Is the Romulan Nuetral Zone just a single zone that seperates the Federation and Romulan Empire into two seperate areas? Does it extend infinitely on the Z axis and X axis and for a short amount on the Y-axis? It would seem to make more sense to have two different zones that are bubbles around the Federation and Romulan Empire and have the only part that is neutral be wear the two zones touch.
http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/index.php/Romulan_Neutral_Zone
Dunno, but what struck me as odd in TOS was that the term “Neutral Zone” was used to refer to very different things. The NZ established by the Organian Peace Treaty between the Federation and the Klingon Empire was supposed to be a sphere of influence both would share (a key plot point in "The Trouble With Tribbles), while the Federation-Romulan NZ was supposed to be a space neither side’s ships were allowed to enter at any time.
I could be wrong but I thought the deal with Romunlan/Fed neutral zone was that any government ship entering that zone would be seen as an act of war but civilians of either side could travel in that zone. I’m probably wrong.
http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Romulan_Neutral_Zone This has a little graphic in the corner representing the neutral zone.
From this and other sources (partially my memory), military vessels are prohibited entirely, but science and civilians could be allowed through after clearing it with the other side.
At one point in TNG we learn that it borders not only Federation and Romulan space but also Klingon, right? Don’t they catch a cloaked Romulan fleet sneaking through the NZ to attack the Klingons at some point?
Honestly I bet if you kept track through all the seasons of the three series that were more or less contemporanious (TNG, DS9 and whatever that crappy one with the annoying alien chef was) you would find that from the necessity of the various plot lines all the major regions of space mentioned in ST (Cardassian, Klingon, Romulan, Federation, the NZ, Bajoran, etc.) border eachother. I suppose if you needed to make it fit continuity you’d need to make some sort of Four Corners area in space where all the various borders contact eachother.
That’s certainly the impression I got from the battle simulation in Wrath Of Khan. The Kobayashi Maru was a merchant ship and could legally enter the Zone. But the Enterprise entering the Zone would technically be an act of war.
Not necessarily. The Four-Color Theorem only applies to two dimensions. In three or more dimensions, you can construct any number of regions which all border each other at more than a single point (i.e., you’d need infinite colors for a 3-d map). That said, though, the shapes of those regions would not be nice, compact things like spheres or cubes, and would probably be very unlikely shapes for stellar empires.