Daystrom Institute
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Episode Guides
The /r/DaystromInstitute wiki held a number of popular Star Trek watch guides. We have rehosted them here:
- Kraetos’ guide to Star Trek (the original series)
- Algernon_Asimov’s guide to Star Trek: The Animated Series
- Algernon_Asimov’s guide to Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Algernon_Asimov’s guide to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
- Darth_Rasputin32898’s guide to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
- OpticalData’s guide to Star Trek: Voyager
- petrus4’s guide to Star Trek: Voyager
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The thing is that when Sarek is about to tell her how Vulcans achieved diplomatic relations with the Klingons, he makes it very clear that it was a special case.
It is telling that we never hear Sarek tell Burnham what happened. Burnham relays the story about H’Atoria to Georgiou, but how much of it is filtered through her own biases is unclear.
But Burnham isn’t being logical here - she’s ignoring a vital factor which Sarek had already pointed out to her:
Burnham knew. She is brought to the same conclusion that Sarek has come to, that whoever is in charge might want a war.
And yet she insists on shooting first, in opposition to Sarek telling her the H’Atoria Incident and what followed was very different.
The initial contact between Klingons and Vulcans was a meeting of equals and based on a misunderstanding of relations with no larger agenda of war behind it. That is why the Vulcan Hello worked then. There’s no reason to think it might work in the same way now.
In this light, Burnham’s justification on firing first rings very hollow, and is likely more driven by the past trauma of her parents’ death. It wouldn’t have worked, and she was aware that there was a real possibility it wouldn’t work but took the risk anyway. That’s the legal definition of recklessness, and played right into T’Kuvma’s hands.
Inaction may not have prevented the war, but it would have made her less complicit in its beginnings.