This always bothered me, too. It was DUMB to have both Starfleet's and tbe Federation HQ located on Earth with no observable backups on other planets (equally dumb is that Riker's commments about Earth in Nemesis seem to reinforce this). Even the US Government's agencies have contingencies, and the Air Force has its headquarters in another country. Maybe some writers out there have considered a secret alternate Federation HQ buried deep underground on Vulcan or something, but this should be common sense to put something addressing this in scripts. At the very least, a Federation HQ should be located on a neutral member planet, maybe even a moon, in case Earth is wiped out.
Kor made an excellent point about STIV
- Thread starter smalltalk66
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Who says that Starfleet doesn't have large installations on other worlds that could take up the slack? I would say that Starfleet's functions are easily transferrable.
Having a HQ could even have more of a symbolic or be of ceremonial import with the heavy lifting of running the nuts and bolts of Starfleet being distributed to other major facilities.
As for Fed HQ, you gotta have that somewhere. Might as well be on earth.
Having a HQ could even have more of a symbolic or be of ceremonial import with the heavy lifting of running the nuts and bolts of Starfleet being distributed to other major facilities.
As for Fed HQ, you gotta have that somewhere. Might as well be on earth.
OTOH, what good would it be for a HQ to survive if Earth doesn't? Time and again, we see enemies strike at Earth with the intent of doing away with the UFP. Supposedly they aren't idiots, and know for a fact that no amount of silly guerrilla warfare will restore the UFP once Earth is gone...
We know little of the mechanisms of interstellar empire survival, but what we do know is that no matter how mighty, they don't outlive their center worlds. What happens? Perhaps with the capital gone, other planets simply defect to other empires ASAP - either because they're fed up with the old tyranny, or because they're used to lots of liberty in deciding their own affairs.
No doubt empires take time to die. But their fate still appears sealed once the capital world goes. Or is that simply because any foe capable of defeating the capital world is by default strong enough to crush all resistance elsewhere, too?
Timo Saloniemi
We know little of the mechanisms of interstellar empire survival, but what we do know is that no matter how mighty, they don't outlive their center worlds. What happens? Perhaps with the capital gone, other planets simply defect to other empires ASAP - either because they're fed up with the old tyranny, or because they're used to lots of liberty in deciding their own affairs.
No doubt empires take time to die. But their fate still appears sealed once the capital world goes. Or is that simply because any foe capable of defeating the capital world is by default strong enough to crush all resistance elsewhere, too?
Timo Saloniemi
Ostensibly, humanity has that certain je ne sais quoi that both binds all the member worlds together and drives the Federation forward. Perhaps the hubris needed to even conceive of such a concept extended from the writers' minds into the best and brightest architects of the Federation -- who probably thought, "Hey, why bother with redundancy? If we get wiped out, the whole party is over anyway."
I really began to hate the human superiority complex the writers gave the 24th century shows.
Minor point, the US Air Force top command structure is across a river from the US federal government.
The US Government (and its military) are all headquartered within the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area. Even the Air Force, which is in the Pentagon.
There aren't really any backups for the federal government (other than secret, undisclosed locations and whatnot), but there are thousands of bases for the military.
I imagine Starfleet is the same. We know they have academies on other planets, and tons of fleetyards and starbases and so on. In the event of another attack, they'll be very quick to recover. Especially since the majority of Starfleet (and the Federation, of course) isn't on Earth.
There aren't really any backups for the federal government (other than secret, undisclosed locations and whatnot), but there are thousands of bases for the military.
I imagine Starfleet is the same. We know they have academies on other planets, and tons of fleetyards and starbases and so on. In the event of another attack, they'll be very quick to recover. Especially since the majority of Starfleet (and the Federation, of course) isn't on Earth.
Eh? When was this?smalltalk66 said:
Edit: I think found my post in question in the "STIV: What if they failed?" thread, about everyone running around like chickens with their heads cut off after Earth is ruined by the whale probe.
That was kind of tongue-in-cheek. Maybe the Federation does have some contingency in case Earth is destroyed. They just never really depicted it in the movies or TV series. From what they show, it seems that all the important stuff is on Earth with no backup.
Kor
Other than the presidential office (or one of them), and what could simply be a commitee meeting during TVH, do we know for a fact that the Federation governing body always meets on Earth?
