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THE PRIME DIRECTIVE

with emphasis on [Star Trek: Voyager]		United Federation of Planets

 

STORIES INVOLVING THE PRIME DIRECTIVE

[TOS: Season 1: A Taste Of Armageddon]

SUMMARY: Two planets that use computers to wage war and enforce suicide to meet the quotas of "casualties" are compelled by Kirk to make peace after 500 years, when he refuses to sacrifice the Enterprise and her crew as casualties.

In 2267, as per Starfleet orders, the Enterprise arrives at the planet Eminiar VII, located in star cluster NGC-321. On board is Ambassador Robert Fox, whose mission is to open diplomatic relations. The Eminians issue Starfleet Code 7-10 which is interstellar code prohibiting a spacecraft from approaching a planet. But Fox orders the Enterprise to proceed. Kirk and Spock beam down with a landing party and are cordially received by Mea 3 and escorted to the Council Chamber. There, Anan 7, leader of the High Council, expresses concern that Kirk's insisted on arriving despite the warning, because they are at war with Vendikar, a neighbouring planet; Vendikar was originally settled by people from Eminiar VII, but they turned against their homeworld.


Kirk and the landing party arrive on Eminiar VII and are met by Mea 3 who brings them to meet Anan 7 in the council chamber

Suddenly Vendikar launches an attack and the councillors hurry into the adjacent war room which contains a computer system and a large map on which hits are registered. But tricorder and starship scans show no signs of warlike activity such as radiation. Afterwards Anan 7 reports that the attack was severe, with half a million people killed, and launches a counter-attack. Spock realises that the entire attack was carried out via computer. Anan 7 confirms that the entire war is fought this way, and has been for the past 500 years. The Eminian and Vendikar computers are connected to each other via subspace radio link, and they calculate and launch the attacks mathematically. Both civilisations have developed fusion bombs, which are weapons of mass destruction that generate a massive nuclear explosion from the fusion of hydrogen isotopes into helium. Mathematical simulations of fusion bombs, mathematically simulating fusion bombs materialised over their targets. In this computer-based conflict, any citizens declared as 'casualties' voluntarily report to disintegration stations so that their deaths could be recorded.

Spock: "Computers, Captain. They fight their war with computers, totally."
Anan 7: "Yes, of course."
Kirk: "Computer don't kill a half million people."
Anan 7: "Deaths have been registered. Of course they have 24 hours to report."
Kirk: "To report?"
Anan 7: "To our disintegration machines. You must understand, Captain, we have been at war for five hundred years. Under ordinary conditions, no civilisation could withstand that. But we have reached a solution."
Kirk: "Then the attack by Vendikar was theoretical."
Anan 7: "Oh, no, quite real. An attack is mathematically launched. I lost my wife in the last attack. Our civilisation lives. The people die, but our culture goes on."
Kirk: "You mean to tell me your people just walk into a disintegration machine when they're told to?"
Anan 7: "We have a high consciousness of duty, Captain."
Spock: "There is a certain scientific logic about it."
Anan 7: "I'm glad you approve."
Spock: "I do not approve. I understand."

Anan 7 regretfully reports that the Enterprise has been declared "destroyed", by a tricobalt explosive, and he orders the landing party confined as hostages, expecting the Enterprise crew to report to the Eminian disintegration chambers. 50 years previously, in 2217, the crew of the USS Valiant were declared casualties and complied with the suicide order.


the attack by Vendikar is conducted via computers on Eminiar VII and Vendikar via subspace connection; tricorder scans reveal no sign of fusion bombs; Eminian guards detain Kirk upon Anan 7 announcing that the Enterprise has been declared destroyed

In confinement quarters, Mea 3 explains to Kirk that she has been declared a casualty, and when Kirk protests she argues that if she refused to report to a disintegration chamber then Vendikar would launch real weapons, obliging Eminiar VII to do the same and then there would be real war, i.e. by using computers they avoid the horror of a conventional war.


Mea 3 explains why she will report to a disintegration chamber

Anan 7 and the rest of the High Council are responsible for enforcing the casualty quotas. He imitates Kirk's voice and orders Scott to transport all the crew to Eminiar VII for shore leave, but Scott tumbles the ruse, whereupon Eminiar VII opens fire with disruptors on the Enterprise.

Spock uses a Vulcan mind-meld technique to help the landing party escape from detention. He and Kirk prevent Mea 3 and several others from entering disintegration chamber 12, which they put out of action. The fact of the chamber's disfunction is instantly relayed to the council chamber.


disintegration chamber 12 in action; Kirk waylays Mea 3 en route to the chamber; Kirk puts the chamber out of action

Anan 7 convinces Fox his attack on the Enterprise was a mistake and the pair arrange to meet and establish diplomatic relations, but Anan 7 gives the order that as soon as the Enterprise's screens are down to open fire. Not trusting Anan 7, Scott risks his career when he resists Fox's direct order to lower the screens. Fox beams down anyway and Anan 7 orders him taken to a disintegration chamber.


