A Taste of Armageddon - TNG era

[Lord Falcon]

Ok, recently I was watching that old TOS episode, A Taste of Armageddon, the one where people report to disintegration machines in a computerized war, and I was wondering: What if that took place in the time of TNG? What if Kirk had decided NOT to follow Fox's orders and didn't go to Eminiar VII? And then, a century later, Picard and the Enterprise-D were ordered there? What would happen? Kirk and Picard come from two different eras; the Starfleet in Kirk's era didn't break the Prime Directive all the time, but they didn't slavishly adhere to it either, to use Darth Wong's words. Ahhh, these were real men; they didn't want to fight, but they weren't afraid to defend themselves. I can totally see Picard saying "I respect your culture," and not wanting to judge when he SHOULD, but I can't envision him wanting or even letting his crews all walk to their deaths either. WHAT would he do?

[Stofsk]

He would be more diplomatic than Kirk was, but Kirk also beamed down to the planet as he recklessly does all the time, and thus was captured (along with Spock and the rest of the landing party). In TNG, this alone wouldn't happen, instead Picard would be onboard the Enterprise while the away team would be taken captive.

In all likelihood Picard would attempt to negotiate while simultaneously have Worf or whoever plan a rescue. If given the choice to watch his away team get murdered or intervene in violation of the prime directive, Picard would intervene. We see this in 'Justice'. Whether Picard does something to halt the war is more debatable. More than likely Data and Geordie will come up with some technobabble solution to the conflict. But I can't see Picard threatening to destroy the planet in retaliation for the capture of a handful of his crew, even if it's a bluff. If it were Sisko? Hell Sisko did that and more in 'For the Uniform', with less justification. Picard though would offer the olive branch over the clenched fist; that's just who he is.

[Lord Helmet]

He would be more diplomatic than Kirk was, but Kirk also beamed down to the planet as he recklessly does all the time, and thus was captured (along with Spock and the rest of the landing party). In TNG, this alone wouldn't happen, instead Picard would be onboard the Enterprise while the away team would be taken captive.

In all likelihood Picard would attempt to negotiate while simultaneously have Worf or whoever plan a rescue. If given the choice to watch his away team get murdered or intervene in violation of the prime directive, Picard would intervene. We see this in 'Justice'. Whether Picard does something to halt the war is more debatable. More than likely Data and Geordie will come up with some technobabble solution to the conflict. But I can't see Picard threatening to destroy the planet in retaliation for the capture of a handful of his crew, even if it's a bluff. If it were Sisko? Hell Sisko did that and more in 'For the Uniform', with less justification. Picard though would offer the olive branch over the clenched fist; that's just who he is.

As far as i remember the Enterprise was considered destroyed with all hands by the computer game at one point so this would likely allow picard to justify dealing with the situation along with messing up the game as a result, perhaps not in the same way Kirk did but he would likely seek a solution.

[Eternal_Freedom]

That is true, I think even the most diehard Prime Directive wankers would have a hard time justifying inaction when they have already been involved through no fault of their own.

And then the Eminians or whatever they are called attack the Enterprise. Justification enough methinks.

There is of course another possibility. With such a focus on the Prime Directive, the E-D may not even have gone ot Eminiaar, with Starfleet instead building a starbase elsewhere.

[Stofsk]

The prime directive is mainly there to deal with pre-warp civilisations. Advanced interplanetary civilisations tend to be overlooked. However, there is still a non-interference rule of thumb for Starfleet in dealing with other people's internal matters. So that's the way the PD would apply here, but Picard has only violated it several times through the course of the show that really it's a matter of circumstance than a rock hard rule. In the case of his away team being taken captive and his ship falling under attack I can see Picard doing what's best for his ship and crew.

[Patrick Degan]

He would be more diplomatic than Kirk was, but Kirk also beamed down to the planet as he recklessly does all the time, and thus was captured (along with Spock and the rest of the landing party).

In judging the "recklessness" of Kirk's actions, what has to be kept in mind is the Age of Sail metaphor which guided the writing of TOS. It was common for ship's captains to personally lead landing missions in that era (one very famous example being John Paul-Jones leading the raiding party on the estate of the Earl of Selkirk on St. Mary's Isle, Scotland, in 1778 during the American Revolutionary War); also to make contact with native peoples as did Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, the Comte de LaPerouse and James Cook. On this occasion, Kirk was first beaming down to Eminiar to assess whether or not it was safe for Ambassador Fox to beam down to begin his negotiations. As a Starfleet captain, charged as a sort of ambassador-without-portfolio, Kirk was also making the first official contact with the Eminian government so he was acting in a diplomatic capacity, which was part of his commission. It was Fox who was the reckless one, stupidly beaming down to Eminiar in the face of all that had occurred since Kirk's departure, as we know. Kirk's actions are reckless as we conceive the modern role of a warship captain but not so much so from the standpoint of the Age of Sail metaphor.

[Stofsk]

I know that TOS was a metaphor for the age of sail (in SPAAACE), but I wouldn't call those real-life examples any less reckless just because back then it was the thing to do.

[Lord Falcon]

Scenario: Picard rescues all his crew members, then what? Does he leave Eminiar VII to start building real weapons or interfere. Once his officers are back, this once again becomes "an internal matter between alien powers," so most likely he wouldn't intervene. He didn't plan to intervene in "Homeward," and that's just off the top of my head. There are problably OTHERS where he doesn't intervene where it is logical not only to do so, but where it is DEMANDED. Thoughts?

[Stofsk]

He intervened in 'Devil's Due'. He intervened and petitioned SFC to intervene in the Klingon Civil War in 'Redemption part 2' (he didn't when Gowron's ship came under attack in part 1 though). He intervened when the Mintakans thought he was a god. There are other examples I'm sure, those are the ones off the top of my head.

[Uraniun235]

Remember that there are two forces acting on Kirk to motivate him to end the war:

1) He and his landing party had been captured, and they can't leave while the Enterprise is under threat from Eminiar's guns. Ending the war ends that threat.

2) They are on a mission to open a port in that system. Kirk specifically warns Fox near the beginning that approaching Eminiar, despite the warning, could entangle the Enterprise in a local war; Fox considers that an acceptable risk and orders Kirk to take the Enterprise in anyway.

Presumably, if we're to make the scenario equal, Picard would also have an ambassador on board ordering him around and complicating the situation.