Ships

[Sonic Glitch]

And it was a Bajoran station after all. I'm sure there was Bajoran officers that could handle the station just fine on their own -- at least after season 1 when thing on Bajor and the nature of Bajors relationship with the Federation calmed down.

I am sure the Bajorans were perfectly capable of "handling" the station from Day 1 on forward but "protecting" it? The Federation presence there was only to make sure the Cardassians stay away and if the UFP is in ANY way only marginally similar to other superpowers, as soon as the wormhole was discovered they sure weren't leave on their own.

And truthfully, as soon as the dominion arc began in season 3 I never ever had the impression that DS9 was anything else than a UFP starbase, they used the "but it's actually a bajoran base" only ever again when it fitted their needs.

I never said protecting it. Indeed, even with the senior staff off gallivanting on the Defiant, it is still a starfleet-administered station so it would still fall under the protection of starfleet.

And just because it wasn't brought up doesn't mean the nature of the station changed. The station always was a Bajoran-station they asked the Federation to administer at the end of the Occupation. The Bajoran Government (such that it was at the time) probably recognized that it had no chance of maintaining control of the station on its own should the Cardassians return in force. At the very least, bringing the Federation in to aid Bajors transition provided some much needed clout to protect them from the Cardassians. Once the Dominion War began, I'm willing to bet the Bajoran government was perfectly happy to let the Federations develop and use the station as a forward base for the same reasons they asked them in in the first place. In a battle between Bajor and the Cardassian/Dominion forces, Bajor loses.

[Jim]

It was a tricky political time so you had to be carefil. The Bajorans just got out of the occupation so you do not want them to feel like they are trading one master for another. You also didn't want the Cardassians to feel like you were using DS( as a depot for base of an invasion.

I would say have an Ambassador or better a Cheyenne Class for the science/diplomatic side. Maybe three Saber Class or two Steamrunner Class for patrols and such. None of these ships (save the Ambassador have "real" military power so the threat level is low, but there is still some mobility and ability if really needed.

So...

One Cheyenne Class - Capable of handiling the science and diplomacy, but known not to be the best of ships so not viewed as a threat by either the Bajorians nor the Cardassians Ambassidor too powerful, Intrepid too new)

One Steameunner Class - This would be viewed as your sword hand, but it is not so powerful that it is viewed as able to start trouble.

Two Saber Class - This is for speed. These could be used to quickly get around but are low enough in firepower so, once again, would not be considered a threat to start trouble.

There four ships would give you the ability to research, scout, transport and perform diplomatic dutues with speed and comfort. they would also be able to find potential trouble and defend against trouble, but never cause the fear of starting trouble.

[Hacklehead]

And it was a Bajoran station after all. I'm sure there was Bajoran officers that could handle the station just fine on their own -- at least after season 1 when thing on Bajor and the nature of Bajors relationship with the Federation calmed down.

I am sure the Bajorans were perfectly capable of "handling" the station from Day 1 on forward but "protecting" it? The Federation presence there was only to make sure the Cardassians stay away and if the UFP is in ANY way only marginally similar to other superpowers, as soon as the wormhole was discovered they sure weren't leave on their own.

And truthfully, as soon as the dominion arc began in season 3 I never ever had the impression that DS9 was anything else than a UFP starbase, they used the "but it's actually a bajoran base" only ever again when it fitted their needs.

Once the Dominion arrived the Bajoarns were clearly in over their heads, even the Cardassians were too much for Bajor. No UFP meant no independent Bajor.

[Atekimogus]

I would say have an Ambassador or better a Cheyenne Class for the science/diplomatic side

Not a bad idea, I don't know why I always forget about the Ambassador class. Non-threatening enough to not cause undue tension but capabilities somewhere between an Excelsior and a Galaxy.

Strange that we never saw more of those ships (granted, they are butt-ugly) since in theory they should be rather potent.

[Tinadrin Chelnor]

I would say have an Ambassador or better a Cheyenne Class for the science/diplomatic side

Not a bad idea, I don't know why I always forget about the Ambassador class. Non-threatening enough to not cause undue tension but capabilities somewhere between an Excelsior and a Galaxy.

Strange that we never saw more of those ships (granted, they are butt-ugly) since in theory they should be rather potent.

Tha Ambassador-class is my favourite class of Starfleet vessel. Wish we had of seen a few more.

