Starfleet size

[Captain Picard's Hair]

And, it was done in the interests of preserving peace, and lives

[Deepcrush]

E-C, no hope of winning but went to battle anyways.

After a heck of a lot of convincing...

And, it was done in the interests of preserving peace, and lives

But they still did it didn't they? They did what they felt to be the right thing to do. Why they did it doesn't change that they did indeed do it.

[Deepcrush]

The USMC practices...
"No retreat and no surrender with Executive Order."

What century is that from?

This one, glad you understood the tense in that one...

[Teaos]

The E-C didnt know it was going to die. It could have pulled through or hoped for back up.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

The E-C didnt know it was going to die. It could have pulled through or hoped for back up.

Once it was sent back through the rift, they pretty much knew they were doomed.

[Teaos]

Oh right. I thought we were refering to when they answered the original message.

[Deepcrush]

When they answered the Distress Call they didn't know the odds going in. Even when they got there and found out they decided to stick around.

[Graham Kennedy]

They knew it was 4 to 1 odds before they engaged, so they pretty much knew they were screwed. And they didn't take all that much convincing actually; most of the argument in that episode was between the E-D crew about whether to let them go. Garrett decided to go back the instant Picard explained the situation to her, and her XO announced that he was going unless ordered otherwise as soon as he took command.

[Deepcrush]

Thank you!

Starfleet has shown that when they feel something is the right thing to do, they tend to do it. Cost of the matter doesn't seem to matter much to them.

[Graham Kennedy]

I admire it actually. These aren't Klingons who want to scream and charge at every chance they get. They're professionals who know that while they may need to die for the cause someday, it's a thing to do only when you have to.

And hey, Starfleet and the Federation has defeated all comers for over 200 years now. Hard to argue with success!

[Sionnach Glic]

Indeed. Despite the apparent pussification of Starfleet in the TNG+ era, the people seem to remember that first and formost they are soldiers, and that there sometimes is a need for them to die for the greater good.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

The "engineering qualification" when Troi took the Bridge officer exam was, in fact, a test of whether she could order someone to their death...

[Deepcrush]

Engineering Qualification was a carp shoot. Send a hologram to die, OMFG! Short of having my heart cut out with a spoon covered in salt just to see if it hurt, I don't think ever hate a test more.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

You would need holographic emitters in places like the antimatter injectors and warp plasma conduits, then. Or, the mobile emitter, which only the Doctor has. Robots could work, of course; Trek hasn't always used robots in situations where even we have them.

[Teaos]

The Federation has an automation phobia ever since the M-5.