Hypothetical Situation - Could you be in my crew?

[USS Triumphant]

This is, of course, a completely hypothetical situation, so I would appreciate HONESTY in your responses, please. Don't try to trick me, "just in case", because this will NEVER happen.

Suppose that one day a couple of years ago, my cell phone rang and it was my ship calling, the U.S.S. Triumphant, which had mysteriously become real and entered Earth orbit, crewless. It was calling to ask me if I was ready for beam-up, and I said "oh HELL yeah!" Further, it recognises me as a Starfleet Fleet Admiral (since that is in my written specs for the ship) and gives me full control.

About two dozen of my friends and family and I have now spent the time since then living on the ship, checking it out and making certain that, despite its mysterious origins, it seems reasonably safe. And, of course, flying around in the fighters and shuttles and enjoying the replicators and holodecks.

I've reached a point where I really want to start doing something with the ship. I have three projects in mind:

A. I want to take some time to use the might and tech of the ship to try to resolve some long-standing and seemingly unsolvable global issues. Things like repairing the ozone, fixing Ethiopia so that it is easily farmable again, putting a stationary platform in orbit that continuously uses transporters and sensors to confiscate any weapons more advanced than knives from the Middle East, releasing shielded drones to provide free and uncensored internet access EVERYWHERE.

B. During that time, I want to very carefully use the technology to raise the general quality of life on Earth - as far as I can without providing anyone with tech that could actually endanger my ship or allow Earth nations to go conquering. I could probably safely advance Earth tech to most of 23rd century Trek standards, I think.

C. After doing a reasonable amount of A and B for, say, no more than 5 years, it would be time to go exploring. During the five years, I'd also have been using the holodecks to train crew.

So here's the question all of that is leading to: Provided that my continuing goals would be the promotion of truth, justice, freedom, and positive relations for Earth, and I would be falling back on the advice of holodeck versions of Kirk, Spock, and Picard when in doubt, could I trust YOU to be a member of my crew, and actually follow a chain of command? Or would you mutiny and try to take control of the ship? Or would you just not want to be a part of any of it?

Or what? And why?

 

[JustKate]

Couldn't I just go along for the ride? Maybe doing something fairly useful but as a civilian? I'm not sure I'd be that great at really following orders. I mean, there's are a few reasons why I never joined the military, and not desiring to wear combat boots is only one of them.

 

[DiSiLLUSiON]

I'd be fairly useless as an officer, seeing as I've had no military training whatsoever. Those lofty goals do inspire me though; I'd like to sign up as a civilian.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Much like the way Starfleet is frequently portrayed, your relative rank if you took one would really only matter if the crap hit the fan, and for tactics in potentially hostile situations.

"Along for the ride" would be fine, though, for people on TrekBBS - y'all would be near the top of my list for my crew of choice - but no direct access to the fancy weapons, fighters, or shuttles without pips on your sleeve and collar.

 

[Vonstadt]

I would in fact sign on willingly if those were to be your goals. Given I was in the military and woul dmost likely end up as security, as long as You maintained those commendable goals....of course that is a service I would love to help further.

Muitiny? No...should you ever betray those lofty ideals I would resign and most likely end up with whatever resistance forms up to stand against you if you end up going all dicator like. But no I would never muitiny.

Honestly though, its a pleasant fiction and I would help if I could. It is a noble little fantasy you have there.

Vons

 

[DiSiLLUSiON]

Thing is, if you really want to help the current civilizations on Earth, there isn't much to do for a real Starship. The technology will be useful though, that is for sure. Perhaps building some sort of base, with social and scientific experts who decide what, when and where to distribute (parts of) said technology to have the most impact and the least threat. Then the starship can go exploring for possible colonies in the future.

However, if that starship would simply sit there before you could take command of it, the shit would hit the fan, I'd reckon... Nations trying to get there first, stealing technology, blowing the damn thing up so their "enemies" couldn't get at it...

 

[sbk1234]

I like the sound of your goals, but I couldn't give a long-term commitment, due to family obligations and such. I'm also assuming that my own training would be included.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Thing is, if you really want to help the current civilizations on Earth, there isn't much to do for a real Starship. The technology will be useful though, that is for sure. Perhaps building some sort of base, with social and scientific experts who decide what, when and where to distribute (parts of) said technology to have the most impact and the least threat. Then the starship can go exploring for possible colonies in the future.

