Sona in Dominion War

[Eric R.]

The DWS did not mentoion what role the Sona played in the war. What were they Neutrals or armed neutrals? I remember hearing Sisko mention Sona raids on federation ships in an episode after ST: Insurection and that they could produce White.

Any Comments?

[Erik Filean]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Eric R.:
The DWS did not mentoion what role the Sona played in the war. What were they Neutrals or armed neutrals? I remember hearing Sisko mention Sona raids on federation ships in an episode after ST: Insurection and that they could produce White.

Any Comments?</font>

There was also an exchange between Damar and Weyoun during one of the later episodes concerning whether or not forces could be committed to protect the Son'a ketracel-white production operation (the conclusion was that it could not be done). This suggests to me that the Son'a were more than neutral in the war--sounds more like they were, from the Dominion's perspective, expendable supporters much as the Cardassians ultimately were.

[oops1]

Actually I thought that the DWS did mention the Sona as helping the Dominion set up white facilities in the Alpha Quad. I don't have my copy here, but I'll try to check in a couple of hours.

I found it (forgot I had a copy on the hard drive here), page 22 sidebar. It talks about the Son'a helping at a facility. Hope this helps

[This message has been edited by oops1 (edited 05-17-2001).]

[SIR SIG]

Yeah I remember that reference to about the Sona White Facilities.

While they had powerful ships, I think they were just the merchant lackeys.

Plus they may not be a unified front ala Insurrection where the Feds did know they where dealing in white for the dominion.

------------------
SIRSIG
AKA: SirPostalot
AKA: The MapMaker
AKA: The Trek Cartographer
AKA:...Well I could keep going forever

[Eric R.]

But if you read that passage more clear it says that the Sona and the Jem'hadr defended the facility and it was the last to fall. It seems clear that the Son'a were indeed up to their "stretched" necks in the war from insurrection on. Further the events of Insurrction were to keep the Son'a out of the war which obviously it did not. With as powerful ships and capability I can't see them as a Dominion War version of neutral Sweeden or Switzerland.

[qerlin]

I would assume the Son'a joined up with the Dominion after the whole Ba'ku fiasco.

[Capt. K. Vaughn]

Given the nature of the Son'a degenerative problems and the fact that they are indeed the remaints of a rebellious faction of the Ba'ku, I have always viewed them as somewhat small in number.

While they have some decent technology and some fairly powerful ships, I do not see the Son'a as being numerous and that the majority of their ships are crewed by conquered races.

With the events of Insurrection and the likely defection of some of the Son'a to heal the rift with their former friends and family, I see the fanatics being driven to more desperate extremes and being essentially mercenary and in need of resources selling themselves to the highest bidder.

Along with the projection given the nature of the war that by earning the Dominion's good will that they would be granted the boon to take back their home planet once the Dominion had conquered the Federation and removed their interference.

Regards,
CKV.

[Lt.Khrys Antos]

In the Price of Freedom manual it says that first contact with the Son'a was made in 2374 with the U.S.S.Tatsahr, so their involvement with the Dominion may just have been a few Son'a who joined them for business.
It also says that the Son'a have conquered two other races, the Ellorans and Tarlac. Their is no single governing body over all Son'a ships therefore each ship is treated as its own and its commander does what he wants. As for ship capabilities, the book says that their ships dwarf even Sovereign-Class( i'd be inclined to think thats a stretch) and they do use subspace weapons which can destroy ships ratherr easily.

Hope this helps.

[Diamond]

The S'ona ships were big. They had some powerful subspace weapons because they ignored the treaties against them. But their ships were NOT powerful. The Enterprise beat them up WITHOUT A WARP CORE!

Granted the Enterprise is exceptional. But from the limited evidence we have seen so far, the S'ona are not a large galactic power.

