He was accessory to murder... plain and simple. He gave Garak the green light to interfere into internal affairs of Romulan Star Empire in the first place.
That's a huge violation of the Prime Directive.
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Spoilers Star Trek: Prodigy 1x07 - "First Con-tact"
- Thread starter Commander Richard
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He was accessory to murder... plain and simple. He gave Garak the green light to interfere into internal affairs of Romulan Star Empire in the first place.
That's a huge violation of the Prime Directive.
You should re-read the Prime Directive. and it's status during war time.
Rules get bent in wartime. Not saying it's right...but I'm not saying it's wrong.
The prime directive doesn't apply to other advanced spacefaring civilizations. Now the Federation has a policy of not getting involved in a star nation's internal affairs, but during a time of open warfare a lot of things go out the window.
So no, it wasn't a prime directive violation, but it was an ethical violation of principles that Sisko believed he stood for; but because of how the war with the Dominion was going, it was a personal ethical violation he could live with.
Actually, that's not correct.
The UFP PD protects less advanced civilizations yes, but its not exclusively applied to them.
The PD prevents interference into a cultural matters of other species in general (advanced or not).
In TNG, Picard had to be very careful around the idea of allowing Worf to jump back and forth between Klingon warrior and SF officer when it came to participating in events. Even Picard himself drew the line on direct interference and had to exclude himself from what was an 'internal Klingon matter'.
So, no, the PD does NOT exclude advanced spacefaring civilizations.
What Sisko did was a gross violation of PD...he turned a blind eye to a murder after allowing Garak to FABRICATE evidence which made it seem like the Dominion was plotting against the Romulans so the Romulans would join UFP and Klingons against the Dominion.
Was it the right thing to do? Probably not. Was it necessary? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps there was another way to bring the Romulans into the fight against the Dominion, we don't know.
Point being is that like any other war crime... Sisko should have been held accountable.
Concerning Picard/Worf/Klingon Civil War, that had nothing to do with the Prime Directive. Q'onos was a Federation member. That was recognizing the Sovereign Government of the Klingon Empire.
The idea that the Klingons had joined the Federation was an early TNG idea that got retconned out. By S5, it had been retconned and the Klingon Empire was an independent, sovereign state that had never joined the UFP.
We can always head canon the bridge of the K't'inga-class warship in "A Matter of Honor(TNG)" with both Federation and Klingon logos as some joint authority vessel or a Klingon ship decorated to tout the Klingon-Federation Alliance as a form of P.R. The Empire occasionally decorated a warship in honor of the Alliance. At that time in history it was less than twenty years old.
Interesting discussion on Sisko. I might need to watch that episode again soon and see what I think now.
The early TNG toyed with the idea that Klingons became UFP members, but this was discarded towards the premise they were just allies... and by the time Worf meddled into Klingon affairs, the Klingon Empire was already relegated to status of UFP allies (not members).
Also, we have no clear idea on what kind of guidelines UFP has for non-interference on its own member worlds. Internal political squabbles are long gone on member planets by the time they join UFP (hence the joining requirements) so those issues were never really explored.
Though, we know individual planets can keep their own space organisations, and training academies are interchangeable with Starfleet Academy (so people can be transferred from one to the other without much or any hassle)... and planets do retain their own cultures, etc. - though of course, the cultures in question would change drastically over time - which is something that Disco writers hadn't really explored... the societies just remained... static of sorts.
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The last reference to the Klingons being a member of the Federation may have been in Season 2. Some line Wesley says when he's talking to one of the officers about history.
He referred to the Klingons as allies if my memory is accurate (though its been a while since I've rewatched TNG s2).
So back to the transporter. I may be wrong, but I believe this is the first episode in which we saw the Protostar transporter used. Did anyone else notice the "whirling effect" of dematerialization and materialization? I think the only other times I have seen a similar whirling transporter effect is in the Kelvin universe movies. All Starfleet transporter effects in the prime universe have either been sparkling or vertical or a mixture of both, but not swirling. Could this be a clue to the Protostar's origins?
Well, his line was basically "before the Klingons joined the Federation." But yeah, close. Maybe when he and Picard were alone on the shuttlecraft in "Samaritan Snare"?
The show was confirmed its taking place in the original timeline, not the Kelvin verse... however, you make a fair point about its origins given its transporter effect and nacelle designs (both of which are highly indicative of the Kelvin - verse).
But its also possible that Starfleet in the prime timeline simply designed the ship with different aspects that had nothing to do with the Kelvin verse as such. The Kelvin verse did manage to scan the Narada, so that may have given Starfleet in that timeline some clues about future technology.
But, as we know, transporters can produce different effects in Trek in a similar time period... depending on which transporter type they use.
Also, why would the UFP from the prime timeline be using the Protostar without trying to return it to the Kelvin verse? Aka, why would they assign Chakotay to it?
The registry is also indicative of the fact its a prime timeline ship. So, the nacelle design and transporter effect being Kelvin verse could be purely incidental.
Also, they use the prime timeline way of calculating stardates, not the kelvin one.
Parallel technological development. The Prime Timeline eventually got around to Kelvin Timeline-like warp nacelles and transporter beams. That shows how the Narada's arrival in 2233 gave that new, altered timeline such a vast leap in technology. Not only were ships built bigger but they had tech their Prime counterparts wouldn't for at least another century.
I think the Kelvin similarities are design choices. Hologram Janeway, Chakotay as the previous captain, the history depicted in the holodeck simulations in Kobayashi, all point to the Protostar originating in the Prime Universe, and as @Deks said, we know the show itself takes place in the Prime Universe.
I think it’s just a design choice, as the show draws on something from everything Star Trek that’s come before.
I think it’s just a design choice, as the show draws on something from everything Star Trek that’s come before.
Yep, a producer's design choice and in-universe we can write it off as the Prime Timeline eventually catching up to the Kelvin Timeline in some arenas.
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