of the Federation. It takes eight weeks to travel there, and subspace communications take three months (chalk this up to intervening nebulae that ships can go through but scatter subspace, so you have to relay long-distance comms way out of the way).



Then again, "Valiant" states that it would take three months to travel around the Federation's perimeter. So once again we have a situation where the writers refuse to Do The Math or consult the reference materials. If the 8000 light-year "core" is meant, that's 25150 light-years. Three months at Warp 9.5 is 475 light-years. To do 25150 light-years you'd need over 13 years. Okay, so let's pretend that the perimeter mentioned is an even smaller "inner inner" core which is just the founding members (i.e. the TOS-era Federation). 475 light-year circumference is 150 light-years across. Vulcan is a little over 16 light-years from Earth, FYI.
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