However, if that starship would simply sit there before you could take command of it, the shit would hit the fan, I'd reckon... Nations trying to get there first, stealing technology, blowing the damn thing up so their "enemies" couldn't get at it...

They couldn't get aboard - the shields, cloak, and the shipboard computer ("Lt. Commander Richard Bateson"), would see to that.

The first part of your post is very much in line with what I've been thinking. The problem with trying to do both at once is that, once aboard, I wouldn't leave the ship, but at least to begin with, anyone whom I would trust to be in charge of such a base would also be someone I'd want to take with me if I were leaving Earth for a few years. Plus I'd need the time to train crew.

Possibly by the time the crew was ready to get underway, I'd have sorted out some people who could be trusted to run the base.

In which case, would you rather be at the base, or on the ship when it leaves?

 

[USS Triumphant]

I like the sound of your goals, but I couldn't give a long-term commitment, due to family obligations and such. I'm also assuming that my own training would be included.

The Triumphant has a crew complement of almost 5,000, and can comfortably transport an additional 30,000 for colonization or relocation missions and such. (It is what some would call a "fanwank" ship.) Immediate family of crew, up to 6 for each, wouldn't be a problem - unless they just didn't want to go.

And yes, training is included.

 

[Xerxes1979]

If you want to do Earth construction projects I would strongly recommend using the ship's phasers to instantly dig out the proposed paths they are considering for the Dead Sea hydro project, either from the Mediterrian or from the Red Sea. It would save years of work and billions of dollars.

A bigger Panama canal and the Chinese north-south water irrigation project would also be good undertakings.

 

[DiSiLLUSiON]

In which case, would you rather be at the base, or on the ship when it leaves?

In which case I'd rather be on the ship; altruistic reasons aside, exploring is the way to go for me.

And with a free training, I can even be a real officer! Put me somewhere in Operations. Or engineering. I can't use a hyperspanner to save my life, but I'm great with computer systems and software. I can program or hack anything you want.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

In the end...I do not believe I could trust or be a part of your efforts. And I might even oppose them. It's easy to talk about mucking around with an entire planetary society--a lot harder to cope with all of the unintended consequences that would surely arise. The only solutions that have ANY chance are the ones that we come up with ourselves, without outside intervention...and in the end, human nature itself will not change. We will only have gained a host of other things that we could eventually reverse-engineer or repurpose to destruction.

 

[sbk1234]

Just to be doubly certain, this IS a hypothetical, make believe situation, right. It's not one of those Branch Dividian things, is it?

 

[USS Triumphant]

In the end...I do not believe I could trust or be a part of your efforts. And I might even oppose them. It's easy to talk about mucking around with an entire planetary society--a lot harder to cope with all of the unintended consequences that would surely arise. The only solutions that have ANY chance are the ones that we come up with ourselves, without outside intervention...and in the end, human nature itself will not change. We will only have gained a host of other things that we could eventually reverse-engineer or repurpose to destruction.

[O'Brien]Bloody Cardassian.[/O'Brien]

I understand your concern. But I think the answer to most things lies in the middle. Just leaving to go exploring and enjoying the ship's tech for ourselves would be tempting, but pretty wrong, I think. The same is true of staying in orbit and using the tech and might to totally remake the world to my own specifications. But solving the top, say, 10 or so Really Big Problems that the world has (and yes, there would be argument over what those are, but the crew could vote and I would tie-break in the event of a tie - it is my ship, after all ) and then leaving well enough alone? That seems about right to me.

And you're right - people might figure out some way to use something we gave them to destroy. Probably would, in fact. But one of those 10 Really Big Problems would almost certainly be that we have all our eggs in one basket here on Earth, so to speak, and we'd be well on the way to solving that just by heading out to explore.

Also, I believe that, for the most part, if you remove the need for people to fight over resources so much, and provide reliable mechanisms for a society with representation and civil rights, and you can get them past their insecurities stemming from times when that wasn't true, then people are mostly good and will find productive or, at worst, relatively harmless ways to spend their time. And if I'm wrong about that - which I don't think I am - then maybe that would also be good to know, and mankind's self-destruction wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

Just to be doubly certain, this IS a hypothetical, make believe situation, right. It's not one of those Branch Dividian things, is it?

"This is your Captain speaking. I hearby order you all to go to Niketown to acquire new footwear for our upcoming visit to the passing comet."

Reread the first two sentences of the OP, silly.

I'm not Jesus, and, really, what would God need with a starship?

