Chapter 6
The First Duty
Franchise: The Next Generation
Season 5, Episode 19: “The First Duty”
When you’re faced with a choice, under pressure, which do you choose:
Loyalty or principle?
We’re about to take a look at how one young man nearly threw away his entire career by making the wrong choice.
What Happens:
The Enterprise, under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, is on her way to Earth, where the Captain is scheduled to give the commencement address at the Starfleet Academy graduation ceremony.
Along the way, he is informed by Academy Superintendent Brand that an accident has befallen a beloved former crew member: Academy Cadet Welsey Crusher, the son of the Enterprise’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Beverly Crusher.
Fortunately, Wesley’s injuries are not life-threatening … at least, not physically.
What do I mean? Well, it turns out that the accident took place during a practice run of a supposedly routine precision flying maneuver led by Wesley’s classmate and “Nova Squadron” leader Nicholas Locarno - a crash that claimed the life of a fellow cadet.
During the investigation into the cause of the crash, the senior officers conducting the inquiry become suspicious that the members of Nova Squadron are not revealing all that they know about the circumstances. Even Wesley himself lied to the board of inquiry about aspects and specific details of the accident.
Why? Well, it’s clear that Nick Locarno exerts a powerful mental and emotional influence over the other members of the squadron. He has convinced them not only to conceal the truth, but to blame the accident on Josh Albert, the cadet who was killed.
What’s going on here? Captain Picard knows …
After conducting his own investigation, the Captain concludes that Nova Squadron was not in fact flying a routine maneuver, but was attempting a much more difficult and dangerous stunt, one intended to dazzle the viewers at the ceremony.
Picard confronts Wesley in the Captain’s “Ready Room” (his private office near the main bridge) with the results of his investigation, and with his description of the dangerous “Kolvoord Starburst” maneuver:
PICARD: Five ships crossing within ten meters of each other and igniting their plasma trails. One of the most spectacular and difficult demonstrations of precision flying. It hasn't been performed at the Academy team in over a hundred years. Do you know why?
WESLEY: It was banned by the Academy following a training accident, sir.
PICARD: An accident in which all five cadets lost their lives.
I think that Nicholas Locarno wanted to end his Academy career in a blaze of glory.
That he convinced the four of you to learn the Kolvoord Starburst for the commencement demonstration.
If it worked, you would thrill the assembled guests and Locarno would graduate as a living legend. Only it didn't work, and Joshua Albert paid the price.
Am I correct?
Cadet, I asked you a question! Am I correct?
Incredibly, Wesley “chooses not to answer.”
PICARD: You choose not to answer? But you've already given an answer to the inquiry, and that answer was a lie.
WESLEY: I said the accident occurred after the loop. It did.
PICARD: But what you neglected to mention was that following the loop your team attempted a maneuver that was the direct cause of the crash. … You told the truth up to a point. But a lie of omission is still a lie.
Picard recalls Wesley’s first visit to the main bridge, brought there as a child by his mother. Picard could see even then that Wesley had a remarkable knowledge of ship’s system and operations, and:
And then later when I decided to make you an acting ensign, I was convinced you could be an outstanding officer.
And I've never questioned that conviction …
… until now.
The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the TRUTH!
Whether it's scientific truth, or historical truth, or personal truth. It is the guiding principle upon which Starfleet is based.
If you can't find it within yourself to stand up and tell the truth about what happened, you don't deserve to wear that uniform.
I'm going to make this simple for you, Mister Crusher. Either you come forward and tell Admiral Brand what really took place, or I will.
There it is. There’s the heart of the matter. Picard makes known to Wesley, in no uncertain terms, that PRINCIPLE TRUMPS LOYALTY. It must, or else the very foundation of Starfleet’s mission will collapse.
Wesley finally does realize the error of his choice. He admits to the inquiry what the squadron did; their punishment is swift and stern - Locarno even resigns from the Academy altogether.
But Wesley does retain his place at the Academy. He eventually graduates, and he is commissioned to serve in Starfleet. And I believe the reason his career survived is that when the moment of truth came, he told the truth.
Lesson You Can Use:
I know of a certain direct sales company that has as one of its guiding principles the following: “The TRUTH Is Good Enough.”
How many careers ... companies ... marriages ... political campaigns … business ventures … have been derailed, disgraced, destroyed … because someone lied, or even shaded the truth, for the sake of convenience, or short-term gain, or self-preservation?
If you’re a consultant, tell your clients the truth, even when they don’t like it – they’ll respect your forthrightness.
If you’re having an intimate conversation, tell your friend the truth, even when she doesn’t want to hear it – believe it or not, she’ll thank you later.
If you’re in sales, tell your prospect the truth, even if it costs you the sale – actually, it might NOT cost you the sale!
If you’re in network marketing, quit it with the “miracle-cure” jive and the hyped-up income claims – only the gullible will believe you anyway. And the recruits you really want – the recruits you really NEED in your business – won’t be scared away by the truth.
Just tell the truth … it’ll make your life a lot less complicated. As some wag has said, “if you always tell the truth, you don’t need a good memory.”