The Federation and Trump

I’ve been thinking a lot about something I read a long time ago* about what a certain type of person would do in a world where, to paraphrase Picard, the acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in people’s lives. Ross Perot was the example used but the same idea applies to Donald Trump.

The economy of the United Federation of Planets is nebulously described in canon. Places like the Picard family vineyard and the Sisko restaurant produce goods and services though it’s not perfectly clear how (or if) they are compensated for their work. But it doesn’t seem like a Federation citizen can build and run a massive corporation or that there’s anything like an ultra-wealthy 1% of the population.

So where does someone like Ross Perot or Donald Trump direct their energies if not into building a business?

Yes, I know the glib answer is that Trump is Ferengi or one of the other aliens in the Star Trek universe. (There are also “Perot is Ferengi” jokes out there.) Get the cheap jokes out of your system then we can continue.

As you might guess from the choice of examples one field to go into is politics, something both Perot and Trump turned to. I don’t think Trump could get on the Federation Council (that would be as far fetched as becoming, say, President of the United States) but I can see him working up to be a planetary governor or the equivalent. Hopefully he wouldn’t end up killing half a world’s population** at some point.

Another idea that’s bounced around my head is someone like Trump enlisting in Starfleet. A starship captain is the ruler of their kingdom due to the nature of the job and that would be appealing for someone with an outsized ego. While Starfleet presumably screens for just that sort of narcissistic personality, the number of senior Starfleet officers who have turned out to be shady if not outright villainous suggests there are flaws in the process.

An Ensign Trump wouldn’t fare well on a ship like the Enterprise under Kirk or Picard. But not every assignment means working with Starfleet’s best and brightest. How far would someone like Trump rise in Starfleet? Keep in mind that this is someone who would screw over all his shipmates to get ahead, even if it put the ship at risk while doing so. Would Captain Trump end up starting a war because he’s not as diplomatic as Picard, Kirk or Janeway? (Does anyone doubt the answer is yes?) But his stream-of-consciousness log entries would be fascinating.

Anyway, this is something that’s been percolating through my mind. Thanks for reading.

*I can’t remember where I read that thought but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else around here has read the same piece. If it rings a bell and you can find it, please let me know.

**If you read through the linked entry you’ll find out that, yes, the Simpsons character is named after Kodos the Executioner and Kang named after a memorable Klingon from the Original Series (and DS9).

Liberation

Personal Log, Stardate 89030.10

Today is the last day of my ninety day Reintegration Program at Starfleet Medical. This is the longest I’ve spent on Earth in one stretch since my Academy days. I’m not sure it’s enough time to make the choice Starfleet requires from me.

Striking a Bargain

All three of the figures in front of me were openly carrying pistols and concealing faces under helmets. I was hopelessly outgunned so my sidearm stayed in its holster but I kept my helmet on. The Emperor had been a far-off figure few actually saw. Anyone dealing with the Empire saw a helmeted trooper at some point so for most people the helmet in its many forms was the face of the Empire.

Last Flight of the Samson

Edward Baxter had been in second grade when the first men walked on the moon. He could still remember watching blurry black and white TV images of Grissom and Chaffee on that Thanksgiving Day in 1968. Baxter knew then and there that he wanted to be an astronaut.

Exit Exam

Killian woke up naked next to the entrance hatch of the maze. He knew the hatch would be sealed but tried to open it anyway. You never know until you try, he thought. Maybe one time it will be unlocked.
The walls, floor and ceiling of the corridor that marked the beginning of the maze were covered with the same silver metallic material that lined his cell. Harsh white light glared from slits along the ceiling.
The layout of the maze was different every time he was sent there. This time the corridor went straight for about sixty yards then turned left. He rounded the corner and collided with the alien coming from another branch of corridor.

3 AM Demons

Nick usually didn't have any trouble falling asleep.  He went to bed every night at eleven, even on the weekends, and was usually fast asleep within minutes.  The trouble started when he woke up in middle of the night and tried to get back to sleep.  After a quick trip to the bathroom he would lie down on his bed and the demons would visit.  He had several demons and they took turns tormenting him.

150 Seconds

This would be my 14^th death.  I studied the drone imagery of the target site one last time before Becker took the tablet from me. 