Fox (in the right of the lefthand picture) and his aide are deceived by Anan 7 and forcibly taken to a disintegration chamber


Kirk is held prisoner in the council chamber		Kirk visits Anan 7 wanting to know where the confiscated communicators are kept. Anan 7 explains that the war is conducted by computers so that, though individuals die, the civilisation's infrastructure and therefore the civilisation itself survives undamaged. Guards overcome Kirk and he is taken to the Council Chamber. When Anan 7 opens a channel to the Enterprise, Kirk manages to shout the order to Scott to implement General Order 24 in two hours i.e. destroy the planet.

The landing party put another disintegration chamber out of action and rescue Fox. Meanwhile Kirk seizes control of the Council Chamber, and Spock arrives.


Fox thanks Spock for rescuing him; Spock, Enterprise security guards disguised as Eminians and Fox enter the council chamber to find Kirk

Kirk destroys the computer system. Severance of the link abrogates the Eminian agreement with Vendikar, and Kirk informs the horrified Eminians that they now have a real war on their hands.


Kirk and Spock locate the main system to destroy, and Kirk phasers it, severing the link between Eminiar VII and Vendikar


Anan 7: "You realise what you have done?"
Kirk: "Yes, I do. I've given you back the horrors of war. The Vendikans now assume that you've broken your agreement and that you're preparing to wage real war with real weapons. They'll want do the same. Only the next attack they launch will do a lot more than count up numbers in a computer. They'll destroy cities, devastate your planet. You of course will want to retaliate. If I were you, I'd start making bombs. Yes, Councilman, you have a real war on your hands. You can either wage it with real weapons.....or you might consider an alternative - put an end to it, make peace."
Anan 7: "There can be no peace. Don't you see? We've admitted it to ourselves. We're a killer species. It's instinctive. It's the same with you. Your General Order 24...."
Kirk: "Alright. It's instinctive. But the instinct can be fought. We're human beings with the blood of a million savage years on our hands, but we can stop it. We can admit that we're killers, but we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes. Knowing that we won't kill today. Contact Vendikar. I think you'll find that they're just as terrified, appalled, horrified as you are, that they'll do anything to avoid the alternative I've given you. Peace or utter destruction - it's up to you."
Ambassador Fox to Anan 7: "As a third party interested only in peace and the establishment of normal relations, I should be glad to offer my services as negotiator between you and Vendikar. I've had some small experiences in such matters."

Kirk tells Anan 7 that they do have an alternative - make peace. Appalled at the thought of a real war, Anan 7 accepts Fox's offer to act as a disinterested party in the peace negotiations. The landing party returns to the Enterprise and to news from Fox that the outlook is hopeful.

DISCUSSION:
  1. Kirk breaches the letter of the Prime Directive but he originally took the Enterprise to Eminiar VII under Starfleet orders to attain a Federation objective (diplomatic relations) and he achieves both the objective and the saving of his crew's lives.
  2. It is easy to forget, in the excitement and drama of this story while it is being brought vividly to life on the television screen that the crew of the USS Valiant in 2217 are heroes just as much as Kirk, for they gave their lives to uphold their ideals.

NOTES:
  1. In [Star Trek VII: Generations], the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-B responded to a distress call from two El-Aurian starships. One ship was identified on the computer readout screen on the science officer's console of the Enterprise-B Bridge as the S.S. Robert Fox, for the Federation ambassador in [TOS: A Taste of Armageddon]. The name was suggested by the film's co-writer Ronald D. Moore.
  2. Starfleet Code 7-10 is still in force after 50 years. The only way the Eminians could have known about it was from the USS Valiant. No mention is made that the code is out-of-date.
  3. Blooper: Kirk and the rest of the landing party are not included in the casualty figures which "killed" Mea 7. But during the "attack" which "killed" her, she is standing next to them. The weapons are fusion bombs materialised over their targets and as such do not discriminate. Logically, the landing party was "killed" as well. In the Eminiar-Vendikar war, there are no injured, just "killed".
  4. The Enterprise is declared destroyed as the result of the mathematically-calculated computer-launched attack by Vendikar, being based upon a simulation of a tricobalt satellite. In 2371, in [#2 Caretaker, Part Two], Captain Janeway employs several tricobalt devices to destroy the Caretaker's Array, to prevent the Kazon-Ogla from gaining control of the station and the advanced technology within it. Recorded footage of the Array's destruction and discussion of the means of its destruction occur in [#129 The Voyager Conspiracy]. In 2267, Arne Darvin used a tiny tricobalt explosive device hidden in a tribble in an attempt to murder Captain James Kirk, [DS9: Trials And Tribble-ations].
  5. Blooper: Scott refuses to lower the shields (which are usually called "screens" in the story) to enable Ambassador Fox to transport to the planet surface. During the conversation between himself and Fox, Anan 7 interrupts contact to order that disruptors be fired on the Enterprise as soon as the shields are down. Not long afterwards, Fox transports anyway, but there is no mention of an attack on the Enterprise during transport.
  6. Blooper: The same matte painting and set used in this story will be re-used later in [TOS: Season 3: Wink Of An Eye] to represent the remains of the Scalosian civilisation.
  7. Eminiar VII and Vendikar are located in Cluster NGC-321. NGC stands for New General Catalog of nebulae and star clusters. It is an actual list of objects visible from Earth, compiled in the late 19th century by astronomer J.L.E. Dreyer.

 

 

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