Dammit man, I'm a space ranger, not a child's plaything
CIVILIAN LIFE:
Q1. Name: Reinik
Q2. How did you find out about Elite of the Fleet? I kept seeing it while browsing Star Trek communities and decided to check it out.
Q3. When did you first become interested in Star Trek? I grew up watching it with my dad, who's a fan and has every season and every movie, plus we used to catch it on TV all the time. We went to see Reboot on opening night and I instantly fell in love with the movie. Funnily enough though, I was never obsessed until a few months ago when I started watching/rewatching TOS and TNG episodes and I couldn't help but get sucked in!
Q4. Why have you decided to join Elite of the Fleet? It looks fun, I've never participated in this fandom or a challenge community before, and I don't have any friends who like Star Trek. Also I totally want to join Starfleet.
Q5. Who is your favourite Star Trek character? I love Spock! I love Bones! Actually I love pretty much everyone, but the character I love the most has got to be... Data. What's not to love about a super intelligent, completely rational android who's always trying to grasp human behavior and does the weirdest, dorkiest, most hilarious things with a straight face? And there's something endearing about his childlike curiosity, and the way he always strives to better himself. He's different. Unique. He doesn't quite fit in, but he knows being different doesn't make him any less of a person, and if anything that makes him a more admirable character. I love seeing how he views humanity, and he's got a lot of great lines because he points out a lot of things that most people would never mention, be it funny or thought-provoking or both at the same time. Many of my favorite TNG episodes are Data episodes because they, along with the Picard episodes really, bring up the most interesting issues [The Measure of a Man, anyone?]. On top of that, he's an artist. And built an incredibly adorable daughter. And enjoys holodeck adventures. And is fully functional and anatomically correct. Alright, I'll stop gushing now.
Q6. And the least? I can't think of any single character that I really hate or dislike, only that the behavior of random characters who show up for just one episode to be convenient occasionally bother me, and I can say the same about how most of the women in TOS were written. To answer this question though, I'll say McGivers from Space Seed. I can understand if she's attracted to Khan, but I can't understand her betraying the ship for him. It's annoying to see her being so infatuated that she'd do anything he says, and even though she later saved Kirk it was still her fault for agreeing to help Khan in the first place. I don't get how she didn't see this whole mess coming when she decided to help him, or even if she did, why she still went along with it. But anyway, I don't really have an overall least favorite character.
Q7. Which television (or film) series is your favourite? While The Next Generation will always have a place in my heart for being the first series I ever loved as a child, my current favorite is The Original Series. I think the characters and their relationships with one another are interesting, and the whole thing is just so fun to watch, despite, or maybe even because of, its being so old. The effects and costumes are cheesy, yet I love those, the stories, the adventure, and seeing how they first handled doing Star Trek over forty years ago. I love this classic philosophical sci-fi. I do admit I never got around to watching a lot of Enterprise though, and I sadly don't remember much of Deep Space Nine.
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STARFLEET LIFE:
Q8. What do you hope to gain from your service in Starfleet? stop lurking, having fun, seeing which track I belong in, getting involved, discussing and learning more about Star Trek, satisfying my need to geek out with awesome people, maybe even get my creative juices flowing and draw some fanart, I can keep on going... unless we're talking about 23rd century Starfleet? Then I'm in it for the exploration. That would be something meaningful to do with my life.
Q9. Is there any occupation in Starfleet you feel you would be particularly unsuited for? Security and Counseling. Security because I'm small/not particularly strong, I don't think I'm the type of person who can handle having to fight and protect all the time, and I have neither the experience nor interest in this field. Counseling because I'm not exactly the best at empathizing or connecting with people on a personal level, which means I'd be a terrible listener and give terrible advice. I'm not very good at putting things into words either. I mean, this could very well be the most I've ever written for any kind of application, so anything requiring strong communication or verbal skills would probably be unsuitable for me.
Q10. The four current Academic Tracks at the Academy are Tactics, Operations, Exploratory Sciences and Medical Sciences. Describe how you could be an asset to each of these departments.
Tactical: First of all, I'd absolutely love to pilot a starship. I have a pretty good sense of direction and reflexes too, I have no trouble reading maps, visualizing routes, locating things, and I don't get lost easily. People have asked me to map for them and give directions as they drive, and I've had experience plotting courses during this one time I lived on a schooner for a class. I'm also careful when I make important decisions, and I'm good at looking at different sides of an issue. However, I don't think I would be able to deal with all the pressures of command, and I would need to work on my confidence.
