Omega Directive question

[Dancing Doctor]

I'm currently watching The Omega Directive, and a comment Janeway makes focused my attention:

You've all seen this symbol. Omega. The last letter of the Greek alphabet...chosen by Starfleet to represent a threat not only to the Federation, but to the entire galaxy. Only Starship Captains and Federation Flag Officers have been briefed on the nature of this threat. What you're about to hear doesn't go beyond these bulkheads... is that clear?

The question I'm asking is this: Do Federation citizens/officials not in Starfleet know of the Omega Molecule, or is this another example of Starfleet keeping things secret, like the interphase cloaking device?

 

[Forbin]

It's mainly another example of idiotic writing on Voyager, but, yeah, it' was a top-secret classified Starfleet thing. There's probably a bunch of civilian scientists who know about it who are sworn to secrecy.

 

[Finn]

Yeah. What bothered me about that episode is what if Janeway was killed in an earlier episode. Would Chakotay be able to override it. Perhaps Janeway had a message prepared for whoever would succeed her in event of her death. But again, why wasn't Tuvok (It was clear in The Omega Directive that he wasn't aware of it) told about it when Janeway and Chakotay was left behind on that planet?

 

[DonIago]

You know, the entire time Janeway was on the planet she just -knew- she'd forgotten something...

 

[Cornholio]

umm, seems to me that info on Omega would be like, 'need to know' kinda stuff.

 

[T'Girl]

If Janeway had been killed ar some point, when Chakotay (or Tuvok) had did the command code thing with the computer, the computer would have told them, "Hey, I've got a pile of shit to tell you about." Given the nature of Starfleet service it much have happen before. Or another scenario the computer would have held on to the details until the particle was detected and then told the new Captain that they needed to be briefed in private.

Something interesting about the little speech of Janeway's. She said Starfleet Captains and Federation Flag Officers, not Starfleet Flag officers. What's up with that?

 

[Dancing Doctor]

^I would imagine the writers were like "Whatever, same diff".

 

[Xerxes1979]

She would have recorded a message for Tuvok and or Chakotay in the manner Kirk left a message in the Tholian Web.

 

[Finn]

^Except Tukov didn't know about it despite being in command of Voyager for a while when they thought Janeway wouldn't be coming back.

 

[Forbin]

Bad writing on Voyager? Say it isn't so!

 

[grabthars hammer]

As far as Omega 13, the lid was blown off on that project by Commander Taggert.

 

[T'Girl]

Seven years of Voyager with Commander Taggart in the "center seat" would have been awesome.

 

[Timo]

The way Janeway reacts to the omegas popping up suggests that she didn't know much about the directive initially, either. Perhaps people graduating to the post of starship skipper are somewhat cryptically told to watch out for the omega sign, but the bulk of the education on the actual directive is provided by the computer on the spot, after the skipper has been alerted to lock him- or herself up in a private space.

The business of informing the second-in-command would be less crucial in that case. Whoever was in command would get the education, thanks to being the only one with the general command codes. If nobody had the general command codes for the ship at the time, well, that would just prove that the ship was not in control of competent Starfleet personnel, and should indeed remain locked up for all infinity.

As for "Federation flag officers", we could use that as proof that there are other organizations built on military hierarchy there besides Starfleet.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[The Wormhole]

The question I'm asking is this: Do Federation citizens/officials not in Starfleet know of the Omega Molecule, or is this another example of Starfleet keeping things secret, like the interphase cloaking device?

Realistically, there are likely civilian scientists in the know who have signed NDAs, and likely key members of the Federation government (like the president, scientific advisors and so on) know about it.

As for the common citizen, they likely wouldn't know about it, but there could be conspiracy theories.

Another issue is is that in the episode Janeway said that if Omega was discovered in the Alpha Quadrant a team of Starfleet specialists would be dispatched to deal with it. I highly doubt all these specialists are Captain and above, there would have to be someone of a lower rank. Likely the way it really works, lower officers are made aware of Omega as they need to, while all captains and flag officers are made aware of it.

Something interesting about the little speech of Janeway's. She said Starfleet Captains and Federation Flag Officers, not Starfleet Flag officers. What's up with that?

Likely at the time the episode was written, the writer just viewed Starfleet and the Federation as the same thing and didn't want to use Starfleet too many times in the same sentence. However, I suppose if we wanted to, we could intrepret it as meaning there are in fact other military branches in the Federation than just Starfleet.

 

[Luther Sloan]

Things that are not said or things that miraculously happen in between episodes is not a contradiction or a problem on Voyager. They are only a problem if you limit your imagination or you fail to grasp what the screen writers were trying to say.

 

[Timo]

An alternate take on "Federation flag officer":

Perhaps Janeway wanted to emphasize the fact that Omega was so secret that not even Klingon generals and admirals were told about it? It would sound natural to inform close allies: even though they would have to be given unnecessarily much technological information they could use to their own advantage, that would be a small price to pay for keeping them from destroying the entire neighborhood by accident. That Klingons weren't told is a good indication of how fearsome a technology this would be in the hands of threat forces. Better to accept the risk of losing warp drive forever across the UFP than to let semi-trusted allies in on the secret!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Vanyel]

So when she says "captains" is she referring to the rank, position or both? So would Jadzia, while in command of the Defiant, be aware of the Omega Directive?

Could it be that captains are told that if your ship's computer freezes up and you get an Omega symbol on all computer screens:

1. Tell your crew to stand by.
2. Tell your command crew to await instructions.
3. Go to your quarter's, or Ready Room, enter your private command code and follow the instructions.

That could simplify everything.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

That's an interesting point.

I would assume the rank, since the position (in the case you describe) is more likely to be temporary.

I mean, say Janeway had died or was unable to command Voyager. The episode as shown had Chakotay's command codes not working.

 

[The Wormhole]

I would assume the rank, since the position (in the case you describe) is more likely to be temporary.

In today's navies, officers lower than Captain (O7) can be put in permanent command of a ship, and be addressed as Captain by its crew.

One would think Starfleet runs in a similar manner, and DS9 tried to depict this, though they sometimes screwed it up. One infamous example is when they had a Lieutenant commanding a Nebula class starship. Though I think this was explained as the intention was that he was supposed to be a Lt. Commander, the costuming department screwed up on his pips.

Therefore, someone with the position of Captain likely has been briefed on Omega.

By now I think we can agree that the wording on how secret Omega is was sloppy. But then, it would have slowed things down if they debated these very issues in the episode, so I think we can forgive them for hastily throwing vague terms to illustrate that this is uber secret.

 

[Vanyel]

That's an interesting point.

I would assume the rank, since the position (in the case you describe) is more likely to be temporary.

I mean, say Janeway had died or was unable to command Voyager. The episode as shown had Chakotay's command codes not working.

In the episode Janeway was not incapacitated, that being the case only her command codes would work. Had she been there must be a process to transfer command codes from CO to XO. There would have to be situations where command codes would have to be transferred; including ways to transfer them if the captain is incapacitated. Like the CMO and other senior officers confirm the transfer. There has to be a way to do it if you're out in space and days or weeks away from a starbase, or out on patrol during war. There just has to be a way otherwise the ship has to come right back to a starbase or risk having its crew locked out of the computer in an emergency.

Now, if that can be accepted, then the computer would recognize the new command codes. If the new captain does not follow proper protocol when the Omega Directive is automatically engaged on detection of the Omega particle, the computer can inform the captain of his responsibilities.