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The First Duty

I wanna know if the truth really is the first duty of a Starfleet officer in the handbook somewhere or did Picard make that up on the spot
I always thought the prime directive was their first duty
To confuse things even more, in Thine Own Self, Riker tells Troi his 1st duty is to the ship, a notion Picard himself supports, when he chooses to conceal the truth in order to save the ship in Clues, while also upholding the Prime Directive by concealing the existence of the xenophobes. However, he surely wouldn't treat the Prime Directive as his 1st duty in Justice.

So I just can't reconcile any of the 3 being a concrete #1 rule of conduct. Certainly there'd be times when noninterference had to take a back seat to the ship & crew's safety, & certainly there'd be times when exposing the truth would have to be put aside for the ship & crew's safety as well.

For example, if in The Pegasus, had there been several Romulan ships in the vicinity, & the Enterprise would face certain destruction, by Picard exposing Pressman's secret phasing cloak research the way he did, he'd obviously want to not do that, then & there, potentially risking it getting censured in the aftermath.

So the truth just can't be your 1st duty in every circumstance, nor can the ship, nor can the noninterference clause. Life is not so black & white, I'm afraid.
 
Prior to the fatal accident in the 2260s, was it considered too risky except for the most elite? How long had it existed? Did Kirk originate it? :rolleyes:

What was it about the 2260s exhibition that made it become banned? All five dying doesn't seem like enough to get it outright banned - require more flight hours, better training, tweaks to training ships before doing it again, (investigate what went wrong and fix it) maybe, but banned? Was one cadet the kid of somebody important?
 
Prior to the fatal accident in the 2260s, was it considered too risky except for the most elite? How long had it existed? Did Kirk originate it? :rolleyes:

What was it about the 2260s exhibition that made it become banned? All five dying doesn't seem like enough to get it outright banned - require more flight hours, better training, tweaks to training ships before doing it again, (investigate what went wrong and fix it) maybe, but banned? Was one cadet the kid of somebody important?
Banned because it's not safe.
It's a school. They are allowed to make rules.
I'll bet they don't allow smoking cigarettes in the classrooms either.
 
If nobody died they would have gotten a slap on the wrist. Like, an official reprimand in their file.

"You never once stopped to think that drama requires at least one fatality? What a lame-ass display. This will reflect quite badly on your future careers. Dism... Oh, and your wrists, please."

Timo Saloniemi
 
So TNG "THE FIRST DUTY" the accident occurred when they were practicing an illegal maneuver... or was it the actual demonstration? Either way it makes little sense. Once they practice a banned maneuver they would get expelled for doing it before graduating, yet they would never do it without practicing.

No that was an illegal practise exercise that would have been the official demonstraiton for the academy had it worked properly.
 
Prior to the fatal accident in the 2260s, was it considered too risky except for the most elite? How long had it existed? Did Kirk originate it? :rolleyes:
In David A. Goodman's The Autobiography of James T. Kirk:
Cadet Kirk barely escapes with his life when five other cadets try the Kolvoord Starburst Maneuver and all die in the attempt. Gary Mitchell saves Kirk's life, and that's what initially cements Jim and Gary's friendship. :)
In universe, I supposed the Starburst was regarded as an impressive but risky display prior to the fatal accident. Sort of like the stuff the Blue Angels do.
 
If only they had attempted it after Wesley had God-like powers and not before... bad timing
 
Almost every TNG episode has a ridiculous or flawed premise. I think the episode is a top ten episode even with the flaws that are mentioned. It is the only Wesley episode that I can actually watch, mainly because he wasn't perfect in it. And the guest stars are top notch.
 
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