>>>IIRC the Defiant has a cloaking device, or at least it did.
>>
>>It's not a characteristic of the class, though; Defiant herself
>>is the only one that has one. Part of that ongoing systems-testbed
>>role, you know.
>
>Actually, the Defiant's a loan item from the Romulan Star
>Empire. Part of the treaty that brought them into the Dominion War on
>the side of the Federation-Klingon alliance. I do believe that the
>terms of the previous treaty between the Romulan Star Empire and the
>UFP forbade Starfleet from developing their own cloaking device; since
>the Defiant is using a Romulan cloaking device, Starfleet
>hasn't developed their own cloaking device, in the same way that the
>WDF has no black ops.
>
>(Think about the episode of TNG wherein that particular clause
>of the treaty was discussed. Of course Starfleet doesn't have their
>own cloaking device. Ahem.)
>

You mean there's actually a reason the Defiant is the only Starfleet ship with a cloaking device? That explains a bit. I've always wondered why it is that everyone else in the Star Trek universe has the ability to appear out of nowhere and surprise the crap out of their victims. I figured it was just an annoying plothole.

Matrix Dragon
"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." --J.R.R. Tolkien
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for obvious reasons." -Matrix Dragon