[StyroFoam Man]

This message has been removed on request by the
poster

[OMNIBUS]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Diamond:
But their ships were NOT powerful. The Enterprise beat them up WITHOUT A WARP CORE!.....

the S'ona are not a large galactic power.</font>

I feel the Son'a ships were more powerful (and slightly bigger) than the Enterprise E. It was the Metrion (sp?) gases that E sucked up and dumped in front the the the Son'a ships which "beat them up" when they fired into it ( that was a bright thing for the Son'a to do ). The Son'a were doing a pretty good job on Enterprise before the "Riker Maneuver". So I guess in the end their ships were better than the Enterprise, but their crews were not. I do agree with you that the S'ona are not a large galactic power (even with powerful vessels).

[mactavish]

Let me tell you about the Son'a in my universe...

A group of aliens from a race called the Ba'ku fled their solar system approximately three hundred years ago (~2060) out of fear that their leaders would annihilate the entire populace. They traveled for an extended period until they discovered a large area of space rife with navigational hazards and spatial anomalies. They entered the region and eventually settled on a planet surrounded by a series of metaphasic rings.

As it turned out, the inherent properties of the region caused those exposed to the environment to rejuvenate and cease aging once maturity was reached. The Ba'ku rejected technology as dangerous and inherently violent, returning to a pre-industrial lifestyle.

All was well for nearly two centuries, but then a group of young men and women - many of whom were born on the Bak'u planet - attempted to overthrow their elders and once again pursue the ways of advanced technology. When they failed, the council of elders provided them with rudimentary spacefaring vessels and banished them forever.

Taking the name Son'a, a derivation of a Ba'ku word meaning "pariah", those cast out used their advanced scientific knowledge to barter for production facilities and other useful items. They formed an armada and, sometime around the year 2330, invaded the worlds of the Tarlac and Elora (?), subjugating the populations and acquiring a massive labor class as well as vast natural resources.

Adar Ru'afo, the leader of the Son'a, used the Tarlac and the Elora to assist in the construction of massive starships and numerous medical facilities that would allow them to extend their lifespans. The Son'a were a dying race; without the metaphasic radiation from their former home's ring system, they would eventually wither away and die.

Captializing on the needs of the Dominion, the Son'a constructed facilities to produce huge amounts of ketracel-white for the Jem'Hadar. This earned them huge sums from the Founders which they then used to further their own aims.

After the conclusion of the Dominion War, the Son'a approached the Federation, asking their assistance to achieve their goals. This was necessary as the planet fell within the UFP's borders and the Son'a for all their resources and their guile, could never stand against Starfleet. In exchange for their assistance, the Son'a offered the Federation all the benefits acquired from their project.

In the end, however, the Ba'ku were saved from transplantation by the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise-E, the Son'a were revealed, and Adar Ru'afo was killed by his own technology. While many Son'a chose to return to their people, many others chose to remain the rulers of their tiny empire, searching the galaxy for other ways to extend their lives.

[This is where I've put my own spin on things.]

The remaining Son'a, under the despotic leadership of Adar Mir'an, began correspondence with several other galactopolitical powers, offering advanced technologies in exchange for information that might eventually lead to their rejuvenation. Most of the Son'a, well over a century old, were already extremely frail. It seemed only a matter of time before they would meet their much deserved end, fading quickly into oblivion.

The Son'a, with the aid of their subjugates, actively pursued all avenues that might lead to their salvation. It wasn't until the few dozen remaining Son'a encountered an intinerant group of exceptionally advanced, highly intelligent individuals led by an alien calling himself Kurros that they truly began to regain any sembelance of hope.

Kurros and his allies offered to provide the Son'a with technologies to restore their youth and vigor in exchange for information about the United Federation of Planets. The Son'a, former allies of the UFP, turned over all information they possessed and, in exchange, Kurros' "think tank" did as they promised, designing and constructing medical devices to restore the Son'a.

Their health restored, the Son'a began a policy of reproduction to assist in resuming their activities. To that end they established extensive eugenics programs and employed advanced cloning techniques to increase their numbers.

Returning to their own space, the Son'a opened negotiations with the Romulan Senate in the hopes of taking revenge on the Federation in general and on the crew of the Enterprise-E in particular.