The novelverse's supposition to the side, the often spoken of "Federation Council" could easily be located somewhere else. Riker's comment during NEM could mean that Earth's influance is the linch pin that holds the Federation Membership together, and not that the Council meets there.
With Earth destroyed, but the Council intacted elsewhere, the Federation might simply fall apart.
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The novelverse's supposition to the side, the often spoken of "Federation Council" could easily be located somewhere else. Riker's comment during NEM could mean that Earth's influance is the linch pin that holds the Federation Membership together, and not that the Council meets there.
With Earth destroyed, but the Council intacted elsewhere, the Federation might simply fall apart.
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Deep down, why not think citadel? If you fortify one world the best you can, and the enemy still gets through, then by definition all your other worlds are toast, too. But defending one world is probably easier than defending twenty. So putting all the eggs in the one cast-rhodinium basket would be the sensible thing to do.
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
I always imagined that the "Federation Council" refers to the group, not a place, and that 99% of the time, they were all on their own planets.
It's the 23rd century, and they all have access to subspace radio. So it's a neat idea that perhaps the Federation Councillors were working out of their own offices on their home planets. Perhaps in the 24th century, they could use those DS9 holo-communicators to talk in meetings to each other (like in the last Captain America movie).
The Council meeting at the end of TVH was a huge interstellar trial, of enormous historical importance, being watched carefully by other powers (the Klingon Empire for sure). It stands to reason that a large majority of Councillors would travel to Earth to show off in front of the Federation press.
Starfleet, on the other hand, is a top-down military administration. So having a singular headquarters makes sense. But they have plenty of Admirals commanding Starbases, and Captains on starships. If Earth were to disappear, there's certainly a rank structure in place to immediately handle the operational necessities that would arise.
In ST6, Kirk says he can serve illegal drinks because he's "a thousand lightyears from Federation HQ". Since he's supposedly somewhere between Earth and Qo'noS, which aren't located all that far apart, we might infer that Federation HQ is a thousand lightyears from Earth. 
Maybe that's why Picard can serve the illegal drink in the Troi wedding, too - because Earth is out in the sticks?
Timo Saloniemi
Maybe that's why Picard can serve the illegal drink in the Troi wedding, too - because Earth is out in the sticks?
Timo Saloniemi
What is it with Romulan Ale that it must be banned? Does it make you trip or something?
Well, the ban was lifted for the Dominion war and it's banned again in Nemesis.
I think it's actually illegal from the Romulan side. Like it's against Romulan law to sell the ale to the Federation, so when a Starfleet officer is in possession of Romulan ale, they can joke around it being "illegal."
The Romulans understandably have a trade embargo with the Federation during most of their history, except for the brief period when they allied with them during the Dominion War. They spent 158 years out of 226 with a complete self-imposed communications blackout with the Federation.
I'm sure it's highly intoxicating, but there's probably far worse stuff on any of the thousands of planets within the Federation. The allure of Romulan ale is just that it's hard to get, as you have to purchase it from smugglers willing to brave Romulan space.
What is it with Romulan Ale that it must be banned? Does it make you trip or something?
No, it's purely a trade embargo, just like they do in real life... e.g. the US prohibiting Cuban cigars and rum, Persian carpets, and uncancelled North Korean postage stamps.
Kor
One of the Star Trek Myriad universe stories where Spock died as a child as per TAS so Kirk has an Andorian first officer. In this story the whale probe does mega damage to Earth, Admiral Cartwright and Sarek are killed. Dr Marcus use the Genesis weapon to deionize Earth's battered atmosphere and as a result the Klingons invade Earth and what is left of the Federation HQ and Starfleet moves to Vulcan. Plus 'David cheating bastard Marcus' survives in this story but Kirk dies.
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My totally off topic question about STIV is..... even with the timeline being rewritten by Nero, it is accepted that Enterprise is still canon.... in my own head, I've always found it funny to imagine that even as part of the new movies timeline-history, there is till a window where the TOS cast is running around the streets of San Francisco..... if Pine/Quinto were to end up in the 80s, the implication is they would run into Shatner/Nimoy..... and the real question is, where does the bird of prey go when they warp out.... lol.
