What really happened in ST: TWoK with Reliant's sensors?

[Praeothmin 532]

(idea came from a thread at SDN which I thought interesting and which I posted at SFJ a bit more then a year ago)

 

 

 

15 years ago, Kirk left Khan on Ceti Alpha V after the "superman"'s thwarted attempt at taking over the Enterprise.

 

 

 

In ST: TWoK, Reliant arrives in the Ceti Alpha system looking for a barren planet to test Genesis on it.

 

They scan what they believe is Ceti Alpha VI, but is in reality Ceti Alpha V.

 

My question is:

 

How the heck did they not see the system only had 5 remaining planets, if Ceti Alpha VI had indeed exploded?

 

 

 

I mean, sensors that can ordinarily detect life-form numbers on a planet, radio signals light-years away, weren't even able to tell the crew of Reliant that 1 entire lanet wasmissing, in their 6 planet system?

 

 

 

One hypothesis that was advanced (which has some merit, even though it may need refinements) was that Ceti Alpha V and VI were kind of "twin-planets", with close orbits around their suns, and that when whatever happened to Ceti Alpha VI (which wasn't truly destroyed, thus still having 6 planets in the system) simply affected their orbits.

 

 

 

What if, the events that affected Ceti Alpha V and VI shifted their orbits, and made them a bit like Pluto and Neptune, so that at in the years folloing Khan's marooning, Ceti Alpha V became the fartest planet out, and thus when Reliant came, they scanned, and saw 6 planets, and they assumed the farthest one being Ceti Alpha VI, while it was in fact the "shifted" Ceti Alpha V.

 

 

 

What do you guys think?

[Questor 501]

What do you guys think?

 

 

 

I think that a Pluto/Uranus situation being created by the destruction of the planet is probably the best answer, but that's not a good one. If you dumped the planet onto a highly elliptical orbit, you might even turn a garden into the desert we see.

 

 

 

Of course, the bigger question is why did the planet explode?

[Praeothmin 532]

I think that a Pluto/Uranus situation being created by the destruction of the planet is probably the best answer, but that's not a good one. If you dumped the planet onto a highly elliptical orbit, you might even turn a garden into the desert we see.

 

 

 

Of course, the bigger question is why did the planet explode?

 

 

 

Well, Khan said it had exploded, but how did he know?

 

He didn't have any advanced sensors, and the storms on Ceti Alpha V are so powerful, that there's now way for him of knowing what exactly happened.

 

 

 

What if what happened was simply part of the normal planetary cycle of the two planets, such as, as you mentioned, a Pluto / Uranus thing, and that Kirk didn't really check thing out before dumping Khan there?

 

I mean, he simply wanted to give him a chance, didn't he?

 

They scanned for a Class M planet, found one, didn't go beyond the "standard" "Can it support life?" checks, and then moved on, without checking the orbits of the planets in question.

 

After all, Ceti Alpha VI could not have exploded without the Relaint noticing the system was missing an entire planet...

 

 

 

There may even have been a gigantic asteroid impact on Ceti Alpha V, on the other side of the planet, which, while no Dino-killer, may have impacted the entire planet unequally, but sufficiently for the eco-system to get "shot to hell".

 

The impact, conbined with the change in orbit and the "absence" of Ceti Alpha VI from the night sky may have led Khan to believe it was destroyed in an explosion.

 

 

 

After all, the change in orbits could not have been as different as Pluto's and Uranus if we expect the planetary temperatures to remain seemingly similar...

 

Not much had changed, after all, except for the constant sand storms that would have affected all the plant life and animal life as well.

 

Only the most hardy of species could have survived...

 

In fact, if their orbits were naturally like Pluto's and Uranus, they had to be close for some eco-system resembling Earth's to be able to survive...

[Kor_Dahar_Master 0]

Maybe it had a nemissis atar like somebody told me there was a theory knocking about we may have.

 

 

 

Or a gamma ray burst from a black hole nearby(relativly speaking).

 

 

 

Another good question is why were they testing such a awesomly powerful device that had potentially unknown effects in a star system that contained life on another planet...ok criminal life but still life.

[Tyralak 12,068]

Well, as for the second part, the effects of Genesis are quite localized to the planet, so it really wouldn't matter if it was in a populated star system.

[Khas 12,158]

While I know that the novels aren't canon, "To Reign In Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh" does give a Neptune/Pluto-orbital relationship for CA5 and CA6. At the time of it's destruction, Ceti Alpha VI was only a few million miles away, so people observed the destruction at night, while it was fully visible. So Khan saw the planet light the big firework. The Ceti Alpha system was stated to have an extensive asteroid belt, and the Reliant approached the system from the "outside", so what was really Ceti Alpha VI was mistaken for part of the asteroid belt. In the novel, Spock theorized that a small black hole passing through the system tore Ceti Alpha VI apart, and disrupted the orbit of Ceti Alpha V. And the Ceti Alpha system was stated to be in poorly explored space, and the Reliant was going on the system chart that the Enterprise had sent. Not a pretty (or canon) explanation, but it's the only one offered in either canon or apocrypha.

[Kor_Dahar_Master 0]

Well, as for the second part, the effects of Genesis are quite localized to the planet, so it really wouldn't matter if it was in a populated star system.

 

 

 

Kirks Kid knew he used protomatter in it so unexpected results were a issue, still the reliant did not know that so i suppose the fact they were gonna used a system with ppl in it was okish.

 

 

 

Still id be pissed if i lived nearby.

[Praeothmin 532]

While I know that the novels aren't canon, "To Reign In Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh" does give a Neptune/Pluto-orbital relationship for CA5 and CA6. At the time of it's destruction, Ceti Alpha VI was only a few million miles away, so people observed the destruction at night, while it was fully visible. So Khan saw the planet light the big firework. The Ceti Alpha system was stated to have an extensive asteroid belt, and the Reliant approached the system from the "outside", so what was really Ceti Alpha VI was mistaken for part of the asteroid belt. In the novel, Spock theorized that a small black hole passing through the system tore Ceti Alpha VI apart, and disrupted the orbit of Ceti Alpha V. And the Ceti Alpha system was stated to be in poorly explored space, and the Reliant was going on the system chart that the Enterprise had sent. Not a pretty (or canon) explanation, but it's the only one offered in either canon or apocrypha.

 

 

 

 

 

I like my explanation better...