IDW Star Trek Ongoing...

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by serenitytrek1, Nov 21, 2012.

  1. rahullak

    rahullak Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2009
    I'm not disputing that there's an objective definition of terrorism. Yes there is. But we all know in reality that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. And in reality all we have are subjective interpretations of events when those events are not hard science experiments. No one has the all-seeing eye of God to have a completely objective view of events.

    I'm only saying that the Bajoran government did not throw Kira into prison because they did not consider Kira's actions as terroristic. Or if they did, they pardoned it because it was in their just cause of freedom.

    And Starfleet and the Federation do consider bombing their archives and killing people as acts of terrorism. I'll concede that we may interpret Khan's acts as non-terroristic but clearly militant, since we know his ultimate aims.
     
  2. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    More likely the latter. There's plenty of precedent for occupied and oppressed populations using terrorism as a means to achieve their freedom -- e.g. the Russian and French resistance movements vs. Nazi occupiers in WWII. It can be understood that these things are necessary evils in a time of war or occupation, without the need to whitewash the brutal reality of it by changing the label after the fact. On the contrary, it's necessary to be honest about the "evil" part of "necessary evil" so that you don't get in the habit and keep doing it after the need has ended (like the Kohn Ma did, for instance).

    And again, Khan's actions were retaliation for Marcus's criminal actions. Marcus was ultimately the one who provoked everything that happened. He and Section 31 created the situation that led to Khan's violence. They found and awoke Khan, they made him mad, and they created the technologies he used to strike back. I just do not comprehend why you're trying to blame Kirk for Khan's acts and completely ignoring Marcus's far greater culpability.
     
  3. rahullak

    rahullak Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2009
    I apologize, I jumped in between you and Cadet49 and so it wasn't clear what I was saying. I'm not ignoring Marcus' culpability. Blackmailing Khan into doing his dirty deeds is obviously illegal and immoral. Not to mention building a fleet in secret and attempting to precipitate war.

    But, all that does not absolve Khan. Ultimately, it was he who chose to act in the manner that he has instead of finding a more peaceful way to settle the situation. This speaks to what he was capable of, the depths to which he could plunge and his dangerous nature. Kirk knew this. Note, I'm not blaming Kirk. He took a big risk in trusting Khan for however brief a time or to whatever small degree because hey, it's nuKirk: Leaps without looking and goes with instinct.

    And also, it serves the needs of the movie makers to have more fun, action and drama rather than having nuKirk choose to inform Starfleet through New Vulcan or whatever other option he supposedly had.
     
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2013
  4. NotLKH

    NotLKH Lieutenant Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2009
    lol...you mentioning nuKirk gave me an image of Richard Dawson battling Khan with dueling britishisms!
     
  5. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 10, 2005
    Location:
    Confederation of Earth
    Indeed, that provisional government almost certainly consisted largely OF former resistance fighters. Of course they're going to give one of their own a free pass.

    And as Odo would later say (after Ibudan is released in 'A Man Alone' after serving time), "Killing Cardassians doesn't seem to be much of a crime these days".
     
  6. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2001
    Location:
    The Wormhole
    Don't know who it could be from canon. There are no canon female characters from the 23rd century who could be with Section 31. And the prominent women from the movies are already accounted for. But then there must be a reason for keeping the character a secret. Just tossing shit out there without thinking it through, maybe it's Mudd?
     
  7. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Admiral

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2001
    Location:
    America, Fuck Yeah!!!
    Or...

    The Romulan Commader from The Enterprise Incident is actually a Section 31 agent.
    :eek:
     
  8. Allyn Gibson

    Allyn Gibson Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2000
    Location:
    South Pennsyltucky
    I don't buy that. It doesn't make sense. Why would Harrison go to Qo'noS on his own with no way back? Why would he abandon his "family" with no way to get back to them?

    Here's how I read the film.

