Starfleet Contingency Plans

[Baffalo]

With numerous threats to the security of the Federation from the Dominion, the Borg and numerous other threats, I'm quite sure Starfleet has a full set of contingency plans, no doubt ever since the Romulan Wars. The plans would no doubt change as the Federation's enemies and technology change, but what I'm interested to know is just what those plans might be.

For most threats, simple military muscle would be sufficient. The Dominion War may have bled Starfleet badly, but the fighting was mostly far removed from the heart of the Federation, the industrial might that kept the war going for so long. However, if the war reached Earth, no doubt the contingency plans would come into play. So what would those plans be? It would probably depend on the situation.

Planetary Invasion of Earth
In the event of a planetary invasion, the first course of action is to get the President and High Council to safety. They would either be moved to another location on Earth where they'd be safe, or if given enough time, to another world or starship. Given the response to the Borg, it's probable that Starfleet keeps a strong home fleet at all times, kept ready at the Utopia Planetia shipyards. The fleet would probably need to be destroyed or severely damaged to surrender Earth's space to any invader, so the incoming fleet would be severely damaged. The resulting invasion would proceed almost immediately, and we've seen that there aren't many shields around major military instillations given that the Breen attack yielded so much damage. Starfleet will have troops on the ground and will put up a resistance, but it will probably take the return of Starfleet in force to retake the planet.

Destruction of the Earth
In the event of the destruction of Earth, Starfleet will have one of two options. Earth has always been the de facto center of the Federation, and its loss would have profound ramifications for the Federation as a whole. As the Council becomes exiled trying to find a new place to set up shop, they must also deal with the force that destroyed Earth. If it was an enemy attack, they need to destroy the weapon before it can be unleashed again. If it's a natural force, they must ensure it doesn't affect other worlds. For humans, they have plenty of colonies to fall back on, but the loss of Earth will devastate the psyche of humans throughout the Federation. It might even shatter the illusion of paradise and completely change the lives of Federation citizens.

Annihilation of the Federation
The absolute worst case scenario would be the destruction of the Federation. An invasion from the Borg or Dominion or any other major power would be something very few would enjoy planning for. The question in this case becomes what to do. Preservation is preferable to extinction, but with the strict adherence to the Prime Directive, the decision might be a hard one to make. The only way to preserve the Federation would be obtaining all known data on the threat and proceeding into the past to deliver the data. If that happens, some idealized Federation officer might try to ignore the data, but when it contains data on how the Federation will be attacked and possibly destroyed, it's doubtful that anyone worth their commission will ignore the data. Having several ships ready to engage temporal drives at once would go a long way towards ensuring that even in the worst case scenario, the Federation still has a chance of survival.

[Darth Tanner]

but the fighting was mostly far removed from the heart of the Federation

Benzar and Betazed were occupied; I think their quite important worlds, although perhaps not in terms of industry.

given that the Breen attack yielded so much damage.

I would have thought the opposite, the damage to San Francisco appeared quite light, buildings were burned out and the bridge was badly damaged but compared to what the city would have looked like if a single nuke or a photon torpedo had gone then the Breen must have only been able to fire off some disruptors, either that or some cities off screen were vaped.

[Gandalf]

given that the Breen attack yielded so much damage.

I would have thought the opposite, the damage to San Francisco appeared quite light, buildings were burned out and the bridge was badly damaged but compared to what the city would have looked like if a single nuke or a photon torpedo had gone then the Breen must have only been able to fire off some disruptors, either that or some cities off screen were vaped.

Yeah, it was either really pissweak or more of a terror attack.

When the attack was referenced by the characters it wasn't about the damage it caused, but the audacity.

[SpaceMarine93]

I don't know if you guys see it as canon, but I heard that in Star Trek Destiny novel trilogy the Federation have several contingency plans in case the Borg tries to exterminate them once and for all: among them involves deploying illegal and insanely destructive Thalaron weaponry against the Borg, and evacuating as many people as possible to another galaxy. In the novel, Seven of Nine had concluded that even with such contingency plans, the Federation had next to no chance of victory against the Borg, if they could even survive at all. It took the Caeliers of Erigol to finally ended the Borg threat. By then, many of the major star systems were annihilated, 70 billion people are dead, 40% of Starfleet is gone, and even resident badass Captain Picard had been broken by the onslaught.

