Kobayashi Maru No° 28

[Gfischer]

This one was hand-brewed by WishStone, as it was requested I show off my feeble skills as a non-vulcan.

You are asked to transport a neutral diplomat to a peace conference between two warring solar alliances; the Kresch and the J’Edan.

The core conflict revolves around a fundamental religious difference and has cost billions of lives in the last 3 decades. Both worlds feel that the only way to cleanse a planet of the religion brought by their foes, is causing global tidal waves; created by massive tectonic shifts in the planets’ crusts. Each of these attacks need months of planning; as the material needed to attack a planet in such manner cannot be transported at warp speeds. Each of these “Tidal Convoys” is a fleet of five sub-warp ships; each hosting a crew of 800 who are undertaking these attacks knowing they will die. Both Kresch and J’Edan have invested all their technological advancements into colonizing planets and creating these tidal ships, so neither of these two alliances has defenses against these attacks.

During negotiations, threats are made from both sides against our diplomat; both sides are convinced that they will not be given a fair chance and are ready to be a martyr to their home worlds’ cause; as they expect to be assassinated. Both sides feel that the Federation would kill them and every one of their people for their own goal of peace.
After you have hosted the peace conference on your ship for 3 days without mayor incidents; cease fire is negotiated, the first step to peace is forged. Only hours after the diplomats of Kresch and J’Edan leave your ship, you receive a subspace message from a federation colony, bordering the warzone. A convoy of J’Edan Tidal Ships has been spotted and seems to be headed for one of the Kresch outposts and will reach it in three weeks time. The star charts show a region of unstable space which will make use of communication and long-range scanning impossible - just ahead of the convoy. They will cross through this area of space in the next two days. The neutral diplomat has urged you to find a way to destroy the convoy, as the men and women manning these are zealots which will never be convinced to stop their mission. He argues that they have accepted death as a consequence of their attack anyhow and killing them will preserve the cease fire. As a Starfleet officer however, you know that attacking these ships will be murder and an act of war, should your actions become known.

Your orders are to ensure that peace will have the best possible chance, as war has started to encroach into nearby federation worlds.

[Trowa824]

I have no clue on what to do.

Just hope for the best for the diplomat and send people of my ships to both planets just to make sure they don't use there weapons saying if they use it while Fed people are on each other planet and you use the weapon it will be an act of war. while the people I have on the planets looking for those that want peace and to move on.

While I have a team look to find some way to stop the weapons and ships.

And if I am a Klingon

I would destroy the ships and let open war to happen and then take over each planet.

[Zumicalus]

I would destroy the ships since they do accept death as a consequence and since they only have tidal ships any attack could be easily stopped.

[Gfischer]

...*curses softly*... I just solved it, I think.
*always knew she is not a Vulcan*

[FINALCUT]

i would fire on these ships,targeting their engines,thereby stopping them dead in their tracks with minimal casualties,then i would beam the crews over to my ship in small,controlable numbers and place them in federation custody assuming i have the available space.place all their crew members under guard,and proceed to the nearest starbase ,leaving a skeleton crew aboard their suicide vessels under the command of my first officer,who would commence repairs on their engines and meet up with me at the starbase as soon as possible,if i didn't have the room for them,on my ship,i would place them under a kind of house arrest on their own dead in space vessels,if the engines could not be repaired i would make arrangements with starfleet to tow the ships to the starbase.also,i would report the diplomat for urging me to commit murder.;)

[Eaglekeeper]

If the diplomats are only hours away from the ship, then they should be within hours of retrieval. If the Kresth vessels are sub-warp there is plenty of time to to go pick them up. Take the three diplomats along to contact the attack fleet. Attempt to convince the fleet not to attack. Persuade the J'Edan to speak with them as well. Allow the Kresth ambassador to observe. If they will not turn back, then force may be necesary. Target the weapon, making all attempts to prevent loss of life. Use transporters if at all possible before resorting to weapons, as there is a reduced chance of collateral damage. If the fleet continues, disable their propulsion after they clear the unstable reigon of space. These tactics should work, as the attack fleet has little if any defences. Such actions should be sanctioned by the ambassadors of both factions, being an attempt to uphold the truce. The attack fleet, now without weapon or propulsion, may attempt a last-ditch effort or self-destruct. A last ditch effort will likely fail, or cause far less damage than intended. A self destruct will be their decision, and likely something Starfleet would have little to say about.

[Sivar]

As the negotiator I would immediately contact the representatives of both worlds which you were just hosting on board and attempt to get them to call the ships off.

-If they agreed to order the ships to stop and their crews ignored the order then I would ask both representatives for permission to destroy the ships. If both agreed to allow Starfleet to attack their ships then the convoys would be disposed of, and then recommend to both Representatives that a Starfleet peacekeeping force be allowed into their space to support the cease fire.

-If one or neither of the representatives said no to the intervention by Starfleet forces then the Prime Directive applies and it is up to their own forces to stop the attack, however I would urge that their militaries stop the ships themselves using their most loyal forces.

-If one or neither of the representatives agrees to call off the attack then I would find a way to bring them both back together to try and stop the convoys, then urge them to allow a Starfleet peacekeeping force into their territory to maintain order while a treaty could be established.

I think I covered all the bases. :cool:

[reddragon1226]

I myself would just destroy the ship. If you leave it alone, nothing will work right. It is best to destroy the ship considering the people have already accepted death. It is simply a logical course of action, considering it will keep the peace as the people died anyways., not by expected means, but nevertheless, still died.

[micahmorris]

:cool:I would travel around the nearest star and travel back to atime when they were at peace and influence them to make friends with eachother

[Rednecksith]

Seems simple. Allow the convoy to complete their mission, then offer military aid to the J'edan. Obviously they're the only ones intelligent enough to realize that true peace will only come through the annihilation of their enemies. To say that any other outcome is possible is completely laughable, at best. A peace would be temporary at the most, and lip service at the least.

Honestly, the J'edan sound like they may very well be a worthy ally of the Empire. They don't waste time wondering what things could be, and instead focus on things as they are. If the Kresch are stupid enough to allow themselves to be lulled into a false sense of security by naive dreams of peace, then they deserve to be wiped out.

[teenprogrammer]

If the nations are willing to go to such extremes over a simple religious misunderstanding I would first attempt to negotiate a cease fire. At least having them call off the genocidal attacks. If negotiations failed, according to the prime directive, I would have no other choice than to let things run their course.

If the negotiations failed and the genocidal attack did take place, I would recommend to Starfleet that the victorious nation be revoked of any Starfleet affiliation because they do not possess the ability to observe the fundamental beliefs behind the Federation and have not, in fact, reached the level of advancement demanded by Starfleet to elicit any sort of involvment (since they have clearly not developed enough).

[davidarmstrong488]

I would destroy the convoy, and upon return tell everyone I did it. I'd speak passionately about tolerance and an open mind. Those that died were fanatics acting irrationally. It had to be done, not just for the sake of future non-violence, but to preserve the integrity of the recently signed treaty.

[Zoberraz]

I answer this making the assumption that my command is a Miranda-class light cruiser.

First order of business, I believe, would be to settle with the diplomat that while his advice is appreciated, I would intend to resort to destroying the tidal ships only as a last resort and request that he indulge me in this endeavor - any help he could provide knowing my goals would be appreciated.

Secondly, I would contact both the J’Edan and the Kresch delegations to talk the matter out. Starfleet operates in the pursuit of peace, and I've absolutely no intention of letting that peace endure over pretense - the J'Edan sent those ships so they surely are already aware of the impending attack. Rather than raising accusations, though, I would outline the threat and try to shift the discussion away from blaming any party to instead focus on a resolution for it.

I can think of a few things, but it looks to me like the Kresh representatives could try to communicate to the threatened world to warn them of the danger, and be prepared for it - knowing that we intend to intervene and defuse the threat. Then, I would think the J'Edan could provide a few things of their own such as any override codes to take over the tidal ships computers, or perhaps send the superior officers of those manning the tidal ships to be there and confirm that the armistice is genuine and that the tidal ships crew needn't sacrifice themselves futilely... in fact, to proceed might very well betray the interests of their homeworlds in the hopes of pursuing peace, making them remembered not as martyrs, but as misguided terrorists.

Once most of the talks are done, I would have my ship plot a course for the other side of the interference zone and head there at Warp 5 to intercept the convoy. The convoy is bound to reach its target in three weeks, so the two days it takes to cross the region of unstable space is not really problematic in itself - I could just have used that time to prepare on my side of things.

Once in their vicinity I would use my ship to interpose itself in their trajectory and open hailing frequency, presenting myself and the reason of my coming - to notify them that both worlds have reached an armistice, after which I'd have the J'Edan officials accompagnying me confirm my claims and extend proper orders on the open communication channel.

If there is no appropriate response on the part of the tidal ship crews, I would use the override codes to have them answer to my hail and patch it through a shipwide intercom so that all the crew (800 of them on each tidal ship) would be aware that they don't have to sacrifice themselves after all - that their endeavor is now futile and that it is time to go home. That should give them something to talk about.

If need be, I'd be willing to have my ship follow the convoy along for up to a week - hopefully with the diplomat's help and that of the J'Edan envoys I would be able to convince the Tidal ship crews to stand down from their mission. After which, I'd try to arrange with Starfleet to shore up the resources to give these people a speedier way home. I could even have my ship tractor each of them back home one by one if they are cooperative - while a chore for us, it would considerably shorten their own travel times and help them get on with their lives (might even be an incentive for it).

Failing peaceful resolution, I would have to use force. Their large crews deny me the chance to use hazard teams in a acceptably safe fashion so I would use my ship itself to phaser them into compliance - I'd start with knocking out their weapon systems to insure the safety of my ship and then try to get them to listen to me - gunboat diplomacy is graceless, but they might listen by the point I make it obvious that I can disable them or destroy them and that they'll never achieve my goal - they can go home thier way or my way.

If again there is no compliance, I'd proceed with knocking out their guidance system and main propulsion, before arranging to have them towed back to their homeworld. Their destruction in itself should only happen if they force my hand - either becoming a major threat to my own ship or self-destructing themselves.

That's my answer to the problem.

[KaptinJRN]

In my limited opinion (limited by it being 1 in the morning), I would assume that any action by the federation against the J’Edan tidal ships would be seen as treachery to the J’Edan and proof to the Kresch that the federation cannot be trusted. i think this is probably closest to the Kobayashi Maru that we have seen yet.

OK, to solve the problem.

(again, i would assume most of our more violent commanders would probably just raid them in the damaged space and call it a spacial anomaly that destroyed them:eek:
I think that, seeing as how i plan on going up the path that leads to the galaxy class, i would go park my ship in front of these little ships, making myself a roadblock to them. I would in no way damage their ships, and if preventable, i would not use a tractor beam either.

(one note on my implementation, i assume that these ships haven't left their home system by much, because they are sub-warp, and the federation is monitoring the situation pretty closely, therefore i do not believe that the ships could be more than a few days from their destination, 3 at the max, as they would have probably left before their government decided to send a diplomat to the precedings.)

I think the easiest way to do this would be to emit some form of radiation or plasma that would screw up their navigational computers (i would explain that we are having problems with our warp drive that is causing the leek, and that my chief engineer is attempting to fix it), just putting their course off by a few degrees at first, eventually turning them around, and leading them back to their home planet :cool: where a high ranking religious official could work on convincing them that they should not attempt this mission, and/or allowing their own military to stop them. All the while reinforcing to the diplomats that the federation will not be brought in to do the dirty work for their militaries, and that none of their people will be harmed by a federation ship.

P.S. I like what the other guy said, (FINALCUT) "i would report the diplomat for urging me to commit murder."

[Democritus8181]

It's quite logical really, the needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few? Simplez ''tch''.

If i was Star Fleet, disable the ships, place the crew under arrest of voilations of the new treaty. I Wouldn't even tell the waring sides what i just did?

If i was Klingon, i wouldn't do anything, and just watch with interest in my cloaked B'Rel class Scout ship. And pounce if the war spills over into the Empires space.

If i was Romulan (oh please please please Devs let there be Romulan in STO) i'd allow both sides to be weakened in armed conflict, then anex both territorys in the name of the Romulan Star Empire? :D

As for the diplomats weither im StarFleet, the KDF, or the RSE, i'd just blow them out of the airlock. Any chance too watch a politician freese up is great too watch, thats for all the expenses you claimed!!!!!

:eek:

[mbrwn2003]

i would hail the conviy and try to get them to stop in a peacefull manor if that wont work then attack them before menny more lifes are lost

[Tarrin01]

i would ask for the doplomat from their faction to make a recorded message along with some proof that it is not a faked recording.
I would then travel on an intercept course with the tidal ships and useing a modified sensor array spread a dampening field over the fleet.

once this had been done i would transmit the message to the factions ships. failing this course of action i would then disable the ships engines and shields, then teleport the cargo of each into space and destroy said cargo.

With the dampening field and the fact that these ships were build for impact not sustained assault the odds of a successful intercept are good.

[sabfleet1985]

Go snatch the diplomats up. Tell your "diplomat" to shut his pie hole. Get a formal request from their goverment to intervine. Go knock out the ships weapons and engines. Tow them back. Let their goverments handle the situation. Shove your "diplomat" out an airlock. Get a new one. Continue negotiations.

[Mighty_BOB_cnc]

Hmm, you say the region of space is "unstable" but don't specify what exactly this instability is. Maybe I could trigger some kind of storm or natural phenomenon that will destroy them and make it look like an accident. :p

[Shadownine]

hail the ships. establish a status of what is going on and what their intentions are. Speak with them and urge them to cease their foward progress. Provide logs of the cease fire if needed. Should they not stop, consider targeting their engines.

The opposing ships would likely prove resistant, however, diplomacy must be used. The ships are obviously no match for yours based on their cargo. hold them there and pose as a peace maker.

The most powerful weapon is one you don't have to fire, however, this applies to physical force more than the use of words. Send the diplomat back to his homeworld to reduce any suspicion of choosing one side over another.

Then make it clear to the ships that you don't want to use lethal force, but you will if necessary. if provoked upon no redemption, disable their engines. Buy some time, and hope for the best. Only time will tell.

[Soltark]

Easy get them to put together an 18 man squad each and have a rugby playoff. Whoever wins gets to keep their religion for a 3 years. After which another game occurs and the whole process starts again... Or kill everyone and flee to Klingon space

[robgomm]

You must try to negociate with the fanatics, even after being told it is pointless. If they refuse then you must disable and capture the ships and crews and take the people back where they came from.