Operations: I honestly don't know if I'd be any good at most of these areas as they seem to rely on being able to communicate well, and then there's security which I already said isn't for me, but I'm good at analyzing problems so I might be able to solve them and fix things as an engineer, and I've enjoyed taking a couple of basic engineering classes before. Besides, I like looking for ways to improve things, I'm always trying to figure things out, I can pay attention to detail, and I'm pretty resourceful. I need to brush up on my math though, but I am willing to learn.
Exploratory Sciences: I'm not great at math right now, as I mentioned above, but I have a huge interest in almost all of these fields. I've taken a bunch of biology classes during the past couple of years [thinking of majoring in bio], and I've studied astronomy before, which I plan on doing again along with physics. Seriously, if I could only take science classes at school, I would do it. I love to learn, as I'm a naturally curious person who likes finding things out, and I always try to be as open-minded as I can. I'm pretty familiar with the scientific method, I know how to conduct research and experiments on my own, with precision, and I love exploring theories.
Medical: I also have a huge interest in medicine, and not only because I've always had to deal with my own icky health. Human biology and psychology were my favorite subjects and I'm currently finishing up a course in genetics. Again, I'm good at analyzing problems so I could diagnose and treat people, and I have a good memory as well, which I could use when it comes to different medical procedures or giving medication. The one problem I have with medical is I can get repulsed by anything biologically disgusting - it's weird, I don't mean seeing blood or surgery, but if an alien parasite does some really nasty things to your body then, ack, well I'm not sure how I would react to that.
Q11. What are your top five strengths?
01. Open-minded. I'm very open to new and different ideas. I'm willing to try and understand.
02. Adaptable. I'm a fast learner. I remember things and can apply what I already know to new context. I'm resourceful. And maybe this has to do with having moved around a lot, but I know how to accept situations well.
03. Nice. Friendly. I get along well with people.
04. Sense of humor. I never would have thought of myself as having one if people didn't keep mentioning it. I guess it's true since I do find a lot of things to be hilarious, and people like it so it's a good thing, right?
05. Stubborn. Or something like being stubborn, I'm not sure if that's the right word. If I really want to know something, or do something, I need it. This can be a weakness, but it can also be a strength when it makes me determined, enduring, and able to get things done. Heck, I've been told that I even make other people get things done, and it surprises me but apparently some people appreciate that. I suppose it makes me kind of demanding in a strangely good way. Stubbornness also makes me thorough or precise in what I do. So I'm a bit of a perfectionist, it's not a bad thing as long as it doesn't go too far into obsession territory.
Q12. What are your top five weaknesses?
01. Lack of motivation. It's a huge problem. A very huge problem. I get extremely lazy and apathetic, and I procrastinate a lot. I hardly ever finish what I start even if I really want to. I keep getting myself stuck in boring ruts where at the end of each day I realize how little I've done and how I've wasted another 24 hours. I know this contradicts what I said above about being stubborn, but it really depends on stuff like the situation and my mood, or maybe I'm just stubborn about being lazy.
02. Emotional. My mood changes a lot, I'm easily depressed, easily frustrated, easily annoyed, and I don't like it. I don't like how much this affects me either, because it drives me crazy and leads me to doing stupid things I would regret but most of the time I just can't help it. I don't want to have my silly moods rule my life.
03. Over-thinking. I often think too much and get indecisive, worrisome, paranoid, or obsessive. Or I overlook obvious things.
04. Self-conscious. This probably has to do with over-thinking actually. But yeah, I can get self-conscious and I don't know, I'm a little insecure sometimes.
05. Silly. I know this can be a good thing, but I also do things like tease my friends and they think I'm being mean. They may take things the wrong way or think I'm not being serious and get offended. I've poured spoiled milk down a fence post with a friend before and someone thought that was a mean thing to do.
Q13. What is your biggest fear? I have a lot of really dumb phobias. I freak out at vomiting, ants, spiders, falling, to name a few, but I think my biggest fear is death. The idea of dying scares me because it means you'd no longer being able to do all the things you can do in life. I'm terrified of passing into oblivion. What if there's nothing after you die? You don't even get to think anymore, and there would be no more opportunities, experiences, ideas in your head, all that stuff. I don't want to lose it all and become nothing. Or even if somehow you don't pass into oblivion, that life would still be gone forever.
