Directive squared

[Valdivia]

You are the captain of a Starfleet in unexplored territory. Your crew discover a civilization, approximately equivalent to middle ages Earth, but with surprisingly advanced mining equipment. Since they are not warp capable, the Prime Directive prevents you from interacting with them, but you wait in orbit to study their culture.

In a few weeks of study, you realize they have a really active polytheistic religion, and their gods seem to take a very present role. You also see how they offer sacrifices to their gods in the form of a very particular mineral uncommon in this sector. Soon enough, your suspicions are confirmed as an alien ship comes to take the mineral and interact with the species. The new species are technologically advanced, but definitely not gods.

Now, you know the Prime Directive prevents you from interacting with them, but the alien species are not subject to such a code. Leaving them be would be leaving an innocent species live in slavery, but stopping the whole exchange would be paramount of playing gods yourselves.

Starfleet Captains have found themselves in similar situations in the past. Now tell us, what would you do?

This is a new edition of our category Morals of Trek, where you are in the shoes of a Starfleet Captain facing a dilemma any of our favourite characters could have faced in Star Trek. If your crew has faced any such dilemmas and you want to see it featured in a Poll of the Week, let us know!

 

[Randal Shayne]

Not a fun decision, no matter what you choose. I particularly liked the "stop the gods quietly", but a sudden absence of gods could instigate holy wars, chaos, and death on a horrific scale. I'd try to negotiate with the "gods" before trying anything else. Have them explain why they are leaving, and then take off, never to return. A minor difference from the third option, but I feel an important first step.

[Selene Faranfey]

The Apollo actually encountered such an experience. The false gods were about as technically advanced as Starfleet, but the world was primitive. The mission was called Gate to the Gods. We accidentally made contact with them, and they thought we were their gods. We tried to limit contact, but we had to protect them from the wrath of the fake gods and the village holy man.

It was a pretty fun mission.

[Brayden Jorey]

Kinda makes you wonder if our own pre-history gods were created from our imagination or a product of having some kind of knowledge of a post-warp society watching us..... I wonder who stopped them?

[+ Krindo Pandorn]

I would  try to cast the alien race as 'false gods' covertly to discredit them to end the exploitation. It may make the society return to faith in their ancient writings which is what religion is based on. It is a variant of the third choice, since it would require a little bit of research in their religion and interference on our part.

[Robert Falcon]

I, too, went with option three.  I feel it's the best combination of dealing with the problem while hopefully not making it worse.

Though I would be quite tempted to suggest a fourth option....  Call in SG-1.  ::Smiles.::  They've been doing this for over a decade!  Dealing with false gods is what they do!  (Okay, this one is not a very serious answer, but it's what I thought the moment I saw this question.  ::Smiles.:: )

[alliepan]

Maybe we should have a dialogue with the aliens first- we don't actually know their motivations.  And the term slavery is used to describe the life of the planets resident- I'm not sure we have enough enough evidence to call it that without fully investigating their quality of life.  Maybe we end it, maybe we don't.  Just going in though without knowing the full effect our impact will have on the planet and the two species could be disastrous as a whole. 

Unless the aliens are Ferengi, then burn them nuclear fire.

[+ Arturo Maxwell]

After mulling it over, I'd have to stick with the Prime Directive's non-interference.

 

Depending upon the situation, such as the lower-tech species being manipulated in a way that  is harmful to them, I might intervene quietly.....