Old post but what the heck.

My take was that the Sa-Matra simply didn't have anyone on board while the doctrinal war was going on. Obviously both sides had an agreement in place as to the war and who got the Sa-Matra at the end. It would seem likely to me that neither side would trust the other side with a crew on board. Too much of a chance of them using it if their side was losing. The fleet would be just as useful to make sure that nobody boarded it. The weapons were automated and put in place jointly by both sides as part of the agreement, along with the shield generators, mainly to keep out curious intruders and possibly to prevent each other from sneaking a crew on board. If you look at the weapons and shields as simply being used for delay or for attracting the attention of the fleet ships they make more sense.

Personally I think it's fairly simple. The concepts do not have words that adequately describe them. The concepts may be understandable, after all look at the Androsynth, but human languages can't handle them at this point so the translator glitches. Whatever word the translator picks may, or may not, have any relation to the concepts.

BTW I always took *many bubbles* to refer to individuals. The Orz are a single entity not individuals. If you stick your fingers through a sheet of paper they look like separate living objects because you can't see where they are connected. I assume the Orz are the same.

Personally I wouldn't miss the Umgah. Outside of getting the talking pet they don't serve much purpose and they're not very amusing after the first few interactions.  The Zoq-fot-pik were more fun to talk to and more likeable.