THE PRIME DIRECTIVE

STORIES INVOLVING THE PRIME DIRECTIVE

[TNG: Season 1: Symbiosis]

SUMMARY: Upon discovering that a symbiotic relationship between two races is actually that of a drug dealer's exploitation of a drug addict, Picard comes up with an ingenious solution and one which keeps both to the letter and the spirit of the Prime Directive.

In 2364, the Enterprise-D visits the star Delos as it undergoes a period of large-scale magnetic field changes. The crew pick up a confusing distress call from a disabled Ornaran freighter in the system. The freighter is travelling from Brekka to Ornara. Only four of its six passengers are beamed away to safety in time because the crew insist on sending over the cargo first. Not only that, but the survivors show no remorse or sense of loss regarding the two dead but are concerned only with the cargo.

in an Enterprise-D cargo bay, the surviving passengers from the freighter gather round the cargo, and their bickering is witnessed by Riker and Yar; left to right: Riker, Yar, two Brekkians, two Ornarans

The survivors are from two neighbouring worlds. Two are from Brekka (named Langor and Romas), and two are from Ornara (named Sobi and T'Jon). According to the survivors, the cargo is felicium, a drug grown and processed only on Brekka, which cures a plague that has existed on Ornara for 200 years. All Ornarans have the plague and would die without an injection of felicium every few days. A symbiotic relationship has grown up between the Brekkians and the Ornaras — the Brekkians have no industry except for the growing and processing of felicium, while the Ornarans provide the Brekkians with everything they need or want.

Picard agrees to transport cargo, the Brekkians and the Ornarans to Ornara. Because damaged coils were the problem in the disabled freighter and similarly damaged coils are in the engines of the remaining Ornaran freighters, the Ornarans request replacement coils from the Federation on arrival at Ornara.

A crisis develops as the Brekkians refuse delivery of the felicium until they receive payment, while the Ornarans protest that their payment was destroyed with the freighter and they cannot afford to pay again. The latter are now haggard and shaking with the onset of plague symptoms. Picard mediates and persuades the Brekkians to allow the two Ornarans one dose of the felicium apiece to prevent them from dying.

the Ornarans, fearing imminent death from plague, appeal to Picard; he speaks to the Brekkians who allow them a dose apiece

However, Dr Crusher witnesses the felicium injections and realises that the "cure" is actually a narcotic. In fact, the Ornaran plague did occur 200 years before but was cured with the medication felicium from the planet Brekka, but felicium has powerfully addictive narcotic effects, with the result that all Ornarans became addicted to the drug. The people of Brekka have been exploiting the situation in the centuries since, selling felicium to the Ornarans for a high price, while concealing from them the fact that the drug is no longer needed to control the plague. The Brekkians have even been making the felicium more concentrated in order to strengthen the Ornaran addiction. Generations of drug addiction has resulted in loss of intelligence and technical knowledge, which is why the Ornarans no longer have the ability to maintain the interplanetary freighters they utilise for transporting felicium from Brekka.

the felicium plus dosage-measuring device and injection unit; the Ornarans get 'high' after injecting themselves, observed by Crusher

Eventually the Brekkians inform Picard and Crusher that, out of compassion, they will give this particular felicium cargo to the Ornarans. But Picard and Crusher tells them they know the secret of the felicium, and that the Brekkians' motive is less driven by compassion than by profit, for if the Brekkians go without felicium long enough they will cease to be addicted and the symbiotic relationship would end. Crusher appeals to Picard to inform the Ornarans about the true nature of felicium, but he says that as soon as the Brekkians decided to donate the felicium his hands were tied, under Prime Directive considerations, and the Brekkians are pleased at the way this works out in their favour.

Langor: "Are you going to tell them?" Picard: "No. I'm bound by the rules of the United Federation of Planets which orders me not to interfere with other worlds, other cultures. If I were to tell them any of this, I would violate that Prime Directive." Romas: "But you are talking to us about it." Picard: "This is information you already know and so nothing has changed." Langor: "If you can't interfere, then you're going to allow the Ornarans to have the felicium?" Picard: "Yes, I am." Crusher to Picard: "No! Don't do it. Jean-Luc, this is not a symbiotic relationship; this is exploitation pure and simple! The Brekkians have caused all of this hardship only to make their pitiful lives easier, and all of it based on a lie. No, deny them this shipment. It is the least we can do." Picard to Crusher: "From the moment they agreed to give them the felicium, my hands were tied." Langor: "You are absolutely right, Captain. It's not your business." [TNG: Season 1: Symbiosis]

On arrival at Ornara, Picard comes to see off his guests along with their felicium cargo. He informs the Ornarans of the Brekkians' "generosity" in donating the felicium and the grateful Ornarans promise to make an arrangement to pay the Brekkians later. All that remains is for the Ornarans to collect the replacement engine coils they expect to receive from Picard. But Picard refuses to give the Ornarans the replacement coils, citing the non-interference principle of the Prime Directive, and the Brekkians are far from pleased to find the Prime Directive now working against them. It means that eventually the felicium trade will fail, which in turn means that, although the Ornarans will suffer withdrawal symptoms, they will lose their addiction.

