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From: raiche@dartvax.UUCP (George A. Raiche)
Newsgroups: net.startrek
Subject: Re: A new question
Message-ID: <2556@dartvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 8-Nov-84 23:14:40 EST
Article-I.D.: dartvax.2556
Posted: Thu Nov  8 23:14:40 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 10-Nov-84 21:19:37 EST
References: <140@nybcb.UUCP>
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Lines: 47

> 
> 
> 	A friend of mine and I were talking about this the other day.
> Since everyone is in agreement that anything over warp 1 is faster than
> the speed of light, how was the Enterprise ever able to battle other ships
> at warp speeds?  Or did they always engage other ships at sub light speeds?
> 
> 	Please post some answers.  We can't get to sleep at night.
> 
> 						Jim Drennan
> 						New York Blood Center
> 						..seismo!cmcl2!nybcb!drennan


That's a good question.  Assuming that the particle/photons of a phaser
cannot propagate faster than the speed of light, one would not expect
phasers to be effective at hyperlight speed.  However, you will recall
that in "The Ultimate Computer" Enterprise engaged Lexington, Hood (?), and
Potemkin at speeds of warp three and four with phaser fire. (I believe
Potemkin was destroyed.) This should not have been possible.  We also know
that it is desireable to engage enemies at warp speed rather than sublight
(recall in "Elaan of Troius" how the Klingons harassed Enterprise until the
warp drive was restored) so it appears that we have a fundamental inconsistency.
One way around this would be to use photon torpedoes--presumably a torp
could contain a hyper-field generator as well as a warhead, and could therefore
exceed the speed of light (and of the ship).
	Did you ever wonder why, in "Balance of Terror" when the Romulans
squeeze off a plasma bolt, that Enterprise tried to escape by backing
straight away (rather than manuevering off at a right angle)?  One assumes
that a plasma bolt can't be guided after launch, and certainly cannot attain
hyper-light speeds.
	Also, the whole problem of attempting rendezvous ( i.e. targeting)
in multidimensional space is ignored here.  Maybe it is possible to use
phasers against another ship moving AT THE SAME WARP SPEED.
	One other inconsistency associated with phasers.  We saw several
times (in "Arena" [with the Gorn] for example) that one cannot beam up or
down with the deflectors up.  Deflectors also stop phasers.  So how does
Enterprise fire phasers when the screens are up???
	Sorry for harping on this, but my area of research is laser-induced
chemistry.

				George Raiche
				Dept. of Chemistry
				Dartmouth

				"Let's get the hell out of here."