His logic suggests two-dimensional thinking. Its this analysis of Khans tactics that let the Enterprise get the better of him in Star Trek II, descending to get behind the Reliant and deliver the crippling blow. Its also pretty much the last time that down would be mentioned in the Star Trek universe. The Milky Ways a lot wider than it is thick, granted, but youve still got to go upwards for a solid year at high warp before you run out of stars. So its kind of silly to have a neutral zone shaped like a hosepipe if your enemies want to evade detection, they might have to take an extra hour out of their way to go up or down a bit, but then its kind of a moot point when you cant see past their cloaking devices. Janeway laments the size of Borg space when it stands between Voyager and Earth, but given that the Borg arent likely to hang around outside of the galactic plane theres no reason not to go above or below them its not like youre missing a chance to stop at the gift shop. Of course, there is one very good reason to clamp every Star Trek race to a 2D plane and pretend that up and down dont exist some short-sighted Starfleet designer went and architected an entire fleet of vessels that just look plain ridiculous if theyre not facing forwards. In fact most Federation ships seen from above resemble that most majestic of inventions the spork. Thats the real reason Starfleet ships never move up or down - they don't want to risk being mistaken for an intergalactic cutlery set.
