Does General Order 24 exist in TNG?

Necheyev:
"I understand your moral objections, Captain. If you wish, I can find someone else to command the Enterprise for this mission."

Picard:
"That will not be necessary, Admiral.

Necheyev:
"I don't envy you this task, but I do believe it is for the greater good."

Picard:
"I understand."

 

good example, but was he not "saved by the Cardassian Bell" and kindasorta did not have to obey the original order or lower the ultimate boom on the Native Americans?

 

Yes, but it doesn't change that he would have if push came to shove, follow those orders.

 

Topic's drifting now, but it was established that when Picard put faces to the abstractions, such as when he had feelings for the mother or heard the little girl cry for her pen pal, Picard would melt.

 

Then carrying out GO-24 would only be delayed, Starfleet would replaced Picard (temp or permanent) and the Enterprise's weapons would do the deed.

 

and Worf would ask to be relieved of duty because GO 24 is not honorable

and in the Mirror Universe it's called General Order 48 because they shoot their planets twice.

 

It's also hard to get the audience to sympathize with guys who'd destroy entire civilizations just because of the actions of their leaders.

 

Picard. "Conudrum"

Picard would never do it, not even during a war. But he knows he has to live with himself afterwards.

It brings up the question of how the Federation conducts a war when specific targets are on an inhabited planet.

There are some shades of grey.


I think Captain Maxel might be capable of carrying out a G.O 24 if it was the Cardassians, and he thought he thought he was preventing a war that could cost millions of lives.

The keyword is "might" - he might have big problem with the concept, just like any other Starfleet captain, but when it involves someone like Cardassians, and he thought there was a huge threat...

 

I'm sure the souls and loved ones of any Federation citizens who died because Picard couldn't bring himself to do his wartime duty would find comfort in knowing that he now has to live with himself.

 

Unless it was the Tribble homeworld.

(Or Romulas)

 

Again, outside of extraordinary circumstances, I can't imagine Picard destroying all life on a planet. He did execute orders he did not agree with or like, like moving the Native Americans, but forcibly moving them is not as bad as killing everything on a planet. We have seen Picard disobey orders that he believed were morally indefensible. If he believed a general order 24 was not correct, he would not do it.

 

He also refused to unleash a virus that could have possibly destroyed the Borg - but then again he did speak with Hugh, the boy Borg, face to face and got to know him as an individual.

The Borg for a moment stopped being an evil group and appeared as actual people who had real lives previously.

But what would have to happen in order for him or (any Starfleet officer) to believe it was a correct order?

Sometimes, it can be hard to figure out some of these Starfleet captains.

Sisko refused to fire first on Jem Hadar soldiers approaching to attack his crew--later he got real angry at Kevan for forcing his hand into the whole thing.

So we know he is against mowing down combatants or civilians, even to save his own troops.

And yet before that he was about to unleash biological weapons on a Marquis colony.

We know Picard is against harming unarmed civilians in a conflict. He was against Captain Maxwell's decisions.

And yet, Picard suggested to Gowron to launch a bombardment of an enemy city on the Klingon planet.

Many types of shades of grey.

 

Pretty much follows that any use of GO-24 would be under very unusual circumstances.

 

Yeah I don't really see Starfleet captains glassing entire inhabited planets without both a very good reason and no other alternative.

 

Yes I think we are all agreed on that. I was only trying to be precise and to overcome the confusion that the term "General Order" brings to the discussion.

 

General Order 24 can still exist in the TNG era even if it isn't referred to.

 

We don't (I think) hear of any general orders in TNG, general order one isn't referred to as such, only as "the prime directive."

 

Which could still be on the books as Starfleet General Order 1.

 

Worf was the first choice to fly the Jellyfish to Romulus and stop the supernova, but he found he mission dishonourable and asked to be relieved of duty.

 

I assume that means to go all “Jack Bauer” on a planet.
I watched this episode recently. You can tell this is a early episode of the series as they haven’t got all the technobabble sorted out with the shields. Scotty says that they won’t be able to use their phasers at full power with them up which seems like a massive design flaw. They also have people beam down to the planet when the shields are up.