Today’s duel to the death will be between Star Trek’s Captain Jean Luc Picard and Commander Tomalak.

Here’s the tale of the tape:

Captian Jean Luc Picard

One of the most famous officers The Federation of Planets has ever produced, Jean-Luc Picard is known for his tactical prowess and archaeological achievements. On the USS Stargazer while under attack from a Ferengi ship, he came up with a maneuver that later became known as the Picard Maneuver. His quick tactical thinking saved the lives of his crew members and defeated an enemy who held the upper hand. He had also had dealings and combat time against some of the Galaxy’s most powerful races such as the Borg, Romulans, Cardassian, Q Continuum, Ferengi, and the Dominion.

As Captain of the Enterprise, Picard commanded the Federation’s flag ship and most advanced star ship at the time. Over the years of command of the Enterprise, he oversaw some of the most crucial missions of the Federation. He fought back against the Borg’s two invasions. He acted as Arbiter of Succession for the Klingon Empire and he aided Ambassador Spock with the Romulan underground movement.

Though Picard takes the Prime Directive very literall, he has violated the code many times in order to correct a situation. He also used his judgment to prevent further problems throughout his career.

In this battle, Captian Picard will be commanding the Enterprise D, a Galaxy Class Star Ship. It has 42 decks and can reach up to warp 9.8. Its cruising speed is warp 6. Unlike the Roluman Warbird, the Enterprise lacks a cloaking device. It has 12 to 14 phaser arrays and two torpedo launchers, one set in the fore and the second in the aft section of the vessel.  There is another torpedo launcher in the engineering section for a total of four tubes. The ship has a complement of over 250 photon torpedoes and antimatter mines. Powerful deflector shields can keep the ship defended for a period of time against most other ships. The ship has two hull sections. The saucer section, and a detachable secondary hull which allows the ship to separate and either continue combat or flee an impending warp core breach.

Commander Tomalak

Commander Tomalak is an important officer of the Romulan Star Empire. He commanded a Romulan D’Deridex-class warbird that was seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation a number of times. He is both cunning, and shrewd in his approach towards internal Romulan politics. In the “The Defector” episode, he set up an elaborate ruse that used a fellow officer of the Romulan Empire as means to spread false information to lay a trap for the Enterprise D. The trap involved causing the Enterprise to violate the Neutral Zone to investigate reports of a secret invasion force preparing to attack several Federation Sectors. Tomalak’s goal was to capture the Enterprise which at the time was the most advanced ship in the Federation, as well as their flag ship. Only Picards forward thinking in requesting aid from the Klingon Empire kept the Enterprise, from falling into the hands of the Romulan Star Empire despite being outnumbered and surrounded.

Tomalak’s strategic mind showed itself again in “The Enemy” when he went into the Neutral Zone to save the crew of a scout ship that crashed on Galordon Core. He did a great job in providing misinformation to Picard about the amount of people stranded on the planet, the reason why the ship crashed as well as the crew size. His bluff was so enormous he threatened war between the Federation and Romulans in order to retrieve technology and mission data.

Commander Tomalak’s ship is pretty impressive. The D’Deridex Class Warbird went into service in the second half of the 24th century. It has forty plus decks, cloaking technology, and is able to quickly come out of cloak to attack an unsuspecting enemy. The ship can reach up to warp 9.6 and maintain warp 6 while cloaked. The ship has on its head disruptor arrays that allow for beam and pulse fire. It has photon torpedo launcher tubes that are also shared with their disruptor system. On the top of the neck, the bottom of the neck, and tip of the nose of the ship are three other weapon arrays with very similar set ups as the one found on the head. The ship also has an impressive deflector shield, one that can match some of the most advanced ships in the galaxy at the time.

The Arena

After the war between Earth and her Allies against the Roluman Star Empire, a Neutral Zone was negotiated by both parties to act as a buffer between the growing powers. The space within the Zone isn’t claimed by any political organization and is left unincorporated. It’s located in Sector Z-6 as seen in TOS: Balance of Terror. Both ships are alone and cannot expect assistance from any ship, or group during the battle.

Each ship will enter the zone from their own political organizations’ territory. The Romulan Warbird naturally will be cloaked, as the Enterprise attempts to find it by using Geordi La Forge’s Tachyon detection grid.