Chapter 63 - What is "Mission Creep?" p. 1
Added 2025-09-14 01:00:05 +0000 UTC“Ah,” Data interjected quietly. “I believe our term for this phenomenon is ‘mission drift’… or perhaps ‘mission creep.’”
“I’m unfamiliar with that term, Data,” Crusher admitted.
“Ideally, an organization’s mission should guide both its grand strategy and its day-to-day choices,” Data explained. “When that alignment breaks down, the organization risks losing sight of its core purpose—and, eventually, its very identity.”
“Is that always a bad thing?” Deanna asked.
“Not necessarily,” Riker replied. “Starfleet has to adapt. The needs of the Federation evolve and change, and we’d be foolish not to change with them.”
“I strongly disagree, Commander,” Jellico said, his tone sharp, almost cutting. “Starfleet hasn’t just drifted like a ship that has lost main power—we’ve self-righteously set course in the opposite direction, we have abandoned the very skills and focus that define us. We’ve traded the ability to fight and defend for diplomacy and exploration, and we fool ourselves if we think that won’t come back to bite us, that it doesn’t come with a terrible cost. It already has, both during the Cardassian War and the Hur’q Invasion. I fought on the frontlines of the Cardassian War—I’ve seen competent officers die because we were too slow to act, too timid to wield the power at our disposal. The Federation is safer when Starfleet knows its purpose—and right now, we’ve forgotten it. This is weakness disguised as evolution and progress.”
