Violation of the Prime Directive? You decide!

[selek]

I want Selek's NPC as attorney for the defense!

Remind me and I'll e-mail/IM you the stats......

[Pericles]

It need not end the discussion entirely, but I don't see how we can come to more than an impasse.

Pretty much, so I don't see the point of me continuing to talk about it.

And I especially don't want it to escalate into some sort of half-baked hostility between us.

We disagree. C'est la vie!

You need not worry about me getting into a piddling contest over something that doesn't exist. When its based on non-fiction, everyone gets to be right.

[Cdre Bob Wesley]

And that's what I don't understand. Is Selek saying that the series writers were incapable of "Starfleet thinking" and just fudged their characters out of violating the Prime Directive? Or did they assume Kirk had to deal with a command review in-between every episode?

[Pericles]

Going by Selek's examples of all the times every captain violated the Prime Directive, they all should have been court martialled. This is true, but the writers loved the gray areas and never made any series commander face the music. They always got off the hook for saving Earth or the Federation or humanity or all of them at once. Unlike the writers, my view is MUCH stricter and everyone of your PCs would go to a penal colony for life.

[selek]

And that's what I don't understand. Is Selek saying that the series writers were incapable of "Starfleet thinking" and just fudged their characters out of violating the Prime Directive? Or did they assume Kirk had to deal with a command review in-between every episode?

I'm suggesting a little of all of the above, but primarily that- with the exception of blatant and egregious violations of the Prime Directive- Starfleet Command would defer to the judgement of the man on the scene.

Kirk would undoubtedly have been called on the carpet for the incident with Tyree's people ("A Private Little War") since it essentially placed those people on the path to war and because it involved outside interference from the Klingons.

Likewise the incident at Sigma Iotia ("A Piece of the Action") as Starfleet would be interacting with the planet at least annually (to pick up the Federation's "cut").

Lesser violations- Landru and Vaal, for example- might have been handled less formally than a full Board of Inquiry.

The same holds true with Picard's interference with Szorshenka's people and Data's accidental radiation poisoning of that one town's populace. Since the effects were minimal, an informal review (rather than a full blown Court-of-Inquiry) would probably suffice.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Unlike the writers, my view is MUCH stricter and everyone of your PCs would go to a penal colony for life.

How stringently do your players follow their expectations of Starfleet regulations?

[Cdre Bob Wesley]

How stringently do your players follow their expectations of Starfleet regulations?

Yeah, do they even go on landing parties?

[Cdre Bob Wesley]

Okay, we hashed it out.

The players made some excellent points, including ones already given in the thread.

- One of the items they brought to my notice was the fact that the temporal rift was in direct proximity of Sector 001/SOL. If the Romulans discovered the rift, then it would be considered an imminent threat.

Fortunately, the rift closed soon after the Bretagne escaped through it.

- First contact was actually made by one of the Native Americans, a latent telepath, who knew the crew was in danger and rescued them from attack.

- Captain Harper was mistaken for a deity. After multiple attempts were made to convince the tribe otherwise, permission was given to use the mind-meld.

- This was a case of an arrested culture.

- Phasers were never actually used in sight of the tribe.

- This adventure took place roughly after The Enterprise Incident, yet any "precedent" involving Captain Kirk was thrown out. There is no way to tell what disciplinary hearing(s) he may have faced, if any.

So, while the Bretagne is in drydock for repairs/recommissioning, the Captain and his landing party are on "double secret probation" and have been reassigned as subordinates on another vessel.

Thanks for your help. As always, it is appreciated.

[Pericles]

Yeah, do they even go on landing parties?

My players know me well enough not to violate the Prime Directive so blatantly. Actions have consequences and they know this.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

My players know me well enough not to violate the Prime Directive so blatantly. Actions have consequences and they know this.

I'm just interested in hearing examples of how they approach stuff (and, by extension, what kind of situations they get put in).

[Pericles]

The situations they would have to deal with wouldn't be all that different than the original poster's adventure. The difference would be that they would have had to deal with standing by and not intervening to help out that one group. They would have had to break contact and leave it at that. I doubt if any of them would even consider the wholesale release of information that the OP's player did via mindmeld.

[Nuclear Fridge]

And yet Riker did not relieve Picard, Chakotay never relieved Janeway, Dax never relieved Sisko (nor did Kira),Spock never relieved Kirk.

True enough, selek -- even when the CO was 'acting all crazy-like', as in The Enterprise Incident! I sometimes wonder what it would take for the XO to try relieving the CO. The Captain starts shuffling around, moaning, trying to eat a yeoman's brains, maybe?

[Owen E Oulton]

Don't be silly - where you gonna find a yeoman with any brains? At least enough to make more than an hors d'oeuvre?

[Nuclear Fridge]

I stand corrected, Owen!

Yeah, the main duties of yeomen (the cuter ones, anyway) on TOS seemed to consist of handing over reports to be initialled, or serving coffee. And that's it.

Needless to say, a yeoman aboard Voyager would either be elbowed aside by Captain Kathy -- who automatically knows the yeoman's job better than they do -- or suffer some @#*%-awful Death of The Week(TM)...

[PGoodman13]

Just for grins: First Response. A Prime Directive issue of my very own...already in progress.