Romulan Neutral Zone

The Romulan Neutral Zone is an area of space between the borders of the United Federation of Planets and the Romulan Star Empire and was established in 2161 at the conclusion of the Earth-Romulan War by the Treaty of Gamma Trianguli.

The treaty called for a 1 light-year area between both powers, and neither side would be allowed to cross into the zone without prior agreement from the other side, or war would be declared. Any vessel found to have crossed into the zone would be impounded and its crew sent home after they were processed. To monitor the zone, both Starfleet and the Romulans established a number of outposts along the border which would monitor activity in the zone. (TOS episode: "Balance of Terror" and ST reference book: Star Fleet Technical Manual).

The 23rd Century
In 2243, the Federation Seidman-class colonizer, SS Rosenberg, accidentally crossed into the neutral zone after losing navigational control following an ion storm. With no other vessel fast enough to rescue the crew before they died, Starfleet dispatched the incomplete USS Enterprise across the neutral zone to rescue them. Unfortunately, the Enterprise 's warp drive malfunctioned and they overjumped into Romulan space. However, they managed to escape with the help of a Romulan captain and rescued the crew of the Rosenberg. .

In 2249, war nearly broke out between the Federation and the Romulans when a Federation passenger vessel, Brass Ring, inadvertantly entered the Neutral Zone. Fortunately, negotiations were able to proceed quickly and parts of the Treaty of Gamma Trianguli were redefined. This incident became known as the Brass Ring Incident to Starfleet Command. (TOS novel: Bloodthirst).

A task force of five Larson-class starships entered an area of uncontrolled space near the Neutral Zone in 2260. After a month, contact was lost with all five ships. Shortly afterward, a second task force arrived only to find a single warp nacelle in an asteroid cluster. Romulan forces were suspected, but no proof was ever found of their involvement. (FASA RPG: Star Trek IV Sourcebook Update.)

In 2264, an ion storm once again swept through the zone and disabled many of Starfleet's outposts, causing the most damage to Outpost 5 which lost its PXK reactor. Starfleet Command feared that the Romulans might take advantage of the situation and attack, even though there had been no official contact for over a century. Thankfully, the crew of the USS Lovell, with help from Montgomery Scott, managed to repair all of the outposts to working order. (SCE eBook: "Foundations, Book 1").

In 2266, the Romulans sent a lone bird-of-prey across the zone to attack the outposts. They were able to destroy four of the outposts with their plasma weapon, before they were intercepted by the USS Enterprise, in what became known as the Battle of Icarus IV. After a deadly game of cat-and-mouse and a return run to Romulus, the bird-of-prey was defeated by the Enterprise. .

In 2267, the Enterprise violated the zone when Commodore George Stocker assumed command. He was determined to get the ship to Starbase 10 so that he could obtain medical help for Captain James T. Kirk and other members of the crew who were succumbing to a rapid-ageing virus. Shortly after entering the zone, the Enterprise was surrouned by Romulan warships and Stocker lacked the combat experience. Thankfully, a cure was found and Kirk was able to bluff their way out. .

In 2268, the Enterprise was ordered to violate the zone by Admiral Cartwright in order to obtain a cloaking device. Only Captain Kirk and Commander Spock were aware of their true assignment, as they were surrounded by D7-class warships commanded by Dion Chavron. While Kirk was supposedly killed by Spock for going insane and trying to kill him, Spock began to ingratiate himself with Chavron. When Kirk's "body" was returned to the Enterprise, Dr. Leonard H. McCoy surgically altered Kirk to appear Romulan, and Kirk managed to beam aboard the Romulan ship and obtained the cloak. The Enterprise managed to escape with the cloaking device, and have Commander Chavron along as a prisoner. (and TOS novel: Cloak).

In 2269, the Romulans used a Vendorian agent to pose as Carter Winston so he could board the USS Enterprise. The Vendorian was the charged with commandeering the Enterprise and taking it into the zone, so a waiting Romulan task force could attack them. Thankfully, the Enterprise crew were able to capture the Vendorian and escape from Romulan space. (TAS episode: "The Survivor").

In late 2269, violent ion storm activity in the vicinity of the zone was changing the magnetic field markers that designated the boundaries of the zone. While this held no major problems for the Federation as a whole, the planet Arachnae would find itself in Romulan space. Captain Kirk and Commander Maximus Thrax of the IRV Decius were dispatched to monitor the planet's vote to join the Romulan Star Empire. (TOS novel: Vulcan!).

