Potentially Useful Meta III: It's only a Klingon prison if you have to eat Heart of Targ.
So I still haven't finished my post on Spock. I'm sorry for the lamitude; all kinds of nonsense has been happening at Casa Templemarker and I just haven't managed to get it done. There's all this meta stuff I have to get through, and sorting that out reminds me of this Bioethics paper I wrote last year, in the less-than-fun sort of way.
But whatever! I was talking with my beloved E about Star Trek at lunch today, as you do, and we ended up getting into the very important discussion of UFP Economics. So like, there has to be an economy, right? But Gene Roddenberry, bless him, said stridently that there was no money in his future. (This was Paramount Canon, which meant it was TNG and beyond Canon. Picard explicitly says that there's no money in the future in "First Contact." This is an enormous pain in the ass.)
In the true nature of ST canon, though, it contradicts itself like a Klingon having Romulan Ale, neat. For example, there's a credit system in place in TOS, TNG, and DS9 (the show; the station itself had *some* kind of economy, but because of the Bajoran and Cardassian influence, that doesn't necessarily speak to the UFP's manner of currency), and gold-pressed latinum is clearly of currency value, likely because a) of its scarcity and b) you can't replicate it.
But the theory is, if you can provide food, shelter, healthcare, and education to all of your member worlds, colonies, fleet of starships, etc., then what do you need money for? And whether Roddenberry intended it or not (I'll err on the side of not) he did set up a level of economy in Star Trek: the acquisition of Dilithium. (Speaking of GPL, and in support of this notion, Quark asked if dilithium was the method of currency in the DS9 time-travel episode "Little Green Men," suggesting that it's commonly accepted as having monetary/barter value for entities outside of the UFP. But I'm getting ahead of myself.)
Dilithium, if you haven't gleaned this already from Scotty telling you that he can't make the Dilithium give any more than she's got, Captain!, is the thing that makes warp travel possible. One of the reasons the Constitution-class starship was so exciting (in the original timeline and presumably AOS) is because it was among the first class of Starfleet ships to utilize dilithium instead of lithium. It's what made deep space exploration possible--it could handle greater warp speeds more efficiently over a longer period of time, cutting down not only on travel time but also drydock/starbase repairs.
Sidebar: the Kelvin was not a deep-space vessel, incidentally; the Kelvin was doing something near the Neutral Zone shared by the UFP, Romulan Star Empire, and Klingon Imperial Empire, and must have been in or near Federation space because a) they were using lithium crystals at the time [presumably what the NX-01 was using to break Warp 5] and couldn't stray too far without the risk of being stranded due to the instability of lithium over long distances; and b) they were still in communication with Starfleet, which in 2233 could only have been done within Federation space.
Anyway, dilithium (Periodic table: Dt) is important, but it's also fragile. Until Scotty theorized that the application of gamma radiation could potentially recrystalize the medium in which dilithium is most commonly found, you had to chuck the Dt once it became unusable. He successfully did it once in 2286 (The Voyage Home, or, Space Whales); a method of recrystalization was in general use by 2369. Still, Dt is more valuable from natural production than the application of recrystalization, and it only occurs naturally in some places. To wit:
1. Praxis, in the Klingon Imperial Empire
2. Remus, in the Romulan Star Empire
3. Federation member worlds/trade worlds, of which there are not a whole lot
Part of the interesting conceit and growth of the Federation is that dilithium crystals are only valuable if you are capable of building, powering, and staffing starships. There doesn't seem to be much use for it otherwise; Dt-native worlds have made necklaces out of it or leave it lying around as art, so its lack of value to the natives speaks to the manner in which a society that found it valuable would attempt to acquire it. One of the recurring themes in TOS and its novels is diplomatic efforts to gain access to Dt mining, in exchange for member world status or other goods/services. This is not always done cleanly. Not everyone wants to be a Federation member world; not every world will be suitable for Federation membership. But one assumes that really strict regulation of Federation membership didn't occur until the 23rd century; at that point, the Klingon empire had fallen, and immediate demand for dilithium likely went down in response, making Dt-native worlds less of a priority for acquisition.
The point is, even if the Federation stayed a happy little confederation of five worlds back in the 22nd century, they still would have needed to outsource their dilthium to afford themselves any kind of protection with the Big Bads so close. (Vulcan clearly had some Dt mining on T'Khut, but their values and choice not to become an imperialist culture was likely factored by how many starships they could have built with their natural resources.) To acquire the necessary Dt (or lithium, in the early days) they had to have some kind of economic system that would allow the procurement of the Dt even if the UFP itself didn't have an interior currency system. Not only that, it's clear that the Ferengi and Orionates didn't just hang out and not sell stuff to UFP entities. The UFP never declared an embargo on those trader cultures, even if it discouraged trade with unsavory third parties. So trade must have occurred somehow, and if it was barter-based, there had to be something of value involved.
