One great destiny
Starfleet has had a valiant history. From its creation in 2161, it has become one of the most successful organizations, next to only the United Federation of Planets and the Vulcan Science Academy. The first thing needed to becoming a good military organization is having good leaders. While Starfleet has had good ambassadors and admirals, what makes it stand out is the great captains it has had. There are three basic types of good captains: Those who achieve goals by outsmarting opponents, those who achieve goals by diplomacy, and those who attempt to achieve goals by unjust or illegal means.
One of the most famous (or infamous to the Klingons) captains in Starfleet is James T. Kirk. He showed an unswerving ability to out think Balok, the commander of the First Federation flagship Fesarius. Balok�s ship obviously had a superior compliment of weapons and shields. Instead of giving up, Captain Kirk came up with the idea of corbomite. After Balok threatened to destroy the Enterprise, Kirk claimed that every Federation starship was equipped with corbomite. If his ship was attacked, an equal amount of destructive power would be emitted from the ship. Balok was only trying to see if the Enterprise was hostile, but he was still fooled.
Another captain that outsmarted a ruthless enemy was Captain Spock. He was not in charge of a ship, but he did come up with the idea that foiled the plans of Klingon and Federation officers who conspired together. He had to find out how to detect a ship that could fire while it was cloaked. His brilliant solution was simply that every ship expends fuel. This ship wouldn�t be different. The Enterprise had on board equipment to catalog gaseous anomalies (what a striking coincidence). He performed �surgery� on a photon torpedo to make it detect the ion trails of the impulse engines. Once the torpedo hit the enemy ship, all the Enterprise and the Excelsior had to do was target the explosion and fire. Destroying the ship required a great amount of tact, but some captains prefer diplomacy over anything else.
Captain Picard was the best person for winning diplomacy when war seems imminent. He never fires on a ship unless he is attacked first. One of the most pressing times that he had to use diplomacy is in an incident with the Tamarians. The Tamarians had been contacted infrequently for seven years, and the Federation had not made peaceful accords with them because their language seemed undecipherable. He had some help in achieving diplomacy when the Tamarian captain beamed them both down to a planet so they would be alone. Picard and the Tamarian had to survive against nature and against an energy being that was much stronger than them. The Tamarian captain kept saying the words, �Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra.� For awhile, Picard didn�t know what to make out of any Tamarian phrases. Through experiencing life and death together, Picard figured out that Tamarians spoke by imagery, metaphor, and citing example. Although Riker tried to disable the Tamarian ship, Picard used his diplomatic skills and his newfound skill with Tamarian language to create peace.
Captain Janeway is finding out that she needs to create peace by diplomacy if the Voyager is to make it back from her 70,000 light-year journey. She encountered a life form of the same species as the Caretaker named Suspiria. Suspiria wanted to destroy Voyager because she believed her crew caused the death of the Caretaker. She is incredibly violent with they crew of the Voyager, putting images of loved ones in their minds. Captain Janeway finally traps Suspiria in a force field. Instead of killing Suspiria, Janeway lets her go. This always makes the other party willing to work with you towards diplomacy. Suspiria said that since she displayed �the advanced trait of mercy,� she would let Voyager go. Diplomacy is the most neutral and possibly the best course of action a captain can take.
Outsmarting an opponent and winning diplomacy to achieve goals are the best ways, but some captains have something different in mind. Captain Ronald Tracy explored the planet Omega IV and found that all of the people had extremely long lifespans. He beamed back to the ship and found that he transported a disease there, killing all of his crew. He thought that since he had found the key to living a long life, he could use self defense and control the lives of the people on the planet. This violated the Prime Directive, which calls for not interfering with the natural course of a planet�s history. He gave phasers to the Yangs and Kohms, which was far more advanced than their own technology could lead them. He nearly killed the senior officers of the Enterprise trying to achieve his goal. Even after Dr. McCoy found there was no secret, and that evolution starting in a bacteriological war made them live longer, Captain Tracy kept on killing and doing many other illegal things in the process of achieving an unreachable goal.
Benjamin Maxwell tried to achieve a goal that was reachable by using unjust means. He had lost his family to the Cardassians in his Starfleet career, so he had a grudge against that species. In command of the U.S.S. Phoenix, he violated the peace treaty of 2366 in order to search Cardassian ships. He thought these ships were carrying weapons instead of the scientific equipment they claimed to be transporting. This was during a time where a minor incident could have started a full-scale war. It was found that Maxwell was right, and that the Cardassians were going to mount an invasion on the Federation. But, he was still tried because he illegally entered the territory of another species, and he destroyed more than one ship in the process. His goals were essentially correct, but his means were in question.
There are three ways to achieve goals: By outsmarting someone, by using diplomacy, and by unjust means. The first two tend to produce a positive effect, while the latter seems to be more counter- productive. Everyday we must choose how we will achieve our goals. Starfleet had many captains who could achieve their goals by using a just course of action. But there were a few who took radical actions to help get what they wanted. Starfleet needed to preserve its charter and keep its intent to better humans. The radical captains didn�t help that quest. It is these few radicals that we must look at and evaluate because we never know who could betray everything we stand for.