Shortly afterwards, peace talks between the Federation and the Romulans were conducted on Detente Station One located in the zone. The peace talks were not entirely successful, as several Federation ambassadors were murdered enroute to the conference aboard the USS Enterprise. (TOS novel: Death's Angel).

The 24th Century
Following the Tomed Incident in 2311, representatives from the Federation and the Romulans signed the Treaty of Algeron which reinforced and redifined the zone, and increased the size to 2.5 light years. Following the signing of the treaty, the Romulans retreated behind the zone and no official contact was had with them until 2364. (TNG episode: "The Enemy"; and ENT episode: "These Are the Voyages...").

In late 2364, a number of Starfleet and Romulan outposts along the zone was destroyed by an unknown force. While Starfleet believed the Romulans were responsible, the Romulans also believed the Starfleet was responsible. In order to be certain, the USS Enterprise-D was dispatched to investigate. On arrival they encountered a D'Deridex-class warbird commanded by Commander Tebok. Tebok informed Jean-Luc Picard about the attack on the Romulan outposts, and the two agreed to work together to investigate the attacks. It was not until late 2365, that the Enterprise-D crew discovered that the Borg were responsible, when the Enterprise observed a similar method of destruction on several planets in System J-25. (TNG episodes: "The Neutral Zone" and "Q Who?" and comic: "Operation Assimilation").

In late 2265, the USS Yamato, under the command of Captain Donald Varley, crossed into the zone in order to find the location of the legendary planet of Iconia. After evading Romulan patrols for several weeks, they were able to locate the planet and were scanned by an Iconian probe. The probe contained a computer virus that rewrote the Yamato 's systems and following a rendezvous with the Enterprise-D, the ship self-destructed. The virus was also transmitted to the Enterprise and to a cloaked warbird that was monitoring the two ships. Thankfully, the virus was purged from their systems and both ships returned home. (TNG episode: "Contagion").

With the return of the Romulans to the galactic stage, an attack against the Federation seemed imminent in 2366. Starfleet increased its patrols of the zone in anticipation of an attack, and on Romulus plans were being devised for the attack. In early 2366, Admiral Alidar Jarok defected and was rescued by the Enterprise-D. Jarok informed them of the imminent invasion and the construction of a secret base in the zone on Nelvana III. A number of starships were posted along the border, and the Enterprise crossed into the zone to investigate. When it was all revealed to be a plot to weed out Jarok and get the Federation to instigate a war, the Romulans threatened to destroy the Enterprise. Thankfully, Captain Picard and Lieutenant Worf had arranged for some back-up from the Klingons, and they were allowed to leave. (TNG episode: "The Defector").

In mid-2373, the USS Enterprise-E was assigned to patrol the zone to ward off any attempt by the Romulans to launch an attack, while the bulk of the fleet was engaging a Borg Cube in the Typhon Sector. However, the real reason the Enterprise was assigned to the zone is because Starfleet were concerned about Captain Picard once again engaging the Borg. When the Borg broke through Starfleet lines and were headed for Earth, Picard defied orders and took the Enterprise into the battle. (TNG movie: Star Trek: First Contact).

A few months later, with the Alpha Quadrant poised on the brink of war with the Dominion, the Romulans signed a non-aggression pact with them to ensure their own safety. As a result, the Jem'Hadar used the zone as a hunting ground for unsuspecting Starfleet vessels that were dispatched along the zone, and destroyed several vessels, including the USS Cairo. However, this practice ended when the Romulans joined the Federation Alliance in late 2374. (DS9 episode: "In the Pale Moonlight").

In 2377 the Starfleet special operations vessel USS Incursion crossed the zone a number of times holographically disguised as a warbird whilst tracking the activities of the Wardens (ST game: Away Team).

Following the near collapse of the Romulan Star Empire in the wake of Praetor Shinzon's death in 2379, the newly installed Praetor Tal'Aura allowed Starfleet and Klingon vessels to cross the zone to lend aid to the collapsing infrastructure. The first joint task force was led by Captain William T. Riker and the USS Titan. Captain Riker and Admiral Leonard James Akaar were sent to Romulus to deal with the ever mounting problems of the Empire, including the plight of the Remans. An agreement was eventually reached which made the Remans a protectorate of the Klingon Empire. (TNG movie: Star Trek Nemesis and TTN novel: Taking Wing).

Star Systems

 * Devron system
 * Nelvana system
 * Nimbus system

Planets

 * Hemeticus II
 * Iconia
 * Nelvana III
 * Nimbus III
 * Temaris IV

Related Articles

 * Neutral Zone
 * Klingon Neutral Zone
 * Treaty of Algeron
 * Treaty of Gamma Trianguli
 * Demilitarized Zone