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Donald Varley: Competent Captain or reckless moron?
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: [QB] [QUOTE]Originally posted by Malnurtured Snay: [QB] [QUOTE] [QUOTE]Starfleet had zero contact with the Romulans for decades and no idea what (if any!) knowledge they had of the Iconians.[/QUOTE]How do YOU know that? Do you have access to off-screen Starfleet Intelligence files? Somehow, I doubt it. .[/QUOTE]I say that because Picard and riker said they knew nothing about the Romulan's or their abilities ("The Neutral Zone") just a few weeks (or months) earlier. Nobody ever said they knew anything about the Romulans looking for Iconia or keeping tabs on Varley's investigations. Iconia was there for centuries without the Romulans stumbeling onto it so what was Varley's rush? He understood there was a POTENTIAL threat but had NO evidence that there was anything there at all. [QUOTE] Varley's logic: a. I found an artifact of Iconian origin. b. If an artifact is here, then it's possible that there are artifacts scattered throughout the Alpha Quadrant. This is worth following up. c. I have followed up. Iconia is in the Neutral Zone. Link with B -> the Romulans have the same ability to locate Iconia as I do. d. Iconian technology must be kept out of Romulan hands at all costs. [/QUOTE]Agreed on all counts but there was no rush to violate treaty or any excuse not to notify command: you're assuming the Romulans were close to discovering Iconia but if they had'nt done so after a century of the Zone being there, I doubt they'd just get lucky. Varley tipped his hand to them that something of intrest was there by violating the zone. [QUOTE]Let me ask you something. If you were commander of a Federation starship and learned that Iconia was within reach of a hostile, aggressive power with an eye on Federation territory, could you say to yourself "Well, there might not be anything on that planet, so I'm going to keep going on my survey mission." [/QUOTE]Well for starters I'd have filed a report (scrambled to prevent eavesdropping, of course) to starfleet command. That would have taken what, ten minutes? I think he knew starfleet would not risk a war on such circumstantial evidence and so he went in with no backup. Picard would not have made that mistake. [QUOTE]He got (historically) lucky that there was anything left there at all: I would say he got lucky that his mission was accomplished: Iconia was removed as a threat.[/QUOTE]BY alerting the Romulans to the Iconian tech at all he may have ultimately given it to the Romulans- they'll be looking for it now, after all. [QUOTE]Who would have said Varley's flimsy "evidence" was reason to risk billions of lives in a war with the Romulans?[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]Considering that Varley's evidence was DEAD ON, I wouldn't call it flimsy. And in case you've consistently missed the point, a war fought without the benefit of Iconian technology on the side of the Romulans would be preferable to the Romulans finding Iconia. [/QUOTE]His evidence was NOT "dead on": he had nothing but a hunch that turned out to be right on this one occasion: no diffrent than Ben Maxwell's hunch the Cardassians were building up weapons again. While correct, Starfleet does not take such provicative actions without clearance from Command. [QUOTE]Even if he'd managed to evac his crew and somehow survive his ship's destruction he'd probably have been courtmartialed and lost his command.[/QUOTE]And SAVED THE FEDERATION in the process! If all it cost him was his career, he really would've beaten fate.[/QUOTE]Saved the Federation? How? He didint destroy the Iconian Tech: Jean Luc did that and could have done that without the Yamato's loss if only Varley had contacted him before his ship was crippled. [QUOTE]Again, Varley had the leisure of time on his side to contact Starfleet (or a LEAST his pal Jean Juc!) for advice and backup prior to risking a war. You don't know this.[/QUOTE]Basic logic says otherwise. Iconia was not in danger of discovery by the Romulans, based on onscreen dialogue, until they reacted to Yamato's entering the zone and obviously looking for something. [QUOTE]It would have become an unprovoked war by the federation and cost any rep the Federation had with it's neighbors. How do you figure? One ship entering the Neutral Zone is an act of war? What does that make crossing completely through the Zone and into the other's territory? A declaration of war? Let's see - that means the Romulans declared war in "The Neutral Zone", "The Defector" and "The Enemy." [/QUOTE]The diffrence is that the Romulans ALWAYS provoked a response to see what (if anything) their opponent will do. (according to Data in "Data's Day") whereas the Federation always forgives minor incursions into their territory with no reprecussions. Even with the Dominion flooding into the Alpha quadrant, the Federation did nothing for weeks. ;) [/QB][/QUOTE]
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