Q14. Do you consider yourself to be a leader, or a follower? I don't consider myself as either. I'm not a particularly supportive type of person, I'm kind of independent and am not always comfortable letting other people decide everything, but I'm also indecisive sometimes and not confident enough to be a leader. I guess I can be a bit of both, depending if I think other people are handling things well, or if I'm feeling good about my own ideas and abilities, plus I adapt if need be. Honestly though, I feel like I'm better off working independently or with others on the same level.
Q15. What do you admire the most in your peers? I admire a lot of things in people, but I find the people who I often admire are the people who don't give up easily one way or another, whether they stand up and do what they believe is right, remain optimistic despite going through tough times, or if they can just simply get things done. It's something I always try to do but have a very hard time doing. I also greatly admire people who are original, creative, intelligent, and think outside the box because they make things so much more interesting, and they get me wondering about how they think, how they come up with the things they come up with. These are all qualities I'd like, maybe hope, to have.
Q16. You are stranded on a Class M planet that has not been mapped by The Federation. You are only allowed to choose two of the following items to keep with you: a phaser, a tricorder or a communicator. Which two would you choose to have? The phaser and the tricorder. The phaser would be useful for protecting myself, heating things, signaling, or blasting through rocks if necessary. It's a lot better than trying to make stone weapons or start fires with sticks, which, believe me, is difficult, time-consuming, and I should think wouldn't work nearly as well as a phaser [yes, I've tried these things before, argh!]. The tricorder would tell me about my environment - what to avoid, if there are other life forms around, anything interesting so I wouldn't be bored if I'm stuck there for a while because this is so important, where to find edible food, drinkable water, shelter, etc. as well as be used for recording things and retrieving data. I debated keeping the communicator but not being able to contact the ship is probably why I was stranded to begin with, which means the communicator is useless. The tricorder should be able to send distress calls anyway in case anyone is around to locate and rescue me, or maybe I could get it to work as a substitute communicator.
Q17. Please describe your understanding of the Federation’s Prime Directive. It is the law of noninterference, especially in the natural development of younger, pre-warp societies. There's debate about the Prime Directive, but I can see why it's necessary so I agree with it for the most part. You may think you're doing them a favor by giving them your knowledge or technology, but if a society hasn't discovered these things already then they're probably not ready for it, and may end up even worse than before because there are things they haven't yet learned through the process of developing themselves. I'm talking about knowledge and technology here, but the same goes for culture. When you interfere with a society, every little thing you do is a variable that would influence them in some way. You never know what kinds of effects would result so it's better to avoid contamination as much as possible than to risk screwing up someone else's culture. The internal affairs of another society are not to be interfered with either. Even with the best of intentions, there is the possibility that you don't fully understand, as you are simply not them. It is their business, not yours, and you really don't want to be responsible for any problems you caused because you were messing around in other people's/species' matters.
Q18. The United Federation of Planets includes more than 150 member planets, and the galaxy has many more besides. Which planet do you most want to visit? I want to say Vulcan for their fascinating [heh] culture in addition to those upside-down buildings seen in Reboot, but what I really want is to visit as many different planets as I could. "To explore strange new worlds" is one of the reasons why I love Star Trek after all. There's just so much you can see and learn out there! I'm actually sad I'll likely never be able to even leave the planet in my lifetime and I'm hoping to visit different countries in all the continents instead.
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KOBAYASHI MARU:
The following questions describe situations you may commonly find yourself in as a member of Starfleet. You will be read the scenario, and then given two options to choose from. You may expand upon the reasons for your choice, but you must indicate one of the two that you feel best describes your likely response to the situation provided.
Q19. Service in the Fleet can be draining at the best of times, and on one particular day everything seems to have gone wrong. You’re exhausted, but your shift is finally over and it’s time to unwind. Your roommate is already on their bed when you get back to your quarters. Do you:
b. Say hi, then stick in some earphones for music or grab a PADD for some recreational reading. A lie-down sounds pretty good right now, or maybe a bit of time relaxing on the observation deck - it should be pretty quiet by this time, which will give you a chance to sort through the day’s events in your head.
As much as I'd love to vent, I'm more likely to go with the music and PADD or sort through the events while lying in bed. What can I say, I'm an introvert, and I'm already exhausted in this scenario. Besides, I wouldn't want to bother my roommate if they're already in bed, unless they're a close friend or something.
