A deliberately small ship can communicate that the other party is not important enough to merit a major deployment. Several powerful ships can send the opposite message while also implying that the sender possesses enough strength to spare them. A lone flagship occupies an awkward middle ground: it exposes a prestigious vessel without either the calculated insult of a minor ship or the weight of a formation. That makes the deployment a poor coercive signal, especially after Starfleet has destabilized the Enterprise command team.
Notable Point · 29:01-30:50
Warship presence as diplomatic signaling
The Enterprise's solo deployment becomes a short lesson in how the size and composition of a naval mission can signal contempt, abundance, concern, or resolve.