Even with contingency plans, I highly doubt that the Federation could survive threats that could destroy them with as much ease as the Borg.

[Steve]

It's not canon, though. If anything STO is closer to official Trek canon because CBS/Paramount has to give approval of all storylines.

And the UFP didn't lose "many" of its major systems, though it did take a severe pounding, with Risa and Deneva rendered uninhabitable - among a couple other worlds - and Andor and Vulcan suffering major damage.

Ah, Destiny.... it was a great book series, if only Mack hadn't succumbed to the Comic Book Magic Nullifying Adaptation that some people ascribe to the Borg. I was ready to throw the books down when the Borg wank-adapted to their new weapons... but then the ending, despite being a literal deus ex machina in a way, made me decide it was well worth it.

[The Romulan Republic]

I'm honestly not sure how willing to use time travel even in dire situations the Federation would be. They didn't use it even at the height of the Dominion War, or when a Borg Cube was right on top of Earth.

I image Section 31 might have some unethical, nasty backup plans lying around.

[Stofsk]

It's not canon, though.

This isn't a canon debate.

Ah, Destiny.... it was a great book series, if only Mack hadn't succumbed to the Comic Book Magic Nullifying Adaptation that some people ascribe to the Borg. I was ready to throw the books down when the Borg wank-adapted to their new weapons... but then the ending, despite being a literal deus ex machina in a way, made me decide it was well worth it.

Borg wank-adaptation isn't the problem. The problem is the borg have been a stupid threat ever since First Contact. Their motives in TNG were to roam the galaxy looking for technology, they weren't interested in conquest or political machinations. If they identify something they can use, they will go after it. From First Contact onwards, with the introduction of the Queen especially, the borg have been about going around and trying to conquer assimilate other species into their Collective. The motivation they used to have, that Q ascribed to them in their introduction, was quietly forgotten. I haven't seen the Voyager episodes but I suspect it's the same story there. But First Contact is bad enough when the plot of the movie hinges on going back in time to prevent the borg from assimilating earth before it developed into the Federation that they will encounter several centuries later. When earth doesn't have the kind of technology that would interest the borg. And furthermore, by assimilating earth so early, the borg would actually be preventing the research and development of the technology which would interest them.

I'm honestly not sure how willing to use time travel even in dire situations the Federation would be. They didn't use it even at the height of the Dominion War, or when a Borg Cube was right on top of Earth.

I image Section 31 might have some unethical, nasty backup plans lying around.

They didn't use time travel during BOBW probably because there was still a chance at preventing the cube from reaching or doing anything to earth. But if the Enterprise had failed, who's to say no Starfleet Captain wouldn't have pulled a Kirk to save the day? In FC well surprisingly it was the borg who used time travel anyway - which was pretty stupid in another way than from the above reply to Steve. If they were going to use time travel anyway, why didn't they just go back in time before alerting the rest of starfleet by sending a cube on a direct path to earth? They could have gone back to the 21st century in some other part of the galaxy, then warped over to earth and kill off Zephram Cochrane without ever giving advanced warning to anyone in the 24th century. Their cube wouldn't have been destroyed either. The only thing that gives it some semblance of sense is that the whole 'go back in time' thing was actually the borg's Plan B contingency. But it would be a very petty revenge style attack, because by assimilating earth back then all they're doing is preventing the Federation from rising. They don't really gain anything from it, none of the technology the Federation and Starfleet developed would be there, they'd just have 9 billion more mouths to feed so to speak.

Really FC destroyed any and all credibility the borg had as an existential threat to the Federation.

[Baffalo]

I'm honestly not sure how willing to use time travel even in dire situations the Federation would be. They didn't use it even at the height of the Dominion War, or when a Borg Cube was right on top of Earth.

I image Section 31 might have some unethical, nasty backup plans lying around.

