Love that this scene appears to be inspired by real-world events... Much more like the Trek we grew up with. Using High Commissioner Ferris's grandson as an Easter egg is nice too. Not happy about Section 31 being talked about so openly, but considering these people are on the Federation Council, it's not unreasonable to think they have cleared knowledge. I think I'm going to like where this goes.
The alliance has access to two functional Dyson Spheres, each with enough land to house the entire known population of the Galaxy with enough space left over between populations that they would never have to even know others existed unless they wanted to.
And instead we this is the high level debate we get? There should never be another issue with refugees or need for new colonies again.
Stupid writers.
The Dyson spheres full of extremely advanced yet barely understood Technology that are loaded with Omega Particles, Automated defence systems, killer drones, Undine and Dinosaurs with friggin' Lazors on their heads?
All of which has already been dealt with by this time in the timeline even if the game gives the impression that everything is happening simultaneously. All those threats are gone and we're on to the whole time war thing now. Keep up.
Which is it's own can of Stupid, but at least that remains consistent.
The alliance has access to two functional Dyson Spheres, each with enough land to house the entire known population of the Galaxy with enough space left over between populations that they would never have to even know others existed unless they wanted to.
And instead we this is the high level debate we get? There should never be another issue with refugees or need for new colonies again.
Stupid writers.
The Dyson spheres full of extremely advanced yet barely understood Technology that are loaded with Omega Particles, Automated defence systems, killer drones, Undine and Dinosaurs with friggin' Lazors on their heads?
All of which has already been dealt with by this time in the timeline even if the game gives the impression that everything is happening simultaneously. All those threats are gone and we're on to the whole time war thing now. Keep up.
Which is it's own can of Stupid, but at least that remains consistent.
At the most, what has been "dealt with" there is the Voth. The facilities still remain, as is a literal AU's worth of habitable terrain, filled with unexplored areas and possible dangers that have not even been discovered yet, much less addressed.
Plus, there's the fact that controlling access to the Sphere's in and of itself is a point of contention between three major galactic powers....
Yeah, no, no one in their right mind is gonna relocate refugees to the Dyson Spheres anytime soon.
Great! We finally got to see President Okeg -- even if it was just a picture XP
Can we meet him someday?
After the... confuuusing chain of events that resulted in the Na'kuhl star going out like a candle (by a stolen device of Starfleet design from the future, no less), the least the Federation in the present can do is helping the Na'kuhl relocate (which they do, if we remember Captain Shon's comical conversation with a certain Caitian security officer whose tail gets stomped on ^^), and help them find a new homeworld. Helping them now might secure new friendships in the future, regardless of what we saw in Time and Tide.
But this uh... inimical stance from Councilman Ferris and his associates means trouble in my opinion. Judging people in the present based on what their descendants will / MIGHT do in the future is wrong. So I'm with Okeg and the good Ambassador Troi on this one.
If Ferris has the ears of just a few Starfleet Admirals (or stars forbid, Quinn agrees with him), then this could end badly.
Also, I had no idea that Section 31 operated this openly in 2410 O.o
I didn't know the Federation capital was in Paris. With the academy in San Francisco is see a trend.
Paris has never been stated as being the capital (neither has SF for that matter). Paris is just the seat of the presidential office
IIRC, the Palais de la Concorde in Paris is the seat of government of the Federation, which houses both the Federation Council Chamber, as well as the Presidential office. So to me, yeah, that makes Paris the capital.
Post edited by kelettes on
"Ad astra audacter eamus in alis fidelium."
-
"To boldly go to the stars on the wings of the faithful."
If I were in Starfleet Intelligence I would be deeply insulted.
(...)
That's however what happened. Back when STO launched Drake and S31 were treated as regular intelligence which was odd from the beginning. Only much later when the game "matured" a bit we got mentions of Starfleet Intelligence and tha tthe two aren't the same. Still, in STOs story, S31 is out of hiding and seemingly completely backed up by official channels.
I don't remember it like that. Drake was clearly unofficial and everyone we talked to treated him like he was sketchy. Recall the incident where he tested us about the Undine infiltrators.
NO, she's alive?! We should have let the Iconians win!
Chill out Freiza. You're not embarrassed about that time she read your mind are you?
