8.29 First Violation of Prime Directive

UFP Infonet — 15 May 2176

The “trial of the century” is now over. Former Star Fleet Captain James Smithson has been dishonorably discharged and incarcerated following his court-martial for violation of the Prime Directive. This Star Fleet regulation, based on the Federation Council’s new policy of non-interference with the cultures of newly contacted worlds, was grossly violated by Smithson in the line of duty. He ordered the crew of his starship, the USS Carolina, to open fire on nuclear missiles that had been launched at opposing sides on an inhabited planet in the Vega Proxima system. When his helmsman refused to carry out his order, Captain Smithson shoved him aside and fired the ship’s lasers himself, destroying the lead missile. The EMP from the resultant explosion knocked out most of the other missiles in the attack wave. No more missiles were fired and both sides survived the attack; however, Commander Blaise Tremond promptly relieved Captain Smithson of his command for interfering in the Vega Proxima war. Star Fleet Command backed Tremond’s actions and, in today’s final court-martial proceedings, stripped Smithson of his command and commission as well as sentencing him to indefinite detention pending a suitable punishment for his crime.

“This is something that never should have happened,” said Commodore Thaddeau Stoner, the officer-in-charge of the court martial board, when asked about the ruling. “Our ground observation teams report that the inhabitants of Vega Proxima are now so scared of ‘alien attacks’ that they’ve gone completely insular. The whole planetary culture is collapsing in on itself, and all because of the actions of one man. That’s why we have a Prime Directive, people. It keeps us from destroying cultures like Vega Proxima.”