All that being said, one of the considerations you might make in your thoughts about AOS canon is this: in the Prime universe, part of the reason the NCC-1701 was sent out on deep-space exploration was to find new worlds that contained dilithium, worlds that were outside the influence of the other two (and eventually three, in Cardassia) empires in the same area of the galaxy. If Starfleet, acting as a diplomatic force on behalf of the UFP, encountered and was able to convince an independent world to part with its Dt and/or join the Federation, the UFP's power and influence grew. That meant it could power more starships, have a bigger ready Fleet, and be able to meet the challenge that the imperials would inevitably eventually pose.
Further to that: in the original timeline it took the destruction of the Klingon empire's central power resource, Praxis, for the UFP and the KIE to come to a peaceful accord. With Nero being Romulan, screwing around in Klingon space and eventually being imprisoned on a Klingon penal colony [....Rura Penthe?] for 25 Standard years, you can be your grandma's diamonds that some blood got to boiling between the KIE and Romulan Star Empire. Even given the relative integrity of the Neutral Zone, I would project that the KIE and RSE would likely skirmish if not go into outright war after the destruction of all those KIE warbirds. It would probably keep both imperials out of the UFP's hair for awhile--but only awhile. Eventually the winner is going to turn to the UFP with greedy eyes, and assuming no one (Spock Prime) mentions to the KIE that their moon is going to blow up or to the RSE that their star is going to supernova, you're still looking at 2293 before one of those two imperials is taken by natural causes. That's 35 years when the Neutral Zone ain't gonna be that neutral.
I won't even mention the correlation between the UFP's lack of fight readiness due to the RSE becoming fiercely insular and the KIE's power base being destroyed and how that made them incredibly vulnerable to the Borg. But, you know, it's there.
To break out an old phrase, money is power, and in Star Trek, dilithium crystals are money. So keep in mind that whatever Kirk and his crew do in AOS, the need to grow in power and in numbers will be a huge priority for the UFP. They have to replace the thousands of cadets who perished at the Battle of Vulcan to maintain their fleet, they have to compensate for the loss of Vulcan's millenia-long influence on the Quadrant and the Federation, they need more dilithium crystals to power the new fleet of ships that will have to be rebuilt, and they have to contend with a newly riled imperial presence from the effects of Nero's incursion into the timeline. The joyous optimism and wonder of TOS doesn't quite fit in this new version of the universe; everything's gotten a bit scrappier.
I spent a bit of time nosing around the Starfleet shipyards today. There's not a whole lot there, but it's really f'n pretty. I can't wait until I can have an LCARS of my very own.
But whatever! I was talking with my beloved E about Star Trek at lunch today, as you do, and we ended up getting into the very important discussion of UFP Economics. So like, there has to be an economy, right? But Gene Roddenberry, bless him, said stridently that there was no money in his future. (This was Paramount Canon, which meant it was TNG and beyond Canon. Picard explicitly says that there's no money in the future in "First Contact." This is an enormous pain in the ass.)
In the true nature of ST canon, though, it contradicts itself like a Klingon having Romulan Ale, neat. For example, there's a credit system in place in TOS, TNG, and DS9 (the show; the station itself had *some* kind of economy, but because of the Bajoran and Cardassian influence, that doesn't necessarily speak to the UFP's manner of currency), and gold-pressed latinum is clearly of currency value, likely because a) of its scarcity and b) you can't replicate it.
But the theory is, if you can provide food, shelter, healthcare, and education to all of your member worlds, colonies, fleet of starships, etc., then what do you need money for? And whether Roddenberry intended it or not (I'll err on the side of not) he did set up a level of economy in Star Trek: the acquisition of Dilithium. (Speaking of GPL, and in support of this notion, Quark asked if dilithium was the method of currency in the DS9 time-travel episode "Little Green Men," suggesting that it's commonly accepted as having monetary/barter value for entities outside of the UFP. But I'm getting ahead of myself.)
Dilithium, if you haven't gleaned this already from Scotty telling you that he can't make the Dilithium give any more than she's got, Captain!, is the thing that makes warp travel possible. One of the reasons the Constitution-class starship was so exciting (in the original timeline and presumably AOS) is because it was among the first class of Starfleet ships to utilize dilithium instead of lithium. It's what made deep space exploration possible--it could handle greater warp speeds more efficiently over a longer period of time, cutting down not only on travel time but also drydock/starbase repairs.
Sidebar: the Kelvin was not a deep-space vessel, incidentally; the Kelvin was doing something near the Neutral Zone shared by the UFP, Romulan Star Empire, and Klingon Imperial Empire, and must have been in or near Federation space because a) they were using lithium crystals at the time [presumably what the NX-01 was using to break Warp 5] and couldn't stray too far without the risk of being stranded due to the instability of lithium over long distances; and b) they were still in communication with Starfleet, which in 2233 could only have been done within Federation space.
