Captain Ronald Tracey was responsible for a major and disastrous violation of the Prime Directive. In 2268 he was in command of the Federation starship USS Exeter. (This USS Exeter is the Constitution-class starship, Starfleet registry number NCC-1672, and should not to be confused with the USS Exeter that Tom Paris much later briefly served aboard). Captain Tracey violated the Prime Directive in 2268 at planet Omega IV when he used his phaser to protect one of the two warring factions against the other. Tracey sided with the Kohms and his intervention against their ancient enemies, the Yangs, whom Tracey considered savages. The incident was investigated by Captain James T. Kirk, commanding the USS Enterprise, in 2268. One of his crew, Starfleet security officer Lieutenant Galloway, is killed by Tracey during the investigation. Tracey tries to get Kirk to have beamed down ten more phasers plus three additional power packs for use against the Yangs.
Tracey points a phaser at Kirk and orders him to have his crew beam down more weapons The screenshots show the communicator closed/inactive and open/operational
Kirk states in his captain's log that in a star captain's oath he swears to give his life, those of his crew and even his ship, in order to uphold the Prime Directive. When Kirk tries to speak to his captor Tracey, he starts with the formal words of arrest, the charges being that Tracey has violated the Prime Directive, and Tracey partly finishes those words:
Kirk: "Ronald Tracey, as per Starfleet Command Regulation 7 Paragraph 4-"
Tracey interrupts: "I must now consider myself under arrest unless in the presence of the most senior fellow-officers presently available I give satisfactory answer to those charges which you now bring etcetera etcetera. Those were the first words duty required you to say to me, and you said them - you're covered. Now, suppose we go onto the next subject."
[TOS: Season 2: The Omega Glory]
Kirk and the rest of the landing party are captured by the Yangs. The former are astonished to discover that the latter have evolved a parallel culture to that of a particular period on Earth - "Yangs" equal "Yanks" and "Kohms" equal "Comms" i.e. Communists, and moreover the Yang worship a flag with the exact same appearance as the United States flag.
the Yangs' object of reverence is brought in, this being a flag identical in appearance to the flag of Earth's United States of America, - this is an unbelievable moment (both meanings intended)
Kirk is viewed by the Yangs, under their leader Cloud William, as a god, after Kirk declaims some of the Yangs' holy words about liberty and also defeats Tracey in a duel to the death. Sulu and two security guards beam down enabling Kirk to take control of the situation. Tracey, whose life Kirk has spared, is arrested. Meanwhile Kirk convinces Cloud William that he is not a god but a mortal man, yet takes advantage of his new high respect rating to instruct the Yangs to implement the words in the holy of holies, which happen to be the exact words of the United States Constitution, with the Kohms as well i.e. make peace with them. In the end, Kirk's first officer, Spock, queries whether Kirk's intervention is also an infringement of the Prime Directive.
Spock of Tracey: "There's no question about his guilt, Captain, but does our involvement here also constitute a violation of the Prime Directive?"
Kirk: "We merely showed them the meaning of what they were fighting for. Liberty and freedom have to be more than just words." To Spock and McCoy: "Gentlemen, the fighting's over here. I suggest we leave them to discover their history and their liberty."
[TOS: Season 2: The Omega Glory]
Tracey and Kirk duel; Kirk wins; Kirk, with Cloud William, discovers and reads the Yangs' holiest words, [TOS: The Omega Glory].
DISCUSSION:
The violation of the Prime Directive is, in this episode, clear-cut - Ronald Tracey intervenes on behalf of one warring faction against another (he supports the Kohms against the Yangs) and tips the balance of power through the use of superior Federation technology (his phaser and reserve power packs). This leads to the deaths of hundreds of Yangs, as well as a Starfleet security guard whom he phasers. He compounds the violation by trying to obtain by force more weapons from Kirk.
Tracey's crime is clear-cut but his motives, shorn of the action he took, are understandable - to unlock the secret of the Kohms' long lifespans in the hope of providing medical benefits to the Federation.
Often in [TOS] Prime Directive stories (and indeed in those of other Star Trek series), when deaths or murders occur as the result of a Prime Directive violation, it alters the case. The perpetrator of the violation pays the price in some way - John Gill and Merrick by death in [TOS: Patterns Of Force] and [TOS: Bread And Circuses] respectively. Here Tracey is merely taken into custody. Since the Federation abolished the death penalty centuries ago, except for General Order 7 imposing the death penalty for infringing the ban on visiting the planet Talos IV, ref. [TOS: The Menagerie], we know that Tracey is likely to be imprisoned and not executed.
Because Tracey's violation is clear-cut, the story moves on toward the remarkable discovery of the Yangs' development in parallel to a particular period of Earth's United States history.
Unless a violation such as Tracey's is allowed to continue, inevitably Kirk's intervention is also a violation of the Prime Directive as he has to interfere in order to extract Tracey and, what he should really do, is try to restore the balance of power before Tracey's interference. Kirk does not consider how he can correct Tracey's violation without himself interfering. However that is impossible and Kirk does what he feels is not only the best in the situation, but the better. Considering his view (and that of the television fans) that liberty is the highest ideal, he encourages the Yangs to grasp it, and moreover to extend it to the defeated Kohms. A major point here, which might otherwise be lost in the above paragraph, is that one violation of the Prime Directive most likely means a further one if attempts are made to rectify the original violation; but in [TNG] and [Voyager] there are instances when the steps taken to remedy the original violation are designed to at least minimise or even totally cover up any sign of interference at all - see regarding [TNG: Pen Pals] below.
NOTES:
In [TOS: Bread And Circuses], Kirk says that the planet, whose culture is a modern version of Earth's ancient Roman imperial society, is another example of Hodgkins' Law of Parallel Planet Development. This Law also neatly accounts for the close similarities of aspects of society on Omega IV to those in a certain period on Earth, although "Yangs" equal "Yanks", "Kohms" equal "Comms", an identical U.S. flag and identical wording to the U.S. Constitution really do strain credulity! The Law could also explain the similarity of the Ekosian society in [TOS: Patterns Of Force], although in that instance Federation cultural observer John Gill's influence played a large part in creating the similarity.
This episode contains some traditional elements of a [TOS] story:
a mystery or whodunnit (where have the crew of the USS Exeter gone?)
someone dies horribly (the Exeter's chief medical officer), killed by over-acting
an instance of red shirt syndrome - security officer Lieutenant Galloway although he, or rather actor David L. Ross, does not really die as he plays Lieutenant Johnson in [TOS: Day of the Dove]
a scantily-clad beautiful woman (preferably screaming)
a surprise denouement - the parallel culture resulting in, say, the U.S. flag
Kirk getting into a fight, though this is one of the stories in which he does NOT get his shirt torn during a fight (his shirt gets torn in [TOS: Where No Man Has Gone Before], [TOS: The Naked Time], [TOS: Miri], [TOS: Shore Leave], [TOS: Court Martial], [TOS: Amok Time], [TOS: The Gamesters Of Triskelion])
banter between Spock and McCoy
a very obvious message to the tv audience
For those interested in all aspects of Starfleet garb, one of the screenshots of the fight shows Kirk's undergarments - black top and white knickers.
Sulu appears in [#44 Flashback] as captain of the USS Excelsior in 2293.