"Rise like Lions after slumber, In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew, Which in sleep had fallen on you-Ye are many they are few"
Oh for frak's sake. This whole plot line is so forced it's not even funny. Really starting to think I am going to skip this entire story arc, which is the first time I've ever done that, but I think this grab for the headlines has really made whatever plot was supposed to have been there before fall completely off the rails. This thing is so far off from the trajectory the first few episodes promised that narratively, it blows up way worse than anything that people pointed out about the Iconian War arc.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Great writing. Seems like current (RL) events are influencing the future.
I didn't know the Federation capital was in Paris. With the academy in San Francisco is see a trend.
Paris has never been stated as being the capital (neither has SF for that matter). Paris is just the seat of the presidential office
Then you may want to watch two DS9 episodes - Homefront and Paradise Lost.
Actually Paris was established as the Presidential seat all the way back in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. (There's a scene in the President's office and the Eiffel Tower is clearly visible outside the window.)
There's a lot wrong with these more recent stories and the new missions tying into them. Some of it feels due to the way the recent missions feel a bit rushed with little things overlooked that add up. Others with the really forced way it's trying to be a 1:1 comparison with real-world events, which Star Trek shows tended to handle better by spreading things out and actually digging into all concerns, treating them all as potentially valid, and putting twists on them. It wasn't always a "good versus evil" thing, which isn't what Star Trek does, it was usually two misguided factions that couldn't find the common ground to work together to solve both their issues together. That isn't what it feels like is being pushed here.
For one thing, this whole situation would have been resolved in the first place if we had turned around and reverted the changes the Tholians made to the Nak'uhl star. But what's-his-face had a burning desire to go hide his homemade superweapon on Risa in a pile of dirt before his toast got cold. Not a even single reason was even given to the player captain as to why we had to rush off to Risa in the past first before helping the Nak'uhl immediately. In no way did we even have a choice to try to fight the obvious lack of forethought there. No one I personally know, no matter their stance on real-world issues, found this acceptable.
People here in the forums got upset years ago for an old Fed mission in Romulan space that ended with us being led on a wild goose chase by an Undine-impersonating Starfleet admiral and killing all sorts of Romulan medical personnel for them in the process. Why aren't we upset now once more that we're being forced into creating this situation without a reasonable explanation? I'd go so far as to say this is an even worse development than the prior-mentioned old Romulan mission (which I appreciated for the now-long-removed aspect of the "Undine threat" that is basically non-existant from the game now after all the mission removals since then, but I digress). We weren't even given a "the Nak'uhl have to lose their star and suffer because stuff has to happen later" reason at the time by happy-go-lucky-time-travel-man.
Yes, I know, time travel and needing to not alter events significantly to protect the known future (or past) because it has to culminate in the rushed ending of the Temporal Cold War in Enterprise. When has that ever stopped anyone in Star Trek? "Do what's right"? Saving everyone a lot of time (pun not intended) by just flicking the device back on and reverting the changes the Tholians made to the star for a spare five minutes would have been fine. Star Trek changes the "intended" future all the time. We certainly have a different history in STO than all the futures we've seen in the various television shows so far, with only a few overlaps.
Another thing is the way these stories, website and in-game both, are pressuring the idea that any and all attempts at careful consideration for the things we get involved with are "clearly" morally wrong and without conscience. A character, Councilman Ferris, is specifically written in to take on the burden of being the political "villain" with ties to a character in Star Trek canon past who is, going by this story's additions to said character that don't appear to exist in canon, also morally corrupt and xenophobic.
Because having actual concerns based in reality due to events of the past, present, and future means you're a straight up xenophobe. If Ferris makes a comeback and the writers push the xenophobic bit, they may as well give him a tophat and a curled mustache he can stroke while he cackles and plans how to make innocent people suffer for his own pleasure.
This is Star Trek with a peaceful Federation that takes careful time and planning to avoid making mistakes that affect the lives of entire worlds, in the name of compassion or otherwise. That's why there's a such thing as the Prime Directive in the first place and why the heroes of Star Trek are always facing moments of tension when trying to do good without that good actually becoming real harm.