Anyway, dilithium (Periodic table: Dt) is important, but it's also fragile. Until Scotty theorized that the application of gamma radiation could potentially recrystalize the medium in which dilithium is most commonly found, you had to chuck the Dt once it became unusable. He successfully did it once in 2286 (The Voyage Home, or, Space Whales); a method of recrystalization was in general use by 2369. Still, Dt is more valuable from natural production than the application of recrystalization, and it only occurs naturally in some places. To wit:
1. Praxis, in the Klingon Imperial Empire
2. Remus, in the Romulan Star Empire
3. Federation member worlds/trade worlds, of which there are not a whole lot
Part of the interesting conceit and growth of the Federation is that dilithium crystals are only valuable if you are capable of building, powering, and staffing starships. There doesn't seem to be much use for it otherwise; Dt-native worlds have made necklaces out of it or leave it lying around as art, so its lack of value to the natives speaks to the manner in which a society that found it valuable would attempt to acquire it. One of the recurring themes in TOS and its novels is diplomatic efforts to gain access to Dt mining, in exchange for member world status or other goods/services. This is not always done cleanly. Not everyone wants to be a Federation member world; not every world will be suitable for Federation membership. But one assumes that really strict regulation of Federation membership didn't occur until the 23rd century; at that point, the Klingon empire had fallen, and immediate demand for dilithium likely went down in response, making Dt-native worlds less of a priority for acquisition.
The point is, even if the Federation stayed a happy little confederation of five worlds back in the 22nd century, they still would have needed to outsource their dilthium to afford themselves any kind of protection with the Big Bads so close. (Vulcan clearly had some Dt mining on T'Khut, but their values and choice not to become an imperialist culture was likely factored by how many starships they could have built with their natural resources.) To acquire the necessary Dt (or lithium, in the early days) they had to have some kind of economic system that would allow the procurement of the Dt even if the UFP itself didn't have an interior currency system. Not only that, it's clear that the Ferengi and Orionates didn't just hang out and not sell stuff to UFP entities. The UFP never declared an embargo on those trader cultures, even if it discouraged trade with unsavory third parties. So trade must have occurred somehow, and if it was barter-based, there had to be something of value involved.
All that being said, one of the considerations you might make in your thoughts about AOS canon is this: in the Prime universe, part of the reason the NCC-1701 was sent out on deep-space exploration was to find new worlds that contained dilithium, worlds that were outside the influence of the other two (and eventually three, in Cardassia) empires in the same area of the galaxy. If Starfleet, acting as a diplomatic force on behalf of the UFP, encountered and was able to convince an independent world to part with its Dt and/or join the Federation, the UFP's power and influence grew. That meant it could power more starships, have a bigger ready Fleet, and be able to meet the challenge that the imperials would inevitably eventually pose.
Further to that: in the original timeline it took the destruction of the Klingon empire's central power resource, Praxis, for the UFP and the KIE to come to a peaceful accord. With Nero being Romulan, screwing around in Klingon space and eventually being imprisoned on a Klingon penal colony [....Rura Penthe?] for 25 Standard years, you can be your grandma's diamonds that some blood got to boiling between the KIE and Romulan Star Empire. Even given the relative integrity of the Neutral Zone, I would project that the KIE and RSE would likely skirmish if not go into outright war after the destruction of all those KIE warbirds. It would probably keep both imperials out of the UFP's hair for awhile--but only awhile. Eventually the winner is going to turn to the UFP with greedy eyes, and assuming no one (Spock Prime) mentions to the KIE that their moon is going to blow up or to the RSE that their star is going to supernova, you're still looking at 2293 before one of those two imperials is taken by natural causes. That's 35 years when the Neutral Zone ain't gonna be that neutral.
I won't even mention the correlation between the UFP's lack of fight readiness due to the RSE becoming fiercely insular and the KIE's power base being destroyed and how that made them incredibly vulnerable to the Borg. But, you know, it's there.
To break out an old phrase, money is power, and in Star Trek, dilithium crystals are money. So keep in mind that whatever Kirk and his crew do in AOS, the need to grow in power and in numbers will be a huge priority for the UFP. They have to replace the thousands of cadets who perished at the Battle of Vulcan to maintain their fleet, they have to compensate for the loss of Vulcan's millenia-long influence on the Quadrant and the Federation, they need more dilithium crystals to power the new fleet of ships that will have to be rebuilt, and they have to contend with a newly riled imperial presence from the effects of Nero's incursion into the timeline. The joyous optimism and wonder of TOS doesn't quite fit in this new version of the universe; everything's gotten a bit scrappier.
I spent a bit of time nosing around the Starfleet shipyards today. There's not a whole lot there, but it's really f'n pretty. I can't wait until I can have an LCARS of my very own.