TheDarkling wrote:Yes but why would you assume it was the only ship with the weapon? and even then you wouldnt assume it hadnt been sending back regular reports to HQ.
They didnt sue for peace but they did gather intel and evenually went for an unofficial peace accord.
Its not like they sat on their hands in under a year they were ready to infiltrate SF - thats some quick planning and implementation.
Watch this.
If it IS the only ship, then following it is obviously the right call, even if you cannot destroy it. You want to know where it's heading, so you can warn bases of potential attacks, evacuate planets, be ready to gather defensive fleets, etc. You want to study it extensively, getting more information on its weapons and other capabilities, and getting some understanding of its behavior. Clearly, shadowing it with a small ship, or a small group of small ships, is the right course of action. You may not want to engage it, but shadowing it is clearly the best move.
If it is NOT the only ship, and there are many others, you STILL should be shadowing it in a similar manner. Then you can do anything you could do above, AND, if the ship should head for home, you will be able to learn where their territory is. You will be able to gain some knowledge of their fleet strength, their size, and potentially of their societal capabilities.
Regardless of which assumption you make, you NEED TO FOLLOW THE THING. There's absolutely no reason not to, if you actually have a fleet as large as cultists claim. The fact that Species 8472 did not shadow Voyager demonstrates either incredible stupidity on the part of their fleet commander, or extreme cowardice.
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