ENT - The Shipment

[CrypticMirror]

Given I work for the government, I'd be entirely unsurprised if it turned out what I was doing led to the deaths of a bunch of extraterrestrials. Well, the extraterrestrials would still be surprising, but the rest, dull surprise.

Depends on what you do. Do you make giant freaking space lasers that fire randomly into space? You might be killing some poor aliens.

Seriously, it would depend on what you do for the government that would lead to the deaths of innocents.

Like when I worked in the government (as in the Navy) my job was to make sure the ejection seats worked, kept the pilot warm or cool, kept the electrical equipment cool and gave oxygen to the pilot in high altitudes. None of that directly contributed to killing anyone unless I fucked up and the planes crashed. I guess it's about how you look at it.

If you fucked up and the planes crashed, that would, from the pov of an enemy, be an example of good government work. From the pov of the people the aircraft are destroying, anything which enabled that destruction would be seen as the enemy and a legitimate target. So sayeth the gospel of Kira Nerys anyway.

[Nealithi]

Given I work for the government, I'd be entirely unsurprised if it turned out what I was doing led to the deaths of a bunch of extraterrestrials. Well, the extraterrestrials would still be surprising, but the rest, dull surprise.

Depends on what you do. Do you make giant freaking space lasers that fire randomly into space? You might be killing some poor aliens.

Seriously, it would depend on what you do for the government that would lead to the deaths of innocents.

Like when I worked in the government (as in the Navy) my job was to make sure the ejection seats worked, kept the pilot warm or cool, kept the electrical equipment cool and gave oxygen to the pilot in high altitudes. None of that directly contributed to killing anyone unless I fucked up and the planes crashed. I guess it's about how you look at it.

To me the episode brings up another point. Archer is there because the Xindi killed millions of people. And no one on Earth had heard of the Xindi before that. So why would they even be interested in harming them?

In fairness, it is revealed later on that they are being manipulated by the sphere builders claiming to have future knowledge.

Yes, but with episodes like this you have to look on them the way my father does history. What did they know, and when?

[Thebestoftherest]

Maybe having time travel bits from the future in your prequel series is stupid.

[McAvoy]

Given I work for the government, I'd be entirely unsurprised if it turned out what I was doing led to the deaths of a bunch of extraterrestrials. Well, the extraterrestrials would still be surprising, but the rest, dull surprise.

Depends on what you do. Do you make giant freaking space lasers that fire randomly into space? You might be killing some poor aliens.

Seriously, it would depend on what you do for the government that would lead to the deaths of innocents.

Like when I worked in the government (as in the Navy) my job was to make sure the ejection seats worked, kept the pilot warm or cool, kept the electrical equipment cool and gave oxygen to the pilot in high altitudes. None of that directly contributed to killing anyone unless I fucked up and the planes crashed. I guess it's about how you look at it.

You worked aircrew lifesupport?

But I think the degrees of separation question is a good one. The people that built the housing site for the Manhattan Project. They did indirectly help work on the atomic bomb. I can ask this to increasingly further degrees. To someone like an aunt of mine. The guy that collected trash on the White House lawn in WW2 is just as guilty of building the atomic bomb as any person actually working with the materials.

To me the episode brings up another point. Archer is there because the Xindi killed millions of people. And no one on Earth had heard of the Xindi before that. So why would they even be interested in harming them?

I guess that would be one way of saying it. The bread and butter was thd ejection seats which involves explosives and rockets. Everything else is an add on to give us more to do.

[Nealithi]

That was my MOS in the Air Force. A tiny bit on the ejection seat, a bit on the parachute, handle the helmets, oxygen masks. All escape equipment used on B52's KC-10s, KC-135s. Along with NBC gear and all survival equipment including the emergency beacons and radios.
I know they were looking at renaming things (again) when I left. They wanted to change Three level tech to apprentice, Five level tech to Journeyman etc. So the positions had a better comparison to civilian roles. Which is weird since I had not then nor since heard of positions given those designations.

[McAvoy]

That was my MOS in the Air Force. A tiny bit on the ejection seat, a bit on the parachute, handle the helmets, oxygen masks. All escape equipment used on B52's KC-10s, KC-135s. Along with NBC gear and all survival equipment including the emergency beacons and radios.
I know they were looking at renaming things (again) when I left. They wanted to change Three level tech to apprentice, Five level tech to Journeyman etc. So the positions had a better comparison to civilian roles. Which is weird since I had not then nor since heard of positions given those designations.

Not quite for the Navy. Anything to do with the pilot gear went to the PRs. Parachute Riggers. Or Stitch Bitched like we call them, though that is unfair because they would hook us up on sowing patches for our uniforms.

I dealt with the canopy which the F/A-18E/F/G use rockets to launch the canopy out of the way when they ejected. F-14s didn't have them. They just popped off and let the wind take it away.

The F-14 by the time I got in, were all worn out and in some cases jury rigged to keep flying. Thanks Chaney.

Awesome aircraft. Such a beautiful beast.