Now maybe I'm wrong about the stance the writers are putting on the "good" characters in these stories. Maybe it'll be the classic Star Trek tale of "oh snap, while we seemed like we were doing great and wonderful, compassionate things, we were actually equally contributing to the problems we blamed others for and hurting people as a result, so maybe we should work together instead of making each other the enemy and causing more problems" as a plot twist later. But considering the rushed feeling of the recent Iconian War and the overly-preachy way some of these recent stories seem to lean, I'm afraid the point of Star Trek and the Federation is missed completely.
I want to help people. I want other people to help people. But I have never seen anyone come out good rushing into things without forethought and careful planning in their attempts to help others, or appear to help others as is often the case with real-world politicians in general.
There are plenty of people I know on both sides of the real-world debate on these issues that can agree that these stories are not doing the situation, real and fictional, justice, and perhaps even because of it realize that a little from both sides could make things better and help a great deal more people. That may be the only positive coming out of this so far.
And as a purely Star Trek point, we have a galaxy with a lot of open real estate, M-class worlds out the wazoo. Remember that time we may have let Vaadwaur refugees come to our quadrant(s) to make a new home for themselves peacefully away from the war in the Delta Quadrant because we basically told them (or could tell them) that we have lots of available new worlds for them (which apparently wasn't a problem at the time)? Why are we so focused on shuffling separate groups of Nak'uhl onto already-established Federation homeworlds instead of fresh new colonies they can make their own? Why is this even a problem? They clearly want to retain their own culture and identity, going by the recent mission's Nak'uhl dialogue, so why not give them a whole, freely available world of their own?
Also, I like how we're supposed to be turning back towards an era of peaceful exploration, but as Admiral Quinn basically says at the end of the recent mission, looks like we're back to war again.
I want to clarify that I have enjoyed this game since before its release, and the artists who work on it do amazing work in these missions and new content. I'm just not too thrilled with how these recent stories are being developed and it's a bit of a turn-off for me.
> @thorodal said: > Anyone else here who couldn't help him-/herself to imagine that Ferris-fellow to wear a tribble as toupet, similar to a certain presidential candidate today who's spitting basically the same xenophobic BS?
I don't think he is spitting xenophobia as much as he is talking reciprocity.
"Ferris [said], 'Sir, we need to be more vigilant when dealing with a potential security threat, especially considering what we’ve learned took place in the 29th century.'
Okeg frowned slightly at that. 'He’s making the most of his recent appointment to the Starfleet Intelligence Committee,' he thought. 'One more weapon in his arsenal.'"
lulz Yes, totally unacceptable! Q forbid that Ferris actually do his job as a duly elected official in the most democratic and enlightened republic in history, and apply critical thinking to intelligence reports!
Here we have a fine example of Okeg's naivete and shameless politicking masquerading as principle. Viewing a difference of opinion in tactics as a "weapon" used against one's self in particular is not only paranoid, but egotistical. Highly illogical. Does Okeg really believe it is ethical and politically wise to give hostile time-traveling strangers free rein in the Federation? For what purpose? To show people who don't care, how enlightened we are? That is an act of pride and self-display, not charity. Logical proof: the Federation could easily assist them on some distant planet, and thereby also preserve their autonomy. A desperate choice is not a choice. The idea that a desperate people could freely choose to integrate in the Federation is utterly preposterous. Okeg will only succeed in showing everyone how foolish he is.
We've seen this banal holonovel before. Captain Benjamin Maxwell was, of course, right about the Cardassians, and if he hadn't taken the initiative, the Dominion War could have unfolded very differently.
The Department of Temporal Investigations leaks tell us that in an alternate universe, Admiral Marcus was, of course, right about the need to militarize Starfleet. Imagine how many billions of lives would have been saved from the Klingons, the Romulans, the Cardassians, the Borg, the Dominion, and so on, had Starfleet not dedicated itself (and the Federation it is supposed to protect) to perpetual disadvantage and suicide.
"Councilman, recall that both the Klingons and Romulans were once our bitter enemies,” the President said calmly. “Through diplomacy, they are now trusted partners in the Alliance. In time, the same could be said for the Na’kuhl.”
For the love of Q, there wasn't a single diplomatic mission that resolved either conflict. I do, however, vividly recall blasting countless thousands of Klingon battlecruisers and Imperial Romulan warbirds out of the stars so that Okeg and Lwaxana could sip red wine in Paris. I also vividly recall several ancient powers beyond our comprehension trying to annihilate all life in the galaxy, thereby necessitating an alliance to survive. Literally at no point did diplomacy solve a single problem in this entire story. But nice try.
