THE PRIME DIRECTIVE

STORIES INVOLVING THE PRIME DIRECTIVE

[Enterprise: Season 2: The Communicator]

SUMMARY: Following a landing party's covert observation of a pre-warp civilisation, a piece of equipment is accidentally left behind (a communicator). Another landing party is sent to retrieve it, but they are arrested and, with further futuristic equipment found on them, accused of being enemy spies.

The following text is TOSTW's synopsis, with amendments.

Upon returning from a research mission to a pre-warp alien planet, Reed discovers that his communicator is missing. After an extensive search, he realises that he must have lost it somewhere on the planet.

realisation of loss, and exhaustive search

Reed: "Captain. my carelessness was inexcusable. I'm prepared for whatever reprimand you feel is appropriate." Archer: "How about thirty years in the brig, or maybe a good flogging?" Reed: "Sir-" Archer: "It was an accident, Malcolm. It could have happened to any of us." inside the shuttlepod, heading back to the planet [Enterprise: Season 2: The Communicator]

Hoshi manages to tap into the communicator's power signature and pinpoints its location near a tavern that Reed and the rest of the team visited. Archer knows that the crew must retrieve their technology or risk contaminating the planet's pre-warp society, so Archer and Reed return to the planet, hiding their shuttlepod in the woods. As they enter the tavern, a group of soldiers eyes them suspiciously. Using his scanner, Reed realises that the communicator is located in another room of the tavern, but when he and Archer go to retrieve it, they are apprehended by the soldiers. The two men are taken to the tavern stockroom and questioned by Major Pell, who asks if the communicator is a weapon. Pell also seems to think Archer and Reed are connected to something called "the Alliance". When the men refuse to respond, Pell orders that they be taken to the military complex.

in the tavern - at the table, secret scanning, confronted by soldiers, before Major Pell, Pell ponders the mysterious equipment

At the complex, Archer and Reed are interrogated by Pell's superior, General Gosis. Gosis informs them that someone named "T'Pol" was trying to reach the "captain" via the communicator. Archer identifies himself as the "captain," which only furthers Gosis' suspicions that the two men are military recruits for the Alliance. During the interrogation, part of Archer's alien prosthetic comes off, revealing his human face. Gosis does not know what to make of this, and orders a full medical examination.

during the interrogation, part of Archer's alien prosthetic comes off, revealing his human face

Meanwhile, aboard the Enterprise, Hoshi has managed to locate Archer and Reed, and Trip suggests taking Shuttlepod Two to rescue them. T'Pol, however, is reluctant to risk further contamination of the pre-warp culture. So Trip comes up with another idea. As Enterprise is still in possession of the Suliban cell-ship, perhaps he could attempt to bring its cloaking device online — the crew would be able to rescue their missing crewmen without being detected.

planning a rescue

T'Pol agrees, and Trip and Mayweather begin work on the cell-ship. As they work, Trip is somehow affected by the particle radiation the ship uses to conceal itself rendering his right arm invisible.

working on the Suliban ship, and the accident which renders part of Trip's arm and part of a kit case invisible

Back on the planet, Gosis is astonished by the devastating firepower of the Alliance's "prototype weapons". He orders all the prisoners' to be kept under guard.

the fortress, and Gosis tests the phase pistol

He is also astonished by the results of the medical tests. He can find no reasonable explanation for the various physical "deformities" displayed by Archer and Reed, and continues to press them for answers. Unfortunately, Gosis has yet another suspicious piece of evidence — a surveillance photo of the Enterprise shuttlepod. As it appears he may be getting closer to the truth, Reed and Archer offer a more plausible explanation which is more acceptable to the general's suspicious mind, that they are prototypes for a genetically-enhanced Alliance super-soldier, and the various pieces of technology they have with them are Alliance prototypes as well. Gosis believes this might be a logical explanation, but he needs proof — so he orders the execution of the two men. Once they are dead, the doctor will be able to study their organs in more detail, and get rid of the Alliance's only two genetically-enhanced prototypes.

On the Enterprise, Hoshi manages to intercept a message saying that two "enemy spies" are set to be executed. With time running out, T'Pol, Trip and Mayweather head down to the planet in the cell-ship, which still is not cloaking properly. Meanwhile, Archer and Reed prepare to face their execution, determined to sacrifice their own lives rather than contaminate this alien culture.

