Hi,
So, I run the old FASA adventure 'A Doomsday like any other' for my play-by-forum players. The campaign is set in 2376, just after the Dominion War, and features the PCs as senior officers of an Intrepid-class vessel, the USS Nautilus. Instead of Romulans, I used Rillians, a species I created, but that played the same role in the adventure. Well, after the usual hijinks, the PCs defeated the rillians and assumed command of the Doomsday Machine.
Earlier, during the starship combat, the Rillian captain stated that the Alpha and Beta Quadrant would be set on fire if the Federation had a functional DM an dthe even its allies would look at it suspiciously. This echoed the belief of the Nautilus'first officer, who was the acting commanding officer after the captain went into a coma due to an alien virus (read: the player couldn't post).
In the end, when the Starfleet officers had assumed control of the situation, the first officer asked their opinions on what should be the fate of the DM. All of them stated that it should be delivered to Starfleet command to be studied. The first officer disagreed and destroyed the DM using the luxury liner they had previously acquired. I rules that Ecatir, the planet being threatened by the DM, claimed ownership of the DM's hull and that would be resolved by Federation bureaucrats and diplomats. The Nautilsu would go on to perform other missions.
After the end of the adventure, one of my players questioned the actions of the first officer. In his opinion, the only possible conclusion would be for the first officer to be court martialed, since the overstepped his authority. The FASA adventure includes a handout that delineates Starfleet's advisory for how to handle a DM (issued after Kirk's encounter). It consists of 6 items, which, basically, state that the DM should be rendered harmless, civilians should be protected, iy should be kept out of enemies' hands, scientific data should be collected and the preferable method or destruction is the Kirk Defense.
Now, item 4 says that "after being rendered harmless, the DM is to be preserved for study by UFP scientific teams, except where adherence to this directive would conflict with any of the first three directives" (rendering it harmless, protecting civilians and preventing unfriendly powers from getting it). As I said, they had already defeated the Rillians.
So, if you were admirals at Starfleet Command and received this report, what would you do? By olling your reactions, I will come up witha proper response IC.
Thanks and tchau!