Picard: "The coils stay here." Sobi: "What about our freighters?" Picard: "If you want to repair them, you're going to have to learn to do it yourselves." T'Jon: "If you don't help us, our ships will soon be inoperable." Picard: "Quite possibly." Romas: "If you withhold those coils, you will be disrupting the stability of both our planets." Langor: "And interfering with a trade agreement that has lasted for generations. What of your Prime Directive?" Picard: "In this situation the Prime Directive prohibits me from helping you." Romas: "That's absurd!" Picard: "You did not think so when it worked in your favour." [TNG: Season 1: Symbiosis]

Picard: "Beverly, the Prime Directive's not just a set of rules; it is a philosophy, and a very correct one. History's proved again and again that wherever Mankind interferes with a less developed civilisation, no matter how well intentioned that interference may be, the results are invariably disastrous." Crusher: "It's hard to be philosophical when faced with suffering." Picard: "Believe me, Beverly, there was ever only one decision." Crusher: "I just hope it was the right one." Picard: "And we may never know." [TNG: Season 1: Symbiosis]

DISCUSSION: Picard deals with the situation in masterly fashion without breaking the letter or, as important, the spirit of the Prime Directive. He achieves this through his interpretation of "non-interference". Previously he was willing to give the Ornarans the engine coils to repair their remaining planetary freighters, but after learning of the narcotics situation he declines to do so. His solution sends an implicit warning to the Brekkians to deal with their impending crisis. Ideally, if the Brekkians are realistic, they will make another arrangement with the Ornarans so that both societies become independent of each other but hopefully still engaged in some form of trade and friendly relations. It is interesting to speculate whether the Brekkians would reveal the truth to the Ornarans, thus risking huge resentment maybe war, or find a more diplomatic but less truthful way forward. Both civilisations could ask for Federation aid in providing therapy for a whole population of Ornarans suffering 'cold turkey', whose suffering Picard does not really appreciate, and for aid in helping both civilisations adjust to their new circumstances. It is likely that after they cease to be addicts, the Ornarans will develop or previously repressed innate intelligence and skills (years ago I witnessed work with former drug addicts; one of them made for me the most beautiful drawing, which I retained for years but have somehow lost, upon their regaining after addiction the mindset and inclination to move forward with their drawing talent). Considering the Brekkians' deliberate exploitation of the Ornarans, and done over centuries, the Brekkians might seem to get off lightly. A scenario possibly not foreseen by the scriptwriters nor therefore by Picard is that the desperate Ornarans learn how to repair their freighters. Earlier Enterprise personnel informed them what was wrong with their engines whereas previously they had not really known. But that is the "risk" one takes when implementing the Prime Directive. However, the television viewer is inclined to think as Picard does (he is the hero), i.e. that the Ornarans will lose their addiction.

NOTES: Although the Brekkians come from Brekka, which might make the inhabitants Brekkans rather than Brekkians, but I follow the way it is pronounced on screen, Encyclopaedia and TNG Companion, all of which use "i" in the word. 'Felicium' is a clever name, which derives from 'felix', Latin for 'lucky'. In ancient Rome, 'felix' meant more than our modern-day idea of 'lucky', and had strong religious overtones. Literary heroes or real-life celebrities would be described as 'felix' to indicate favoured by the gods i.e. a good guy, a fortunate guy. Margan, the Ornaran leader, is played by Kenneth Tigar but he did not receive a credit on screen. The actor also plays the Nyrian named Dammar in [#66 Displaced]. Tasha Yar, played by Denise Crosby, dies in the story [TNG: Skin Of Evil], but as stories are not necessarily filmed in star date order, her real last scene occurs in the cargo bay in which the Ornarans, the Brekkians and the felicium are beamed down to Ornara and Picard makes veiled reference to the fact that, by refusing to provide engine coils, he is engineering an end to the Brekkians' exploitation of the Ornarans. Crosby can be seen waving farewell wildly as the corridors close behind Picard and Crusher when they exit the cargo bay. Delos was a small (under 2 square miles) but important island in ancient Greece. Being an important religious centre, it was made the site of the treasury maintained and guarded by Athens for the Delian League. The League was an alliance of the Greek city-states ('city-state' is the historians' standard translation for polis) opposed to the Persian Empire's ambition to annex them. The League remained true to its ideals with one state one vote being scrupulously honoured, but its principles lasted only 478-477 BC. Athens, which held the treasury, provided the military forces commander and determined each state's contribution, rose to superpower on the back of the League, and began to treat its members less as equal allies than as subjects. Athens relocated (appropriated) the Delian League's treasury to Athens. Attempts to secede from the League were bloodily repressed, e.g. at Thasos, with the worst instance of Athenian imperialism occurring in 415 BC on the island of Melos when the Athenians executed all the men and sold all the women and children as slaves. ('The Melian Dialogue' is a famous and interesting, if clinical, read comprising the philosophical "arguments" of the Melian envoys in discussion with the Athenians beforehand.) Delos came to symbolise Athens' tyranny and therefore, I believe, is an interesting choice of name as the star featured in this story; it is likely that the scriptwriters were aware of ancient Delos as each Star Trek series employs a company to research names in order to avoid possible conflicts (the one employed for [Voyager] was Joan Pearce Associates). Some commentators see a parallel between the Delian League and worldwide events in the 20th/21st century. One of the addicted Ornarans, named T'Jon, is played by Merritt Butrick (misspelled in the story's credits as Merrit), who also plays James T. Kirk's son in the films.

 

 

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