Remans Vs. Bay Doors
Remans Vs. Bay DoorsIn Star Trek: Nemesis, we get to see a few instances of Reman capabilities. They were considered tough soldiers, but as the Romulan underclass they were basically used as cannon fodder during the Dominion War. The impression most people got when watching the film is that they fought like good cannon fodder should be expected to fight . . . relatively brave, but not that bright.
An example of this (one which I used, as well) was that the Remans just sat there shooting at a door which Picard and Data had run through and sealed behind them. However, upon review, I now think they weren't quite as stupid as I first thought . . . though they weren't perfect by any means. They're like stormtroopers without the plastic armor.
First, as preface, let's look at the door-sealing incident. The door itself is about five to six inches (about 12-15 centimeters) in thickness, judging by the following two shots:
Once they're through, Picard somehow converts the bolt-firing weapon to a beam setting for a few seconds, firing at the separation line of the door and leaving behind a molten trail:
The glow from the door is still visible a couple of seconds later, even in a wide shot as Picard and Data move toward the parked attack flyer. The melted trail is at least an inch wide (if not two), and is about a meter long. The depth is unclear. The procedure takes less than four seconds. One could treat the door as iron and estimate a firepower, but that's a bit too far outside the scope of this particular page.
The Reman soldiers did a lot of things wrong at this point, but they did more things correctly than I previously gave them credit for. What they should've done is called for a site-to-site transport, or concentrated their firepower to burn through the door. Instead, they just shot bolts at it.
On the good side, though, they did at least up their weapon settings in order to do this. Note the effect of the shots against the door when Picard was backing his way through it. We start with a hit above and to the left of Picard:
As you can see, those two shots had virtually no effect against the door. They certainly left no lasting effects. After the door is sealed, though, this changes:
As you can see, the Reman shots, though in a somewhat erratic pattern, were indeed penetrating all the way through the 12-15 centimeter door (but no further than that). One is forced to wonder, of course, just what they thought they were doing . . . but, then, they obviously figured they had time on their side. The duo couldn't escape through the external door, since those were protected by forcefield, and any other exits could quite easily be blocked off. They obviously did not expect that Picard would grab a Scorpion and go meandering through the corridors.
Naturally. Why, only a madman would do that. ;-)
If that was the Remans' big mistake, then it isn't that bad.
(And, if it was mere overconfidence regarding the concept that they had Picard and Data trapped, then we can even excuse the lack of beam-setting or site-to-site transport (though it still would've made more sense to just beam them to the brig, instead of poking their way through a perfectly innocent door).)