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

In the end...I do not believe I could trust or be a part of your efforts. And I might even oppose them. It's easy to talk about mucking around with an entire planetary society--a lot harder to cope with all of the unintended consequences that would surely arise. The only solutions that have ANY chance are the ones that we come up with ourselves, without outside intervention...and in the end, human nature itself will not change. We will only have gained a host of other things that we could eventually reverse-engineer or repurpose to destruction.

[O'Brien]Bloody Cardassian.[/O'Brien]

I understand your concern. But I think the answer to most things lies in the middle. Just leaving to go exploring and enjoying the ship's tech for ourselves would be tempting, but pretty wrong, I think. The same is true of staying in orbit and using the tech and might to totally remake the world to my own specifications. But solving the top, say, 10 or so Really Big Problems that the world has (and yes, there would be argument over what those are, but the crew could vote and I would tie-break in the event of a tie - it is my ship, after all ) and then leaving well enough alone? That seems about right to me.

And you're right - people might figure out some way to use something we gave them to destroy. Probably would, in fact. But one of those 10 Really Big Problems would almost certainly be that we have all our eggs in one basket here on Earth, so to speak, and we'd be well on the way to solving that just by heading out to explore.

You advocate meddling based on the perceptions of a small subset of your population.

Believe me, O'Brien. We Cardassians KNOW about this. We have SEEN the consequences, both in the Union and on areas we have claimed. Do you really need me to cite the Occupation? That started out slowly, too, and with different people in charge at first. Some probably believed they were doing the right thing. But we saw what happened as cruel people like Dukat and Darhe'el took over. We also saw opportunistic Bajorans like Kubus Oak who turned the process to their benefit and gave it a sick sort of "legitimacy."

Humans have a saying about this pattern of behavior: "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions."

So maybe you yourself have good intentions. But...that does not mean I can trust the evolution of the process or its eventual outcome.

Also, I believe that, for the most part, if you remove the need for people to fight over resources so much, and provide reliable mechanisms for a society with representation and civil rights, and you can get them past their insecurities stemming from times when that wasn't true, then people are mostly good and will find productive or, at worst, relatively harmless ways to spend their time. And if I'm wrong about that - which I don't think I am - then maybe that would also be good to know, and mankind's self-destruction wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

I would not usher in such destruction, of course. But, I do believe that we have an impulse to immoral behavior in us that will never be destroyed simply by changing our outward circumstances. All species share in this. To believe that outward solutions will solve the problem of who we are will only hasten that destruction, I believe. Instead, we must each take a good, hard look at ourselves and our own actions. We cannot condition ourselves to expect some magical fix from the outside.

That does not mean I don't desire improvement of human conditions. But that should be humanity's choice.

 

[Sector 7]

Since I outrank you and have military combat experience, you and your ship are welcome to join my fleet. As for violating the Prime Directive to change Earth, I am not so sure that is a good idea. Planetary defense and exploration are good ideas, though.

 

[Anticitizen]

I think I'd make a decent redshirt.

 

[Jono]

I'm join to make sure the holodecks work but visiting them everyday with a box of happy tissues.

 

[The Badger]

Deep space exploration? Hell yes.

Generally and carefully raising the standard of living across the world. Not as much fun, but it's a worthwhile goal.

Repairing the ozone? Good.

Fixing Ethiopia so that it is easily farmable again? Yep, I'm with you on this one.

Putting a stationary platform in orbit that continuously uses transporters and sensors to confiscate any weapons more advanced than knives from the Middle East? No. Not a chance.

I can see where you are coming from on this one, but unless you are willing to do it on a world wide scale, you're discriminating. Would Kirk or Picard simply nick the weapons and sail off into the sunset, or would they at least try to solve the underlying problems?

It's a good goal, but the wrong way to go about it.

Still, if you, as Captain, where willing to try and solve such issues, I'd be willing to tag along and do what I could.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Since I outrank you and have military combat experience, you and your ship are welcome to join my fleet. As for violating the Prime Directive to change Earth, I am not so sure that is a good idea. Planetary defense and exploration are good ideas, though.

Nerys Ghemor is responding in character, but I'm almost certain that in his case, it is simply a creative writing style laid atop his REAL WORLD feelings on the matter. (Nerys can feel free to correct me if this is incorrect.)

In other words, try again. I want an answer from YOU for this hypothetical situation, not the character you play on TV (or in this case, the Internet.)

BTW - What the hell outranks a Fleet Admiral?!