In an enlightened democratic federal republic with a separation of powers and civilian rule, the citizens have absolutely nothing to fear from its own well-regulated volunteer military, and everything to fear from its enemies, all of which operate by tyrannical and coercive forms of government. Let's have some clarity for once. There is nothing morally ambiguous or relative about this.
Personally, I don't much care for this time travel fad. Everyone and his dog can time travel now. It makes it almost impossible to have a single timeline, and it can be used as a plot device to change pretty much anything in the game.
Cheap parlor tricks.
JJ Abrams used it to make the worst 'Trek stories in the history of the franchise. Personally, I hope someone reboots the series again, and the first thing they should have is someone waking up and saying "thank god it was only a dream". Maybe McCoy played by Karl Urban since he seems to be the only one from the new movies to have any respect for franchise canon.
You know, I understand Abrams' Star Trek work had its flaws, but I find far more rewatchability in his stuff than this plot arc. @millybun hit on a lot of the problems I have with the writing here. I am convinced that before they decided to shoehorn politics into it, that the plot trajectory was going to be something else that actually made more sense, but then they changed it at just about literally the last minute. While tripping over their feet to be timely, I think they ended up FUBARing it because ESPECIALLY with time travel, you have GOT to be way more thought out than this. I could work through the contortions of Butterfly and Midnight. This, I cannot, not even slightly.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
If I were in Starfleet Intelligence I would be deeply insulted.
(...)
That's however what happened. Back when STO launched Drake and S31 were treated as regular intelligence which was odd from the beginning. Only much later when the game "matured" a bit we got mentions of Starfleet Intelligence and tha tthe two aren't the same. Still, in STOs story, S31 is out of hiding and seemingly completely backed up by official channels.
Although it seems that Starfleet Intelligence denies the existence of Section 31 when you go to visit Starbase 39-Sierra. Then again, it's not like I've got the later part of the game (whole lot of Fleet Admirals, and none of them actually did the missions in Gamma Quadrant.... )
Anyone else here who couldn't help him-/herself to imagine that Ferris-fellow to wear a tribble as toupet, similar to a certain presidential candidate today who's spitting basically the same xenophobic BS?
We have 2,996 reasons to be "xenophobic" as you put it (three of them I knew personally). In addition to the laws, and territorial borders, of a sovereign nation being violated by foreign nationals, on an alarming basis, for years now. There is not a damned thing "xenophobic" about wanting that issue corrected. It's just plain common sense. Especially since a certain nation south of us has a long history of serious institutionalized corruption, dumping their "problems" on us, violent political turmoil, and has powerful international drug cartels (armed with military hardware) running around like they own the damned place. Just because a bored, rich celebrity idiot exploits it for his amusement doesn't make what I said, and the actual issues, any less relevant or true.
As for this hamfisted piece of fiction......
Ferris has made valid points that need to be taken into consideration. It seems that the Federation government is hell bent on revisiting the general utopian malaise that gripped it in the 24th Century (a century that Troi is a product of). Everybody, except for a intelligent few, are ready to stick their damned heads back into the sand, since there are no obvious baddies directly threatening the UFP proper post-Iconia.
Let's review for a moment. From 2499 (the breakdown of the Khitomer Accords) to 2410 (the present in STO):
-The UFP clashed with the Klingon Empire, thanks to outside meddling by a race that was being meddled with themselves.
-The UFP clashed with the splinter elements of a dangerously fractured Romulan Star Empire (who were in that state because of outside meddling and plotting).
-The UFP has been clashing with dishonored Imperial Great Houses, Gorn seperatists, the forces of a disgruntled Klingon diplomat, Orion freebooters, ruthless Ferengi crooks, Nausicaan raiders, rogue scientists, hostile minor powers, and smugglers/pirates.
-The UFP lost a vital, strategic base of operations to a lost Dominion Fleet, which took the cooperation of two major powers (three if we count our RRF characters post-LoR) to take back.
-The UFP clashed with the Breen Confederacy.
-The UFP, along with most everybody else, has been clashing with a resurgent Borg Collective.
-The UFP, along with everybody else, has clashed with Undine.
