Why didn't they just self-destruct?

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I can't remember, did DSC ever deal with the reason why they didn't just evacuate Discovery and set it to self-destruct in order to wipe out the sphere data once and for all?

And if they couldn't self-destruct, just get a few other Starfleet ships to blow it up.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

The sphere data asserted itself to prevent self-destruct and then raised the shields to prevent the Enterprise from destroying it.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Self destruct was Plan A, then the countdown went past 0:00 and no boom.

 

[XCV330]

digital failsafe systems have failed so often in trek that they really need a few mechanical devices.. a grenade taped to the computer core, a mechanical self destruct (whatever that thing kirk kicked the shit out of in STID), and a lever to pull to eject the warp core, which seems to not be ejectable when it MUST be ejected.

 

[Spot261]

Or just, y'know, try a bit harder than firing one torpedo and giving up?

 

[Timo]

Hey, the data had taken over a starship and activated her combat systems, including but probably not limited to her shields. Keeping firing at her would probably have ranked as the worst command decision ever made by Pike. (Certainly it would have been his last.)

Then again, the data was doing such a good job at protecting itself that the heroes should just have shrugged and left. Their subsequent actions probably just increased the risk of Control taking control of the data! For all we know, the data could have activated the spore jump drive and could have kept fleeing Control indefinitely with that.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Self destruct was Plan A, then the countdown went past 0:00 and no boom.

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[eschaton]

I mean, even though self-destruct didn't work, they could have tried a number of other things, like setting a collision course for a planet/asteroid/star.

Hell, the Spore Drive still works - and they can travel to any point in space or to alternate universes. Why not just jump it to somewhere which would be totally inaccessible to Control and leave it there?

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

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Thank You! I watched that clip not long ago, but couldn't remember it was the source of "no boom".

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Boom. Boom boom boom. Boom boom. BOOM. Have a nice day.

 

[DonIago]

...and here I thought this was going to be a thread about why they didn't self-destruct the Shenzhou...

But yeah...first the self-destruct fails, then the ship raises shields. For all we know if they'd kept firing then Discovery would have started firing back.

 

[The Wormhole]

Because Calypso. That's basically what everything boils down to, the whole reason they didn't self-destruct, try harder trying to blow the ship up another way, or spore drive away somewhere Control can't reach is all because the writers felt compelled to send the ship into the future because of Calypso.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I don't see how "Calypso" has anything to do with this.

In that episode, "Zora" says she has been adrift - alone - for a thousand years. So either the ship does yet ANOTHER time jump* (which I find unlikely, especially since they'd have to do it without the crew), or the writers really have no idea how to tie that episode into the overall canon.

* then again, we know that Georgiou has to make it back to 2257 somehow (so she can be in the Section 31 series), so maybe this is how they're going to do it.

 

[Spot261]

Hey, the data had taken over a starship and activated her combat systems, including but probably not limited to her shields. Keeping firing at her would probably have ranked as the worst command decision ever made by Pike. (Certainly it would have been his last.)

Then again, the data was doing such a good job at protecting itself that the heroes should just have shrugged and left. Their subsequent actions probably just increased the risk of Control taking control of the data! For all we know, the data could have activated the spore jump drive and could have kept fleeing Control indefinitely with that.

Timo Saloniemi

You think engaging in combat with a starship controlled by an advanced AI is a suicide move?

 

[Spot261]

I don't see how "Calypso" has anything to do with this.

In that episode, "Zora" says she has been adrift - alone - for a thousand years. So either the ship does yet ANOTHER time jump* (which I find unlikely, especially since they'd have to do it without the crew), or the writers really have no idea how to tie that episode into the overall canon.

* then again, we know that Georgiou has to make it back to 2257 somehow (so she can be in the Section 31 series), so maybe this is how they're going to do it.

Do we?

Could the S31 series not be set in the interim period? Show her in flashbacks? Involve time travel? Alternate universes?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ If you're suggesting it's the Section 31 of DSC's future, I doubt that. It probably doesn't exist anymore. What passes for a Federation in that timeline would most likely not need one (if your Federation only has like six member worlds, it's not likely to pose much of a threat, so there'd be nothing for Section 31 to defend it against).

 

[gerbil]

I mean, even though self-destruct didn't work, they could have tried a number of other things, like setting a collision course for a planet/asteroid/star.

Hell, the Spore Drive still works - and they can travel to any point in space or to alternate universes. Why not just jump it to somewhere which would be totally inaccessible to Control and leave it there?

The ship was quite able to defend itself and most likely would do anything it could to neutralize any attempt to manually destroy it.

As for jumping, it didn’t matter where they went. It didn't matter how long it took Control to get the sphere data, just that it did.

 

[BillJ]

As for jumping, it didn’t matter where they went. It didn't matter how long it took Control to get the sphere data, just that it did.

If they jumped to the other side of the universe, even Control would've had issues finding and getting to it.

 

[Timo]

And odds are that when it did reach the data, it would already be grossly outdated. I mean, we don't even need to assume that things in the galaxy are evolving (odds are that they are not - they have already had billions of years to do so and to reach a steady state of sorts) and outpacing poor Control. What I mean is that not only would "upgraded Control" be a well-known threat at the time, giving the (future) heroes plenty of lead time to prepare against it, but the galaxy would be full of things of similar nature anyway, some of them now in good terms with our (future) heroes.

You think engaging in combat with a starship controlled by an advanced AI is a suicide move?

Why ask me? You might instead ask the crew of the Excalibur...

Perhaps Pike could have paged for a certain Lieutenant Kirk from Records to drop his stack of books and report to the bridge, and then launched him aboard the Discovery in an exciting spacewalk scene, after which the Lieutenant would proceed to talk the AI to utter submission and fiery self-destruct? This would then also nicely establish that Pike was out of that particular type of ammo when confronting Control.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

^ If you're suggesting it's the Section 31 of DSC's future, I doubt that. It probably doesn't exist anymore. What passes for a Federation in that timeline would most likely not need one (if your Federation only has like six member worlds, it's not likely to pose much of a threat, so there'd be nothing for Section 31 to defend it against).

Wouldn't it be just the opposite? A gutted Federation would need S31 more than ever. They might be the only defense they have left against even more enemies.