I didn't include Section 31 because I have no doubt they WOULD have backup plans ready for whatever came at them. However, I was under the impression that Section 31 was broken. If I'm mistaken, I'm sorry. Section 31 always seemed to focus on external threats though, to protect the Federation. I'm sure they'd have a whole slew of contingency plans not only for taking out enemy powers or countering a major attack. I bet they're even cooking up ways to take out the Borg somehow.

[Cesario]

It's worth noting that we have seen time travel used deliberately when the Earth was going to be destroyed by a power they had no hope of stopping conventionally.

Sure, all they did was go grab some lost tech from the past to save the day, but they did use it.

[The Romulan Republic]

Okay, that's actually a fair point. Still, to be fair, that wasn't an officially sanctioned mission, was it? Just Kirk acting on his own initiative. But then again he received no disciplinary action: he was actually rewarded for it.

Edit: However, policies may have changed since Kirk's day.

[Baffalo]

Okay, that's actually a fair point. Still, to be fair, that wasn't an officially sanctioned mission, was it? Just Kirk acting on his own initiative. But then again he received no disciplinary action: he was actually rewarded for it.

Edit: However, policies may have changed since Kirk's day.

IIRC Earth's communications were being partially jammed by the energy of the Whale Probe, and it cut out at the end of their broadcast. Given that they were probably broadcasting at full power to try and cut through the interference. A transmission from a Klingon Bird of Prey would probably not be powerful enough without getting extremely close to Earth... wait a damn minute, they were in the solar system! That doesn't make any damned sense. Why would a Klingon ship be able to travel all the way through Federation space and get to the Solar System with absolutely no interception from Starfleet? The Enterprise was destroyed so there's no ship in range to intercept them? Congratulations! Earth is dead from a single resourceful warship. Good thing it wasn't a battle fleet!

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. It wasn't sanctioned and apparently his actions were enough to save the day. That probably earned him some decent cred with the brass. If anything it might have taught them that a contingency plan revolving around time travel might be possible. Keep a frigate or two on standby around Earth with secret orders only to be opened in the event of devastation to Earth. Or it might have been the catalyst for the Temporal Investigation group we saw in DS9: Trials and Tribblations, investigating temporal disturbances. They might be making sure that any trips to the past aren't going to screw with history without authority, since after all, the original view of the Prime Directive was a way to protect primitive species from contact with outside forces unless there was validation. The Temporal Prime Directive may be the same thing, given that Janeway seemed to be pretty dogmatic about it in the series finale of Voyager.

I'm wondering if perhaps many actions taken on behalf of Starfleet captains aren't simply overlooked if they have vast benefits for the Federation as a whole. The Admiral from Insurrection had the authority from the Council itself to remove the Baku because of the benefits to Starfleet medicine. Defending the Federation from destruction would go a long way towards forgiving any breeches of protocol and Starfleet directives. A captain would have to be very serious about any violations of the Starfleet Directives, but they have the know-how and authority to do so, if need be. That, or it might be on an Admiral's shoulders. Either way, I doubt someone with the know-how will just sit back and do nothing as their civilization is destroyed around them.

[FedRebel]

IIRC Earth's communications were being partially jammed by the energy of the Whale Probe, and it cut out at the end of their broadcast. Given that they were probably broadcasting at full power to try and cut through the interference. A transmission from a Klingon Bird of Prey would probably not be powerful enough without getting extremely close to Earth... wait a damn minute, they were in the solar system! That doesn't make any damned sense. Why would a Klingon ship be able to travel all the way through Federation space and get to the Solar System with absolutely no interception from Starfleet? The Enterprise was destroyed so there's no ship in range to intercept them? Congratulations! Earth is dead from a single resourceful warship. Good thing it wasn't a battle fleet!

1. The probe completely disabled ships in its path, including several Starfleet ships (no doubt assigned to defend Sector 001)

2. At the beginning of TVH they were tinkering with the BoP on Vulcan, it wouldn't be farfetched that Sarek got them a civilian or Vulcan diplomatic transponder, so that a Starfleet patrol doesn't destroy our heroes before they arrive on Earth for their Court Martial (and that several hundred ton plea bargain.)