Using cloaking technologies gaiend through trade with the Romulans, the Son'a snuck deep into Federation space where they acquired a series of devastating weapons from the planet called Minos, former base of the so-called "Arsenal of Fredom." The plan was to attack the Ba'ku and destroy the planet and its population from orbit.

As of the year 2482 (present day in my campaign), the Son'a control a handful of systems and have begun implementing their plan to severely cripple the Federation and destroy the Ba'ku and their "traitorous" former Son'a allies in one fell swoop.

mactavish out.

[Captain Blake]

Unfortunately, we really don't know how powerful the Son'a ships were since Riker never actually fired the guns at any of them. Can't check the hull strength or the shield strength, since we don't have any damage to look at.

And, the Son'a ships were set up to travel in the Briar Patch, when the Enterprise wasn't. This could artificially enhance the comparative power of the Son'a vis a vis the Enterprise.

So, Son'a ships may have such powerful shields that Phasers and Quantum torpedoes are useless, or something about the non optimization of the Enterprise prevented the firing of weaponry, or Riker is just a yutz.

Any way you look at it, we don't have much more than speculation about their power.

My personal feeling is that if they were wusses, then the Fed wouldn't have been so keen on being friends with them. They have big city ships (since they are migratory without a homeworld) with massive guns, and probably shields. My feeling is that hull strength and speed and maneuverablitily should be lower than the Fed standard, but I'm kind of just guessing here.

Alex

Quote from Peter Boyle, Tac Officer, USS Canopus, Constellation Class. "It blowed up good sir, real good."

PS: Oh yeah, Mactavish, that rocks!

[This message has been edited by Captain Blake (edited 05-18-2001).]

[StyroFoam Man]

This message has been removed on request by the
poster

[mactavish]

Son'a Heavy Cruiser

Class and Type: Son'a Heavy Cruiser
Commissioning Date: ~2350

Hull Characteristics
Size: 12
Resistance: 4
Structural Points: 240
Operations Characteristics
Crew/Passengers: 1200/1800
[6 pwr/round]
Computers: 6
[6 pwr/round]
Transporters: 5 personnel, 4 cargo, 4 emergency
[6 pwr/round]
Tractor Beams: 1 ad, 1 fv
[2/rating used]
Propulsion and Power Characteristics
Warp System: 8.0/9.2/9.94 (36 hours)
[2/warp factor]
Impulse System: .75 c/.92 c
[7/9 pwr/round]
Power: 300
Sensor Systems
Long-range Sensors: +2/20 light-years
[6 pwr/round]
Lateral Sensors: +2/1 light-year
[4 pwr/round]
Navigational Sensors: +2
[5 pwr/round]
Sensor Skill: 5
Weapons Systems
Type XIII Disruptor:
Range: 15/45,000/120,000/350,000
Arc: All (720 degrees)
Accuracy: 4/5/7/9
Damage: 28
Power: [28]
Type XXV Photon Torpedoes:
Number: 100
Launchers: 2 fv, 1 fv turret, 1 ad
Spread: 12
Arc: Forward or aft, but are self-guided
Range: 15/300,000/1,000,000/4,050,000
Accuracy: 4/5/7/10
Damage: 20
Power: [5]
Large Isolytic Subspace Weapon*:
Range: 10/30,000/100,000/300,000
Arc: All (720 degrees)
Accuracy: 4/5/7/9
Damage: 90
Power: [90]
* Causes a subspace tear (see Spacedock p. 69 for additional rules) on 1 on 1d6
Weapons Skill: 5
Defensive Systems:
Son'a Deflector Shields
Protection: 100/120
Power: [100]

Description and Notes

This is a typical Son'a heavy cruiser like the capitol ship commanded by former Son'a leader Adar Rua'fo.

Built using advanced technologies widely unavailable to the Federation and similar galactopolitical powers, Son'a ships are known for their massive size as well as their unusual design and illegal weapons systems. Fortunately for their adversaries, most Son'a ships are considerably smaller and less heavily armed than the heavy cruiser.

mactavish out.