[jt858]

I would first intercept the convoy and ask them their intentions if they do not reply I would atack them and disable their ships and make them look like it was internal sabotage :D

[soas]

Simple. Since any attack on the ships would be war.

I must make sure no lost of life is paramount an war is not instigated.

1. Report my diplomat to start fleet command on his breech of neutrality, and request to attack ships.

2. Retrieve the two diplomats and explain the situation.

3. I will offer to aid in the evacuation of the colony. If I can, I will remove the colony then notify the tidal fleet that the colony has been moved pending diplomatic negotiation. Any attack on the colony will result in no lost of life, and only damage that can be fixed and replaced. I would encourage them to return home and not waste the weapon on a empty shell of a colony. I will not prevent the attack, but observe.
Either case, no one dies and the federation shows both sides lose, since they need to find a new home, and the other side wasted a weapon. I will show the attack of an empty colony as not an act of war but simple futility. I would relate this example as what the entire war has been like, futile without gain.

4.. If the colony can not be evacuated in time, then I must delay the convoy. Scan the ships for the material that is used for the tidal attacks. I would request the presences of all three diplomats showing that there was not threat to life due to my scans. I would then convince the diplomat of the colony to convince the colony to request asylum.

With asylum the federation can step in directly and protect the request without it being a declaration of war. If the material does not explode in warp, then tractor the ships and warp them inside my own warp field a brief distance. In the area where they can not communicate, I will attempt to jam there short range sensors to prevent attack, and simple make the material inert. I will then show them that since the cease fire was agreed upon, this was not an act of war, but an act of the federation committing to their obligations in the discussion, which I would reopen.

5. If the material can not be safely wrapped and render inert, then I will request from ALL THREE diplomats to agree and give me permission to neutralize the tidal fleet. Since the tech of the ships seem inferior when it comes to defense. I can easily beam the material into space, and destroy it while the ships are blind to the attack. I would urge them that this is not a act of aggression but the first step in a active stance of peace and respect of life.


Either way the scenario plays out, no one dies,a no acts of war can be officially declared.

[Admiral-Darren-Wright]

I have no clue on what to do.

Just hope for the best for the diplomat and send people of my ships to both planets just to make sure they don't use there weapons saying if they use it while Fed people are on each other planet and you use the weapon it will be an act of war. while the people I have on the planets looking for those that want peace and to move on.

While I have a team look to find some way to stop the weapons and ships.

And if I am a Klingon

I would destroy the ships and let open war to happen and then take over each planet.

You know i think beaming over Federation personel to each planet is a stroke of brilliance.

Plus we have 3 weeks, and were in contact with the ship that spotted them on route, I would get them to hail starfleet command and have a fleet of ships arrive at the Kresch outposts.

On the tidal ships arival i would try to hail them and depending on there responce, i would have our ships tractor there ships away from the colonies and i would then try and help both sides to come up with a defense to the weapons they have both made. Just giving them a defense idea would break the prime directive, but helping them to come up with an idea would solve all issues. Our fleets would not leave there space until they had agreed something.

[PhantBat]

Use a tractor beam to prevent them from moving to their target, and then try to negotiate. If a skirmish between the ship and the convoy does happen, let them shoot first.

[kellyicus]

okay ive posted detailed answer to severtal of theses but ive never seen the official solution. is that posted somewhere? anyone... anyone...

[xarb]

As a Starfleet Officer I know that the Prime Directive is the only thing that matters. Yes, the loss of life in the billions is tragic, but nothing is more important than the fundamental principles of Starfleet.

Sure I attempt to do all that I can to convince the fleet of zealots to give up their ways for peace, I have little to offer other than lengthy times of long balards and negations for peace.


The Klingon Response:
As my duty to the empire to ensure peace, I destroy the convoy of vessles, then warp to their primitive home worlds, destroying anything and everything that enters orbit , and demand their unconditional surrender to the Klingon Empire, if they refuse I continue to level their planets to dust until all military structures are destroyed and a ground assault is ordered.

The Borg Response:
Resistance is futile. Peace is irrelevant. Negotiations is irrelevant, your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own.
The vessels, the colony's and then their home worlds are assimilated in a matter of days by my Borg cube.

[Vlherg]

First off I wonder where scenario 27 went to...
Then,
I travel to the tidal fleet, order them to surrender and when they inevitably refuse I destroy them. Act of war, yes. Murder, no. Killing a bunch of genocidal religious fanatics to save a planet is not murder. They aren't going to listen to reason, they "know" that they are right. The galaxy will be better off without them.

Then I'll eject the warp core as that seems to be a requirement to the solution of most of these scenarios.

[bugs]

they are sub warp ships so go in and disable the ships and take then off of the ship and return them to people so will explain to them that the cease fire is true

[shupacko]

I would make contact with the vessels prior to them entering the region of no communication.

"Open hailing frequencies"
"Hailing frequencies open captain"
"This is Lt. Park of the Federation Starship Gettysburg, you are in serious breach of a negotiated ceasefire between you and the Kresch. You are ordered to cease all hostile actions and return to your home planet. As of <insert time and stardate> this planet is under the protection of the Federation of United Planets any aggresion towards it will be considered an act of war upon the Federation. You have two minutes to comply."

If they do not comply with my hail or ignore it completely I will assume they heard and refused. Any aggressive action towards the planet and I will disable their vessel's capacity to carry out the attack. I will again attempt to contact them to place them into custody.

If they comply with the hail I will ask them to allow us to escort them back to their homeplanet to avoid any confusion and to provide protection so they may arrive safely (Lord knows I wouldn't want them to be destroyed on the way home and get blamed for it).

[flinns]

I Wound give GARAK a call , tell him about the problem and sit back as the two ships are destroyed by what looks like the romulans attempt at stalling the peace......:cool:............computer delete log entry......

[Drydenme]

I answer this making the assumption that my command is a Miranda-class light cruiser.

First order of business, I believe, would be to settle with the diplomat that while his advice is appreciated, I would intend to resort to destroying the tidal ships only as a last resort and request that he indulge me in this endeavor - any help he could provide knowing my goals would be appreciated.

Secondly, I would contact both the J’Edan and the Kresch delegations to talk the matter out. Starfleet operates in the pursuit of peace, and I've absolutely no intention of letting that peace endure over pretense - the J'Edan sent those ships so they surely are already aware of the impending attack. Rather than raising accusations, though, I would outline the threat and try to shift the discussion away from blaming any party to instead focus on a resolution for it.

I can think of a few things, but it looks to me like the Kresh representatives could try to communicate to the threatened world to warn them of the danger, and be prepared for it - knowing that we intend to intervene and defuse the threat. Then, I would think the J'Edan could provide a few things of their own such as any override codes to take over the tidal ships computers, or perhaps send the superior officers of those manning the tidal ships to be there and confirm that the armistice is genuine and that the tidal ships crew needn't sacrifice themselves futilely... in fact, to proceed might very well betray the interests of their homeworlds in the hopes of pursuing peace, making them remembered not as martyrs, but as misguided terrorists.

Once most of the talks are done, I would have my ship plot a course for the other side of the interference zone and head there at Warp 5 to intercept the convoy. The convoy is bound to reach its target in three weeks, so the two days it takes to cross the region of unstable space is not really problematic in itself - I could just have used that time to prepare on my side of things.

Once in their vicinity I would use my ship to interpose itself in their trajectory and open hailing frequency, presenting myself and the reason of my coming - to notify them that both worlds have reached an armistice, after which I'd have the J'Edan officials accompagnying me confirm my claims and extend proper orders on the open communication channel.

If there is no appropriate response on the part of the tidal ship crews, I would use the override codes to have them answer to my hail and patch it through a shipwide intercom so that all the crew (800 of them on each tidal ship) would be aware that they don't have to sacrifice themselves after all - that their endeavor is now futile and that it is time to go home. That should give them something to talk about.

If need be, I'd be willing to have my ship follow the convoy along for up to a week - hopefully with the diplomat's help and that of the J'Edan envoys I would be able to convince the Tidal ship crews to stand down from their mission. After which, I'd try to arrange with Starfleet to shore up the resources to give these people a speedier way home. I could even have my ship tractor each of them back home one by one if they are cooperative - while a chore for us, it would considerably shorten their own travel times and help them get on with their lives (might even be an incentive for it).

Failing peaceful resolution, I would have to use force. Their large crews deny me the chance to use hazard teams in a acceptably safe fashion so I would use my ship itself to phaser them into compliance - I'd start with knocking out their weapon systems to insure the safety of my ship and then try to get them to listen to me - gunboat diplomacy is graceless, but they might listen by the point I make it obvious that I can disable them or destroy them and that they'll never achieve my goal - they can go home thier way or my way.

If again there is no compliance, I'd proceed with knocking out their guidance system and main propulsion, before arranging to have them towed back to their homeworld. Their destruction in itself should only happen if they force my hand - either becoming a major threat to my own ship or self-destructing themselves.

That's my answer to the problem.

I think you covered all the angles, and other than the most minute of details I agree with these courses of actions.

[ahcshadow]

Hail them before you reach the no communication zone. If they agree to cease fire or return home you esscort them.

If there is no response follow them into the no comm, sensor area and destroy their engines and tractor beam them away

If that dosent work you must destroy them in the no communication and sensor zone to make it appear they have become lost and destroyed or simply vanished.

[Shadownine]

okay ive posted detailed answer to severtal of theses but ive never seen the official solution. is that posted somewhere? anyone... anyone...

there is no "absolute answer." That's what the test consists of. there is no absolute win, it is just a way to see how people think and would react to complex scenarios.

[ussawsomeness]

Quote:
You are asked to transport a neutral diplomat to a peace conference between two warring solar alliances; the Kresch and the J’Edan.

The core conflict revolves around a fundamental religious difference and has cost billions of lives in the last 3 decades. Both worlds feel that the only way to cleanse a planet of the religion brought by their foes, is causing global tidal waves; created by massive tectonic shifts in the planets’ crusts. Each of these attacks need months of planning; as the material needed to attack a planet in such manner cannot be transported at warp speeds. Each of these “Tidal Convoys” is a fleet of five sub-warp ships; each hosting a crew of 800 who are undertaking these attacks knowing they will die. Both Kresch and J’Edan have invested all their technological advancements into colonizing planets and creating these tidal ships, so neither of these two alliances has defenses against these attacks.

During negotiations, threats are made from both sides against our diplomat; both sides are convinced that they will not be given a fair chance and are ready to be a martyr to their home worlds’ cause; as they expect to be assassinated. Both sides feel that the Federation would kill them and every one of their people for their own goal of peace.
After you have hosted the peace conference on your ship for 3 days without mayor incidents; cease fire is negotiated, the first step to peace is forged. Only hours after the diplomats of Kresch and J’Edan leave your ship, you receive a subspace message from a federation colony, bordering the warzone. A convoy of J’Edan Tidal Ships has been spotted and seems to be headed for one of the Kresch outposts and will reach it in three weeks time. The star charts show a region of unstable space which will make use of communication and long-range scanning impossible - just ahead of the convoy. They will cross through this area of space in the next two days. The neutral diplomat has urged you to find a way to destroy the convoy, as the men and women manning these are zealots which will never be convinced to stop their mission. He argues that they have accepted death as a consequence of their attack anyhow and killing them will preserve the cease fire. As a Starfleet officer however, you know that attacking these ships will be murder and an act of war, should your actions become known.

Your orders are to ensure that peace will have the best possible chance, as war has started to encroach into nearby federation worlds.
lets see...............................
I could ram my ship into it!
umm....
somebody quote this and tell me if ramming my ship would cause war :confused:

[MikeSmith]

This one was hand-brewed by WishStone, as it was requested I show off my feeble skills as a non-vulcan.

Send a shuttle craft to intercept the fleet and send a warning they are performing an act of war,

Contact J'Edan high council and ask them to call off the fleet,

Contact the Kresch high council and inform them of your actions assuring them you will not fire upon this fleet until they fire upon J'Edan in doing so they will severly effect the negotiations in place,

Remind both parties how close we are to a long term cease fire and peace treaty

Simples

[Ardan_Blade]

Wow, that's waaaaay too easy! No one said you had to destroy the ships to stop them. Just disable their engines, then inform their masters that the fleet has been stopped and needs to be picked up. No bloodshed, no war. You don't need to kill them to prevent their aggression from succeeding.

[leobragasilveira]

First of all we need to find the real questions that will determine our course of actions:

A) The Prime Directive is not in danger here since the Federation started the peace process. The main problem is how to interfere without causing the end of the peace negotiations.
B) If some zealot is killed on this scenario (by some mistake of our artillery or even by self destruction), this could be the excuse the fundamentalists would use to cease the peace process and use this as a proof that the Federation kills less advanced cultures for their own goal of peace.
C) The last negotiations occurred in a 3 days period. Now we have another 2 days for take some action, and 21 more days to settle a new and permanent agreement.

Then, assuming that we have a galaxy class federation starship, I would start a course of action which would led me to more possibilities of success:

1st) Expose for the Federation the willing of the “neutral” diplomat, and ask for a replacement.
2nd) Contact the J’Edan high council and ask them if they knew about this attack.
If they say they don’t, then the problem is solved: I would ask them authorization to take their crewmembers from the vessels without the use of force.
If the say they are willing going back to the war, then I would explain all the odds that a small and undeveloped culture have in a galaxy filled with romulan, borgs and God knows what else. The Federation would appreciate very much their application as a member, but this means to live respecting the Federation principles. So the peace is fundamental for their survival.
If this work the case is closed. If not, we go to a bold and risky course of events, but within the spirit of Star Trek. Lets foul these fouls!

3rd) Intercept the convoy in the unstable space, where no communication is possible, and using teleport, bring in custody all its crewmembers.
4th) Put some federation pilots in the command of the convoy ships.
5th) Using holographic technology, produce a clone of the leader of the zealots. When the convoy get out of the unstable space, this holographic clone would answer for all the communications with the J’Edan.
6th) With the new diplomat onboard, or assuming, if necessary, the position of diplomat, I would contact both sides and show them what is happening. I would try to put the conversations out of the blaming level, and urge for a resolution of the situation.
If this fail again, then, I would ask to my ship councilor to make some emotive and religious discourse with an open channel for all the involved parts, and in the end ask for the J’Edan ships to fall back.
Then, the holographic J’Edan commander would say that they are ashamed of their actions, and ask asylum for the Federation.
This event could establish a new milestone in the peace negotiations.

