If the Enterprise-D "went pirate" in the Neutral Zone and started pillaging helpless alien worlds, how long would it take for the Federation or the Klingons or Romulans or someone to stop them?
Depends on how the D is fitted. If they haven't retrofitted or added any tech they've pillaged then it'll be like the fight in Yesterdays Enterprise so maybe like 5 Klingon Birds of Prey would be able to take them out. IF the ship has been fitted with stuff they've stolen from the Romulans or other places then the Enterprise could be something like the one in future timeline of All Good Things where they could easily spank the Klingons and Romulans.
If they're pillaging along the Neutral Zone than chances are they've now got a cloaking device. They've also probably added disrupters to the ship. Plus if they're selling whatever they're stealing to say like the Farangi or other races they would have likely gotten tech from all over the place.
So a standard Starfleet fitted Galaxy Class? not long, it's still technically a science and exploration vessel. an upgraded Galaxy with tech from several different races? could potentially make it the most powerful ship in the Alpha and Beta quadrant.
You forgot the possibility that they could build up their own little but growing pirate fleet, making them even more powerful.
JL should recruit Janeway and Seven. Get some Borg ingenuity up in there. And with Kate as his right hand man i think no one in the verse could stop them.
We've nearly outlined the plot to a season of Picard at this point.
Now we just need a motive - say Beverly Crusher is asking nicely from a deep space in distress...
one issue is supplies and maintenance, but voyager showed a federation ship can handle itself for a long term without federation support.
and a rogue federation ship would be a great star trek show
Voyager was actually built for long-term, unsupported missions: smaller crew, redundant systems, and efficient everything.
It had bioneural gel packs, variable-geometry warp nacelles, and automation meant to keep it running without a starbase nearby.
The Enterprise was basically a flying city that relied on Starfleet support. Drop it in the Delta Quadrant, and it wouldn’t have lasted half as long.
romulans will just use the excuse to invade the federation.
It’s one angle of the star trek future I hope gets examined more. Just look at the number of times people got away with mutiny scot-free (ha! Lookng at you, Montgomery).
And this was with war-capable vessels in the most hierarchical type of organization. Can you imagine what a shit-show the non-Starfleet federation is?
I loved that Lower Decks brought back the Hysperians, because the Federation worlds have just got to be a noisy mess of similar affinity groups (cults, let’s be honest) and endless cycles of schism and reformation.
It sounds freaking awesome to me, but there is probably also a deeply weary core of people who just want to work on warp cores without being courted for bisexual threesomes all the time.
And this was with war-capable vessels in the most hierarchical type of organization. Can you imagine what a shit-show the non-Starfleet federation is?
Probably depends a bit. Starfleet is not the only organisation with their own ships. We know a lot of alien worlds maintain their own vessels, like the Medusans.
They would immediately form a treaty to avoid conflict, even if it cost lives.
If anyone formed their own independent rebellion to stop the pirates, Starfleet would poison the planets their bases were on to avoid breaking that treaty
Starfleet: "Peace at any cost."
The 'ole Sisko Special, eh?
He was just doing what the federation asked of him. He got promoted after all, instead of punished.
It's a question of politics, not technology.
Will the Romulans see this as potential Federation subterfuge? They may not be willing to allow Star Fleet ships to go in, at least not at first. Romulans won't really care if the backwater planets of the Neutral Zone get pillaged as long as their sovereignty isn't otherwise being challenged. Klingons won't care until something makes it their problem. They might be itching for a fight, but they won't throw themselves into a war with the Romulans without some kind of plan, and massing up in the Neutral Zone would cause all sorts of problems.
Once everyone is on the same page, it won't last long. A Galaxy-class starship is powerful, but not that powerful.
Not that long, you would see it play out similar to what happened in TNG episode The Wounded or DS9 episode Defiant. Picard is pretty cagey but it seems pretty unlikely they could deal with the Federation and Romulans coordinating and putting significant resources into their capture or destruction for very long, at least assuming they don't just leave. At that point, they would find it difficult to keep their ship outfitted and supplied when they are outlaws.
So Picard went rogue, but what of the other 1,000 (possibly up to 6,000) other crew members (not to mention civilian family members and passengers)? They just went along with being pirates or Picard just dumped them off on some random planet/moon? I feel that there wouldn't be enough pro-pirate crew/officers to pull this off. There is so much Federation/Starfleet loyalty that I don't feel he would be able to round up enough people to keep the ship staffed (if Geordi decided not to join up and automate the ship). Active resistance from within the the ship by officers/crew/family members/passengers would eventually stop Picard dead in space.
They have an (annual?) "Captain Picard Day". Most of the crew will be with him. Drop off the civilians and the botanists somewhere...safe. 👀 Decimate, starting with the planet Scotland candle ghosts and any other embarassing enemies. Find the Nexus again.
He gave a rousing captain's speech about the advantages of a pirate's life, clarifying that shuttles are available for anyone who doesn't want to be a pirate, no questions asked, and everybody stayed.
Doesn't Starfleet have the ability to remotely control vessels? It's been done in the past where the ships been taken over and the crew have remotely shut down weapons and shields so they can gain control again. Presumably that works over any distance, so Starfleet could just deactivate a rogue vessel from Earth.
I'm sure Geordi can turn on airplane mode. Ship-wide LAN party!
Does Riker have his beard yet or no?
Asking the real critical question.
Pre-beard, I only give them one episode.
Yes, but he is also bald.
Yes, but he is also bald.