[Baffalo]

1. The probe completely disabled ships in its path, including several Starfleet ships (no doubt assigned to defend Sector 001)

2. At the beginning of TVH they were tinkering with the BoP on Vulcan, it wouldn't be farfetched that Sarek got them a civilian or Vulcan diplomatic transponder, so that a Starfleet patrol doesn't destroy our heroes before they arrive on Earth for their Court Martial (and that several hundred ton plea bargain.)

1. While I can see some of the fleet being disabled by the probe, I don't see the entire fleet being knocked out. I'm starting to wonder if, when it came to earth during this time, the doctrine was to send the fleet out to intercept enemies rather than concentrate forces near Earth. It's similar to the policy of just about every nation, given that stationing an army in the capital only ties up an army needlessly. It's only in the TNG era that we see fleets being stationed at Earth around the clock. IIRC, the Saratoga was trying to intercept the probe while it was on its way to Earth, hinting that the Saratoga was assigned to be a quick interceptor for anything heading for Earth.

2. I can see that happening. They stole a ship that was slated for decommissioning anyway, went out and lost it, but happened to bring back a high-ranking officer who also happens to be the son of the Vulcan ambassador, and happen to also bring back a BoP. The technical data alone, not to mention having brought back the ship that destroyed two Federation ships, would certainly help the trial go more in their favor. The slap on the wrist they gave Kirk, knocking him back down to Captain, wasn't really a punishment at all. He wanted to be a captain and, while he was in charge of Starfleet Academy, I don't necessarily know if he was truly cut out for that job at all. I could be wrong though.

[the atom]

I wonder what Starfleet plans to do when S8472 decides to get seimi-serious (apparently STO is sort-of-canon now) about about taking on the Federation.

[The Romulan Republic]

Ally with every other faction they can, double starship production, and pray?

[Cesario]

Blow up Fluidic Space?

Remember, the Borg didn't go that route because their plans needed 8472 alive. Starfleet doesn't necessarily have that problem. Also, Kes' contact confirms that there aren't any other people in fluidic space than 8472, so less concern about the usual problems with blowing up a universe (not wanting to kill the other people living in it).

[The Romulan Republic]

Blow up Fluidic Space?

Remember, the Borg didn't go that route because their plans needed 8472 alive. Starfleet doesn't necessarily have that problem. Also, Kes' contact confirms that there aren't any other people in fluidic space than 8472, so less concern about the usual problems with blowing up a universe (not wanting to kill the other people living in it).

And they'll get the firepower to blow up a universe from where?

[Cesario]

Blow up Fluidic Space?

Remember, the Borg didn't go that route because their plans needed 8472 alive. Starfleet doesn't necessarily have that problem. Also, Kes' contact confirms that there aren't any other people in fluidic space than 8472, so less concern about the usual problems with blowing up a universe (not wanting to kill the other people living in it).

And they'll get the firepower to blow up a universe from where?

Same place it comes from when they risk doing it on accident.

[The Romulan Republic]

Blow up Fluidic Space?

Remember, the Borg didn't go that route because their plans needed 8472 alive. Starfleet doesn't necessarily have that problem. Also, Kes' contact confirms that there aren't any other people in fluidic space than 8472, so less concern about the usual problems with blowing up a universe (not wanting to kill the other people living in it).

And they'll get the firepower to blow up a universe from where?

Same place it comes from when they risk doing it on accident.

Sorry. Could you remind me when the Federation risked accidentally blowing up a universe?

[Cesario]

This will depend on how long they're willing to wait and how the local physical laws of fluidic space differ from the main universe, mind you.

Options that come immediately to mind are attempt to trigger an antitime eruption, pick up the protouniverse from the Gamma Quadrant and dump it in some backwater of fluidic space, or just use Jack's plan to build a spherical grid of subspace emitters to tinker with the cosmological constant and alter the mass of the target universe to suit their universe-destroying needs.