Q20. You’ve intercepted what sounds like a pretty important transmission - you feel like the Captain needs to know. When you report, do you:
a. Give them all the facts: what it said, what the voice sounded like, where the inflection was, the language it was in, and so on. Details and facts are the important part, everything else is subjective.
It took me a while to choose between the two options. I know how important context is, as well as giving all the facts, but interpretations are subjective and may or may not be false. The Captain's interpretation would also be subjective though, but since they would have more experience and knowledge they would most likely be better at knowing how to interpret the message. I completely agree that the way I explain could make all the difference, but what if I'm not right and the difference is for the worse? I wouldn't want to be all biased and influence the Captain into making the wrong decisions, so, yeah, I'm going with describing only the details and facts to the best of my ability then maybe I'll see what they think of it before giving anything else. Of course my own impressions would already be involved while relaying those facts, so this is really about how much I think I ought to limit, isn't it?
Q21. There are many decisions to be made in Starfleet, and some are harder than others. Faced with a decision where things could go wrong in any number of ways, do you:
a. Stay impersonal and objective. Weigh up the pros and cons, think out all the possibilities, and focus on the basic truths. A careful analysis of the situation will reveal the best possible choice, even though some may not approve of it.
This describes how I usually make decisions almost perfectly. I don't really think I need to explain any more, but I did consider the other option because I do believe that a lot of things depend on how you look at it. I'd still take people's perspectives into account when weighing the pros and cons.
Q22. The day-to-day life of Starfleet can be quite arduous at times, and quite exciting at others. Everyone has their own way of approaching everyday work, but would others see your approach as:
b. Flexible and spontaneous. Others think you prefer to adapt to the world around you rather than organise it. You seem to be more comfortable staying open to information and experiences rather than making decisions immediately. You appear fairly casual, working in bursts and motivated by deadlines.
Personal preference? I work better this way because it's less stressful for me. I already included being adaptable as one of my strengths, and planning extensively makes me... anxious or uncomfortable, I guess. I also think that it's important to remember how anything is possible, the future is uncertain, and something could always happen that would make me want to reconsider my decision. This is the reason why I get indecisive sometimes, and why I use vague words like "maybe" a lot.
Q23. You can earn 5 points for your future Track by promoting the community in your Journal. Please link the post here if you wish to do so:
Q1. Name: Reinik
Q2. How did you find out about Elite of the Fleet? I kept seeing it while browsing Star Trek communities and decided to check it out.
Q3. When did you first become interested in Star Trek? I grew up watching it with my dad, who's a fan and has every season and every movie, plus we used to catch it on TV all the time. We went to see Reboot on opening night and I instantly fell in love with the movie. Funnily enough though, I was never obsessed until a few months ago when I started watching/rewatching TOS and TNG episodes and I couldn't help but get sucked in!
Q4. Why have you decided to join Elite of the Fleet? It looks fun, I've never participated in this fandom or a challenge community before, and I don't have any friends who like Star Trek. Also I totally want to join Starfleet.
Q5. Who is your favourite Star Trek character? I love Spock! I love Bones! Actually I love pretty much everyone, but the character I love the most has got to be... Data. What's not to love about a super intelligent, completely rational android who's always trying to grasp human behavior and does the weirdest, dorkiest, most hilarious things with a straight face? And there's something endearing about his childlike curiosity, and the way he always strives to better himself. He's different. Unique. He doesn't quite fit in, but he knows being different doesn't make him any less of a person, and if anything that makes him a more admirable character. I love seeing how he views humanity, and he's got a lot of great lines because he points out a lot of things that most people would never mention, be it funny or thought-provoking or both at the same time. Many of my favorite TNG episodes are Data episodes because they, along with the Picard episodes really, bring up the most interesting issues [The Measure of a Man, anyone?]. On top of that, he's an artist. And built an incredibly adorable daughter. And enjoys holodeck adventures. And is fully functional and anatomically correct. Alright, I'll stop gushing now.
Q6. And the least? I can't think of any single character that I really hate or dislike, only that the behavior of random characters who show up for just one episode to be convenient occasionally bother me, and I can say the same about how most of the women in TOS were written. To answer this question though, I'll say McGivers from Space Seed. I can understand if she's attracted to Khan, but I can't understand her betraying the ship for him. It's annoying to see her being so infatuated that she'd do anything he says, and even though she later saved Kirk it was still her fault for agreeing to help Khan in the first place. I don't get how she didn't see this whole mess coming when she decided to help him, or even if she did, why she still went along with it. But anyway, I don't really have an overall least favorite character.
