a query about 'Heart of Glory'...

[Yorkshire Niner]

Why was it acceptable policy for Starfleet security personnel to have their phasers set to kill just because there were two Klingon warriors in the brig?

Three unnecessary deaths there that could have been easily avoided. Nice episode but the casual disregard for life shown by Yar's people sort of grates against the overall liberal attitudes espoused by Picard and the rest throughout the whole first season.

 

[benny]

I'd have to re-watch the episode, but are the phasers set to kill? It's been too long...

 

[Squiggy]

From the script:

Korris ignores the command -- as he continues to rail at
Worf.

KORRIS
Living among these humans has
sucked the Klingon heart out of
you. You are a sham. My words
were dust upon the ground. Your
blood has no fire -- you are weak
-- like them. I don't care what
you look like -- you are no
Klingon.

WORF
Perhaps not.

And without warning -- he BLASTS Korris. The phaser
is set on kill.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Expedient way to end the episode, plus Korris wanted a honorable death, and Worf gave it to him. That part makes sense.

As to the security personnel who killed the other Klingon...er...perhaps Starfleet had yet to adapt their stun settings to work on Klingon "armor"...or the renegades were so dangerous that stunning them was too risky?

The escaping Klingons killed one security guard intially.
From Memory Alpha

"In the brig, Korris and Konmel assemble a phaser from their belts and other parts of their uniform. They disable the force field and kill a guard. The second guard hits Konmel three times before he dies, but then Korris kills him too."

Three times...meaning it wasn't full kill setting or the Klingon uniforms had some effect.

 

[Praetorian]

Also the first Klingon to die.

Still, those deaths were "necessary", it's what they wanted lol. So Worf puting his phaser to kill makes sense. Not really the security guard though.

 

[Yorkshire Niner]

Korris kills the second security guard with the phaser from the fallen first guard. He did not have the time (and probably not the knowledge either) to change the settings so it was clearly set to kill. With that in mind I would say that the use of lethal force by Korris and Konmel when they break out is justified.

And Worf is a Starfleet officer. It's not his job to go killing people he could just as easily stun.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Dukat's Smile said:
And Worf is a Starfleet officer. It's not his job to go killing people he could just as easily stun.

He is also A KLINNNGON WAAARIOR!! Rarrr!

Picard lets his people get away with all sorts of shit.

 

[DrTaylor]

Squiggyfm said:
From the script:

Korris ignores the command -- as he continues to rail at
Worf.

KORRIS
Living among these humans has
sucked the Klingon heart out of
you. You are a sham. My words
were dust upon the ground. Your
blood has no fire -- you are weak
-- like them. I don't care what
you look like -- you are no
Klingon.

WORF
Perhaps not.

And without warning -- he BLASTS Korris. The phaser
is set on kill.

Or maybe the fall killed him.

 

[Vanyel]

Dukat's Smile said:
Korris kills the second security guard with the phaser from the fallen first guard. He did not have the time (and probably not the knowledge either) to change the settings so it was clearly set to kill. With that in mind I would say that the use of lethal force by Korris and Konmel when they break out is justified.

Or it was set to stun a Klingon? As I understand it, Klingons are stronger and have greater stamina than humans, so the maximum stun setting that would work on a Klingon could kill a human.

 

[Timo]

Klingons supposedly are harder to stun. Way back in "Day of the Dove", Kirk specified "heavy stun" to be used against the Klingons... If this were a safe, nonlethal setting to use, surely all stunning would be done "heavily" by default.

Worf may well have killed Korris out of sense of Klingon honor. But alternately, Worf may have believed that stun would give Korris time to fire at the warp core, whereas kill would disable him faster. Many a Trek plotlet (including another bit in this very episode) hinges on a hostage situation where stun phasers would be the obvious choice - shoot both the hostage and the villain, and sort them out later. But if stun works too slowly to prevent the villain from carrying out his threat, the failure to use stun phasers in those situations suddenly makes perfect sense.

Nice to see a competent security detail in action for a change, BTW. Not all redshirts are born to just "AAAARGH!". The least competent of the posse here is Worf, who gives the grand tour of the ship to the suspected enemy. But then again, he is well motivated to sympathize with the rebel Klingons, perhaps even to put their cause ahead of the safety of the ship.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[InklingStar]

It happens in other episodes too, but stands out in this one - when guarding someone on the ship, whether in the brig or in their quarters, the security guards always stand beside the door with their back to the prisoners. They would have much better luck if they stood on the opposite wall, looking at the door they were guarding.

 

[mr.peany]

^ It's funny coz its true. If only the guard who was watching over the Kazon guy in Voyager's "Basics, Part 1" took your advice....

 

[Nebusj]

Timo said:
Nice to see a competent security detail in action for a change, BTW.

That would be the security detail which didn't think to shut off turbolift access at the hallway from which they were taking the Klingons into custody, allowing someone from the Victim Division to jump out into their hands?

 

[Timo]

Umm, and trap the Victim Division in that corridor with the Klingons? The two groups were already intermingled when Yar got the call. What was she supposed to do? Use the PA system? [Elaine Dickinson voice]"Everybody except the two Klingon criminals has a call waiting in the lobby, please hurry."[/Elaine Dickinson voice]

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Nebusj]

I'm afraid you've remembered it wrong. Yar and her security team meet up with Worf and the Klingon `Renegades' Who Act Like Every Other Klingon In The 24th Century Except Alexander's Mom, Yar announces she's taking the `Renegades' into custody, there's a commercial break, and then the nearby turbolift doors open and let out the Victim Squad, the junior partner of which runs into one of the `Renegade' arms.

Once she'd located the `Renegades', which she did well ahead of confronting them in person, Yar ought to have talked to the guys in Turbolift Control -- who are desperate for anybody to talk to and anything interesting to do, incidentally -- and told them to restrict all access to that deck and section, incoming and outgoing, as it would have been rather embarrassing for her if the Klingons had dove into the turbolift and got away.

Setting force fields at surrounding corridors would have been a good idea, but I'm not sure they had decided the Enterprise could do that yet.