-The UFP has clashed with a well funded, well equipped Cardassian terrorist organization and their rogue ex-Dominion allies.
-The UFP ran afoul of the Devidians, who were once again on the hunt.
-The UFP has clashed with, and is currently in a "brushfire war" with, the Terran Empire.
-The UFP has clashed with the Tholian Assembly
-The UFP has clashed with Hirogen hunting parties far from their traditional territory.
-The UFP is currently in a low level conflict with the Voth as part of an alliance of Alpha/Beta Quadrant powers.
-The UFP is currently in hostilities with a rogue Krenim scientist and his private army armed with temporal technology and weaponry.
-The UFP has clashed with a (still hostile) Vaadwaur Supremacy that has been bolstered by Iconian support and technology.
-The UFP has clashed with the Iconians' servitor races, and fought a destructive conflict with the Iconians themselves.
Now that's a pretty big freakin' list (some of which are POWERFUL entities). Especially in the timespan of just a decade. It is because of that, people like Ferris and his political allies, are understandably cautious and concerned. Concerns that need to be addressed, and not casually dismissed as the fear mongering of a bunch of paranoids.
Now, I'm all for making new friends, diplomacy, humanitarian missions, etc, etc. However, idealism must be tempered with a healthy dose of reality, Because of recent history, the UFP needs to play it safe, and drop the knee-jerk paternalism, in the name of plain old fashioned common sense. We know the Na'kuhl (or, at least, some of them) will attempt to bring down the Federation at some point with time traveling shenanigans, regardless of any olive branches the Federation might extent to them. Any Na'kuhl allowed sanctuary should be carefully vetted, because anguish and perceived injustice has a nasty tendency to breed radicalism. And having a bunch of pissed off individuals, with an ax to grind against you, inside your borders with free reign, is a clear sign of stupidity and a break with reality.
Comments
Love that this scene appears to be inspired by real-world events... Much more like the Trek we grew up with. Using High Commissioner Ferris's grandson as an Easter egg is nice too. Not happy about Section 31 being talked about so openly, but considering these people are on the Federation Council, it's not unreasonable to think they have cleared knowledge. I think I'm going to like where this goes.
Nice job on Ambassador Troi, Paul. It was spot on. I couldn't help but imagine Majel voicing the words.
So sad she is gone...
arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1203368/pve-content-a-list-of-gamewide-polishing-pass-suggestions
All of which has already been dealt with by this time in the timeline even if the game gives the impression that everything is happening simultaneously. All those threats are gone and we're on to the whole time war thing now. Keep up.
Which is it's own can of Stupid, but at least that remains consistent.
At the most, what has been "dealt with" there is the Voth. The facilities still remain, as is a literal AU's worth of habitable terrain, filled with unexplored areas and possible dangers that have not even been discovered yet, much less addressed.
Plus, there's the fact that controlling access to the Sphere's in and of itself is a point of contention between three major galactic powers....
Yeah, no, no one in their right mind is gonna relocate refugees to the Dyson Spheres anytime soon.
You mean ingame missions where you read the texts of three people talking passively?
"The higher the fewer."
Great read. I'd like to have been in the room as a player Captain.
Can we meet him someday?
After the... confuuusing chain of events that resulted in the Na'kuhl star going out like a candle (by a stolen device of Starfleet design from the future, no less), the least the Federation in the present can do is helping the Na'kuhl relocate (which they do, if we remember Captain Shon's comical conversation with a certain Caitian security officer whose tail gets stomped on ^^), and help them find a new homeworld. Helping them now might secure new friendships in the future, regardless of what we saw in Time and Tide.
But this uh... inimical stance from Councilman Ferris and his associates means trouble in my opinion. Judging people in the present based on what their descendants will / MIGHT do in the future is wrong. So I'm with Okeg and the good Ambassador Troi on this one.
If Ferris has the ears of just a few Starfleet Admirals (or stars forbid, Quinn agrees with him), then this could end badly.
Also, I had no idea that Section 31 operated this openly in 2410 O.o
Good read, bookmarked
IIRC, the Palais de la Concorde in Paris is the seat of government of the Federation, which houses both the Federation Council Chamber, as well as the Presidential office. So to me, yeah, that makes Paris the capital.
-
"To boldly go to the stars on the wings of the faithful."