[SomosFuga]

It was a tricky political time so you had to be carefil. The Bajorans just got out of the occupation so you do not want them to feel like they are trading one master for another. You also didn't want the Cardassians to feel like you were using DS( as a depot for base of an invasion.

I would say have an Ambassador or better a Cheyenne Class for the science/diplomatic side. Maybe three Saber Class or two Steamrunner Class for patrols and such. None of these ships (save the Ambassador have "real" military power so the threat level is low, but there is still some mobility and ability if really needed.

So...

One Cheyenne Class - Capable of handiling the science and diplomacy, but known not to be the best of ships so not viewed as a threat by either the Bajorians nor the Cardassians Ambassidor too powerful, Intrepid too new)

One Steameunner Class - This would be viewed as your sword hand, but it is not so powerful that it is viewed as able to start trouble.

Two Saber Class - This is for speed. These could be used to quickly get around but are low enough in firepower so, once again, would not be considered a threat to start trouble.

There four ships would give you the ability to research, scout, transport and perform diplomatic dutues with speed and comfort. they would also be able to find potential trouble and defend against trouble, but never cause the fear of starting trouble.

Any of those ships are able to do a lot of damage on a given planet and at the same time a small cardassian fleet coult take them fast enough.
They wouldn't be a real deterrent for the cardassians if they decide to attack and on the other hand the bajorans have nothing capable to stop a SF capital ship so if you don't want to look menacing to Bajor you shouldn't have one of those because they don't meet any real purpose anyway and you could scare your new friends. The runnabauts are the best choice i think.

[alexmann]

Menacing to Bajor...
*Cough* Defiant *Cough*

[stitch626]

Yeah, I think a Shuttle would be menacing to Bajor. What did they have other than freighters and 80 year old fighters?

[alexmann]

Good point, a runabout or two would be able to wipe out the entire Bajoran fleet.

[Sonic Glitch]

Menacing to Bajor...
*Cough* Defiant *Cough*

The Defiant was stationed there well after the Bajorans and Federation had solidified their working relationship, and at about the time the Dominion Threat was becoming clear. I doubt it was too much of a problem.

[Jim]

Any of those ships are able to do a lot of damage on a given planet and at the same time a small cardassian fleet coult take them fast enough.
They wouldn't be a real deterrent for the cardassians if they decide to attack and on the other hand the bajorans have nothing capable to stop a SF capital ship so if you don't want to look menacing to Bajor you shouldn't have one of those because they don't meet any real purpose anyway and you could scare your new friends. The runnabauts are the best choice i think.

I was trying to avoid anything that would be a real deterrent for the Cardassians. I am actually saying that you do not want anything that they could even argue was a "force" of any real kind to them. Just enough strength to quell the little problems that might come up.

As for the Bajorians, the 4 ships would actually not have to be parked at DS9 all of the time as they have the space and accommodations on-board to spend time away from the station. Therefore, unlike the Runabouts, they would not constantly be parked right off shore. That would lessen the tension in itself.

[Mikey]

Short answer: nothing but the runabouts, if even those. Anything requiring a more capable ship would be a mission assigned to an already-extant ship. Once the wormhole was discovered, the place should have been knee-deep in Oberths and Novas.

[Atekimogus]

Short answer: nothing but the runabouts, if even those. Anything requiring a more capable ship would be a mission assigned to an already-extant ship. Once the wormhole was discovered, the place should have been knee-deep in Oberths and Novas.

And Galaxy's and Nebulas even moreso. Well they had a few Nebulas but never a GCS ship.....I wonder if this was because they didn't fully trust the wormwhole to stay open during the first couple years and wouldn't risk bigger ships being stranded on the far side of the galaxy.

It would certainly fit with why they had so many runabouts cataloging systems and making science runs in the gamma-quadrant, while in theory NCS and GCS where specifically designed for this job.

[Tinadrin Chelnor]

That may be the case, but then there's two lines of thinking with that.

If a Galaxy-class ship gets stranded, it probably has a higher chance of surviving alone and possibly finding a route back home. More amenities on board (albeit having certain things rationed to save energy) and a ship's counsellor would also reduce the risk of suicides and such.

If a runabout or small starship were stranded the other side of the galaxy, they'd stand a much smaller chance of survival, though Starfleet overall loses less people and a less valuable asset.

[Mikey]

My point was that while GCS' and NCS' may be more qualified for thorough/long-term exploration, they would be assigned such missions independently of DS9 - they wouldn't be attached to the station as the runabouts (and later Defiant) were.