Doomsday aftermath

[Fred]

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!

[The Tatterdemalion King]

If you want to base an episode around it, have a rogue admiral (section 31 if you want) show up and use his authority to hijack the ship and go retrieve the device.

If you don't want to base an episode around it, you might as well let it slide.

[Fred]

I don't want to base an episode around it, but the player's complaint has stirred the nest of plot hooks within my soul. In order to be impartial about it (I would probably let it slide, considering this is somewhat standard operating procedure for Starfleet), I thought I would post it here and simulate Starfleet Command with other players/GMs. Since they don't know the character and weren't present during the event, which would be the case of the admiralty, they can have a more unbiased view. I think a reprimand might be in order, but not a court martial.

To add some mor einformation, the character is an Arkenite and here is his Starfleet record:

* Cadet cruise: Junior (Year 3, 2351), Military Mission, Passed with Honors, USS Repulse (NCC-2544), Excelsior-class.
* Tour 1: Flagship class, Excellent, 3 anos (2353-55), promoted to Lieutenant JG, USS Excalibur (NCC-26517), Ambassador-class.
* Tour 2: Transportation Mission, As Expected, 5 anos (2356-2360), USS Nash (NCC-2010-5), Sydney-class.
* Tour 3: Colonial Mission, As Expected, 5 anos (2361-65), promoted to Lieutenant, USS Sarajevo (NCC-38529), Istanbul-class .
* Tour 4: Military Mission, As Expected, 5 anos (2366-70), promoted to Lt. Cmdr, U.S.S. Akira (NCC-62497), Akira-class.
* Tour 5: Military Mission, As Expected, 5 anos (2371-75), promoted to Commander, USS Thomas Paine (NCC-65530), New Orleans-class.
* Tour 6: Exploration Mission, (2376-), USS Nautilus (NCC 77351), Intrepid-class

Tchau!

[Darth Sarcastic]

I have this adventure...in fact I almost ran it for my group. The rules surrounding the DM state that it is not to fall into the hands of the enemy at any cost. Here's why I say court-martial the 1st officer. He let the DM fall into enemy hands. The Ectarians are not friendly towards the Federation (even tho the Federation crew just majorly saved their bacon), they're allegiance(s) are with the Romulans / Rellians(?). The first people the Ectarians will share the DM with is the Romulans / Rellians. Even if the Ectarians were friendly towards the Feds or agreed not to let the Romulans near the DM, that wouldn't really stop the Romulans.

There are a few ways the 1st officer could avoid court-martial:

1) The Federation told him to leave it with Ectarians and officially told him to "move on".
2) The 1st officer insisted that his ship stay within spitting distance of the DM until the Federation could send a team/ship. An alternate to this would be for #1 to try and tow the DM and meet up with backup from the Federation.
3) Tow the DM into the nearest star. The Federation can't court-martial him for trying to prevent the Romulans from getting data from it buy melting the blasted thing.
4) Send an away team onto the DM to try and get it under Federation control...transfer the Fed flag and try and move the newest Federation starship the USS Doomsday to a Federation base.

I'm sure there's other stuff he could've done...but it sounds like he let the DM fall into enemy hands.

[Captain Macek]

I have run this scenario twice now, both times the DM ended up being rendered inoperable. My main issue is how the heck the Ectarians got a hold of the remains. Did they claim it because it's in their space? How would they reinforce their claim when (as part of the scenario) they only had one ship to enforce the claim with (which... oh, wait, was blown up to render the DM inoperable...) I think the remains should be guarded until they can be moved somewhere safe. As for court-martialing the first officer... why? The DM is inoperable and even if the Ectairians are able to lay claim to it they are a NEUTRAL party, not an enemy.

[Fred]

I think I may not have been clear enough: the first officer destroyed the DM. The hull, being made of neutronium, is still there, but all the machinery and systems inside it were vaporized, so there's nothing to analyze. Two Starfleet officers (the chief engineer and chief conn officer) and a handful of Rillians were inside the DM and o have scans of the interior, but that's it.

The player's complaint is that they had the situation resolved: the engineer and the conn officer took control of the DM and the Nautilus defeated the Rillian ship. Technically, they had rendered it harmless and kept it away from enemy's hands. So, in his opinion, there was no reason to blow it up.

As for Ectair's claim, given the description of Amedha Mozinphar in the adventure, I thought that would be a typical thing for him to do. They claimed the DM's hull because it's within their system. Sure, the Federation can just say 'yeah, right', but given the proximity of the Rillians (slightly less powerful than the pre-Dominion war Cardassians. had a few skirmishes with the Feds and may be involved in terrorist acts against them), they would try to solve things in a diplomatic way.

Tchau!

[Captain Macek]

Demolition experts will still detonate a bomb after they know it's been disarmed because it's too dangerous to leave intact...

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Well, if I am to represent an Admiral here, I am going to vote for no reprimand. A doomsday weapon is a doomsday weapon, and doesn't belong in anyone's hands.

[Dan Gurden]

OK. I our capacity as Starfleet Command I have read the reports and concur. The DM is just too damn dangerous. the First Officer may well have overstepped the wording of the directives, but did act in the Grand Tradition of the uniform.

The only issue here was whether he was in command. You state that the acting CO was in a coma, which means that the order was given by the XO in the chain of command. As he was defacto commander then all is fair, he took a command decision and thats that (I would then look into the records of the crew who lodged the complaint, it may be that there are some displine issues aboard the Nautilus, perhaps the ship needs an audit?

If however the XO was given an order by a superior officer and acted anyway, that is far more serious, and would indeed require a courts martial. This does ot however automatically assume guilt, simply that the ship will need to be recalled to earth for the military court to consider the case. It is possible that for disobeying a direct order the XO could face a reprimand and reduction in rank through to prison time.

My answer basically depends upon whether the XO was in command at the time giving the orders or failing to follow a direct order. And either way offers a future B-plot for your game.

[Tricky]

Yay! I'm an Admiral! Take that, guidence counselor!!

And I'm going with TK and Dan: The DM is a weapon of mass (some would say ultimate) destruction, and while there are possibly many technologies that could be gained from it, it is still a weapon, and that isn't what SF is about. Any gains that would have been gained from its study would have been tainted by the fact that they came from a DM.

Basicly, this is the "no one should have that kinda power" arguement. I don't know if you're planning on having the trial as a session, but if you do, this is where you break out the "courtroom drama" that eventually comes down to that argument.

[Fred]

As he was defacto commander then all is fair, he took a command decision and thats that (I would then look into the records of the crew who lodged the complaint, it may be that there are some displine issues aboard the Nautilus, perhaps the ship needs an audit?

That's the case, he was operating within the chain of command. No direct order was disobeyed. As for the senior officers, they only voiced their concerns after being asked in-character for their opinions. The player who complained did so in out-of-character mode.

So, I guess we have a 3-to-1 vote pro first officer's actions. Cool. I'll write up a Starfleet communique to post in the game or maybe even play a minor scene with the character receiving the admiralty's decision.

Thansk, guys! I really like this method for deciding how certain tevents will turn out. If you ever want me to play an admiral, just say the word.

Tchau!

[The Tatterdemalion King]

I want my admiral to be a Zaranite.

[Fred]

No problema. If you want a specific name, just tell me, otherwise, I'll use your forum nicknames (in your case, C. Huth).

Tchau!

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Doesn't sound much like a Zaranite name, does it? : P

[Tricky]

Well, you might have to break my handle up a bit...T'rikeh maybe. I don't really have a species preference. Pick what works for your game.

Or, you don't have to use it. I'm just happy to help.

Next case! (hahaha)