Q7. Which television (or film) series is your favourite? While The Next Generation will always have a place in my heart for being the first series I ever loved as a child, my current favorite is The Original Series. I think the characters and their relationships with one another are interesting, and the whole thing is just so fun to watch, despite, or maybe even because of, its being so old. The effects and costumes are cheesy, yet I love those, the stories, the adventure, and seeing how they first handled doing Star Trek over forty years ago. I love this classic philosophical sci-fi. I do admit I never got around to watching a lot of Enterprise though, and I sadly don't remember much of Deep Space Nine.
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STARFLEET LIFE:
Q8. What do you hope to gain from your service in Starfleet? stop lurking, having fun, seeing which track I belong in, getting involved, discussing and learning more about Star Trek, satisfying my need to geek out with awesome people, maybe even get my creative juices flowing and draw some fanart, I can keep on going... unless we're talking about 23rd century Starfleet? Then I'm in it for the exploration. That would be something meaningful to do with my life.
Q9. Is there any occupation in Starfleet you feel you would be particularly unsuited for? Security and Counseling. Security because I'm small/not particularly strong, I don't think I'm the type of person who can handle having to fight and protect all the time, and I have neither the experience nor interest in this field. Counseling because I'm not exactly the best at empathizing or connecting with people on a personal level, which means I'd be a terrible listener and give terrible advice. I'm not very good at putting things into words either. I mean, this could very well be the most I've ever written for any kind of application, so anything requiring strong communication or verbal skills would probably be unsuitable for me.
Q10. The four current Academic Tracks at the Academy are Tactics, Operations, Exploratory Sciences and Medical Sciences. Describe how you could be an asset to each of these departments.
Tactical: First of all, I'd absolutely love to pilot a starship. I have a pretty good sense of direction and reflexes too, I have no trouble reading maps, visualizing routes, locating things, and I don't get lost easily. People have asked me to map for them and give directions as they drive, and I've had experience plotting courses during this one time I lived on a schooner for a class. I'm also careful when I make important decisions, and I'm good at looking at different sides of an issue. However, I don't think I would be able to deal with all the pressures of command, and I would need to work on my confidence.
Operations: I honestly don't know if I'd be any good at most of these areas as they seem to rely on being able to communicate well, and then there's security which I already said isn't for me, but I'm good at analyzing problems so I might be able to solve them and fix things as an engineer, and I've enjoyed taking a couple of basic engineering classes before. Besides, I like looking for ways to improve things, I'm always trying to figure things out, I can pay attention to detail, and I'm pretty resourceful. I need to brush up on my math though, but I am willing to learn.
Exploratory Sciences: I'm not great at math right now, as I mentioned above, but I have a huge interest in almost all of these fields. I've taken a bunch of biology classes during the past couple of years [thinking of majoring in bio], and I've studied astronomy before, which I plan on doing again along with physics. Seriously, if I could only take science classes at school, I would do it. I love to learn, as I'm a naturally curious person who likes finding things out, and I always try to be as open-minded as I can. I'm pretty familiar with the scientific method, I know how to conduct research and experiments on my own, with precision, and I love exploring theories.
Medical: I also have a huge interest in medicine, and not only because I've always had to deal with my own icky health. Human biology and psychology were my favorite subjects and I'm currently finishing up a course in genetics. Again, I'm good at analyzing problems so I could diagnose and treat people, and I have a good memory as well, which I could use when it comes to different medical procedures or giving medication. The one problem I have with medical is I can get repulsed by anything biologically disgusting - it's weird, I don't mean seeing blood or surgery, but if an alien parasite does some really nasty things to your body then, ack, well I'm not sure how I would react to that.
Q11. What are your top five strengths?
01. Open-minded. I'm very open to new and different ideas. I'm willing to try and understand.
02. Adaptable. I'm a fast learner. I remember things and can apply what I already know to new context. I'm resourceful. And maybe this has to do with having moved around a lot, but I know how to accept situations well.
03. Nice. Friendly. I get along well with people.
04. Sense of humor. I never would have thought of myself as having one if people didn't keep mentioning it. I guess it's true since I do find a lot of things to be hilarious, and people like it so it's a good thing, right?