Original Join Date: January 30th, 2010
And we made fleet Admiral quickly enough, saving the galaxy quite often. Why not a Presidential uniform to go with it.
Player and forumite formerly known as FEELTHETHUNDER
Expatriot Might Characters in EXILE
Okeg's outfit in the picture is not a dress.
I'm fairly certain @eristhevorta is using the term "dress" as in uniform (like, "dress" code) as opposed to women's wear.
I don't remember it like that. Drake was clearly unofficial and everyone we talked to treated him like he was sketchy. Recall the incident where he tested us about the Undine infiltrators.
Chill out Freiza. You're not embarrassed about that time she read your mind are you?
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Actually Paris was established as the Presidential seat all the way back in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. (There's a scene in the President's office and the Eiffel Tower is clearly visible outside the window.)
My Foundry missions | My STO Wiki page | My Twitter home page
For one thing, this whole situation would have been resolved in the first place if we had turned around and reverted the changes the Tholians made to the Nak'uhl star. But what's-his-face had a burning desire to go hide his homemade superweapon on Risa in a pile of dirt before his toast got cold. Not a even single reason was even given to the player captain as to why we had to rush off to Risa in the past first before helping the Nak'uhl immediately. In no way did we even have a choice to try to fight the obvious lack of forethought there. No one I personally know, no matter their stance on real-world issues, found this acceptable.
People here in the forums got upset years ago for an old Fed mission in Romulan space that ended with us being led on a wild goose chase by an Undine-impersonating Starfleet admiral and killing all sorts of Romulan medical personnel for them in the process. Why aren't we upset now once more that we're being forced into creating this situation without a reasonable explanation? I'd go so far as to say this is an even worse development than the prior-mentioned old Romulan mission (which I appreciated for the now-long-removed aspect of the "Undine threat" that is basically non-existant from the game now after all the mission removals since then, but I digress). We weren't even given a "the Nak'uhl have to lose their star and suffer because stuff has to happen later" reason at the time by happy-go-lucky-time-travel-man.
Yes, I know, time travel and needing to not alter events significantly to protect the known future (or past) because it has to culminate in the rushed ending of the Temporal Cold War in Enterprise. When has that ever stopped anyone in Star Trek? "Do what's right"? Saving everyone a lot of time (pun not intended) by just flicking the device back on and reverting the changes the Tholians made to the star for a spare five minutes would have been fine. Star Trek changes the "intended" future all the time. We certainly have a different history in STO than all the futures we've seen in the various television shows so far, with only a few overlaps.
Another thing is the way these stories, website and in-game both, are pressuring the idea that any and all attempts at careful consideration for the things we get involved with are "clearly" morally wrong and without conscience. A character, Councilman Ferris, is specifically written in to take on the burden of being the political "villain" with ties to a character in Star Trek canon past who is, going by this story's additions to said character that don't appear to exist in canon, also morally corrupt and xenophobic.
Because having actual concerns based in reality due to events of the past, present, and future means you're a straight up xenophobe. If Ferris makes a comeback and the writers push the xenophobic bit, they may as well give him a tophat and a curled mustache he can stroke while he cackles and plans how to make innocent people suffer for his own pleasure.
This is Star Trek with a peaceful Federation that takes careful time and planning to avoid making mistakes that affect the lives of entire worlds, in the name of compassion or otherwise. That's why there's a such thing as the Prime Directive in the first place and why the heroes of Star Trek are always facing moments of tension when trying to do good without that good actually becoming real harm.
Now maybe I'm wrong about the stance the writers are putting on the "good" characters in these stories. Maybe it'll be the classic Star Trek tale of "oh snap, while we seemed like we were doing great and wonderful, compassionate things, we were actually equally contributing to the problems we blamed others for and hurting people as a result, so maybe we should work together instead of making each other the enemy and causing more problems" as a plot twist later. But considering the rushed feeling of the recent Iconian War and the overly-preachy way some of these recent stories seem to lean, I'm afraid the point of Star Trek and the Federation is missed completely.
I want to help people. I want other people to help people. But I have never seen anyone come out good rushing into things without forethought and careful planning in their attempts to help others, or appear to help others as is often the case with real-world politicians in general.
