[Tlhingan-hol] tlharghDuj

[Steven Boozer]

"Reconnaissance" is the word David's looking for.  Cf. the beginning of the WikIPedia article:


Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain vital information about enemy forces or features of the environment for later analysis and/or dissemination.

Often referred to as recce<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/recce> (British English) or recon<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/recon> (North American English, Australian English), the associated verb is reconnoitre in British English or reconnoiter in North American English.

Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrolling> by troops (rangers, scouts, or military intelligence specialists), ships or submarines<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine>, manned/unmanned aircraft<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_reconnaissance>, satellites<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellites>, or by setting up covert<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert> observation posts. Espionage<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spying> normally is not reconnaissance, because reconnaissance is a military force's operating ahead of its main forces; spies are non-combatants operating behind enemy lines.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconnaissance>


--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

From: David Holt [mailto:kenjutsuka at live.com]
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 8:39 AM
To: tlhingan-hol at stodi.digitalkingdom.org
Subject: Re: [Tlhingan-hol] tlharghDuj

I don't believe there has ever been such a thing as a "scout ship" in real Terran history.  However, it seems to be modeled after the real military action of a scout.  The job of a scout is to break away from the main group of soldiers, so as to be more stealthy, and see if he can collect a little information on the enemy and report back to the main group what they should expect.  You can't call him a "spy" because in English that carries the implication that he is embedded amongst his enemy and probably disguised as one of them.  The scout is just gathering a quick bit of info and returning to his troops so it's more about moving silently and quickly and less about disguise and full understanding of the enemy.

So, a scout ship is one which is mostly engines with perhaps a few stealth items (such as a cloaking device).  It is typically lightly armored and lightly armed, reducing its mass and increasing it's acceleration and perhaps even increasing its top speed (though in Star Trek, they are actually limited by warp limits, so almost everyone has the same top speed).  Thus it can get ahead of the fleet and if there's trouble, escape from the trouble and report back to the fleet what to expect.

Google translate gives me the words "auskundschaften" or "erkunden" as a translation for "to scout".  I hope this has been helpful.

janSIy
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