Of course that last one does require that Jack be more brilliant than he is insane. (Worth noting, however, that there was no indication that his plan to save our universe wouldn't work, just that it was a stupid thing to worry about when the threat was sixty billion years away.)

[bilateralrope]

Surely a black hole would have nasty effects on fludic space. It draws in the fluid around it, making it get larger, meaning its gravity draws in fluid from even further away. At the same time, because the fluid pressure is lower near the black hole, more fluid is pushed in from outside.

Don't the Romulans use a black hole to power their ships ?

[lord Martiya]

They do. Question is: how do they get to fluidic space?

[Eternal_Freedom]

I would imagine it isn't as simple as take a Warbird there and turn of the containment. It woudl be helpful if that woudl work though.

The Romulans clearly know how to make artificial singularities and control them; I can't see it being a big leap to build a larger-than-normal singulrity and rig it in such a way that it won't instantly evaporate into Hawking radiation when you stop containing it. Let it start sucking things in and you're done. It'll get bigger and bigger until eventually S8472 is fucked.

[bilateralrope]

They do. Question is: how do they get to fluidic space?

I remember an episode of Voyager with an injured 8472, and Seven was refusing to help open a way into fluidic space to send it home.

[Ted C]

Planetary Invasion of Earth
In the event of a planetary invasion, the first course of action is to get the President and High Council to safety. They would either be moved to another location on Earth where they'd be safe, or if given enough time, to another world or starship. Given the response to the Borg, it's probable that Starfleet keeps a strong home fleet at all times, kept ready at the Utopia Planetia shipyards. The fleet would probably need to be destroyed or severely damaged to surrender Earth's space to any invader, so the incoming fleet would be severely damaged. The resulting invasion would proceed almost immediately, and we've seen that there aren't many shields around major military instillations given that the Breen attack yielded so much damage. Starfleet will have troops on the ground and will put up a resistance, but it will probably take the return of Starfleet in force to retake the planet.

The events of ST:TMP, ST4:TVH, and TNG:BoBW all indicate to me that the Federation is typically very unprepared for a direct attack on Earth. They don't keep a defensive fleet in the system, presumably because they expect to be able to detect and intercept a threat long before it reaches Earth (which worked out for them in ST:FC).

Destruction of the Earth
In the event of the destruction of Earth, Starfleet will have one of two options. Earth has always been the de facto center of the Federation, and its loss would have profound ramifications for the Federation as a whole. As the Council becomes exiled trying to find a new place to set up shop, they must also deal with the force that destroyed Earth. If it was an enemy attack, they need to destroy the weapon before it can be unleashed again. If it's a natural force, they must ensure it doesn't affect other worlds. For humans, they have plenty of colonies to fall back on, but the loss of Earth will devastate the psyche of humans throughout the Federation. It might even shatter the illusion of paradise and completely change the lives of Federation citizens.

Important as Earth is, I don't foresee the Federation shifting the seat of government to another human colony if Earth is lost. Control would most likely shift to Vulcan, Andor, or the homeworld of one of the other founding Federation members.

Annihilation of the Federation
The absolute worst case scenario would be the destruction of the Federation. An invasion from the Borg or Dominion or any other major power would be something very few would enjoy planning for. The question in this case becomes what to do. Preservation is preferable to extinction, but with the strict adherence to the Prime Directive, the decision might be a hard one to make. The only way to preserve the Federation would be obtaining all known data on the threat and proceeding into the past to deliver the data. If that happens, some idealized Federation officer might try to ignore the data, but when it contains data on how the Federation will be attacked and possibly destroyed, it's doubtful that anyone worth their commission will ignore the data. Having several ships ready to engage temporal drives at once would go a long way towards ensuring that even in the worst case scenario, the Federation still has a chance of survival.

I don't know that time travel would be considered a particularly viable solution, given what the Federation knows about diverging timelines. ST4 worked because the crew brought a whale back to the present to actually solve the problem, rather than going back a few days and attacking the probe or giving Earth more warning of its approach. A "deliver information to the past" attempt would, at best, just create a divergent timeline in which the Federation might not be destroyed.