There are plenty of people I know on both sides of the real-world debate on these issues that can agree that these stories are not doing the situation, real and fictional, justice, and perhaps even because of it realize that a little from both sides could make things better and help a great deal more people. That may be the only positive coming out of this so far.
And as a purely Star Trek point, we have a galaxy with a lot of open real estate, M-class worlds out the wazoo. Remember that time we may have let Vaadwaur refugees come to our quadrant(s) to make a new home for themselves peacefully away from the war in the Delta Quadrant because we basically told them (or could tell them) that we have lots of available new worlds for them (which apparently wasn't a problem at the time)? Why are we so focused on shuffling separate groups of Nak'uhl onto already-established Federation homeworlds instead of fresh new colonies they can make their own? Why is this even a problem? They clearly want to retain their own culture and identity, going by the recent mission's Nak'uhl dialogue, so why not give them a whole, freely available world of their own?
Also, I like how we're supposed to be turning back towards an era of peaceful exploration, but as Admiral Quinn basically says at the end of the recent mission, looks like we're back to war again.
I want to clarify that I have enjoyed this game since before its release, and the artists who work on it do amazing work in these missions and new content. I'm just not too thrilled with how these recent stories are being developed and it's a bit of a turn-off for me.
> Anyone else here who couldn't help him-/herself to imagine that Ferris-fellow to wear a tribble as toupet, similar to a certain presidential candidate today who's spitting basically the same xenophobic BS?
I don't think he is spitting xenophobia as much as he is talking reciprocity.
"Ferris [said], 'Sir, we need to be more vigilant when dealing with a potential security threat, especially considering what we’ve learned took place in the 29th century.'
Okeg frowned slightly at that. 'He’s making the most of his recent appointment to the Starfleet Intelligence Committee,' he thought. 'One more weapon in his arsenal.'"
lulz Yes, totally unacceptable! Q forbid that Ferris actually do his job as a duly elected official in the most democratic and enlightened republic in history, and apply critical thinking to intelligence reports!
Here we have a fine example of Okeg's naivete and shameless politicking masquerading as principle. Viewing a difference of opinion in tactics as a "weapon" used against one's self in particular is not only paranoid, but egotistical. Highly illogical. Does Okeg really believe it is ethical and politically wise to give hostile time-traveling strangers free rein in the Federation? For what purpose? To show people who don't care, how enlightened we are? That is an act of pride and self-display, not charity. Logical proof: the Federation could easily assist them on some distant planet, and thereby also preserve their autonomy. A desperate choice is not a choice. The idea that a desperate people could freely choose to integrate in the Federation is utterly preposterous. Okeg will only succeed in showing everyone how foolish he is.
We've seen this banal holonovel before. Captain Benjamin Maxwell was, of course, right about the Cardassians, and if he hadn't taken the initiative, the Dominion War could have unfolded very differently.
The Department of Temporal Investigations leaks tell us that in an alternate universe, Admiral Marcus was, of course, right about the need to militarize Starfleet. Imagine how many billions of lives would have been saved from the Klingons, the Romulans, the Cardassians, the Borg, the Dominion, and so on, had Starfleet not dedicated itself (and the Federation it is supposed to protect) to perpetual disadvantage and suicide.
"Councilman, recall that both the Klingons and Romulans were once our bitter enemies,” the President said calmly. “Through diplomacy, they are now trusted partners in the Alliance. In time, the same could be said for the Na’kuhl.”
For the love of Q, there wasn't a single diplomatic mission that resolved either conflict. I do, however, vividly recall blasting countless thousands of Klingon battlecruisers and Imperial Romulan warbirds out of the stars so that Okeg and Lwaxana could sip red wine in Paris. I also vividly recall several ancient powers beyond our comprehension trying to annihilate all life in the galaxy, thereby necessitating an alliance to survive. Literally at no point did diplomacy solve a single problem in this entire story. But nice try.
In an enlightened democratic federal republic with a separation of powers and civilian rule, the citizens have absolutely nothing to fear from its own well-regulated volunteer military, and everything to fear from its enemies, all of which operate by tyrannical and coercive forms of government. Let's have some clarity for once. There is nothing morally ambiguous or relative about this.
I'm voting for Ferris, and you should too!
Cheap parlor tricks.
