Kirk did have a flaw–a genuine one that is germane to this discussion. Spock nailed it in the episode with Vaal; he blamed himself for the death of every crewman, even in cases when he (Kirk) was simply following orders and could not have anticipated the occurrence. He thought he should be able to handle EVERY possible contingency, that he should ALWAYS be in control; he couldn’t accept that there were no-win scenarios and that shit was inevitably going to happen.
His refusal to accept defeat made him a better commander, it’s true, but it also made the job much harder for him.
I think it said in The Making Of Star Trek that it was actually Captain Pike in the original pilot that was based on Hornblower. You can see that he’s much more self-doubting than Kirk was. A lot of things were changed for the second pilot, including making the captain less of a Hornblower copy.
Except then, if the situation were really a “no-win” situation, the programming would state that the KM was not a decoy, but a real Federation ship, and the result of failing to rescue it turns out to be a backlash among Federation planets at the failure of the Federation’s fleet to rescue their own, especially after the crew of the KM are taken to the Klingon homeworld as spies and tortured, tried and sentenced to death.
Hell, the second scene in which Pike appears (after the Bridge scene), he’s moping in his quarters, considering retirement!
Kirk isn’t perfect. He’s impetuous, doesn’t always follow orders, and jumps on just about any halfway-attractive alien woman. For all that, he’s the guy I’d want in command in a crisis, with Spock and McCoy to advise him.
Baloney. Each side in any war thinks that they are in the right and are justified in their cause.
Wanna bet? Why do you think we had tactical nukes all along the Western European borders?
:rolleyes: Any treaty that fragile would be bound to be broken anyway, and by the description of the situation, the Klingons were just looking for a pretext to start a war anyway.
Heck, border violations happen all the time. In 1960, a U.S. U-2 spy plane was shot down in Soviet airspace. This did not lead to war. In 1983, Korean Air Lines Flight 007 strayed into Soviet airspace and was shot down by Soviet fighters. This did not lead to war. In 2001, a U.S. P-3 reconnaissance plane collided with the Chinese fighter plane that was harassing it, crossed into Chinese airspace, and did an emergency landing in Chinese territory. This did not lead to war, either.
Been out of town, but thanks for all the interesting answers. I knew all outcomes would be bad, just wondering if there was a correct “character”, like don’t endanger your starship or peace treaties over rescue missions.
Your replies have prompted me to pick up the book from the library!!
I think the sim program will alter the true nature of the KM depending on the Enterprise’s captain’s decisions. If she decides to violate the treaty and rescue the KM, it will turn out to have been a decoy. The Enterprise will be destroyed for naught. War may follow. Lessons learned: Klingons can be tricksy; not every rescue mission will prove worthwhile.
If she decides to avert a war and not go to the KM’s aid, it will turn out to have been an actual Federation ship, the crew of which will helplessly fall into the cruel hands of the Klingons. The Starfleet captain’s career may be ruined; she will bear the shame and guilt of the KM’s loss to the end of her days. Lessons learned: sometimes bad things happen when you only play by the rules; you have a responsibility to protect even careless and/or stoopid civilians.
A good captain will know when to play a hunch, and when to obey regs. By that yardstick, Kirk is a good captain - one of the best.
It was a possibility. I don’t recall the Saavik-Enterprise ever laying eyes on the vessel in distress.
Also, not one, not two, but three Klingon cruisers are on hand to effect an intercept. Considering how vast space really is, that’s somewhat hard to accept as coincidence.
For the puposes of the KM test, however, it doesn’t matter either way.
I don’t remember that happening to Aubrey, but I remember a situation that came close:
Aubrey had been ordered by Admiral Harte, his cuckolded superior, specifically not to fire on some French (or maybe Spanish – I read it a good while ago) ships that were docked at a port and carrying some valuable cargo. Lucky Jack tried repeatedly to lure the ships out to fire on him first, but they never quite took the bait. This put a serious dent in his crew’s confidence in him and even caused him to question whether he was becoming “shy.”
Later, Aubrey was brought up before his superiors to explain why he hadn’t attacked. He pointed out that he had explicit orders not to, which Harted denied. Fortunately, Jack had had the foresight to demand written orders at the outset, so he couldn’t be held responsible. It had been a setup by Harte to try to get Aubrey cashiered.
Not a good idea…I vaguely remember Jack describing his exam, but I may be confusing it with the Hornblower tale, or Jack helping some Midshipmen practice for theirs.
Thanks!
The cadet playing captain doesn’t definitely know about the Klingons’ presence until she takes the ship into verboten territory, and by that time it’s impossible to save the ship. Though I expect the Klingons are trying to look innocent in the eyes of the Organians.
l
Who obviously became distracted long ago. Who awakened about noon with the most God awful headache…What was I drinking? I did what! Perhaps they saw one of those ads by the fat chick…whats her name from All In The Family and put all their efforts into giving their money to someone who gives 2% to cute, starving dirty children. Maybe Q beat them up and stole their lunch money.
Um, the soldiers on the ground would have been killed when the Soviet tried to invade on foot, the nukes would be the answer to that. Yes, I know that the US “plan” for Europe was to turn it into a nuclear wasteland, but I was talking about why you had real soldiers guarding the frontier instead of nukes along farther at the back.
That’s a justification for you to violate a treaty that the Klingons were keeping - because it’s too fragile to last, you don’t even have to try? I’m really glad you weren’t in any position to cause damage during the Cold War.
And mankind is very lucky that all those bloodhtirsty Russians were far more level-headed during different crisis (starting with the Cuba blockade and other events) when the US provoked them to not fire back.
All thses examples were spy planes. It’s tacticly understood between enemy countries that planes that violate borders on secret spy missions can be shot down without impunity. Of course, it’s typical for the US to send a spy plane over a sovereign country and complain when it gets shot down. Wanna bet what the US would have done if the Soviets ever tried and sent a spy plane over US territory? Nuclear annihaltion, I’m sure.
If the neutral zone is meant as a buffer between Klingon and Fed. territory, then the Klingons can lie in wait on the Klingon side of the border, with the KM inside the neutral zone itself. It depends on how big the neutral zone is, and how far the KM is from the border to the Fed and the Klingon space, whether the Klingons can be there sooner from their border than the Enterprise from the Fed. border.
you don’t know that and have no proof of it at all.
Again, you have no proof and you don’t know that the Klingons are trying to start a war. Just because they are painteed as two-bit bad guys doesn’t mean you can automatically ascribe them certain motives out of lazyness/ black/white thinking. The KM could be a Fed spy ship, too, not a Klingon decoy.