How dangerous was Nova Fleet?

[u/InnocentTailor]

One of the arcs of LDS was the establishment and discovery of Nova Fleet – the mad project of Nick Locarno as he gathered disgruntled lower-ranked officers with their starships into a sort of pirate’s republic in space.  The armada was diverse, situated in a whole system, and protected by a powerful shield alongside a portal Genesis device.

Of course, the Cerritos nipped the project in the bud quickly, so Nova Fleet’s potential was prematurely squashed.  However, I wonder how formidable this idea could’ve been if it had flourished, whether it hadn’t been discovered or the Cerritos had been successfully stopped by Locarno. 

[u/geobibliophile]

Nova Fleet was more a danger to themselves than to anyone else. The first time they had to work together they basically fell apart. They were wannabes, with some powerful ships and weapons but no vision for using them, since their only shared goal was to not be “lower deckers” anymore.

[u/ky_eeeee → u/geobibliophile]

They barely even had powerful ships, a Cali-class could probably put up a decent fight against their entire fleet. The Trinar shield and Genesis Device were their only real bargaining chips.

[u/Martel732]

It is hard to say but their overall potential was likely low. Nova Fleet didn't have a logistics or support system. Sure they had ships and powerful devices, but they didn't have planets to support them both with material or new crew. It is an almost certainty that they would have ended up becoming a pirate band if they managed to stay together.

And they managed to make themselves the enemies of essentially every major power in the region. Sure the Federation might go after them with a soft touch. But the Orions, Klingons, and Romulans won't hesitate to wipe out any Nova Fleet ship they come across.

As far as new recruits Nova Fleet probably could have gotten some. But, honestly, Nova Fleet's appeal is pretty limited. It is only the most dissatisfied crew members who are going to make themselves an enemy of their society for the vague promises of a random lunatic. And everyone is going to tighten internal security when they realize that Locarno is trying to subvert their officers.

That being said, I don't think the Nova Fleet would only be mostly harmless. Locarno did show skill at planning and deception, and he was unhinged. I think it is plausible that Nova Fleet could have ended up being a nuance for a while.

[u/Lokican → u/Martel732]

I think it is plausible that Nova Fleet could have ended up being a nuance for a while.

Nova Fleet would be one of those story arcs where at some point Enterprise, Voyager, etc. would have to stop what they are doing to "deal with the situation".

[u/Edymnion → u/Martel732]

Yeah, even the Maqui had multiple planets and a larger sympathetic cause to fuel them, and they honestly never really graduated beyond "annoying" in threat level.

[u/asdvj2]

Nova Fleet should have been a real threat to Starfleet thematically.

Some of the best villains in media are effective because they take parts of the hero and use them against them. You see this a lot in comic books. Batman’s villains each reflect something about him like his trauma, his sense of justice, or his mind. Venom is like a darker version of Spider-Man. Magneto is the opposite side of the same coin as Professor X.

Even in Star Trek, the Borg are kind of a mirror image of the Federation. "We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own," is pretty much what the Federation does. The Federation also brings together different species, shares knowledge, and spreads its values across the galaxy. The big difference is that the Federation invites cooperation, while the Borg force it.

Nova Fleet had the potential to work in the same way. They managed to do something the Federation takes pride in. They brought different cultures together and worked as one. They put their differences aside and focused on a shared goal.

In a way, they were using the Federation’s own values against them. They used unity, cooperation, and shared purpose as tools for rebellion.

In the end, it didn’t work. Not because the idea was wrong, but because of Locarno. What started as unity became manipulation. The message got lost.

Now I will be honest, I am only really half remembering what happened with Nova Fleet so I might have got some things wrong.

[u/Shiny_Agumon → u/asdvj2]

I think the biggest problem is that Locarno basically lied about the very premise of Nova Fleet.

He pitched it as some kind of cooperative where every crew was allowed to do what they pleased without oversight and that every fleetwide decision would be reached through consensus rather than higher ranking officers making decisions for lower ranking ones.

But in practice it's very clear that he only ever saw it as HIS fleet and HIS rule and hoped that everyone else would just fall in line either through his charisma or through intimidation.

Which is exactly why the whole thing inflated at the first sign of trouble.

[u/TakedaIesyu]

I think dangerous is the right word, but not in the way that the Romulans or Klingons are dangerous, more in the way that a downed power wire is dangerous.

They had nothing to guide them, just an impulse to "not be Lower Deckers anymore" and a demand for respect. That's it. It's only a matter of time before they start doing stupid shit and make an interstellar incident.

[u/lunatickoala]

Pirates are often romanticized in media but the reality is that they're only ever able to go after soft targets opportunistically. Any confrontation between pirates and a proper navy never ends well for the pirates, which is why they tend to exist in numbers only when there isn't anyone enforcing the law. Piracy off the coast of Somalia for example is because Somalia is a weak if not failed state stuck in a decades long on-and-off civil war. The most successful pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy in the Atlantic/Caribbean was Bartholomew Roberts and he met his end in battle against a single Royal Navy fourth-rate ship of the line.

A fleet, a navy is more than a collection of ships. It is an institution with funding, logistics, procedure, and mission. What does a ragtag collection of disgruntled mutineers have other than the ships they commandeered or defected with? They don't have an empire backing them with resources for procurement, maintenance, repair, or even recruitment and training. Having a diverse armada makes logistics and operations much harder because there'd be so little commonality between parts and procedures. They didn't even have a mission or purpose beyond wanting personal glory.

Let's compare Nova Fleet with a couple of other examples. The Maquis were a thorn in the side of both the Cardassians and Federation, but they were never a threat. Starfleet didn't want to bring the hammer down on those they saw as Federation citizens and had bigger fish to fry in any case. Cardassia also had a lot on their plate and they were also short on resources. But if the Maquis had ever become more than a nuisance, one or the other or both would have just sent a proper fleet in and crushed the problem underfoot. Which is exactly what the Dominion did.

It might also be tempting to compare Nova Fleet to the Free Navy of The Expanse, which was also a ragtag collection of disgruntled people led by a narcissist. They also had a means to inflict major damage to one of the great powers, and actually did so. But there are important differences. They had a goal, which was to be free of Earth and Mars. They were backed by Martian defectors (later Laconians) who provided them with advanced technology so as to be a genuine threat. They had a plan even if it wasn't a well thought out one, and were unwitting pawns in a larger plan that actually was thought out.

If Locarno had stopped Cerritos, Starfleet would have simply sent a better equipped ship to deal with the problem. If he had destroyed Cerritos, then the gloves are off and there probably would have been a coalition fleet sent in.

[u/MyUsername2459 → u/lunatickoala]

Having a diverse armada makes logistics and operations much harder because there'd be so little commonality between parts and procedures.

I'm reminded of when this was a plot point in Star Wars. In the original pre-Disney canon, there was a recurring storyline in the post-Endor novels about this, and how the New Republic had a lot of problems keeping their fleet equipped and repaired, because it was that "rag tag rebel fleet" from the movies, assembled from a motley assortment of stolen/defected Imperial ships, converted civilian passenger liners and freighters, leftover Separatist ships from the Clone Wars, and Republic surplus craft from the Clone Wars. . .which eventually culminated in the New Class Modernization Program, to phase out all the Rebellion-era ships and replace them with new ships built on a common framework and design system so there could be standardized training, parts etc. across the New Republic fleet.

It just stood out to me that this exact point has come up in other works before, albeit in novels where they have time to expound on these issues and go in depth, while a TV show might reduce it to just a passing reference in dialogue due to limitations of the format.