JJ Abrams used it to make the worst 'Trek stories in the history of the franchise. Personally, I hope someone reboots the series again, and the first thing they should have is someone waking up and saying "thank god it was only a dream". Maybe McCoy played by Karl Urban since he seems to be the only one from the new movies to have any respect for franchise canon.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Although it seems that Starfleet Intelligence denies the existence of Section 31 when you go to visit Starbase 39-Sierra. Then again, it's not like I've got the later part of the game (whole lot of Fleet Admirals, and none of them actually did the missions in Gamma Quadrant....
We have 2,996 reasons to be "xenophobic" as you put it (three of them I knew personally). In addition to the laws, and territorial borders, of a sovereign nation being violated by foreign nationals, on an alarming basis, for years now. There is not a damned thing "xenophobic" about wanting that issue corrected. It's just plain common sense. Especially since a certain nation south of us has a long history of serious institutionalized corruption, dumping their "problems" on us, violent political turmoil, and has powerful international drug cartels (armed with military hardware) running around like they own the damned place. Just because a bored, rich celebrity idiot exploits it for his amusement doesn't make what I said, and the actual issues, any less relevant or true.
As for this hamfisted piece of fiction......
Ferris has made valid points that need to be taken into consideration. It seems that the Federation government is hell bent on revisiting the general utopian malaise that gripped it in the 24th Century (a century that Troi is a product of). Everybody, except for a intelligent few, are ready to stick their damned heads back into the sand, since there are no obvious baddies directly threatening the UFP proper post-Iconia.
Let's review for a moment. From 2499 (the breakdown of the Khitomer Accords) to 2410 (the present in STO):
-The UFP clashed with the Klingon Empire, thanks to outside meddling by a race that was being meddled with themselves.
-The UFP clashed with the splinter elements of a dangerously fractured Romulan Star Empire (who were in that state because of outside meddling and plotting).
-The UFP has been clashing with dishonored Imperial Great Houses, Gorn seperatists, the forces of a disgruntled Klingon diplomat, Orion freebooters, ruthless Ferengi crooks, Nausicaan raiders, rogue scientists, hostile minor powers, and smugglers/pirates.
-The UFP lost a vital, strategic base of operations to a lost Dominion Fleet, which took the cooperation of two major powers (three if we count our RRF characters post-LoR) to take back.
-The UFP clashed with the Breen Confederacy.
-The UFP, along with most everybody else, has been clashing with a resurgent Borg Collective.
-The UFP, along with everybody else, has clashed with Undine.
-The UFP has clashed with a well funded, well equipped Cardassian terrorist organization and their rogue ex-Dominion allies.
-The UFP ran afoul of the Devidians, who were once again on the hunt.
-The UFP has clashed with, and is currently in a "brushfire war" with, the Terran Empire.
-The UFP has clashed with the Tholian Assembly
-The UFP has clashed with Hirogen hunting parties far from their traditional territory.
-The UFP is currently in a low level conflict with the Voth as part of an alliance of Alpha/Beta Quadrant powers.
-The UFP is currently in hostilities with a rogue Krenim scientist and his private army armed with temporal technology and weaponry.
-The UFP has clashed with a (still hostile) Vaadwaur Supremacy that has been bolstered by Iconian support and technology.
-The UFP has clashed with the Iconians' servitor races, and fought a destructive conflict with the Iconians themselves.
Now that's a pretty big freakin' list (some of which are POWERFUL entities). Especially in the timespan of just a decade. It is because of that, people like Ferris and his political allies, are understandably cautious and concerned. Concerns that need to be addressed, and not casually dismissed as the fear mongering of a bunch of paranoids.
Now, I'm all for making new friends, diplomacy, humanitarian missions, etc, etc. However, idealism must be tempered with a healthy dose of reality, Because of recent history, the UFP needs to play it safe, and drop the knee-jerk paternalism, in the name of plain old fashioned common sense. We know the Na'kuhl (or, at least, some of them) will attempt to bring down the Federation at some point with time traveling shenanigans, regardless of any olive branches the Federation might extent to them. Any Na'kuhl allowed sanctuary should be carefully vetted, because anguish and perceived injustice has a nasty tendency to breed radicalism. And having a bunch of pissed off individuals, with an ax to grind against you, inside your borders with free reign, is a clear sign of stupidity and a break with reality.