>You mean there's actually a reason the Defiant is the only Starfleet
>ship with a cloaking device?

Yes. Ira Steven Behr seems to be the only person involved with Trek since Roddenberry's death who actually pays attention to continuity. (Brannon Braga sure doesn't... hell, Brannon Braga doesn't seem to pay attention to anything, up to and including everyone saying how shitty a writer he is... and Rick Berman only uses continuity when it suits him.)

>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.

Canonically, Klingons have cloaking devices. Romulans have cloaking devices. Whether this is due to them independently developing the technology, or through trade, nobody's saying, but I'd guess that the Klingons bought it from the Romulans, personally (it's not the type of technology Klingons would develop on their own, I would think). But other than the Klingons and the Romulans, the only major power that has any cloakships is Starfleet, who have a single cloaking ship in the Defiant, who got it from the Romulans.

This is, in fact, the second Romulan cloaking device that the Federation has had, though the first one was stolen from a Romulan vessel by Kirk and Spock of the original Enterprise; this one they possess legitimately, although they'd presumably have to give it back if the Romulans asked.

As for non-cloakships' ability to apparently come out of nowhere, that happens by way of "tactics" and/or "lazy writing."

-- Sean --

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