    Admiral Marcus had a plan to instigate a war with the Klingons. Harrison recruiting Mickey the Idiot to bomb London was the part of the plan to make it look like Harrison had gone rogue. Harrison's attack on Starfleet Headquarters was a false flag operation at Marcus' behest to make it appear that Harrison had really gone rogue. Harrison was meant to escape, his transwarp device was meant to be found, the trail of evidence was meant to point to Harrison on Qo'noS. At that point in the film, Harrison was acting under Marcus' direction. However, none of that becomes obvious until Harrison changes sides when he realizes that Marcus has betrayed him when Sulu threatens him with the Corpsicle Torpedoes.

    And I don't think you can trust what Harrison says. Of course he's going to tell Kirk a story, to play Kirk against Marcus. Harrison needs Kirk to believe that he had turned on Marcus earlier so Kirk doesn't think about how Harrison's plan with the torpedoes was supposed to work. Clearly, Harrison had intended for them to be loaded onto the Vengeance. When they weren't, Harrison needed to get onto the Vengeance, take the ship, then take the torpedoes back by force. To his eternal luck, Kirk has a need to get aboard the Vengeance as well.

    In short, nothing about Harrison's actions makes sense if he was not acting under Marcus' orders until Kirk arrived on Qo'noS.
     
  9. rahullak

    rahullak Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2009
    That's a possibility that I had not considered.

    However, it is also possible that Khan was acting on his own when he attacked the meeting and transported to Qo'nos. Why Qo'nos? Because he thought Starfleet would not follow him to Klingon space and precipitate a war. And he wasn't abandoning his "family". He was escaping as a last resort, when Kirk brought down his craft. He could have been planning to return for his "family" later.

    And so far as Kirk understood, Khan was acting on his own in either case.
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2013
  10. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    Remember Kirk's line about how it felt they were helping Khan instead of the reverse? I'm sure that even if Khan were nominally following Marcus's instructions, it was for his own purposes.
     
  11. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

    Joined:
    Jun 30, 2004
    Location:
    New Therin Park, Andor (via Australia)
    My understanding, on opening night, rightly or wrongly, was that
    involved him turning up on the Klingon homeworld, organizing to have his 72 followers softland via torpedo tube in the isolated province, take over the Klingon homeworld and then actually lead the war against Marcus and the UFP. Instead of Marcus turning up with the torpedoes, it was Kirk. Khan had originally hidden his people in the torpedo tubes at some point (ie. from Marcus), but I thought he might have, at one point, suggested to Marcus that they use the 72 to occupy Q'onos, and now Harrison was double (or triple) crossing him.
     
  12. Allyn Gibson

    Allyn Gibson Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2000
    Location:
    South Pennsyltucky
    It's unfortunate; the film doesn't tell us what Harrison's plan was, leaving us to infer a plan based on hints. I feel a bit like Admiral Picard here, trying to understand the Romulans' "move, countermove, guile, and deceit." :)

    I suspect the torpedoes were intended for the Vengeance. Then, when aboard the Vengeance (perhaps there were proximity detectors) the Corpsicles would wake, they would take over the ship, and they do whatever. Harrison worked on both the torpedoes and the Vengeance, after all.
     
  13. Enterpriserules

    Enterpriserules Commodore Commodore

    I think it is Mekenna from the Sulu issue
     
  14. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2001
    Location:
    The Wormhole
    Interesting thought, but I don't know. She wasn't really villainous, just a hotheaded youth in need of life experience.
     
  15. Enterpriserules

    Enterpriserules Commodore Commodore

    Just seemed like something a Red Squad person would do, join Section 31 because they like being in the exclusive clubs
     
  16. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2001
    Location:
    The Wormhole
    Well, I can't argue with that logic. Still, seems a bit of a jump.
    Snooty popular girl on campus to plotting genocide with the Romulan Senate in less than five years
     
    Last edited: Jun 5, 2013
  17. Enterpriserules

    Enterpriserules Commodore Commodore

    Just a guess. I am finding that they do seem to pull things from previous issues, so that was my first thought when I saw it was a woman but they didn't show us her face.
     
  18. JoeZhang

    JoeZhang Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2008
    Hey it's a universe where you can get the keys to the flagship of the federation as a failing cadet.
     
  19. Villordsutch

    Villordsutch Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2009
    Location:
    UK
  20. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    ^You mean #20, right?