05. Stubborn. Or something like being stubborn, I'm not sure if that's the right word. If I really want to know something, or do something, I need it. This can be a weakness, but it can also be a strength when it makes me determined, enduring, and able to get things done. Heck, I've been told that I even make other people get things done, and it surprises me but apparently some people appreciate that. I suppose it makes me kind of demanding in a strangely good way. Stubbornness also makes me thorough or precise in what I do. So I'm a bit of a perfectionist, it's not a bad thing as long as it doesn't go too far into obsession territory.
Q12. What are your top five weaknesses?
01. Lack of motivation. It's a huge problem. A very huge problem. I get extremely lazy and apathetic, and I procrastinate a lot. I hardly ever finish what I start even if I really want to. I keep getting myself stuck in boring ruts where at the end of each day I realize how little I've done and how I've wasted another 24 hours. I know this contradicts what I said above about being stubborn, but it really depends on stuff like the situation and my mood, or maybe I'm just stubborn about being lazy.
02. Emotional. My mood changes a lot, I'm easily depressed, easily frustrated, easily annoyed, and I don't like it. I don't like how much this affects me either, because it drives me crazy and leads me to doing stupid things I would regret but most of the time I just can't help it. I don't want to have my silly moods rule my life.
03. Over-thinking. I often think too much and get indecisive, worrisome, paranoid, or obsessive. Or I overlook obvious things.
04. Self-conscious. This probably has to do with over-thinking actually. But yeah, I can get self-conscious and I don't know, I'm a little insecure sometimes.
05. Silly. I know this can be a good thing, but I also do things like tease my friends and they think I'm being mean. They may take things the wrong way or think I'm not being serious and get offended. I've poured spoiled milk down a fence post with a friend before and someone thought that was a mean thing to do.
Q13. What is your biggest fear? I have a lot of really dumb phobias. I freak out at vomiting, ants, spiders, falling, to name a few, but I think my biggest fear is death. The idea of dying scares me because it means you'd no longer being able to do all the things you can do in life. I'm terrified of passing into oblivion. What if there's nothing after you die? You don't even get to think anymore, and there would be no more opportunities, experiences, ideas in your head, all that stuff. I don't want to lose it all and become nothing. Or even if somehow you don't pass into oblivion, that life would still be gone forever.
Q14. Do you consider yourself to be a leader, or a follower? I don't consider myself as either. I'm not a particularly supportive type of person, I'm kind of independent and am not always comfortable letting other people decide everything, but I'm also indecisive sometimes and not confident enough to be a leader. I guess I can be a bit of both, depending if I think other people are handling things well, or if I'm feeling good about my own ideas and abilities, plus I adapt if need be. Honestly though, I feel like I'm better off working independently or with others on the same level.
Q15. What do you admire the most in your peers? I admire a lot of things in people, but I find the people who I often admire are the people who don't give up easily one way or another, whether they stand up and do what they believe is right, remain optimistic despite going through tough times, or if they can just simply get things done. It's something I always try to do but have a very hard time doing. I also greatly admire people who are original, creative, intelligent, and think outside the box because they make things so much more interesting, and they get me wondering about how they think, how they come up with the things they come up with. These are all qualities I'd like, maybe hope, to have.
Q16. You are stranded on a Class M planet that has not been mapped by The Federation. You are only allowed to choose two of the following items to keep with you: a phaser, a tricorder or a communicator. Which two would you choose to have? The phaser and the tricorder. The phaser would be useful for protecting myself, heating things, signaling, or blasting through rocks if necessary. It's a lot better than trying to make stone weapons or start fires with sticks, which, believe me, is difficult, time-consuming, and I should think wouldn't work nearly as well as a phaser [yes, I've tried these things before, argh!]. The tricorder would tell me about my environment - what to avoid, if there are other life forms around, anything interesting so I wouldn't be bored if I'm stuck there for a while because this is so important, where to find edible food, drinkable water, shelter, etc. as well as be used for recording things and retrieving data. I debated keeping the communicator but not being able to contact the ship is probably why I was stranded to begin with, which means the communicator is useless. The tricorder should be able to send distress calls anyway in case anyone is around to locate and rescue me, or maybe I could get it to work as a substitute communicator.