“We have to do it now,” he said to the rest of the people in the room.  In his dark suit Becker looked out of place among the medical staff in their pale blue scrubs as they strapped me down to the table.  He looked nervous as he spoke into his encrypted phone.  If something went wrong his career was through.  I would be dead too but that wasn't his main concern. 

A heavyset nurse swabbed my arm.  Her expression stayed neutral as she injected me with the drug mixture that would stop my heart.   She was the only one who had ever done the injections and I couldn't help wondering how she ended up with the task. 

I concentrated the target site in the seconds before I lost consciousness.

When I could see again I was looking down at my body on the table.  It was still weird to be outside of it like this.  But I didn’t have time to dawdle.  The medical staff was already getting the defibrillator and other items ready to bring resuscitate my body two and a half minutes after my heart had stopped.  I visualized the target site and then I was there. 

It was an enclosed compound on the outskirts of a city.  Tarpaulins covered the courtyard and blocked observation from outside.  I zoomed down to street level and passed through the compound’s outer walls.  Guards openly carrying automatic weapons walked around the covered courtyard and among the half dozen expensive vehicles parked there.  The guards couldn’t see me of course.  I checked license plate numbers.  So far everything looked good but I needed to see more.  I guessed I had about a minute left.

I drifted past a guard at the entrance to the main building.  He jerked and quickly looked around.  Some people can sense my presence when I’m out of body.  I’ve mentioned it in my mission reports and the eggheads of the Delphi Project are stymied trying to explain the phenomenon. 

All the targets gathered in a large room on the ground floor.  Time is running out and I quickly went through the rest of the building.  I had just finished going through the living areas upstairs when everything went black.

The shock of resuscitation was the worst part.  I was completely disoriented at first.  Becker’s voice cut through my mental fog.  He pushed aside one of the doctors and leaned in close to me.

“Are we good to go?” he asked again.

My mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton but I managed to croak out two words.  “Targets confirmed.”

Becker stepped away from the table and spoke into his encrypted phone.  “Missile strike has a green light.  Do it now.”

150 Seconds was inspired by this post on io9.

The Land In Between

It was the fifth year of the Great War.  There had been rumors the Americans would enter the war a couple of years ago but they stubbornly maintained their neutrality instead.  The spring and summer offensives of 1918 left us and the Germans in about the same positions we had started the year.

2014 Mid-year Reading Overanalysis

The year is half over so I've crunched the numbers and analyzed my reading so far for 2014.  As you can see in the chart above, I've read mostly fantasy so far.  Warning: math ahead.

From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series - Not quite like the movie

I missed the first episode of From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series when it aired but caught the second one.  Since I have seen the movie and there was a lot of exposition I quickly caught up to what was going on.  Spoilers for the movie and show ahead.

Some Pacific Rim fanfic

Sasha didn’t even like Pavel Verinsky very much at first.  She was a pilot in the Russian Air Force, following the tradition of her great-grandmother who had been one of the famed Night Witches of the Great Patriotic War.  He was an engineer in the Russian Army.  But they had tested as compatible and selected as the pilots of Russia’s first prototype Jaeger. 

Contingency Plan 327

            “The meteor is approximately twelve kilometers in length,’ said Krensky, the colony’s chief scientist.  “We have twenty-nine days until impact.”

Death is Served - Part 2

     Katya and the other servers gave statements to the uniformed policeman then again to the homicide detectives who showed up a few minutes later.  She noticed Thorne took aside the detective in charge, Lieutenant Drumm.  The two men spoke in whispered tones and shot glances at Katya.  The women were then taken to a police station for further questioning. 

Death is Served - Part 1

It's been a while since I've written and even longer since I've written about the Hidden Ones.  To refresh you memory on who Katya is read this first.  You can also read this but you don't need to read it first. 

     It was very inconvenient that a man Katya wanted to kill was murdered.  Inconvenient because she wouldn’t have a chance to interrogate him or search his place for information about his Hunter friends.  And inconvenient because she ended up being a suspect in his murder.

Cleansing Fire

     It had taken Holden a while to find the creature’s lair.  The underground section of the city had been forgotten by most people.  Holden only knew about it because he remembered his grandfather talking about it when he was a kid.  The underground section wasn’t on the current city plans he had initially checked online.  It had taken most of a day looking through microfiche archives in the basement of city hall to find it.  The section was adjacent to the subway system but could only be accessed through the storm drain system.