The Shiva Option

"I have become death, the destroyer of worlds"

Today, I'd like to discuss genocide. The extinction of a planetary population. While abhorate to any culture, the question is what if it becomes absolutely necessary, the only way for the Federation to survive. Will the Federation council ever authorize Starfleet to wipe out an entire species for the greater good.

Lets take the Borg, they are sentient within the generally accepted meaning and it would seem that they are unwilling to negotiate except at phaserpoint. So what if the Federation is given a chance to destroy every Borg planet in the Delta Quadrant, to wipe the Borg out forever...will they do it?

Starfleet would not.

Section 31 would.

See "Founder Virus."

Things to consider during the "Council Vote" How recently has an event like Wolf 359 happened, or worse yet- a Member world has been assimilated. As it would seem in the ST universe, the ruling bodies have a very, very short memory. So unless a bad event with the Borg has happened recently, the Federation Council would most likely not use the "Genocide Device".
Various people bent on revenge or ultimate protection might see things very differently however.

One Thing To Remember:
The Borg are the all ending threat to the galaxy, and every thing in it!
-Lt. S. Korian, Tactical Officer U.S.S. Fitzgearld (2372)

When the Borg were about ready to assimilate Earth wasn't the Enterprise in possession of a virus which would destroy the Borg? Well at least put them all to sleep.

Picard refused such an option saying, I think, it would equal to genocide. IMHO the Federation would never stoop to this low level in order to protect itself. However, if they lacked a viable alternative then elements in the government would save everyone else by doing it anyways. Necessity would dictate it.

The episode I believe you are referring to was called "Hugh" I think and that happened sometime after Best of Both Worlds II.

Picard refused it then and it has not been really mentioned much since except when Necheyev had a couple of fits.

Certain events happened in Voyager but I won't go into them here as they could well be spoilers for some.

Regards,
CKV.

I don't think the UFP would ever do something like this (which will be their downfall in the end probably).

Now that said I am thinking the 24th century Starfleet here. I think the 23rd century had a much different idea of how things went and probably may have come to this decision, if their back was too the wall.

But then they never had to deal with anything like the BORG. Instead they had lots of unique planet killing creatures/objects and Kirk blew most of those up ;)

I agree with the fact that the legal Federation Council would not resort to genocide under normal circumstances, but what if it was not normal circumstances?
Perhaps not the Borg, but another species who present such a grave threat, worse than the Borg (difficult I know), that genocide is seriously considered.
A second thought is the conspiracy theory, where an "old boys" network, or Section 31 or whatever, want a particular planet wiped out, and are doing their best to influence galactic politics to such a degree.
Leaking information to the public, a particularly charismatic spokesperson, the wave of hysteria sweeping the galaxy, all these are powerful. A Federation Council under immense pressure from both within and without, could indeed bow to the pressure.

Yo ghosty,

You put this in the Narrator's Ready Room. Do you have a specific reason for doing this?

The reason I ask is that maybe you are running into this stuation in your campaign?

Could you give us more information?

Just a bit of long term campaign planning. I'm thinking of creating a new enemy...the Borg have been gelded by Voyager and I'm thinking of fielding a new alien menace to challenge the PCs. Just keeping my options open for the moment.

One word Ghosty...

VOTH...

Think about it :)

You want a species which is more powerful than the Borg and could potentially destroy their own planets?

Sounds like a job for Species 8472.

A planet which may or may not have been infiltrated by Species 8472 and has been subverted on the highest levels could, on the extreme end, be dealt with by destroying it completely.

No this species will probably be home grown or adapted from sources outside Trekverse. One thing I don't like about using TV threat races is that the PCs tend to know too much about 'em and somethings they remember a weakness you forgot and they "blam" your entire scenario becomes the Kobayashi Maru. :-).

So what kind of race are you thinking of using then? Tell us a bit about them if you can :)

For the moment, nothing really solid. I'm thinking of a real inscetoid race...not some pseudo mechanical race like the Borg...but real inscets with a real hive mind something in the line of David Weber/David White's Arachnids from their two Starfire novels.

Outside of Trekverse.... insectoids... hive mind... very dangerous....

Zergs ? :D