Archer: "If I know T'Pol, she won't want to leave any contamination behind. It may take some time, but she'll find a way to get everything back, including our remains." Reed: "It's ironic, giving our lives to protect people who want to kill us." Archer: "It's a big planet, Malcolm. I'm sure they're not all like that." Reed: "I'm not afraid, sir." Archer: "What if we did tell them the truth?" Reed: "You said it yourself, Captain. They'd never believe us." Archer: "If we show them to the shuttlepod, bring the General up to Enterprise, give him the grand tour, top it off with dinner in the Captain's mess. We'd probably all have a good laugh over how he almost sent us to the gallows. I've gotten plenty of lectures on cultural contamination, but T'Pol never mentioned anything about sacrificing crewmen to prevent it." Reed: "If we did tell them who we are, maybe it would do them a world of good. Look what the Vulcans did for Earth." Archer: "That was different. These people haven't even split the atom yet. The Vulcans waited until we were ready, until we had the ability to travel to other stars. We're doing the right thing, Malcolm." [Enterprise: Season 2: The Communicator]

in their detention cell, Reed and Archer realise they must die rather than reveal their true extraterrestrial nature to the planet's natives

As they are led to the gallows, Trip and the others struggle to get the cell-ship cloaked in the air. They are pursued by military aircraft, but the ship cloaks at the last second, and they manage to land at the site of the complex just in time to save Archer and Reed. Archer retrieves Enterprise's technology, and the crewmembers pile into the still-cloaked cell-ship just in time. As the door closes and the cell-ship leaves, it seems to vanish into thin air before Gosis' unbelieving eyes.

about to be hanged, rescue, retrieval of evidence, escape into the cell-ship

Once onboard, Archer thanks T'Pol for taking a risk to save his life. She notes that even though they managed to retrieve the technology, they have contaminated a pre-warp culture. She is, however, impressed that the captain was willing to sacrifice his life to protect an entire alien race. As for Trip, his arm has rematerialised and is visible again, except for one small hole.

Archer: "What's important is that we got everything back: the communicator, the phase pistol, the shuttlepod. We could've done a lot of damage to those people if we'd left any of it behind." T'Pol: "We did do damage to those people." Archer: "We've changed their perception of the Alliance." T'Pol: "They now believe their enemy is capable of creating genetically-enhanced soldiers, not to mention particle weapons. " Archer: "And thanks to that Suliban ship, they also think the Alliance has developed invisible aircraft." T'Pol: "You don't have to leave technology behind to contaminate a culture. You were willing to sacrifice your life to protect them. I would not have expected that." [Enterprise: Season 2: The Communicator]

DISCUSSION: This story explores Prime Directive issues at a time before the Prime Directive is formally drafted. Awaiting execution, Reed and Archer reach the same conclusions as those inferred by what will be the Prime Directive in the future. They are also willing to die to uphold those principles. The willingness to die will later be enshrined in the Starfleet oath ref. [TOS: The Omega Glory], [TNG: Who Watches The Watchers]. A major point is made by Archer and T'Pol together, summarised by T'Pol: "You don't have to leave technology behind to contaminate a culture." This story is, very probably deliberately, a reference to the end of [TOS: A Piece Of The Action] in which McCoy confesses he must have accidentally left his communicator in the office of Bela Oxmyx, one of the Iotian gang bosses. In that story, the crew of the Enterprise NCC-1701 do not return to the planet to try to retrieve it. It raises the interesting point that, if Kirk had tried to retrieve McCoy's communicator, would it just have drawn attention to the device, even assuming that the Iotians had found it? For the discovery of Reed's communicator leads to a trap being laid for anyone returning to try and retrieve it.

NOTES: Francis Guinan, who plays General Gosis, also plays the Banean Minister in [#8 Ex Post Facto]. Reed and Archer pretend to be genetically-enhanced carrying advanced prototype equipment, in order to prevent Gosis from suspecting them of being extraterrestrials. In doing so they breach one of the most basic rules for captured secret agents, with contamination results as Archer later realises: "We've changed their perception of the Alliance." Agents of the S.O.E. (Special Operations Executive) during World War II, were briefed that, if captured, it was far better to say nothing than to lie. For instance, if you lied that an attack would occur on the 10th when it was really due on the 5th, you might protect the attackers on the 5th but, what if, unknown to you Allied High Command had also organised an attack for the 10th? Obviously AHC would not tell you about the 10th unless it was relevant, but by lying you jeopardise that attack as the enemy might be more alert and maybe draft in more troops, thereby putting the lives of your own side at more risk. In this situation, however, the situation is grave anyway, with the alternatives being "they're aliens" or "they're dangerous super-soldiers" or "they're mysteries" - any or all of which are likely to cause some kind of panic. The middle option could well have been the best, since the military and the government would keep the information classified, but the contamination would still exist in that they now believe they must contend with advanced kinds of soldiers and equipment. The Enterprise crew are also lucky that no one found their shuttlepod, as either the military would eventually get hold of it (whether to fear it or reproduce it in an arms race against the Alliance), or else an individual might build an industrial empire based on future technology......as with Henry Starling in [#50 and #51 Future's End]. Another outcome is that the fear of facing superior technology might lead the Alliance's enemy to sue for peace, so that the war that was imminent when the landing party first visited the planet might never happen.

 

 

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