THE PRIME DIRECTIVE

MAIN DISCUSSION

FIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

Hoshi, of Mankind's First Contact with Vulcans: "Why Montana? Of all the places the Vulcans could have landed they chose Bozeman, Montana." T'Pol: "Humanity's first warp drive was developed there. It seemed a logical place to begin." Hoshi: "Well, how did they know it wouldn't alarm other nations? An alien species makes contact with the United States. It could've made a lot of other countries nervous." T'Pol: "What's your point?" Hoshi: "It seems to me that we're going to run into similar problems. We get invited to dinner, and before you know it we're accused of taking sides in a war." T'Pol: "Contacting new worlds always involves unexpected risks. The [Vulcan] High Command has very specific protocols regarding planetary conflicts. Eventually Captain Archer will have to create some directives of his own." Later, T'Pol: "Decisions to get involved in the conflicts of other worlds should be left to governments, and not starship captains." Archer: "I know. The irony is I have the feeling his cause is worth fighting for." [Enterprise: Season 1: Desert Crossing]

In [Enterprise: Desert Crossing], Captain Archer declines a request by Zobral to assist his people militarily against their oppressors. It is logical to assume that, based on the adventures of the NX-01 Enterprise crew under Archer, Starfleet would not be content to leave policy decisions to individual Starfleet captains but would eventually drew up formal regulations about its personnel having dealings with planets experiencing factional conflict. Starfleet would be likely to do so as planetary conflicts have implications for the Prime Directive, and specifically for First Contact protocols. The Prime Directive would seem to apply i.e. non-interference, although sometimes Starfleet encourages peace initiatives thereby contrary to the non-interference directive. Where there is a war situation, therefore, it would seem to negate the Prime Directive, and however Starfleet personnel get involved it would seem they are permitted to choose to take sides based on their own assessment of the situation. Given Starfleet principles, however, any interference is usually to encourage the embattled sides to make peace. In [TOS: A Private Little War], rather than reveal to the Klingons the Enterprise's secret presence at Tyree's planet and consult Starfleet on the planetary situation, Kirk opts to retain the advantage of secrecy and makes the decision himself; his decision sets in motion an arms race; Kirk does not seem to have been disciplined. Kirk disregards or imaginatively re-interprets the Prime Directive to encourage the warring sides towards peace on several planets e.g. in [TOS: A Taste Of Armageddon] Kirk brings Eminiar VII and Vendikar to the brink of all-out old-fashioned bloody war in order to make them realise they want to make peace, and he imposes peace upon the Iotians in [TOS: A Piece Of The Action].

The situation is complicated further by the fact that there appears to be no formal wording (or complete wording as some seems to be quoted in [TNG: Bread And Circuses]) throughout the evolution of the Prime Directive as regards whether and how personnel can deal with only one side in a conflict (and a conflict may have more than two sides) for peaceful pursuits such as trading. Examples:

Example 1: In [#28 Resistance], Janeway contacts one side in a conflict, though there is no officially declared state of war. She is secretly in contact with the Alsaurians in order to purchase tellerium, which is vitally needed for Voyager's engines. The Voyager crew know or heavily suspect that their presence and their contact with the Alsaurians would be viewed with great displeasure by the ruling Mokra Order; Chakotay asks for the status of the ship's shields: "I don't want to leave the ship defenceless this close to a hostile planet." The away team members are not, and should not be, surprised by the treatment they receive from the Mokra Order when they are arrested. In fact, they resisted arrest, firing phasers at the Mokra soldiers. The Mokra Order can and do consider the team's action meddlesome and sinister, albeit that the Mokra Order is an oppressive military regime, but could have decided to execute the captured away team members, who were not in Starfleet uniform; Earth's 20th century Geneva Convention, if applied, would not protect them.

Example 2: In [#61 Rise], what starts out as Voyager aiding Nezu colonists to destroy asteroids which are bombarding a colony planet turns into Voyager protecting the Nezu colonists against an attempted invasion by the Etanian Order.

Example 3: In [#91 Living Witness], Janeway agrees a trade deal with the Vaskan ambassador, and is naive to think that the Kyrians, who are on the brink of war with the Vaskans, would not be suspicious.

In [#28 Resistance], the tellerium is desperately needed for Voyager's engines, but in [#91 Living Witness] Janeway would have done better to pass up the opportunity and trade elsewhere. As captain, it is her responsibility to assess potential difficulties caused by her actions, but she cannot know that Voyager's involvement with the Vaskans will lead to centuries of conflict, resentment and mistrust between the Vaskans and the Kyrians.

SUMMARY

The Prime Directive can be suspended, at least unofficially, by Starfleet personnel in the field, for the following reasons:

1. To obtain medical supplies or engine parts etc. from one side in a war or state of war or imminent war.
2. To protect the underdog e.g. a species living in poor conditions apparently suffering under an oppressive military regime.