Prime Directive: Pen Pals & WWTW

[Captrek]

Also, I really do think the Federation did one better than they would have in TNG. They didn't exactly help Bajor after all.

The Federation seems to have a policy of “let empires by empires.” Yes, the Cardassian Empire is brutal to its conquered worlds. One imagines the conquered worlds of the Klingon and Romulan empires don’t fare much better. There’s little the Federation can do about it.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Circling back to this and "The Last Best Hope". According to the book, there were already many ship built and in service evacuating Romulans, that wouldn't have been affected by the events on Mars. Why pull them from the rescue efforts they were built and crewed for?

Mars simply didn't represent all the Federation's chips in the rescue effort.

Those other ships were pulled from Starfleet's other duties. The usual medicine delivery to Ceti Alpha X still needs to happen.

 

[BillJ]

Those other ships were pulled from Starfleet's other duties. The usual medicine delivery to Ceti Alpha X still needs to happen.

Private couriers don’t exist in the 24th century?

But you’re missing my point. They had built specific ships for the Romulan relocation, above what starships already existed, why did those need to be pulled?

 

[Charles Phipps]

Private couriers don’t exist in the 24th century?

But you’re missing my point. They had built specific ships for the Romulan relocation, above what starships already existed, why did those need to be pulled?

My suggestion was that they can put back on their previous duties. Like I said, it was a mistake, but I think its more ambiguous than people give it credit for.

 

[BillJ]

My suggestion was that they can put back on their previous duties.

There were no previous duties, they were ships built specifically for the relocation. That was the whole purpose of the Mars construction site to begin with.

 

[Charles Phipps]

There were no previous duties, they were ships built specifically for the relocation. That was the whole purpose of the Mars construction site to begin with.

Yes and all the ships constructed for it were destroyed. The ones previously constructed were probably being fit there.

 

[BillJ]

Yes and all the ships constructed for it were destroyed.

I’m talking about the ships that were built and dispatched to the relocation effort. Those wouldn’t have been destroyed. Picard was promoted in 2381 and Mars wasn’t attacked until 2385. There were likely many ships built in that time.

 

[Charles Phipps]

I’m talking about the ships that were built and dispatched to the relocation effort. Those wouldn’t have been destroyed. Picard was promoted in 2381 and Mars wasn’t attacked until 2385. There were likely many ships built in that time.

And maybe they were all waiting for deployment at the yard. Whatever the case, it's just as likely everything was destroyed but a handful.

 

[Tenacity]

why did those need to be pulled?

The federation had just undergone a major attack. Ships would have been pulled back to a defensive posture, until the federation could figure things out.

You look after your own people first.

Apparent the federation never figured everything out, even years later.

 

[Farscape One]

At least several worlds threatened to leave the Federation if it continued the relocation effort after the Mars attack... some of those worlds are likely quite powerful ones. I'm betting one of them was the Andorians. This would have caused major internal problems for a long time... possibly enough to breakup the Federation as we know it. I can't say I blame the Federation for putting their worlds first instead of an empire that has been an enemy for centuries.

And let's be clear... the Romulans themselves were reluctant to accept any help from the Federation. If they weren't, the Romulans wouldn't have put the restrictions on the Federation help that they did.

You can offer help as much as you want to a person who needs it, but it's ultimately their choice to accept it. You can't force people to accept your aid.

 

[Orphalesion]

At least several worlds threatened to leave the Federation if it continued the relocation effort after the Mars attack... some of those worlds are likely quite powerful ones. I'm betting one of them was the Andorians. This would have caused major internal problems for a long time... possibly enough to breakup the Federation as we know it. I can't say I blame the Federation for putting their worlds first instead of an empire that has been an enemy for centuries.

Yes, but I still feel that those worlds used the attack on Mars as an excuse to voice their pre-existing disgruntlement with the plan to help the Romulans and to force the Federation's hand.
I don't think that those worlds threatening to the secede was a reaction to the attack on Mars.

The Federation seems to have a policy of “let empires by empires.” Yes, the Cardassian Empire is brutal to its conquered worlds. One imagines the conquered worlds of the Klingon and Romulan empires don’t fare much better. There’s little the Federation can do about it.

I always found it very problematic that in 90s Trek the Federation can all be buddy-buddy with the Klingon Empire when, for all we know, they might treat the various cultures they must have conquered as second-class citizens or even slaves...we definitely never saw any Klingon subject race serving on their ships and the only place where we might have seen some was, if I'm not mistaken, Rura Pente.

 

[BillJ]

At least several worlds threatened to leave the Federation if it continued the relocation effort after the Mars attack... some of those worlds are likely quite powerful ones.

They were worlds along the Neutral Zone according to "The Last Best Hope".

It was surprisingly Soviet-ish they way things were handled. No allies involved, no civilian agencies, just the military essentially deciding everything, heck there wasn't even much input from the Federation Council until the Mars attack.

 

[Timo]

That we know of. OTOH, nothing precludes there having been sixty-eightish separate evacuation efforts sponsored by UFP parties, in addition to the fifty thousand non-UFP ones of diminishing volume. And of course the Romulans themselves would have been evacuating.

But Starfleet and other space navies would be the parties with the resources to add capacity, and we know Starfleet needs every single ounce of its resources even at the best of times (or else it would build enough ships so that the heroes of the week don't have to arrive alone and just after the nick of time). Diverting those resources would always be a major political decision, and would basically never go in favor of those in competing need.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Orphalesion]

But Starfleet and other space navies would be the parties with the resources to add capacity, and we know Starfleet needs every single ounce of its resources even at the best of times (or else it would build enough ships so that the heroes of the week don't have to arrive alone and just after the nick of time).

See? That was the problem, they didn't have a hero ship with a weekly series in the 2380s so they didn't have anybody to deal with all those crises.

 

[Tenacity]

At least several worlds threatened to leave the Federation if it continued the relocation effort after the Mars attack

The relocation might have been unpopular within the federation, not just the council, but among the general population. To reach a favorable decision in the council conciderable "horse trading" might have occured, some of it involving back room deals that were initially kept secret.

When the transport fleet was destroyed, that might have cause a re-evaluation of the original decision, which was border line to start with.