2 Ups And 7 Downs From Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3.7 — What Is Starfleet?

7. DOWN — Prime Directive, Be Damned!

The Prime Directive (or General Order 1) is not just about hiding the existence of aliens from pre-warp civilisations. It is about non-interference as a basic tenet. That includes non-interference with the internal affairs and development of warp-capable (non-Federation) worlds. How many times did we have that lecture from Captain Picard? Worf had to quit for pity's sake!

Sure, Captain Kirk interfered (or will interfere) all the time. At least in his case, we had context, and often the need for a new computer. What Is Starfleet? spent no time explaining why the titular organisation and the Federation were demonstrably violating the Prime Directive by ferrying a weapon of war for the Lutani. The only reason, beyond 'sorry, that's a bit above my paygrade' and/or 'that's classified,' seemed to be 'because we can' and 'maybe the Klingons?!'