Would you do a Ransom?

[Teaos]

Would you do a Ransom?

This came up in another thread but wasn't really covered.

If you were put in captain Ransom shoes would you do what he did.

You have found an alien species who's bodies can through some technobabble way get you home way faster.

The intelligence of these aliens are debatable, at first I put them at the same level as a dog, they came when a flute was played and did a dance, not exactly high intelligence.

But the Stitch pointed out the can talk "Give us equinox" and could possible read. They also seem to be able to be reasoned with.

Now I don't think this gives them anywhere near the same level of intelligence as humans, they could be rather smart dolphins, or somewhere between humans and dolphins.

The point is, would you trap and harvest these animals for fuel to save your crew from what seems to be an impossible trip home?

Personally my answer is "hell yeah I would"

It seems as if these creatures are in between human and dolphin in intelligence. I'll tell you now; I would kill a hundred Seeing Eye dogs with my bear hands if it would save my family. While I wouldn't go around killing them for fun, if it a choice between them and my family or crew it is not a hard decision.

Personally I don't think what Ransom did was all that bad, certainly not as bad as people make it out to be.

[Nickswitz]

I think what he did was absolutely despicable, and i would do it in a heartbeat to save my crew and get them home. Especially with the condition of that ship

[Teaos]

I really don't think it was that bad, he killed them and used their bodies for fuel. Not much different from what we're doing every day to millions of animals.

[Nickswitz]

True, It's not like he was like using an eye for fuel and throwing the rest away. He also killed them in a very quick fasion.
He shot them.

[katefan]

It is true, we do eat animals for sustinence. But those animals are not sentient beings. Some may find the distinction meaningless (i.e. vegetarians) but I am not going to get into that argument. Instead, I am going to focus on the fact that once Ransom discovered the race were sentient beings, he did nothing to rectify the situation. Instead, he continued murdering innocent sentients to further his own ends.

The moral thing for Ransom to do would have been to find a benevolent race (there are a few in the Delta Quadrant), explain his and his crew's predicament, and settle down. Or come up with a project to outfit a more powerful ship to get his people home. He failed to pursue other more reasonable, more humane means. When it comes to getting home at the price of Murder One or resigning himself to staying in the Delta Quadrant, I would elect to stay. The person who would get home would not have been one I would want to be.

[Teaos]

Well if they wanted to go home that rules out settlement in the DQ. And I doubt your option of fitting out a better ship is really do-able.

And honestly these creature were not on the same level as other sentient species, killing them is not the same as killing a human or Klingon. Its on par with killing a dolphin in my eyes.

[Nutso]

Not only is Ransom murdering innocent sentient beings, sentient enough to know the name of their murderers, sentient enough to want vengeance, he is bringing war to the Federation. We saw how easily the aliens were manipulated into attacking Voyager. Imagine what they will do once Ransom enters Federation space. If they can't have Ransom, they'll go for blood against the race who massacred their own. What is the Federation going to do, put a shield around Planet Earth? The doofuses can't even build a defense platform for the one planet with which the Federation would collapse if it were conquered. Not even a standing fleet surrounds her space.

So for the sake of the Federation, for the sake of no innocent blood being spilled just because I want to get home, and to prevent war from reaching my home world and putting those I love at risk, I would not do what Ransom has done.

[Teaos]

You wouldnt knwo they could attack like that until you started. And I;m sure they could come up with a counter messure to them once back in Federation space.

[stitch626]

Yeah, find a way to keep shields up everywhere. Sounds like a great idea.

[Teaos]

Who said anything about shields? I said a counter. Could be anything.

[Nutso]

Well so far the only thing known to stop them is that shield thingy. Or killing the Equinox. That stopped their righteous wrath.

If they can't destroy the Equinox, they may just turn on anything they can hurt out of frustration. Maybe they'll burn Humans/Klingons/Romulans/etc. to power their own countermeasure-buster. Before the Federation can even come up with a countermeasure, a lot innocent Federation citizens will endure a lot of pain, suffering and death because the great and powerful Captain Ransom had to get home.

[Reliant121]

i could never do what Ransom did. I will suffer, and put those under my command in sufferance it stops me from genocide.

[Sionnach Glic]

All very easy for you to say now, sitting in a comfy chair in front of a computer without any major problems. But put yourself in his shoes:

You're commanding a ship with, let's say, a hundred people on board. You've served with them for years. You know them, they know you, and you're good friends with many of them.
Then suddenly your ship is torn across the galaxy. Some of your crew is dead, others severely wounded. You learn that it'll take you almost a century (Equinox was slower than Voyager) to get home, meaning that everyone on board will be dead before you reach home.
You're directly responsible for your crew's lives: every one of them that dies out here is your responsibility. Moreover, they are your friends, you want them to live.
Your ship is badly damaged, and quite simply won't survive much longer in its current condition. The territory you've been dumped into is rather hostile, with Kazon, Vidiians and numerous spatial anomalies trying to kill you. Every time you go anywhere near an inhabited planet you run the risk of being destroyed by its inhabitants.
Then you stumble onto this planet where the locals show you how to do a summoning trick to conjour up these aliens from a different dimension. You learn these aliens can power your ship and get you home within a few months. This will save your surviving crewmembers lives.

It's easy to say now that you'd rather die, but stranded far from home, no chance of rescue, watching your friends die one by one, hunted by ruthless enemies and with your ship slowly falling apart around you, do you seriously think you'd keep that frame of mind?

Myself, I'd throw the aliens into the warp core and get back home ASAP. When I got back, would I say I did the right thing? No, not at all. That's just how things would wind up for me.

[Mikey]

I thought we did have this discussion in full. For my part, I'd love to say that I'd stick to my principles and never do something like Ransom had; in reality, I doubt I could truthfully say that were I in his position, with my entire crew looking to me.

[Mikey]

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