Q17. Please describe your understanding of the Federation’s Prime Directive. It is the law of noninterference, especially in the natural development of younger, pre-warp societies. There's debate about the Prime Directive, but I can see why it's necessary so I agree with it for the most part. You may think you're doing them a favor by giving them your knowledge or technology, but if a society hasn't discovered these things already then they're probably not ready for it, and may end up even worse than before because there are things they haven't yet learned through the process of developing themselves. I'm talking about knowledge and technology here, but the same goes for culture. When you interfere with a society, every little thing you do is a variable that would influence them in some way. You never know what kinds of effects would result so it's better to avoid contamination as much as possible than to risk screwing up someone else's culture. The internal affairs of another society are not to be interfered with either. Even with the best of intentions, there is the possibility that you don't fully understand, as you are simply not them. It is their business, not yours, and you really don't want to be responsible for any problems you caused because you were messing around in other people's/species' matters.
Q18. The United Federation of Planets includes more than 150 member planets, and the galaxy has many more besides. Which planet do you most want to visit? I want to say Vulcan for their fascinating [heh] culture in addition to those upside-down buildings seen in Reboot, but what I really want is to visit as many different planets as I could. "To explore strange new worlds" is one of the reasons why I love Star Trek after all. There's just so much you can see and learn out there! I'm actually sad I'll likely never be able to even leave the planet in my lifetime and I'm hoping to visit different countries in all the continents instead.
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KOBAYASHI MARU:
The following questions describe situations you may commonly find yourself in as a member of Starfleet. You will be read the scenario, and then given two options to choose from. You may expand upon the reasons for your choice, but you must indicate one of the two that you feel best describes your likely response to the situation provided.
Q19. Service in the Fleet can be draining at the best of times, and on one particular day everything seems to have gone wrong. You’re exhausted, but your shift is finally over and it’s time to unwind. Your roommate is already on their bed when you get back to your quarters. Do you:
b. Say hi, then stick in some earphones for music or grab a PADD for some recreational reading. A lie-down sounds pretty good right now, or maybe a bit of time relaxing on the observation deck - it should be pretty quiet by this time, which will give you a chance to sort through the day’s events in your head.
As much as I'd love to vent, I'm more likely to go with the music and PADD or sort through the events while lying in bed. What can I say, I'm an introvert, and I'm already exhausted in this scenario. Besides, I wouldn't want to bother my roommate if they're already in bed, unless they're a close friend or something.
Q20. You’ve intercepted what sounds like a pretty important transmission - you feel like the Captain needs to know. When you report, do you:
a. Give them all the facts: what it said, what the voice sounded like, where the inflection was, the language it was in, and so on. Details and facts are the important part, everything else is subjective.
It took me a while to choose between the two options. I know how important context is, as well as giving all the facts, but interpretations are subjective and may or may not be false. The Captain's interpretation would also be subjective though, but since they would have more experience and knowledge they would most likely be better at knowing how to interpret the message. I completely agree that the way I explain could make all the difference, but what if I'm not right and the difference is for the worse? I wouldn't want to be all biased and influence the Captain into making the wrong decisions, so, yeah, I'm going with describing only the details and facts to the best of my ability then maybe I'll see what they think of it before giving anything else. Of course my own impressions would already be involved while relaying those facts, so this is really about how much I think I ought to limit, isn't it?
Q21. There are many decisions to be made in Starfleet, and some are harder than others. Faced with a decision where things could go wrong in any number of ways, do you:
a. Stay impersonal and objective. Weigh up the pros and cons, think out all the possibilities, and focus on the basic truths. A careful analysis of the situation will reveal the best possible choice, even though some may not approve of it.
This describes how I usually make decisions almost perfectly. I don't really think I need to explain any more, but I did consider the other option because I do believe that a lot of things depend on how you look at it. I'd still take people's perspectives into account when weighing the pros and cons.
Q22. The day-to-day life of Starfleet can be quite arduous at times, and quite exciting at others. Everyone has their own way of approaching everyday work, but would others see your approach as:
b. Flexible and spontaneous. Others think you prefer to adapt to the world around you rather than organise it. You seem to be more comfortable staying open to information and experiences rather than making decisions immediately. You appear fairly casual, working in bursts and motivated by deadlines.
Personal preference? I work better this way because it's less stressful for me. I already included being adaptable as one of my strengths, and planning extensively makes me... anxious or uncomfortable, I guess. I also think that it's important to remember how anything is possible, the future is uncertain, and something could always happen that would make me want to reconsider my decision. This is the reason why I get indecisive sometimes, and why I use vague words like "maybe" a lot.
Q23. You can earn 5 points for your future Track by promoting the community in your Journal. Please link the post here if you wish to do so: