When you think about being one of the crew’s family members, sitting in your cabin through all the battles and crazy stuff the ship went through, just waiting while the ship is being pummeled and you have absolutely no idea what’s going on, it’s pretty terrifying. You really have to wonder if Starfleet was making the best decisions for everyone involved.
Yeah. I get it when the Galaxy class was designed, and at the start of the Enterprise-D’s mission, after all, the Federation had been enjoying an unprecedented era of peace. Aside from the occasional border skirmish, like the Federation-Cardassian Union war (which ships like the Enterprise wouldn’t have been deployed to anyway), there was very little to fear.
After things start kicking off with the Romulans, Ferengi, Borg, and Federation-Klingon relations becoming complicated, it’s surprising they continued to allow it. Picard himself said he had begun to seriously consider whether that was a sound decision. Which to me screamed of classic British understatement for “what the fuck are Starfleet doing continuing to allow this?!”
That said, later ship designs seem to move away from housing civilians, so it seems they got the message. It’s just surprising that after a year or two into the D’s service, with all of these threats, they didn’t order civilians to move off the ship.
The notion of exploration has to come with the understanding that crazy shits gonna go down. That being said, the flagship of Starfleet housing over 1000 and includes family amenities is a shockingly short sighted decision. A few centuries into formation and you’ve barely made a tentative truce with 1 aggressive group, have an old standoff carried over by your first contact buddy, and most recently introduced (forcibly) to a formidable menace. Make sure the nursery is fully staffed.
When you think about being one of the crew’s family members, sitting in your cabin through all the battles and crazy stuff the ship went through, just waiting while the ship is being pummeled and you have absolutely no idea what’s going on, it’s pretty terrifying. You really have to wonder if Starfleet was making the best decisions for everyone involved.
Yeah. I get it when the Galaxy class was designed, and at the start of the Enterprise-D’s mission, after all, the Federation had been enjoying an unprecedented era of peace. Aside from the occasional border skirmish, like the Federation-Cardassian Union war (which ships like the Enterprise wouldn’t have been deployed to anyway), there was very little to fear.
After things start kicking off with the Romulans, Ferengi, Borg, and Federation-Klingon relations becoming complicated, it’s surprising they continued to allow it. Picard himself said he had begun to seriously consider whether that was a sound decision. Which to me screamed of classic British understatement for “what the fuck are Starfleet doing continuing to allow this?!”
That said, later ship designs seem to move away from housing civilians, so it seems they got the message. It’s just surprising that after a year or two into the D’s service, with all of these threats, they didn’t order civilians to move off the ship.
The notion of exploration has to come with the understanding that crazy shits gonna go down. That being said, the flagship of Starfleet housing over 1000 and includes family amenities is a shockingly short sighted decision. A few centuries into formation and you’ve barely made a tentative truce with 1 aggressive group, have an old standoff carried over by your first contact buddy, and most recently introduced (forcibly) to a formidable menace. Make sure the nursery is fully staffed.