The captured J’Edan crewmember would be conducted to a psychological facility of the Federation, where this rage and willing to death could be treated.
By the time they are allowed to go back to their home planet, the peace would be settled.

Controversial, but efficient, I think.

[Pontious]

Let's see ... as I generally do, I'm going to solve this from a Romulan point of view ....

First things, it seems as though this is some pretty incredible power, to be able to shift tetonic plates and cause massive 'natural disasters.' I'd employ my scientists to see if this technology can be replicated, or if it's something that would much easier come from just siezing the technology and the ships.

If it's something that can be replicated easily, then I'd allow the convoys to continue upon their way. Afterall, this is close to Federation territory, so anything that could further weaken the Federation is always something that is good on my plate.

If it's not something that can be replicated, I'd lay waste to the more powerful race's planets ... and conquer the weaker ones. I'd sieze their technology for myself, as well as use their race as cannon fodder to attack the Federation. Again, anything that weakens the Federation, but doesn't implicate the Romulan Star Empire. I'd give them old ships, set them on planets far away from the Empire, and tell them that I am from the Federation ... and take all of their women. Anything to **** them off to the point where they'd make suicide-runs at the Federation. While they may not inflict much damage on Federation territories or outposts ... well, that's not the point ... the point is mis-direction.

This one is pretty simple enough ... and actually, as a Starfleet captain, I'd solve this one this way:

I'd find a non-combative way to render their weapons useless, forcing them to either use convential means to wage war, or sit down and truly talk peace. As for zealots .. well, it seems that neither of these planets are apart of the Federation, so the Prime Directive would have to be enforced. While I am suing for peace between the races, it's not my position to police their own citizens ... they would have to do that themselves.

Personally, I much perfer the Romulan way of solving problems....

[Violetmoon]

I would destroy the convoy, and upon return tell everyone I did it. I'd speak passionately about tolerance and an open mind. Those that died were fanatics acting irrationally. It had to be done, not just for the sake of future non-violence, but to preserve the integrity of the recently signed treaty.


that, in a way might actually work.

it would take the hate off the 2 sides and onto the federation. which would keep the peace treaty between the 2 alive, but again, make them very angry at us. but it doesnt sound like the 2 are really capable of defending against, if the best they can do is cause massive tidal waves. and thus not likely to do anything stupid. tho religious fanatics are... subject to illogical thoughts, and rash actions so who knows. but odds are the worlds as a whole wont attack the federation. less they join the klingons, but still in that case, the peace between the 2 would prevail lol

so might depend on what kind of lasting peace you want to stand.

[Gen_Veers133]

A potential simple solution:

Discretely hire a group of Merc Ships to ambush the convoy and give them the orders to leave none alive and to attempt to capture the technology that would create the devastation. I would make an impassioned speech to both sides arguing against warmongers and war profiteers, who would like nothing better than to capture the technology and use it against everyone else in an effort to eliminate all civilized life and conquer everybody. I would then encourage the two sides to set aside their differences and go after their common enemy, i.e., the mercs, and even aid them in ending the threat knowing full well that though two small convoys were decimated because of me the lasting peace would be far more worth it.

[AncientLegacy]

Simple solution,

Warp in front of their ships. if they try to get past you, block them with your ship and do not move.
If they want to get by, the only way would be to ram you.
IF they ram you, then they have committed an act of war and must be dealt with.
Destroy their ships. Report back to the federation, and with deep sorrow, inform the bad guys what happened.
A certain tragedy that the ships attacked you...

OR,

Wait until the ships get into the unstable space, then follow them in and blast them to little pieces.
Of course no one will be able to call for help, so no one will ever know.... except you and your shipmates. Threaten the crew with death if they tell on you.

[hoyle988]

I would set into action an elaborate ruse where I would fake communications of the discovery of a critical religious artifact on the intended target planet and make sure the tidal cruisers were privy to the information prior to reaching the no communication zone. This should delay the zealots attack as they would not risk destroying an icon critical to their religion. The delegates will no doubt want proof of this discovery and while in diplomatic meetings to arrange for transport to the out post planet I would fabricate a suitable artifact and beam it and a crew of federation personnel, briefed on the appropriate cultural and language sets, to explain how federation sensors discovered the object while surveying the planet for informational purposes. While the investigation of the first artifact is occurring a similar discovery of an opposing artifact will be made on a planet belonging to the opposite faction. With the discovery of these two artifacts a trade negotiation will be held to return the artifacts to their "rightful owners" I would also suggest that the artifacts be returned and dedicated to the zealot factions of each culture. With a successful trade negotiation between them and the zealots placated by the restoration of an important symbol the two races will be well on their way to a lasting peace.

Though this action does employ minor deceit it will eliminate any aggressive action taken by the federation (disabling ships that you are not 100% sure are attacking and imprisoning the crew) and will leverage the races fanatical ties to their religion instead of trying to force them away from it. The diplomats are right when they said you cannot change the zealots mind but you can direct their fanaticism to a more constructive end.

[TGorgas]

This one is fairly simple. Enforce the ceasefire. Contact the homeworld of the incoming Tidal Convoy, request that they recall the convoy, if not, you will stop it for them. If the convoy is not recalled, disable their engines, then contact their homeworld. Let them know that they have been disabled and where they can be found. Also, remind them that ceasefire is in effect, and that you are enforcing the ceasefire. Attacks on each other will not be tolerated.

[mwood1387]

Ask Q for a favour. :D

A ceasefire has been negotiated. I'd ask the J'Edan ambassador to relay the message to the tidal ships before they reach the region of unstable space. If the ambasador fails (because of unwillingness of the ships or because of J'Edan treachery) I'd disable the tidal ships navigation array. Then steer them a little off-course with the tractor beam.

[ms2009]

This is the StarTrek Universe were talking about , no matter what you deside to do the relevent system will be conveniently offline.

"Warp in front of them" - "I'm sorry Captain the Warp drive is offline"
"Lock tractor beams" - "Tractor beam is offline Sir"
"Disable thier engines" - “I just can't do it, Captain! I dooon't have the power!”


Thats why they have the Kobayashi Maru , the StarTrek universe will always work against you too make sure it's going to be very dificult to win :p

[Trendkilla]

Disable both vessels. Keep both at check, preventing further attacks. Engage in diplomatic negotiation with leaders from both factions. If that fails keep both from attacking. And start to work the public, if both have self preservation. Peace negotioations should be possible. Might take a while, but keeping hostile activities at a minimum would help.

FYI I'd call Starfleet for backup since imgona be here for a while ;)

[PDXSerric]

Hmmm…

Well, first things first, I’d explain to the leaders of both factions I have a pressing engagement off-world and will be leaving my second in command to continue the negotiations until I return. I’d also leave a small armed party to guard the ambassador at all times.

I would then attempt to intercept the J’Edan convoy and open negotiations, advising them of the cease fire that has been drawn back on the planet. I would also attempt to contact the colony and advise them of the same. I would be DAMNED careful not to appear hostile under any light as I attempt to convince these two.

If they are still untrusting I will offer to escort the leader of the convoy and the colony back to the planet to see with their own eyes, offering to leave a number of my own officers’ crew as collateral (unarmed, of course) . Assuming (hoping) negotiations on the planet have continued to move smoothly, I would then have the two leaders I am escorting as well as the already established negotiation committee meet and discuss. Once the two have been convinced I will return them to their people.

If the negotiations fail to convince the two I would still return them to their people safe and unharmed as a sign of good faith. I would collect my officers and step back, allowing the convoy to do as it wishes. I’d monitor and report the exact details back to the ambassador when what’s done is done.

Aside from a use of force, which I wouldn’t suggest, I see no other alternative to this scenario which would give a better chance at natural peace and trust and maintain Starfleet’s neutrality.

[y2k9]

Hmm this is quite interesting so many ways to use this as a means to further my goals...

Federation:
Lets see if acting under the flag of the Federation I'd have to report the neutral diplomat for his demanding a Star Fleet officer to commit murder and very possibly bring the Federation into a war we sorely do not need nor warranted. Plus if the idiot tried to take over my ship which i would love to see him try id make sure to have his rear handed to him on a silver platter by means of hauling him to the brig and temporarily revoking his status as a neutral party ambassador on my ship. Next I would ask the representative of their people if by disabling their weapons and engines would be considered an act of war and make sure that the other diplomat is just as informed as the other. Once told by their race's representative that it would not be considered an act of war to disable the ships I would wait for them inside the dampened area and proceed to disable them and send a request to either people to retrieve the people from the ships as this should be the first of a new working goal between the two to learn to live with one another and work with each other. Then make sure to be at the hearing to watch the one idiot get flamed in court for presuming he had the authority to give a Federation officer orders on what to do and for letting personal feelings get in the way of diplomacy.

Klingon:
We are Klingon we do not skirt away from war like those of the Federation if these blundering fools wish to have war then so be it! ambush the Tidal convoy in the disruption space ensure they are completely destroyed then proceed to demand from either one of the race's that if they have any honor they will either ignore what I just did and continue on with their useless talks or go ahead and declare war on the Klingon Empire so I can go ahead and crush them and their puny planets and gain honor for my house in glorious battle. Long live the Klingon Empire!

Romulan:
Simply watch what happens let events unfold we care not for their doings we are simply here acting on orders to watch over diplomatic representatives who supposedly want peace. If I see any indication from any of them that they wish to make war upon me I will simply crush them and any resistance they possess and annex them into the Romulan Star Empire.

Borg:
We see this as another opportunity to add their technological and biological distinctiveness to our own. Their technology will be adapted to ours.

Now if you will excuse us we have two new race's to add to the Collective.

We are the Borg lower your shields and surrender your ships. We shall add you Biological and Technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us resistance is futile.


--------------------------------------------
"We are the Borg lower your shields and surrender your ships. We shall add you Biological and Technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us resistance is futile."
-The Borg Collective

Borg Tactical Cube 12231988

[DarkCel]

Since the 2 waring parties left the ship only hours ago it would be easy to retrieve them and drive them to the convoy. Those are diplomats so let them in charge of the negociations with the convoy. Offer you imput and if your mission allows it offer also technical and firepower if requested by one of, or both, parties.

Indeed try to keep casualties at a minimum. Firing on the motors is a great idea. If you could manage to have Starfleet send reinforcements it would be best. :)

PS : Where is the n° 27 ???

[power123]

idd say peace by the edge of a sword, ideas have a lot of power the trick is to remove the extremist(zealot) who take them to far. idd destroy that fleet leaving no witnesses and try to make it look like an accident.


.... or better yet a Bermuda triangle style disappearance. they went in and the never got out, nobody knows what happened to them. (except me *evil grin*)
though pulling that off would be a lot harder than staging an accident.

[Voorhees]

I would set up traps like mines near by so when the ships passes it permanently disables them. I would not use federation mines i would use some kind of mines that is used by many from the black market so no one can point the finger at 1 race. then i would jam their distress single and answer it then board their ship as i am helping them. I would then disable their entire tide system but we would not board as star fleet. I would mask our signature, and pretend to be something i am not. then be on my way.

[mace56617]

Contact the J'edel government and inform them about their convoys actions and tell them you will give them 48 hours to respond. If they choose to ignore their convoy, or do not respond then head to the convoy and inform them they are to turn back immediately if they refuse to blast them apart as soon as they get in the nebula and say there must have been some unknown spatial phenomenon that destoyed them.

[Edward.Radcliffe]

Well, if your orders are to have peace, you have peace. I'm sure a nebula that blocks sensors and communications must have numerous "spatial distortions" accompanying those effects, wouldn't you? Even though there are a lot of people on those ships, you still have to follow "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one". It's as simple as that.

[erriku]

I am going in this situation as a Klingon just to make it easy. I would record myself killing both representatives and destroy the tidal convoys. Then send the recording to both planets. This would unify both races against the Klingons. Problem solved. The two factions now have a common enemy to fight against so a peace has been established, both planets have been saved, and the Klingon empire has a new foe to conquer.

[chi787]

Intercept and destroy the convoy. My orders are clear; "give peace the best possible chance" and it would not be good for peace if one of the planets was destroyed. I won't have to worry about starting a war. They are entering an "unstable area of space that will effect longrange sensors and comms systems". No one should be able to detect my ship or the enemy convoy in there and i'm sure no one will notice if the fleet looses contact. Those sub-warp ships can be very easy targets for an ambush.:D

[DarkOrion69]

Neither the J'Edan or Kresch present an imminent threat to Federation worlds. The slow delivery and apparently easy detection of their Tidal Ships would give ample time for Starfleet to respond to any 'sewage overflow' problems from these bickering theocracies. That being the case it would not be deemed necessary to kill J'Edan citizens. Military action would be perceived by the J'Edan as the Federation violating the Cease Fire just as they feared we would to bully everyone into our 'illusion of peace".

I would contact the J'Edan Ambassador to demand an explanation of this attack. I would arrange a meeting with the Ambassador, to determine if this was an officially sanctioned assault or the work of a splinter terrorist group unhappy with the Cease Fire. Assuming the assault fleet was unsanctioned, I would request permission to disable (while causing no loss of life) the rouge J'Edan assault fleet from their own government. I would also clear my plans with Starfleet Headquarters.

One tactical advantage we have is that J'Edan vessels are colonization and assault rigged, which means they would have no shield technologies and at best nominal ship armor. With our permissions in place, I would lay EMP mines throughout this sensory blind spot to disable the unshielded convoy and render them dead in space. I would signal the J'Edan authorities to come pick up the perpetrators before I turn them over to Kresch authorities to answer for ignoring the newly signed Cease Fire Agreement.

If the two sides are suspected to play more games with one another, I would suggest Starfleet assign a small fleet of starships to police the region while the two races try to adjust to the Cease Fire Agreement. Of course, I would volunteer the services of my ship to lead that fleet, and give the best hope for peace between these two troubled societies.

[DarkOrion69]

Klingon Solution: These honor-less and minuscule empires play at war with the toys of pre-warp children! Sub-light vessels and terraforming each other to death? They are weak, and I would bring a fleet of Klingon vessels to subjugate both empires and enslave their peoples and have their people hunted for sport by Klingon Warriors. This would show the Federation dogs that the glorious Klingon Empire does not waste time making friends with inferior species!

Romulan Solution: I would infiltrate the J'Edan fleet (via transporters and personal stealth fields) with my cloaked vessel and steal the technical schematics for these fascinating Tidal Warheads. I could care less about the concerns of the Federation or their problems with these somewhat technologically backward species.

Borg Solution: The technological and biological distinctiveness of Species 9514(Kresch) and Species 9515 (J'Edan) are of insufficient evolution to add to our collective. We will wait until the Federation vessel attempts to negotiate with Species 9515 (J'Edan) and assimilate their vessel to determine the current defenses of the Federation within this sector.

[Joey199202]

I Would destroy the ships and when i make my report to Starfleet i would sya there was no other way to stop the ships from completing their mission

[Darkduck]

ok, I would target the ships and cause the convoy to halt (if needed firing weapons at the ships) I would then beam aboard their ships, and jetisen the cargo, once hte cargo is jetisoned (or beamed onboard my ship) it whould be destroyed, after a final sensor scan to make sure the ships do not contain any more "contraband" ie earthquake weapon components, I would let the ships continue, advising them that the attacks are to stop. At the same time I would have the diplomat negotiate with one of the sides to permit federation forces to operate a blockade to scan and if needed confiscate goods from both sides ships if weapons are found.

this is not an easy solution but it is one that is suitable.

[LukusTorron]

Well, if these ships are a threat to the cease fire they must be stoped, of cource. we'd arive with the convoy. if comunication attempts fail (and it's likey they will) a burst of well placed phaser brusts aimed at thier engens, weapons and power generators (to prevent self distruct) will disable thier vessels. after tractoring them back to the nearest federation starbase we contact thier goverment. then after take all the **** that the ambassator wants to lay down on me. then rock him back with a ouple of comments of my own.

[Myrdinn]

Inform the other side. Contact Star Fleet and ask for backup, and try to intercept them at a spot where everyone can have clear sensor readings. Attempt to stop them; if they cross the interstellar "line in the sand," help the other side to disable the ships (attempt to not destroy them).

[BrokenC]

Being that the distance to the unstable space is unknown from your current location, i will assume that it can be reached at maximum warp in about/less than two days. The general idea being that you race to a point infront of these tidal ships and ask them to shut down there engines. If they refuse or no answer is given then you should shut down their engines by force but without causing enough damage to the ship to result is serious injury or death for any of it's 800 compliment crew.

Once the ship has been disabled, contact the J’Edan Ambassador demanding to know why he has broken to peace treaty.

He'll likely give you a story about the peace treaty was a waste of time and the opposing religion needs to be irradicated.

In this case you should contact star-fleet and request permission to evacuate and destroy all ship-yards creating the tidal ships.

Then, another meeting would have to be drawn up with harsher penalties for breaking it without "just-cause".


Thats the best i can do for now.

[BrokenC]

Inform the other side. Contact Star Fleet and ask for backup, and try to intercept them at a spot where everyone can have clear sensor readings. Attempt to stop them; if they cross the interstellar "line in the sand," help the other side to disable the ships (attempt to not destroy them).

It is likely that the other side would take the J’Edan's actions as an act of war (which it is) and will disband the peace treaty and just destroy the ship, resulting in 800 lives lost per ship....

[Replica]

I kill off everyone on both planets, sending them to the well earned heavens of their respective religions, then I use their planets to relocate the inhabitants of the doomed planet from KM #26. Everyone gets what they really wanted, and the Federation has two planets less worth of warmongering religious nuts to deal with. Everybody wins.

[dragn29]

i would try to catch them in the area of distortion and destroy the convoy

[RunningRiver]

Well, consider that it's impossible to stop this ship through diplomatic means, as its crew is acting of thier own free will, and not following orders. It's actions are not representative of the government. Therefore I would contact said government and ask them for permission to intercept. I would disable the ship and tow it back to its home planet. I can't see any starship having enought room or personel to control 800 zealots. Transport the crew of the ship to the surface and then destroy the ship.

I understand that this solution leaves the power unbalanced, as one side has thier wmd and the other does not. However it was the required course of action.

[leobragasilveira]

Ask Q for a favour. :D.

I think this is the best solution presented till now. :D

[Mythiasis]

I would contact the J'Edan ambassador to inform him of Starfleets knowledge of the J'Edan Tidal Fleet and inquire as to the J'Edan's intentions.

Of course, his response could span out to hundreds of different possibilities:

* The J'Edan Tidal Fleet could be a rogue group of fanatics intent on carrying out their original plans even with the cease fire; no matter what their own government is commanding them to do.

* The J'Edan never intended a cease fire and only agreed to it to cause the Kresch to drop their guard, even if it only lasted for a single strike.

* Maybe the J'Edan Tidal Fleet isn't aware of the ceasefire and direct communications are necessary, which would require the J'Edan ambassador as proof (though the fanatics may only think him being coerced to give them this news in an attempt by the Federation to handle the matter).

* In any case, I would inform Starfleet of the ceasefire and the discovery of the J'Edan fleet and give them as much detail in my report as possible; asking for further orders. Since neither nation is threatening a member of the Alliance of Federated Planets, then the Prime Directive would demand no action in the development of another race - even if the outcome may be annihilation.

* Requesting aid from other Starfleet vesels in the sector, I would do wide range scans for further Tidal Fleets (since they are all sub-space, they will be easy to spot and track), and continue to report any such movements to Starfleet.

* If Starfleet does deem to get involved, then I would suggest immediate evacuation of the Kresch outpost buying more time for further negotiations. Within which, I would produce evidence of the demise of other races that have been in similar situations as a 'scared straight' tactic, showing boths sides that they are heading their people to it's extinction. And they can be confident that their failures will not be recorded in the annuls of their history; because there will be no more history to tell and no one to tell it.

[Trekkie]

This is an interesting scenario, mostly because there are a number of ways in which someone could go about solving it but none of them are really "foolproof" and include a number of variables. Honestly, I think that a potential solution to this problem would be to resort to some sort of espionage or trickery -- it's extreme, but given the circumstances I think that it may be necessary. For example, I would perhaps attempt to get another faction to disable the advancing ship if at all possible (even though doing so could be a diplomatic nightmare) or perhaps even attempt to help defend both sides (all the while emphasizing that it is for defense purposes only instead of provoking an attack).

[Sentinus_Prime]

This is not all that difficult a situation to resolve.

First, you place the "neutral" negotiator under guard in his quarters and report him to Starfleet and the Federation.

Second, you alert the representatives from both warring factions to the situation and advise that you are in need of their assistance in averting a situation that would undo their new-found cease-fire.

Providing they agree, you bring them back aboard and intercept the group of ships; letting their own people speak to them.

If the crews of those ships listen, then problem avoided. If they don't, offer to disable their engines and stay on-site until their own people can send ships to take charge of the situation.

Should the attack ships reach the zone of space distortion before you can arrive, simply wait for them on the other side and ensure their people have ships standing by with you.

Nothing fancy or problematic about this as long as both sides were and still are committed to the cease-fire.

If they are not really that committed, you advise Starfleet of the situation and your intention to disable the ships before they reach their intended target. Once stopped you stay on site until their people can send ships and ensure no one violated the cease-fire.

Unfortunately, religious zealots are what they are and the people on those ships might actually destroy themselves if attempts are made to stop them. It is sad, but if you work with their leaders you will have a better chance of this ending with no loss of life than if you just "take out" the ships.

As for the Federation negotiator, their career is over no matter the outcome.

[prfadams]

Make the existence of the convoy known to the diplomatic envoys, and offer to neutralize the convoy as a possible part of any peace treaty. 3 weeks is enough time to get a preliminary peace accord created, but it also puts a bit of urgency that should help cut through the posturing.

[dobiesteven]

tractor them and pull them away issue solved you can pull htem away quite far and make it take them a long time to get home at pre warp

[kamui]

Bleh, Bladerunner beat me to it. Only difference being I didn't think of arresting the neutral negotiator. He didn't sound very neutral, did he? Anyways, I second Bladerunner.

Unless I was Klingon in which case I'd let them destroy eachother then add their devestated planets to the Klingon empire. Klingons like beachfront property.

[LordSilver]

A ceasefire must be maintained. The anomoly does present an opportunity to make it so, without need to destroy or kill those onboard the tidal convoys.

Considering the scope of technology of Kresch and the J'Edans, the J'Edan convoy's close-range sensors shouldn't be that hard to fool while they are in the anomoly. A commando team could board the convoys and deploy an sleeping gas via the ships' lifesupport systems.

Keeping them incapacitated might not be ethical, but at least they won't be a danger to themselves and others in the meantime, until a solution at the negotiations could be reached.

[GT1900]

As a Member of Section 31 i cannot tolerate that the stability of the fereration or the life of its colonists is threatened by war of any outsider race.
Therefore i would leave my ship in a shuttle alone with a good excuse, warp away using a few stops somewhere in fedeation space where i would be recognized to hide my real aim, and place a bunch of cloaked mines in the way of the convoy making sure that the analysis of the explosion fragments would leed to a false conclusion that e.g. the romulan empire hs made an intrigue to endamage the reputation of the federation and stir up the Kresch and the J’Edan against the federation.
Before returning to my ship i would take care that the shuttle-computer has "corrected" navigation data.

As a result that the Fiendbelive that there is a third faction threaten them they would return to the negotiating table to be prepared together from an aggression from outside.
"The fiend of my fiend is my friend"

And if i would play as a Klingon:
If the Kresch and the J’Edan are begging for war they will get it . My weapon officer always needs targeting training and we always need new worlds supplying us with resources.

[CmdrRokar]

Ask the world's leader if it was a mission they ordered or not. If the mission is indeed done by a splinter group of zealots then they have to be stopped. If it is part of the leaders' plans intervention would mean war. Stopping the zealots after consulting with the planetary leaders would even be seen as a positive sign by the other side.

[jhem99]

This is a tough one. Why? As religion is involved the solution is to reach the hearts and minds of the people involved. As peaple on both worlds are like cattle. You just need to move a few for the whole herd to move in another direction. So How would I change the minds of the leaders involved? I would 'kidnap' the leaders of the world that sent the convoy that's enroute., and find some children and family of some of the crew of the tidal ships and beam them down on the threathend planet in the path of the ships. I'd give them a communication device. I would also wind up the leaders of the threatened world in to same 'coral' as the others. So there they are, the leaders of both worlds facing death together. Then I would plant the idea in their minds how futi;e it to kill others of another religion. What does that tell about a religion that teaches people to kill? Both their religions are flawed. They've killed billions of people on both sides, and what for? Intolerance. And now they will die themselves instead of sending others to their death. I'd let them know that everytime any side sends out tidal ships the leaders of both worlds will be transported to the impact site. If the leaders agree to call off hostilites I wouldn't transport them back as they will start the whole thing all over as soon as I leave. I would transport the leaders with their families to the 'enemy' camp to get to know the other side.
Hopefully with a little nudging the leaders will cease hostilites and stop any suicide missions.

[Manx]

They are already so paranoid about Federation involvement that if anyone were to spot that both my ship and the J'Edan fleet had gone into the distorted region of space, but only my ship came back out again, the peace process would be dead in the water. The best thing would be to find a way to deal with this openly.

The first thing I would do is contact the J'Edan government and pass along the data from the Federation outpost; I would urge them to do their best to recall the ships.

If, after a week, the J'Edan government had failed to turn the ships around, I would point out that these ships are now, technically, in rebellion against the J'Edan authorities; I would then offer my assistance in bringing them back to the J'Edan homeworld to answer for their disobedience (since they appear to lack the means to do it themselves).

If they accept, I would attempt to disable the fleet without destroying it; having done so I would transfer all the dangerous materials onto a single ship (or as few as possible anyway), while gathering the crews onto the now disarmed vessels. I would then have my engineers set up adequate inertial dampening and structural integrity fields and tow the populated ships back to the J'Edan homeworld (or wherever they want them dropped off).

If they refuse my offer of assistance, I would inform them that this would leave me no choice but to offer Federation support to the Kresch and defend the outpost myself, the consequences of which could be severe. Then hope they reconsider.

[Abysmalyxia]

This one was hand-brewed by WishStone, as it was requested I show off my feeble skills as a non-vulcan.


The easy, solution, of course, is to do away with the convoy and seek to prevent any knowledge of the event from "getting out".

This is also the wrong answer because this sort of information always "gets out".


The path lies in the J'Edans inability to reach warp speed. The J'Edan must be allowed to pursue their mission, which is destroy the Krech outpost. Preventing them from doing so by force of arms or intervention against the ships would be seen as an act of aggression by the J'Edan.

Evacuating the colonists, however, could not be reasonably as an act of aggression by the greater J'Edan nation.

Because it would take three weeks time for these sub warp ships to reach the colony, it is reasonable to believe that the colonists could be evacuated in time.


If the colonists are evacuated in time it may be possible to reason with the J'Edan zealots who came out for the purpose of killing off the colony. If there is no colony to kill, there is no need to sacrifice yourselves. At which point it becomes a J'Edan issue to prevent further attacks from these zealots.


OR

You could go for the really easy answer... the zealot ships have yet to cross into the "non communication zone", have the J'Edan call them off prior to reaching that communications breach in space. If they fail to do so the J"Edan could declare them rogue and let Starfleet do as it pleases, which unfortunately would likely be destroying the convoy.

[Gadareth]

I would pick up the two ambassadors so that both can see whats happening. I would then have the J’Edan contact the fleet and ensure that they stop and return as the cease fire has been declared. IF the fleet does not return I will then get the J’Edan ambassador to issue the attack order to protect the cease fire. At which point the attempt will be made to demonstrate the superior firepower of my ship. Hopefully this alongside the report that their attack no longer has meaning will cause them to surrender.

If the J’Edan ambassador refuses to contact their fleet and / or issue the order to stop them then we will be free to treat the J’Edan as the unwarrented breakers of the peace treaty and act accordingly.

just my 2 cents
Gadareth

[BrightOne]

Since it has only been hours, go and get their diplomat, both if needed....

Intercept the fleet of Death Stars...uhm I mean Tidal Wave generating ships...

Have their Diplomat order them to stop! (That should work right?)

Back-up Plans
-Have our "reformed" borg engineer disable their engines, and we could tow the ships home...except their is a minor borg virus out break on the ship so the sexy nurse (we left to doctor at home to help negotiations) has to cure the virus.

-Our Betazoid security office realizes that there was never really a ceise fire so we offer the opposing diplomat as a barganing chip....then fake a transporter accident and give them a pile of goo...then convince their captain to turn his ships around in the spirit of "someday peace".

-Trade 1st officers in the spirit of co-operation...we win and have a new ship :)

-Continually open Trans Warp conduits in front of them moving them days of course at a time.

Ok I'm out of back-up plans, feel free to expand on one.

[jtarwin]

The Klingon fix would have something to do with explosions. The Federation fix takes advantage of technological superiority. We could scramble their sensors, approach from a side where they cannot see us, hack into their computer system and screw with their navigational computer. We could then tractor beam them a 180 and send them back to their home world.

OR

We could use the tractor beam to tow them back to their home world (thus handing them back over to their own leaders).

OR

We could offer to transport a J’Edan leader to the tidal ship and have them order the ship down.

OR

We could use shuttle craft to transport thrusters, that we replicate and control, and attach them to the hull of the tidal ship. We then shoot out their thrusters (yay advanced technology) and drive their ship where we want it. These are just thrusters so if we want warp we have to tractor them.

I am sure with some brain storming I could come up with additional ideas, but our technology edge allows us to do all kinds of things. Hell, we call in other Federation ships and beam the crew into cargo bays then warp back to J’Edan and beam them into their own people's waiting hands!

With superior technology come lots of options!

[DarkOrion69]

I am surprised no one has tried ejecting their warp core to stop the J'Edan yet :)

[Matrim]

I would intercept those ships as requested and disable them. I would then transport there crews to a suitable planet and set them up with supplies. Note the planets location for after the talks are completed then pass info to respected race.

(destroy ships after crews removed)

Mat

[MasterThome]

Just go and tow them back to there home world, drop off the people, then see if the others will use this ship, if you find that they will, just take it away from them. Assuming that you can tractor the ship in that space.

[sabnak]

first up the fleet is 3 weeks from its apparent target so no need to panic yet . i would deploy a shuttle to trail the fleet thru the unstable region to make sure contact is not lost and the do not deviate from there apparent course. next relay the message from the outpost to starfleet command. next send a message to the j'edan diplomat infoming him of the situation and that you are plotting an intercept course for when the fleet leaves the unstable region . then w8 for for further instruction from spacefleet command and or j'edan diplomat /government.if allelse fails you still have the option to destroy the fleet in 3 weeks but it will be the decision of a higher authority.

[CalypsoLTS]

I would grab the diplomats from both worlds, shove my murderess diplomat in the brig for a court martial later this month.

I would then have the J'Edan ambassador contact the tidal ships and order them to stand down.

If the tidal ships did not comply with the ambassador's orders, I would ask him what he wanted me to do.

If the ambassador tells me to engage, I would wait until they are in the comms blackout area. I would target their navigation array, this way they can still move, but have to rely on me for navigation, I can turn them around and send them home.

If that doesn't work, I will disable the engines as well, if they co-operate then, I will tractor them home.

If all else fails, I will destroy the ships (by request of the J'Edan ambassador)

-----Warp Core Ejection Scenario-----

After a private talk with the J'Edan ambassador, his government requested that the rogue ships be destroyed, so this is what I would do.

I would set a trap in the comms blackout part of space, eject the warp core and attach a proximity detonator to it. When the ships close within range of the detonator, the warp core will breach, wiping out the convoy.

Because of all the anomalies, they will think the ships were destroyed by some random spacial anomaly. I could also hide it from my crew by faking a possible warp core breach to give reason to eject it (in the path of the oncoming convoy of course), I could then use the transporter to attach the detonator and erase the log with my command codes and continue my course back to the place of negotiations.

My report to Star Fleet would mention that we experienced warp core problems and had to eject, also that the core had detonated shortly after ejection, nothing could be salvaged.

[DarkOrion69]

Well played sir, and may i say (without sarcasm) a clever way to excuse the plan to Starfleet...it was a technical malfunction and could not be avoided :)

[Nelson]

Yeah I would take out the engines of all the tidal ships and transport the Captains to my ship and hold them, as they are in violation of the cease fire. I would do all in my power to give the diplomats the time they need to negotiate. I would put all of the Catians in a conference room, making sure they are not armed, and then I would talk to them... Assuring them that the Federation is not at all interested in getting ivolved in a war, but that we are there to ensure peace gets its chance.

[mordechia]

I say that i get a squad of commando's to sneak aboard one of the ships after, waiting in ambush in the unstable space, via shuttle pod, and sabotage the convoy to make it appear an accident within the unstable space. No one would have to know about anything going on in there.

[Tylor_Liles]

i would destroy their engines and transport them to a holodeck recreation of their ships and tell them if they attack us will will intervene on the kresch side of the war. and if they continue on i will kill everyone,both the soldiers and captains on the j'edan vessels and make it appear as if they had an engne problem destroying the ships.

s*it happens
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.

[Genkifish]

First, notify their respective governments; second, intercept the armada and present them with the new information regarding their mission. If they refuse to abort, disable their ships, while minimizing casualties as best you can. Then have the diplomats sort it out...

[Drysdan]

Federation Edict is clear i CANNOT attack those ships however conference allowing may intercept and try to dissuade. In the end it matters not if these two species kill each other. The possible results of interference is too great. Such an act could cause both sides to turn against the federation in war.

[Teufelpanzer]

I thought there were some very interesting suggestions in this thread but I decided to go another way:

1) I contact the J'Edan ambasador and tell him that we have reports of one or more Kresh Tidal Force Convoys heading for his worlds. I carefully explain that, since J'Edan is not in the Federation, I may not make efforts to defend his worlds. i also mention that if J'Edan were to petition to join the Federation, this attack would be considered an attack on Federation planets. I warn him that he must be very serious in his decision to join the Federation, if that is his choice, because the life of every Kresch citizen in existance might be forfeit in the war that would follow if they attacked J'Edan. Then I hand him a pen to sign his request to join the Federation.

2) Then I wait until the Keresh fleet enters the disturbed area of space that doesn't allow communication.

3) At this point I contact the Keresh ambasador and inform him that the J'Edan have petitioned to join the Federation. I also let him know that I have been informed that a Kresch Tidal Force Convoy is currently preparing to attack a J'Edan world. I phrase this in such a way that the Kresch ambasador assumes it is the J'Edan who gave me this information. I explain that just approaching a J'Edan world with such a fleet will be considered an act of war between the massive, powerful Federation and the Kersch. I inform the ambasador that the J'Edan have volunteered to provide admirals familiar with Kresch space to command the Federation war fleets - in fact, they oddly had the list of admirals ready when I was informed of the impending Kresch attack.

4) I now tell the Kresch ambasador that we would normally allow the Kresch to recall their fleet and avoid the war. Saddly, in this case, I inform the ambasador that the J'Edan assure me that the Kresch fleet is now in an area of space that disrupts communication and, as I have verified this is true, it appears that there is no way to stop the Kresch fleet. I inform the ambasador that as long as the J'Edan are in the Federation and the Kresch are not, it appears that war with Federation fleets led by J'Edan admirals is now all but certain. Then I hand him a pen to sign his request to join the Federation.

5) Meet the Kresch vessels after they have exited the disturbed area of space.

[VarimatrasDeVolair]

my suggestion: go in with a quite large combatforce, supress every hostilities between the parties involved and force them to talk. might not be the brightest solution, but when they cant killing each other, because they have to fear youre force, when they tryin to do that, they might be thinkin about their positions, because they have the time then to do so...but if they decide to fight regardless the consequences, they shall die, atleast till they realize their situation.

[Teufelpanzer]

Yes, I know, TLDR. So to sum up:

You convince each side that the only way to foil their opponent's dastardly plot against them is to join the Federation. The Federation doesn't allow private war fleets, so the first thing they do is disband all of these combat convoys.

The convoy already in space was never really a thread to a hypercapable ship but it can be used to bring both worlds into the Federation and peace to billions without firing a shot.

It's the Federation way. :D

[Chemguy]

Further information regarding this threat is necessary to properly resolve the conflict. Since the distance between planets is significant, then determining suitable replacement planets to possibly colonize is an avenue worth pursuing. The diplomat that suggested destroying the convoy should not be ratted out to the other diplomat as this would only further hostilities and quickly break the ceasefire. The use of excessive military force would be difficult, seeing that getting together multiple starships to deter both sides is a waste of federation resources. Continuing dialogue between the two parties in understanding their differences is the only resolution that will ultimately end all conflict.

Both attack ships must be haulted in their movement towards their targets as a part of the cease fire agreement. As more formal negotiations continued towards peace those vessels would then be sent back to disassemble their offensive weapons and their funding moved more towards a deterent and defensive position with the federation providing defensive support for both groups until they have established their own defensive systems, with the priority being the reduction of all offensive military action.

[Gold-Eagle]

I would place my ship in front of the uncharted area. This would give me a chance to stop the ships if they come out of the area without appearing to be taking any aggressive actions. If the ships came out of the area I would request that the leader of their nation join me on the bridge and command their troops to return to their homeland. However, I would trust in the negotions to prevent the ships from being deployed.

[NeoIvan17]

Since the peace process has progressed to a ceasefire agreement and yet the J’Edan dispatched a tidal fleet just in case it didn't. It is clear that the J'Edan weren't confident of any successful outcome, but anything beyond is pure spectulation. The diplomat has told me that these are zealots and giving the history of this conflict is religious in nature, they will not be willing to listen to orders from their superiors since they're ready to die. It is also possible that the J'Edan don't care and sent the mission because the nature of the conflict is at such a brutal level. As captain, my orders are to give the peace process the best chance for survival; I advise the diplomat to return to his quarters after he gave his advice. Since the other diplomats have left, I ask my science officer to lay out the best possible course of that convoy and advise Starfleet of the situation without asking for instructions.

I make a note in the ships log that I, as captain, have decided to aid the process by destroying the convoy as it enters the region of unstable space. Since it is unstable, I believe that it can be easily explained for why the convoy didn't succeed; also because it takes two days for the convoy to arrive I call a meeting of my senior officers and our diplomat to tell them of what I intend to do. If any object, I inform them that they must do so at the meeting and it will be noted in the ships logs of offical protest in case of a court-marshall. In the meantime, we plot out the best possible means to carry out the mission and shadow the non-warp ships; once they are inside the region, I call for Red Alert and engage the ships and destroy them. I leave no survivors.

Once it's done, I will order the ship to exit the area and head for the nearest starbase. I write a report and then contact Starfleet on a priority one channel and turn myself in with the hopes that this can be kept quiet. My career maybe over, but I will have helped peace between those two worlds.

[BLZBUB49]

Because they are sub-warp ships, they are no match for my ship. Once the convoy has entered the unstable area, I would disable their drive systems and transport the crews onto my ship.
Once aboard and confined, I would take them all to the Federation colony world and transport them all to the surface and placed under guard. The convoy ships could then be taken by tractor to the same Federation colony world and placed in orbit for safe keeping.

[tarengrim]

The people are already suspicious toward the Federation, so shooting at their ships even if they are breaking their cease fire would be a bad blow for the federations alliance. Addressing the leader of the J'Edan and ask them about what is going on, while of course already plotting an interception course.

Depending no what their Leader says, Actions should be taken, starting from contacting the convoy to disabeling their drives. It is possible that these ships are renegades or that their orders were issued before the agreement could be reached. Blindly shooting them right away would be too risky and would send the wrong message to the Galaxy

[yodummy]

.................howabout something klingon??....remember us??? yup, were just as active .....

[Avenger_Dragon]

Step 1: Go to attacker homeworld and blow the lid on the attack, tell them to repeal the attack

-Ultimately confused or denied...-

Step 2: pick up attacker's diplomat, go to victim faction and pick up victim's diplomat. Warp to attacking convoy and show them the backstabbing and how the ship has the ability to wipe them out and nobody would know the wiser with the distortion blocking all chances of alert. Just ot show the federation isn't that petty over two factions petty squabbles, although actions will be taken to prevent excess death.

From there i'd tell the ships to stop or be rendered useless. Of course the attackers won't stop so both factions will see the federation has the ability to destroy the ships, but will instead disable the ships and tractor each one to a stop and let the crews think about what options they have left. I may even send them drifting back to their point of origin for shticks and giggles while the diplomats face another discussion on settling their differences and not be so embarassing in front of the federation

[MajorD]

I announce to both sides the other side using the cease fire to gain strategic positioning, and announce an end to the pace conference. I tell them that if they should ever want a true negotiation in good faith they need only ask. Otherwise, let them fight it out. If either side becomes hostile to the Federation as a result, I go to their homeworld and colonies to execute General Order 24. They're obviously too primitive to put up a fight, considering they're using such awkward methods to kill each other off, but also violent enough that they would be long term nuisances.

[Wakeofmylove]

The Federation is merely mediating the negotiations, they may act only with the consent of the J'Edan to uphold the ceasefire. The diplomat who suggested that the Federation should act of it's own accord and throw people's lives away without even attempting negotiation or disabling of the vessels should be reported and replaced. Contact the J'Edan and inform them that you have become aware of their vessels on course for the Kresch outpost, if they intend to uphold the cease fire, you take one of the J'Edan representatives with you to order them to cease their activities, and if they refuse to stop, disable the vessels. Evacuate the ships quickly and efficiently to prevent repair or leaving the crew in peril. Having disabled the vessels and stopped the attack, the will for peace can be reinforced at the negotiating table as the J'Edan were willing to have their vessels, which so much had been invested in, be forcefully stopped. Try to convince the J'Edan representative that leaving the ships would be unwise as either side or a third party could salvage them, and if they are willing, destroy them. If the J'Edan wish to keep the ships intact, as there is only a temporary cease fire in place, not a treaty in play, the vessels can be towed away or guarded to prevent them from being salvaged in the mean time. They are still several weeks out from their target and could be destroyed or disabled later if it again becomes necessary to do so.

[Er-Murazor]

The best thing to do is to attack and disable the ships, if possible. This is the best course of action since letting the ships continue unchallenged would continue the war anyway. Disabling the ships will save the crews and keep the planet's population from being decimated. This will accomplish your mission and show that the Federation will do everything that it can to save lives on both sides.

[Sebastian_Rooks]

interesting comments so far ... all solutions are plausible including the more aggressive ones, it all deepens on how you view the federation and its role in the universe. if you see the federation as the "Terran empire" then you might as well just kill them all as some of you suggested however if you view it as I do, as a peaceful organization dedicated to exploration and the pursuit of knowledge, then as some of you suggested an attempt to bring the two ambassadors back and confront the fleet with both present to convince the fleet commander to stand down.
however i would also make a more detailed observation of the neutral ambassador that suggested we use force and if possible ask to perform a detailed medical analysis of him. It is highly unlikely that a federation mediator or one not of the federation but acting on its behalf would make such a suggestion that bluntly violate the prime directive and so he ether must be (a) mentally unstable (b) an impostor trying to provoke a war between the two races (c) an impostor trying to unite the two races against the federation.

[Code3North]

Neither side has a defence against the Tidal Wave weapon, or so the intro says.

Since both sides have involved Starfleet in the conflict, I don`t believe the Prime Directive applies with regards to getting involved.

As a Starfleet captain I would have my science and engineering teams research the Tidal Wave weapon to mount a defense. We have three weeks in the scenario to come up with a way to defend against it.

If we are successful, then I would order the defense tactic to be given to BOTH sides of the conflict. Once they both have a defense against this weapon, it will be come useless, and ineffective for either side.

They will have to find some other way to wage war against each other, which will presumably take some time for them to work out. Bingo, my crew has just bought time for more peace negotiations.

Code3

[incingam]

I would have to say you have a few choices here. The first thing that you should do is ask for more information about the convoy. Then you should request permission to intercept and try to get them to stand down. My suggestion would be to have the diplomats pre-record a message saying to break off the attack as terms of a ceasefire have been agreed to by both sides. Failure to break off the attack will result in the convoy being destroyed. Show this video to the convoy. If they claim that the federation has faked the video in order to get them to stop the attack I would say you are left with no other choice but to disable their ships so they cannot proceed to their destination and have their people come pick them up and take them back home. If for some reason you cannot disable their ships I would say if you are unable to find a defense against the weapon you are left with no other choice but to destroy them.

[Gfischer]

.................howabout something klingon??....remember us??? yup, were just as active .....

Well, Klingons rarely are faced with impossible ethical outcomes. The only mission a Klingon might have problems with is "Death or Dishonour"... and in that case, every Kliongon commander should pick death. If not, they will be killed by their first officer anyhow.

This is not really something that Kliongons would worry about in thraining. But I am intrigued; how do you think this would work out for a Kliongon? Because the Honour-Code is pretty much all there needs following, or so I could see it.

[Levry]

Having warp and some time to work, you get a representative to the convoy and stop them. You can also enforce the cease fire by sending some ships and tractor beam them back to port.

Otherwise you protect the colony and hope the parties are able to resolve their differences peacefully. If not, only other choice is to keep a ship or two in proximity and hope that deters any incursions into federation territory.

[ussequinox]

I would start by contacting the government of the defecting religious zealots, and urge that in lieu of current diplomatic situation and interest of peace, they treat these people as if they were commiting acts of treason against the government. Which leads to two possiblities:

1. If the government cooperates I would then give the order to intercept because of my ship's warp capability, and escort them back to their homeworld to stand trial.

2 If the government is not willing to cooperate, I would intercept the ships anway. Part of starfleet's mission is to seek out new life, not allow it to be destroyed, as well as to ensure peace. I would first stand between them and their destination, which is a neutral act. If they back down then the mission is a success. However if they fire upon my vessel, that is considered an act of war against the UFP, which would require me to fire back. Based on their description they would be no match for my vessel, essentially rectifying the problem.

[typhoonjim]

as captain and the solution is peace for the federation .I wait untill the ship enter the unsable space and destroy everyone of them.NO witnesses.no log entry.seems the unstable space has created problems with my ships computer logs.

TYPHOON JIM.COMANDER.

[CalypsoLTS]

Well played sir, and may i say (without sarcasm) a clever way to excuse the plan to Starfleet...it was a technical malfunction and could not be avoided :)

Why thank you good sir, I enjoyed coming up with it :-) There are a lot of good ideas for this KM, not to mention, the KM is really good in itself :-)

The Cape

[ChrisBrehe]

I would disable the ships and lock that lousy no good excuse of a diplomat in the brig then ask for a replacement take over the negotiations until he or she arrived I mean come on I'm a Bloody Starfleet captain that means I'm trained to play diplomat if the situation warrants it.

[Jakebob]

Let them fight it out. The stronger side will survive.

[Evil_Hobo]

I say let them knock one another out, then come in and finish the job and purge the sector of the scum. It the right thing, its the only thing! LOL.

[wooc]

Mine the unstable area of space with verteron mines ( a la TNG episode when warp speed was restricted). The approaching ships will be disabled (but not destroyed) and stranded sans communications long enough to provide Federation technical aid to both the Kresch and J'Edan in the form of Seismic regulators like those on Risa (DS9 episode ??) and on Earth (in the episode where Data's disembodied head was found). Rescue the stranded J'Edan crews if/when the moods suits.

[kyleb001]

tractor beam + engine shot ftw :P

[Com.Chris]

I would destroy their communications and engines and tow them back to their homeworld and convince both sides that they were rebels.

[KHALESS2000]

Knowing the facts at hand:

Both side departed the ship only a few hours ago, message from Federation Colony received during that time, taking into account what the neutral ambassor is saying:

First course of action :place the ambassor under guard with a full medical scan requested so see if the ambassor is actually real and not a imposter for the other side. Only after full Medical scans if he is not from the opposing side would then place the neutral ambassor under restrictive access and make him aware of the Prime Directive and if the ambassor still insist the course of action of attacking the ships killing 4000 people then place him under arrest.

Recall both ambassors from the worlds to meet on the ship with the captain as meditating this current conflict that now happening, then after having the ambassors of both world on the ship, talk with the first ambassor of the attacking ships for ship specs of the attacking vessels then bring the other ambassor up to speed on current tactical status. After knowing the instable space that they would have to cross at subwarp speed (2 days for us is like a few weeks for them)

I would use a subspace inversion field that would make they're impluse engines slower to move and would gain control of prefix codes for the ships after that would do is send sensor ghosts to the attacking ships creating an illusion that they were off course of there attended target. since long range sensor would be out for them as well, then hopefully after meeting with the world's ambassors come up with some means of ending the current conflict and remind them that if federation citizens are harmed during this incursion , all relations, current applications to Starfleet will stop.

the endgame would ultimately be neutralize the attacking fleet with the fleets weakness' of the existing technogy currently available

[Shenandoah]

I would inform Starfleet that I plan to destroy these ships as they head into the region of unstable space which will make use of communication and long-range scanning impossible. This will force the J’Edan to either admit that they had the ships and attempt to blame star-fleet, which will be completely groundless due to the fact the region cannot be scanned and it is just as likely that the instability of the region destroyed the ships, or stay quiet and make no mention of ever sending the ships as they will now be eager to keep the Cease-Fire having lost their tidal ships, but the Kresch still having theirs. The reson I would tell Star-Fleet is that if I keep it secret someone on the ship will tell them, no matter the justification and lying to Star-Fleet would get me in more trouble that destroying the ships. Besides I couldn't get any incoming communications due to our proximity to the region of unstable space, and I didn't have time to wait for Star-Fleet to respond. And if after all that Star-Fleet still blames me, it was their neutral ambassador that suggested the course of action I took, therefore I was under orders from a higher authority within the Federation.

(I basically took the plot for the Deep Space Nine Episodes dealing with the Coup on Earth by one of the Admirals, and the USS Shenandoah and the ones dealing with Siskos attempt to drag the Romulans into the Dominion War)


Now when it comes to attacking these ships, My ship of Choice being the Discovery Class, I would warp in ( Nothing in the description says we can't use warp, that I know of) Take out all thier communications first, just in case, and then pick them off one at time the Sub-Warp behemoths will be useless as I engage in hit and run strikes.

[MajorD]

interesting comments so far ... all solutions are plausible including the more aggressive ones, it all deepens on how you view the federation and its role in the universe. if you see the federation as the "Terran empire" then you might as well just kill them all as some of you suggested however if you view it as I do, as a peaceful organization dedicated to exploration and the pursuit of knowledge, then as some of you suggested an attempt to bring the two ambassadors back and confront the fleet with both present to convince the fleet commander to stand down.
however i would also make a more detailed observation of the neutral ambassador that suggested we use force and if possible ask to perform a detailed medical analysis of him. It is highly unlikely that a federation mediator or one not of the federation but acting on its behalf would make such a suggestion that bluntly violate the prime directive and so he ether must be (a) mentally unstable (b) an impostor trying to provoke a war between the two races (c) an impostor trying to unite the two races against the federation.
When I wrote what I did, I kept thinking, I'm not Picard, I would never be able to negotiate this myself. But, it never occurred to me that the ambassador should be a Picard level diplomat and that for some reason he is not a Picard level diplomat. I don't think the reason for that has to be so extreme as you put forth, some people simply aren't any good at their jobs, but it does fit Trek better.

When I read that the diplomat told me to kill the attacking ship, I took that as blatant failure of the peace process and a sign that it wasn't worth carrying out negotiations at all, rather than a personal failure of the diplomat. Although, I left that possibility open by offering a second chance if the two group wanted another chance.

Well, Klingons rarely are faced with impossible ethical outcomes. The only mission a Klingon might have problems with is "Death or Dishonour"... and in that case, every Kliongon commander should pick death. If not, they will be killed by their first officer anyhow.

This is not really something that Kliongons would worry about in thraining. But I am intrigued; how do you think this would work out for a Kliongon? Because the Honour-Code is pretty much all there needs following, or so I could see it.

Victory is the highest honor, but not the only one, and death is a way to regain honor but it's not the only way, it's the easiest way. Klingons also have to balance their skill, their word, and their honor between themselves, their fellow warriors, their leaders, and their houses. When Commander Riker served aboard a Klingon ship he took an oath to the ship and crew; but to the Klingons, and Riker, this in no way absolved his oath to the Federation and the Enterprise-D. Riker had to balance his Federation and Klingon oaths, and amazingly he succeeded in saving both ships without violating his word in a situation where the two ships were enemies. And to do it all, he had to use his fighting skills to take command of the Klingon ship in a fair fight with the Klingon captain.

In this thread's situation, many Klingons might have simply gone to destroy the alien ship, but there would be others who would kill the diplomat for failure, or kill both sides, or support the side that sent the ship, or support the side that didn't send the ship, or reveal the dishonor of both sides to each other, or force a peace at gunpoint. Klingon honor is not a skeleton key, and despite a monoculture they aren't all the same person.

[JasonFoster01]

As it will take an extended period for the 'Tidal' ships to reach their designated targets I would organise with star fleet for a rapid response force to over take and retrieve the ships through non-lethal means.

I would then suggest the crews (not the nations at war unless an inquiry proved that they had planned or had foreknowledge of the attempt) of these ships are tried under federation law by an impartial jury for the attempted war crimes against humanity and ensure that senior delegates from both warring nations are at the proceedings for complete visibility so no biased claims can be made at a later date.

The diplomat who suggested to destroy the convoy would also be liable to federation law as above, this would send a clear message that the federation hold everyone accountable for their own actions (or inaction) and will treat every being equally regardless of position, rank or alliance.

[Adster2009]

i would fire on these ships,targeting their engines,thereby stopping them dead in their tracks with minimal casualties,then i would beam the crews over to my ship in small,controlable numbers and place them in federation custody assuming i have the available space.place all their crew members under guard,and proceed to the nearest starbase ,leaving a skeleton crew aboard their suicide vessels under the command of my first officer,who would commence repairs on their engines and meet up with me at the starbase as soon as possible,if i didn't have the room for them,on my ship,i would place them under a kind of house arrest on their own dead in space vessels,if the engines could not be repaired i would make arrangements with starfleet to tow the ships to the starbase.also,i would report the diplomat for urging me to commit murder.;)

Well it seems the only solution i can think of is taken!:)

[Troglis]

Each of these attacks need months of planning; as the material needed to attack a planet in such manner cannot be transported at warp speeds. This is the key point right here to solve this problem. Since this material cannot be transported at warp speed, simply attach a tractor beam onto the tidal ships extend your ships warp field around the tidal ships then execute a micro warp jump. Since the material CANNOT be transported at warp speeds it will be rendered useless for its mission. No Zealots were killed and the planet saved.

Inform Starfleet of your actions, request a new diplomat be sent immediately. Return to the negotiations, place the federation diplomat in custody, pending an investigation.

However either or both factions will obviously make claims that the federation has voilated the treaty, or is showing its favoritism for the opposing side. Here your only course is to convince both sides that no violation has accurd and that you acted on behave of the treaty itself by maintaining peace during the current cease fire. While there was a loss of material, no lives were lost.

Inform both sides that the current federation diplomat will be unable to finish the negoiations for medical reasons.....a good ships doctor can simulate any number of unwanted infections.

Put all negotiations on hold until the new federation diplomat arrives or who ever both factions agree on meeting with to continue the negotiations.

Assuming all this fails to bring both alliances back to the negotiating table (this is a Kobayashi Maru after all)
StarFleet will simply have to continue to monitor the war until such a time as both sides acutally want to create a lasting peace. Any spill over of war will just have to be dealt with by Cadets on training missions after all they are using subwarp ships for battle. Any first year cadet with a computer can handle that. (unless he's a red shirt of course)

[Teufelpanzer]

This is the key point right here to solve this problem. Since this material cannot be transported at warp speed, simply attach a tractor beam onto the tidal ships extend your ships warp field around the tidal ships then execute a micro warp jump. Since the material CANNOT be transported at warp speeds it will be rendered useless for its mission. No Zealots were killed and the planet saved.

Oh, good catch! Well done, Troglis. :)

I still like using the fleet to force both sides into the Federation, or to at least into an agreement that allows the Federation to picket their systems, but now we have a very acceptable fall back plan. No loss of life should be the goal for the Federation, IMHO.

Of course, everyone else gets to shoot stuff. Sometimes being Federation is not easy. :p

[sm12905]

I would rush off to meet this battle fleet, holding off with getting within their sensor range until they were in the unstable space region. I would then send boarding parties aboard to quietly mess up their navigational computers, sending them back toward their own worlds.

Hopefully, these people aren’t stupid. They would be able to realize they were about to attack the wrong world and stop- but only after they spent a few months getting there. By that time, hopefully, a permanent cease-fire would be negotiated.

[Raibart]

Ok this is what I do (Note: My Fav ship is a Excelsior so ill always be commanding that during these)
I set a course for the wave ships and destroy them,Then I set course for the other sides ships be they retreating or not and destroy them as well. Needless to say the Ambassadors of both sides will be outraged . I say to them Star fleet takes a very dim view of cultures building planet killing weapons,I fact we consider the construction of such devices to be a THREAT and will deal with it accordingly. Finaly my Star ship heads to the Homeworld of both species and we destroy the faciltys used to construct both the weapons and the ships.
Thus I prevent them from being able to do such things in the near future,BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY I send a message to the rest of the Galaxcy ..and a Warning.

[viprisgx7]

This one was hand-brewed by WishStone, as it was requested I show off my feeble skills as a non-vulcan.

I would make best speed to the Kresch outpost, send down away teams to work on stabilizing the crust of the planet, meanwhile creating a blockade for the tidal ships with my shields, and whatever ships I have at my disposal. After hours of negotiating with the J'edan, I would secure the prefix codes for the tidal ships.... IF the J'Edar refuse to hand over OR use the codes themselves, it will be assumed that their diplomat was full of it, and Starfleet's obvious choice of sides would be the Kresch whom are giving peace a chance. As this is a diplomatic situation, no matter what I do, it's going to take time to reach a conclusion. IF the J'edar turn over or use their prefix codes to disable the shields of their tidal ships, then I use my transporters to take possession of the materials. Thus defanging their attack fleet.... since the proceedings were on my ship, both diplomats would see their attempts to save one another, strengthening the chance for peace.

[xaviorbat]

Well, using the Star Fleet Academy game as a reference, since these weren't shown entirely in the series or movies, the ships have a disable setting on the phasers. Show up, lash the ships down with a tractor beam, and order them to stand down until peace negotiations are finished. If they refuse, switch phasers to disable mode, and fire, after they punch through the shields the ship will be disabled but not destroyed, dead in the water without affecting the life support basicly. Then re-establish tractor beam control, and move them by force back to their point of origin.

[adamflux]

since these people have a primitive starfaring technology, I would employ electronic warfare to jam the kamikaze ship's navigation devices and any sensors they might have. I would prepare a duplicate of their ship in my holodeck and then beam them off their ship onto mine. Meanwhile, teams from my ship would beam aboard and secure their vessel, preparing it for me to tow back to their home planet.

While we towed their ship back to their homeworld, the suicide crew would be in a simulation that my navigation and science teams had developed with the help of the diplomat teams from their homeworld. The simulation would proceed up until the point of detonation, at which time their diplomat would go into the holodeck and thank them for their dedication, but explain that they were merely part of an elaborate training exercise aided with technology from their new federation friends, and that although their sacrifice was not needed today, that they should stand ready in case peace negotiations break down.

this maintains the cease fire, prevents loss of life, and leaves the kamikaze crew with a sense of fulfilled duty. A federation diplomat could then be deployed in order to conduct long-term negotiations to bring either an end to hostilities or at least an agreement of mutual shunning, to include the disarmament of all of the kamikaze ships. Providing trade opportunities in the federation would help to jumpstart their technology and economies, and thus shift their production away from land-grabbing and warships towards more civilian applications.

[sbranigin]

It states that the ships need to trasnport the cargo at sublight speeds. It also states that it takes 5 ships to transport all of the needed materials for the attack.

I would attempt to use diplomacy to get the ships to turn around peacfully. To aid in my diplomacy I would try to get a high ranking and or respected E'jan leader to tell the captians to hault their attack and tell them about the peace treaty.

If that failed all I would have to do is tractorbeam 1 ship and tow it back to it's home planet at warp speed. That would ruin the cargo and the other ships would them not have all of the necessary materials to follow through with their attack.

[Aric_Froese]

I would place something in the path of the ships (probe or beacon) which would simulate some kind of ion storm and disorient them. They will not have seen the device, but as they attempt to regain their bearings it will corrupt their navigation system. The zealots would continue their mission when actually they are now heading back to their home planet.

More ships and beacons would remain out of range of the convoy, feeding false information, while blocking any communication from the home world. The J'Edan would commence the attack on their own planet - but realize their error at the last second.

The plan requires that there be J'Edan casualties as if the planet was unharmed the zealots would see it as divine intervention and it would reaffirm their beliefs. I doubt the J'Edan would see all these tragic deaths and be horrified. I would instead hope that they see the event as a sign from their gods that the wars must come to an end.

[ecksminusone]

There is so much wrong here I'm not sure where to begin. Therefor I shall start at the beginning.


"You are asked to transport a neutral diplomat to a peace conference between two warring solar alliances; the Kresch and the J’Edan."

I don't know what a solar alliance is supposed to be. The Earth's sun, Sol, is apparently in some sort of alliance, or two alliances in this case. I think you mean two interstellar organizations formed by treaties to ally multiple independent political groupings are at war with one another.


"The core conflict revolves around a fundamental religious difference and has cost billions of lives in the last 3 decades."

So, Catholics verses Protestants in space, redoing the 30 years war, or the 100 years war, one of those. Irreconcilable battle to extinction, how very sad.

"Both worlds feel that the only way to cleanse a planet of the religion brought by their foes, is causing global tidal waves; created by massive tectonic shifts in the planets’ crusts."

What if a planet has no oceans, or land, or tectonic plates? How do they get rid of the bad religion? And I think you mean the religions of both worlds put forward this is the only means of cleansing a planet, unless the planets themselves are sentient and have feelings.

"Each of these attacks need months of planning; as the material needed to attack a planet in such manner cannot be transported at warp speeds."

What? I'm sorry but what could this possibly be? A weapon of interstellar war so impractical it takes your delivery system a minimum of YEARS to deliver at even relativistic velocities, which not even impulse engines can achieve. So we have several hundred to even thousands of years at impulse power before an attack can arrive.

"Each of these “Tidal Convoys” is a fleet of five sub-warp ships; each hosting a crew of 800 who are undertaking these attacks knowing they will die."

Yes, they will all die during the generations long voyage between stars.

"Both Kresch and J’Edan have invested all their technological advancements into colonizing planets and creating these tidal ships, so neither of these two alliances has defenses against these attacks."

Luckily they have generations to develop defenses because it will take that long for one of these convoys of space slugs to arrive.

"During negotiations, threats are made from both sides against our diplomat; both sides are convinced that they will not be given a fair chance and are ready to be a martyr to their home worlds’ cause; as they expect to be assassinated. Both sides feel that the Federation would kill them and every one of their people for their own goal of peace."

And they also believe the universe was created by a flying spagetti monster, and shortness is a sign of FSM's grace. Why are we even talking to these idiots?

"After you have hosted the peace conference on your ship for 3 days without mayor incidents; cease fire is negotiated, the first step to peace is forged."

It may have take three days, but it only felt like an hour, 48 minutes if you take out the commercial breaks. A federation diplomat's ability to solve intractable problems in such a short amount of time is astounding.

"Only hours after the diplomats of Kresch and J’Edan leave your ship, you receive a subspace message from a federation colony, bordering the warzone. A convoy of J’Edan Tidal Ships has been spotted and seems to be headed for one of the Kresch outposts and will reach it in three weeks time. "

And by weeks, you of course mean centuries.

"The star charts show a region of unstable space which will make use of communication and long-range scanning impossible - just ahead of the convoy."

This sort of stuff is all over the place in the Galaxy apparently, so I'll allow it.

"The neutral diplomat has urged you to find a way to destroy the convoy, as the men and women manning these are zealots which will never be convinced to stop their mission. He argues that they have accepted death as a consequence of their attack anyhow and killing them will preserve the cease fire."

Its nice to see former Bush administration UN Ambassador Holbrook is still able to find work. And I think you'll find they are male sentient and female sentient beings, not men and women which are the names given to the male and female of the human species, like roosters and hens, bulls and cows, etc. Unless they are in fact human in which case the prime directive, as Cmdr. Riker pointed out, does not apply. That being the case there was never any reason to negotiate, a federation court would arbitrate the dispute, and Ambassador Holbrook could stay home.

" As a Starfleet officer however, you know that attacking these ships will be murder and an act of war, should your actions become known."

My solution: Get old and die before the convoy arrives at its destination. Seriously, its a couple of ineffective moronic species on a path to eventual extinction. These people are about as dangerous as goldfish. Billions probably died because of their own ignorant beliefs evidenced by a commitment to the most useless weapons ever conceived. If their public health planning is as well thought out as these 4000 person convoy attack generation ships the "war" losses are probably from famine and poor sanitation.

[Aric_Froese]

"The star charts show a region of unstable space which will make use of communication and long-range scanning impossible - just ahead of the convoy."

This sort of stuff is all over the place in the Galaxy apparently, so I'll allow it.


"I will allow it?" That pretty much sets the arrogant tone of that entire post.


So you are ripping this Kobayashi Maru because you are an expert on space travel?

You have no information on what speed the convoy is travelling at, and no information on how close the planets are. I think that if the convoy is travelling just below the speed of light they can make good progress.

A year or two even, so what, they are zealots, crazy enough to embark on a death mission like that.

[zcborst]

Convince the neutral diplomat to convince the representative of the people that sent the attack to plead with the warship's captains to halt their progress and turn back. I would not fire upon any of the ships due to the unstable contents. Furthermore, efforts should be devised to assist in repairs from past damage dealt to each respective planet. Any direct involvement from the federation is in conflict of general order 1 as stopping the war by military means is unwarranted. However if there are crew members on the surface that are in danger from the attack and are perhaps being held by the planet due to mistrust of the federation (detained under suspicion of espionage) than general order 24 is applicable, but should be used with restraint and only against the immediate threats. The other option is to employ the tractor beam as a means of slowing the warship's progress but this approach may be impractical but could be used as a demonstration of non lethal force. Another approach could be to defend against the attack using what is already available on the planet. The original post mentioned that both societies were creating these devices which indicates that the same type of weapon is available on the planet that is under attack. I speculate that the devices uses some sort of wave technology to disrupt techtonic plates, if another wave of the same frequency was emmitted than it could possibley cancel out most of the effect and perhaps just cause a resonation in the upper atmosphere. However, altering this existing technology puts a stretch on general order 1.

[dir1987]

My ship is bigger, scarier and more powerful than theirs, I make them know this, the politely inform them that they WILL be returning home. peacefully, or in pieces

Disabling them should be no problem, first by targeting thier engines then thier life support.
Once all the vessals have surrendered boarding parties would be sent to each ship to disable them and subdew the crews

once the crews of the ships are sub dewed (by whatever means) I would transport them all to a single vessel.
This Vessel is then returned home under escort while the rest disabled and the materials and weapons on board destroyed.

if the crews resist, i leave them and wait, they'll run out of air eventually and have to ask for help.


or, alternative plan, should the first be non viable
take out thier shields, use teleporters to beam out the weapons, or some key component of them

[adamflux]

There is so much wrong here I'm not sure where to begin. Therefor I shall start at the beginning.

rly? ur flaming material the devs felt like sharing with everyone? beta claus is watching you know.

[Spaztoid]

Hmm... Well, I propose two courses of action.

1. Assuming that negotiation is a possibility, as it was not eliminated by the senerio, I would contact both factions and present them with the obvious inormation. An attack on the opposing faction will do nothing to solve thier conflicts, especially because they are at a standoff. I would further inform the two parties that by attacking the opposing faction, they are simply ensuring that the war will continue and that they will only cause damage to themselves and thier people.

If contacting each factions respective goverments is not enough to prevent the attack, or they fail to respond in time, I would take my vessle to the convoy and attempt to negotiate with the convoy it's self in an attempt to have them call off the attack.

If either of the diplomatic solutions prevail, then the crisis is overted, however should both fail, then I would rely on solution two.

2. If diplomicy fails, or is simply not an option, my choices become limited. I would first contact the goverment being attacked and warn them of the impending attack. I would then ensure that an evacuation of some type was under way to save the lives of as many victims as possible. All the while, I would attempt to contact Star Fleet Command to ask if they have a specific course of action or policy they wish to enforce. The goal in the situation is to avoid aggrovating either party all the while preventing the potnetial genocide about to take place. To do so, I would inform the the attacking goverment that Star Fleet does not tolerate such violence and ppresent them with the choice between attempting to make peaceful contact or facing massive retaliation from the other faction. Eventually, if nothing was gained from these warnings, I would have my vessle disable the convoy's propulsion and weapons, then gaurd them from a potentail counter attack from the opposing faction. Eventually, the situation would ethier be resolved with peace, or Star Fleet would order me to fall back allowing the two parties to destroy each other.

Depending on how the situation played out, I may or may not disable more vessels to prevent massive casualties, however as a Star Fleet officer, it is my duty not to cause conflict so if there comes a point where my presence endagers peace between the two factions and the Federation, I would withdrawl.

[Skrim72]

Have the helm set a pursuit course for the tidal convoy. Go to yellow alert and actively scan and track the convoy. Have my ships counselor and comms officer prepare a broadband communication. Begin regular reports of the successful peace talks, the ceasefire, and location of the J’Edan tidal convoy. Announce our intention to follow the tidal convoy with our weapons offline. Send the report to the J’edan, Kresch, the Federation, and all border colonies.

If we are unable to openly attack, and the two governments are unwilling to respect their own ceasefire, we will shine a bright public light on this conflict.

[et1078]

Confront the J'edan diplomat about the convoy.

If the J'edan do not explain their actions or attempt to stall me then I would move immediately to intercept the convoy, and attempt to reason with them. If they cannot be reasoned with then I would have no choice but to disable their vessels and immediately report to Starfleet, and the Federation what has happened.

The way I see it I cannot permit the attack to take place, and destroying the convoy would be murder. So disabling the convoy by using targeted fire is my only option if diplomacy fails.

[Endow]

Is peace the absence of war, or is war the absence of peace. As a star fleet captain there are times that one must sacrifice some of themselves for the protection of their crew and ship, and sometimes the ideas of peace. I would intercept the convoy and destroy them for the sake of peace between those two people. As a captain I will to deal with the fact I had to destroy so many lives for peace.

[Spaztoid]

Is peace the absence of war, or is war the absence of peace. As a star fleet captain there are times that one must sacrifice some of themselves for the protection of their crew and ship, and sometimes the ideas of peace. I would intercept the convoy and destroy them for the sake of peace between those two people. As a captain I will to deal with the fact I had to destroy so many lives for peace.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Unlike light and dark, war and peace have so many more variables. Where darkness is the absence of light, war is a failing to communicate. When two opposing factions are either incapable or unwilling to communicate to settle thier differences or problems, peace fails and war rises. Unfortunately, this means that the classical, "fighting fire with fire" only leads to more war because it again demonstrates the inability or unwillingness to communicate. Your solution, while valiant, only escalates the violence because you destroyed them instead of communicating.

[Ghadii]

On first glance I'm worried that although these people on these ships are supposed to be break away fanatics operating without authorization from their government that it might not be the case. Or, remember how the head of cardassian intelligence went out on a limb to attack the Dominion on his own? He told his superiors after he set sail, and they just folded their hands and sat back and let him attack the changeling home world. Well, with a little help from the romulans but anyway..

These people are supposedly acting as, well, I don't want to use the "T" word, so we'll say revolutionaries. Rebels. Whatever. Hopefully you get my drift. They are going against a peace treaty both sides agreed to.

This is by no means a perfect answer. Under the circumstances, it could even be a trap. If it's being done to purposefully make it look like the federation is using force to engineer their view of peace on these people, that would fit with the ideology of some of the folks on both sides from the sound of it.
What I'd do, as a star fleet officer, is approach right before they hit the comm blackout area. Jam their long range communications and use short range comms to go through the whole "You appear to be committing a criminal act. You're ships and personnel will be detained while we verify your guilty or non-guilty status. Once we have decided this by federation laws, you will be returned to your homeworld for trial by your peoples judicial system.'

In other words, yes, I'm snatching them. Hopefully this buys time for peace to cement a bit more and both sides to settle down a bit. However, if these peoples government knew and were just turning a blind eye, I'd expect an uproar and accusal of kidnapping, plots, boiling pets alive, rumor mongering and driving up the price of eggs on alpha centari prime. I'd of course let the neutral diplomat in on what was going on, after a brief amount of time. I wouldn't want to find out he had some notion he had to throw all the cards out in the open and let people freak, so I'd wait a bit. However I would try to give him enough time before hand to come up with some method of diffusing the eventual fallout.

Mind you, if they simply blow themselves up, that's going to monkey wrench things pretty good.

[VanCaptain]

Mine the area of unstable space, if the zealots turn back, peace for now is ensured..if they go through the mines, it's there decision and they will die as a consequence.

Either way, you get the precious time you need to solidify the negotionations.

[PatrickTX1960]

OK, so let's see.....these 2 civilizations are NOT Federation members, have warned us to stay clear or be attacked, and are determined to exterminate each other? There is no danger to Federation property or citizens and no strategic importance to the Federation apparently.

While the knee-jerk reaction to this is to rush in and interfere, there is no legal justification for doing so. Morally, of course we're opposed to this but that doesn't mean we're entitled to interfere in others' affairs just because we don't approve of them.

My first inclination is to leave them alone and let them destroy each other. Then I'd consult Starfleet Command for instructions, since there's 2 days before they enter the jammed zone of space.

Also, the "neutral" diplomat is of some suspicion in this, as I would suspect he has his own agenda for seeing the two races destroyed. Further investigation of that is warranted.

Engaging in combat with the two races is pointless. Since their technology is basically brute physical force and sublight only technology, they will be no match and we do whatever we liked with them right up until they get close to their targets.

Finally, it's apparent the tidal ships were (a) sent deliberately in defiance of the proposed peace talks or (b) unaware that a peace treaty had been signed. I would take the two sides' diplomats that were on board for the successful treaty directly to intercept the ships and let them jointly indicate the peace treaty to the ships, hopefully stopping their mission. If they did not, then one of the races would have a justifiable case for being ambushed and I would disable the ship at that point.

(I'm not sure that this is exactly a Kobyashi Maru type scenario however. This is not a no-win scenario and no danger to my ship or crew.)

Captain Krud

[Spaztoid]

On first glance I'm worried that although these people on these ships are supposed to be break away fanatics operating without authorization from their government that it might not be the case. Or, remember how the head of cardassian intelligence went out on a limb to attack the Dominion on his own? He told his superiors after he set sail, and they just folded their hands and sat back and let him attack the changeling home world. Well, with a little help from the romulans but anyway.

It's true that alot of the proposed courses of action are quite hasty, as Starfleet Officers, we have a duty to protect people within the bounds of Starfleet regulation. That means that simply standing by as one faction in a conflict breaks the cease fire you endager the lives of countless individuals who are about to be attacked. As a result, you as a Starfleet officermust be capable of acting decisively and doing everything within your power to stop the attack or postpone it unless it endagers the Federation. Simply hailing the ships and telling them to stop may not be enough to prevent genocide, so you must be ready to take slightly more effective measures.

[PatrickTX1960]

I think my previous analysis was overly complex. After reviewing some of the excellent dissections of the scenario, the solution is just too obvious:

They don't have subspace communications technology and the ships sent out were merely preparations for an attack made possibly years ago. (Note: at sublight speeds it would take several years to travel to even a very close star, and standard radio travels at "only" light speed too) If we have only been contacted mere hours after the peace treaty was signed, it's obvious they haven't managed to tell their ships it's over yet. So, recall the ambassadors from both sides, warp to the ship, tell them it's over, and await their response.

In the meantime, some serious investigations of the "neutral" ambassador will take place to determine his motivation for allowing both sides to wipe themselves out.

Finally, if the tidal ships don't turn back, extend the warp field around them, tractor them, and then take turns sending them someplace pleasant via warp drive. This makes the material inside them inert and they will spend the short time remaining alive fighting something like a black hole with sublight engines. Technically they won't really die in our lifetimes (event horizon) but they will be neutralized.

Captain Krud

[Siphaed]

I think my previous analysis was overly complex. After reviewing some of the excellent dissections of the scenario, the solution is just too obvious:

They don't have subspace communications technology and the ships sent out were merely preparations for an attack made possibly years ago. (Note: at sublight speeds it would take several years to travel to even a very close star, and standard radio travels at "only" light speed too) If we have only been contacted mere hours after the peace treaty was signed, it's obvious they haven't managed to tell their ships it's over yet. So, recall the ambassadors from both sides, warp to the ship, tell them it's over, and await their response.

In the meantime, some serious investigations of the "neutral" ambassador will take place to determine his motivation for allowing both sides to wipe themselves out.

Finally, if the tidal ships don't turn back, extend the warp field around them, tractor them, and then take turns sending them someplace pleasant via warp drive. This makes the material inside them inert and they will spend the short time remaining alive fighting something like a black hole with sublight engines. Technically they won't really die in our lifetimes (event horizon) but they will be neutralized.

Captain Krud

I understand the first two parts of your analysis make since, but the last part is a bit of a stretch. These ships that they have in the convoy are assumed to be mid-range as far as size considering that they're science vessels carrying large tidel equipment. I do not think that you'll be able to tractor them or or extend a warp field large enough to cover them all.

And, as far as understanding of these fanatics on the basis of their ideals: if something were to attempt to stop their mission, they'd do almost anything in their power, including crashing one of their ships into another ship, to stop that something and complete their mission for the sake of their race and religion. So, if your ship got within range of their ships, they might just ram ya (at a slow pace, of course).

What exactly is the stability of these "tidal weapons" anyways? A question of what materials and nuclear capabilities they are made of brings up what exactly the after effects of the destruction of said ships?

And, I think it's quite clear that there's no way to beam their crews off and remove them from their ships because it 5x subwarp ships with 800 crew each (this was the major clue to the ship's sizes) means that it's a total of 4,000 crew in the convoy. There's no Starfleet ship with the capacity to carry that many prisoners or have a crew large enough to police them (I could be wrong on this, but likely not).



The simple answer is that of having the ambassadors both come with you on your ship as you meet the convoy. Hailing repeatedly to get a response so that their ambassador can tell them that a treaty has been signed and that their mission has been terminated. A) If no response, then fire over their ships so as to get their attention. B) If A does not work, then attempting to disable their engines of their flag ship via phaser fire. After such time as communications are established, only then will the next step of the Convoy's crew be laid infront of us to determine what else needs to be one.

[getawaybot]

This may have been rehashed several times, but hey whatever.

First contact the two parties of the situation, and informing them that my ship will intervne. And that they are welcome to come along for the ride and be on hand for any negoitation if neccessary. Secondaly my ship will intercept the convoy at maxiam warp. I would then hail the convoy flagshipand try a diplomatic solution, if that fails I'll order my ship to fire on engines and weapon systems to disable them. Once completed, we'll beam the convoy's crew to one of the cargo holds to transport them back to their homeworld. Also once the convoy has no crew, I'll order those ships destroyed, wouldn't want anyone to pick up those tidal weapons.

[kbird200425]

Were assuming that these ships have hostile intent. Nothing suggest that these ships are heading to the planet but rather an outpost, since the weapons onboard are designed to cause tidal waves I'm confused why they would be a harm to an outpost unless it a planetary outpost. What makes the federation believe that these ships still have hostile intent? What makes them believe that it headed towards the outpost in the first place (it states seems)? It might be prudent to prepare for destroying these ships but until I have concluse evidence or even reasonable evidence to suggest some type attack I can't take an aggressive posture.

[kbird200425]

There is so much wrong here I'm not sure where to begin. Therefor I shall start at the beginning.


1. "You are asked to transport a neutral diplomat to a peace conference between two warring solar alliances; the Kresch and the J’Edan."

I don't know what a solar alliance is supposed to be. The Earth's sun, Sol, is apparently in some sort of alliance, or two alliances in this case. I think you mean two interstellar organizations formed by treaties to ally multiple independent political groupings are at war with one another.

2. "Both worlds feel that the only way to cleanse a planet of the religion brought by their foes, is causing global tidal waves; created by massive tectonic shifts in the planets’ crusts."

What if a planet has no oceans, or land, or tectonic plates? How do they get rid of the bad religion? And I think you mean the religions of both worlds put forward this is the only means of cleansing a planet, unless the planets themselves are sentient and have feelings.

3. "Each of these attacks need months of planning; as the material needed to attack a planet in such manner cannot be transported at warp speeds."

What? I'm sorry but what could this possibly be? A weapon of interstellar war so impractical it takes your delivery system a minimum of YEARS to deliver at even relativistic velocities, which not even impulse engines can achieve. So we have several hundred to even thousands of years at impulse power before an attack can arrive.

4. "Each of these “Tidal Convoys” is a fleet of five sub-warp ships; each hosting a crew of 800 who are undertaking these attacks knowing they will die."

Yes, they will all die during the generations long voyage between stars."

1. I think he might be referring to a war between two planets in the same solar system. This would explain the short distance/timeframe between each alliance.
2. There has to be either land or water unless the planets made of air.
3. Several material are very unstable to transport it might be that they don't have the needed material to construct a better containment unit.
4. If he referring to warring planets then it will not take generations at all.

[DanteMVH]

This one was hand-brewed by WishStone, as it was requested I show off my feeble skills as a non-vulcan. I'm quite tempted by the reckless approach.

Rush to each planet and pick up the leaders who are encouraging these assaults, then swap them over, putting each in a nice beach hut on the opposite planet, equipped with a communication device that can call only the other one. Cut the attacking ships in on the conference call.

I feel that while it's all too easy to order a suicide attack, participating in one is the last thing anyone high up the food chain wants.

[schellingerhout]

i would let the ship go on its course as they have planned after the war is over scan out the systems and start mining it out for the remaining resources.
they chose to fight even after all the talk and time invested in trying to find peace sometimes peace is not a option and war is the only way out .
and since the i (captain) don't want to pick side's in a conflict that would start again at the even the hind of trouble does not feel the risk of taking out the ship would bring a ever lasting peace

[micahmorris]

You are in command of an old constition class when suddenly four borg ships drop out of warp and tractor you in after disarming you. Before they baord your ship somthing happens and they jump to transwarp. Four minutes later you drop out of warp you take the chance to try to escape you fire a mine and break away. You escape and see an entire system made of four planets all bog 1400 new borg ships all armed and ready. But they are not going for you. Your sensors come back online and you read an anomaly and 700 terran vessels. They are in a major battle and they are at a stalemate. You have to get out of here the vessel that captured you was destroyed and your warp engines are still down. What do you do brave the battle, escape (some how) or somthig different.

[maika14]

I'd...reprogram the simulator?

I don't understand how there can be solutions. Maybe I don't get the point of the forum kobayashi, but the point of the show kobayashi maru was failure. You're supposed to lose. You always lose. there is no solution. If you have a solution, something will go wrong. Something unexpected, and disastrous. You will, and should, die.

Maybe this should be about...I don't know...finding ways to kill the people who post solutions, them and their little crews too.

[Siphaed]

I'd...reprogram the simulator?

I don't understand how there can be solutions. Maybe I don't get the point of the forum kobayashi, but the point of the show kobayashi maru was failure. You're supposed to lose. You always lose. there is no solution. If you have a solution, something will go wrong. Something unexpected, and disastrous. You will, and should, die.

Maybe this should be about...I don't know...finding ways to kill the people who post solutions, them and their little crews too.

The point is to think like a captain. Trying to figure out the best possible solution to a very complex problem. It's also a psychological analysis of you and whether you'll make the most appropriate decision that brings the best interests of the Federation (or Klingon Empire).


Some have said to turn in the neutral ambassador who had told you to destroy the convoy ships, thus murdering 5,000 of another race for what's considered to "keep the peace". Doing what he says keeps the peace between warring planets; not doing so is disobaying a direct order (he is a superior, right?).

What about the ambassador that represents those ships? Does he know about this and was the peace treaty signing a trap to lure the other planet into a false security? Is he a useable tool that can be bartered to stop the convoy by holding him hostage? Maybe a direct talking between him and the ships would do?

There are so many ways to approach this situation, but it's the breakdown of the response to this situation and how they reflect upon the person who's in it that is the main reason for the Kobayashi Maru.

[Minister_Corey]

heres Mine.

You are the Leader of a fleet of 3 Soverigns, 6 intrepids, 20 norways, and 60 Nebula Class star ships. you have been Assigned to invastigate the disapearance of a Klingon ship, then a romulan ship. As you get to their last known cordenets, your entire fleet dissapears and your ship, a nebula Class, is all alone, and 2 Dominion Battlecruisers are behind you. you cant hail Starfleet, and Your ship is too weak to fight them off alone. what do you do?
1. Fight, even though you have no chance of winning
2. Flee, even though they will distroy you
3. Surrender even though they are gonna distroy you anyway
4. other?