Starfleet Protocol: Secondary Protocol

SECONDARY PROTOCOL: Orders given by the head or acting head of a Government that allows the Military to take over a mission/installation/ or situation at a given point in time.
Secondary Protocol is a little known;and seldom used, top secret Starfleet policy that grants the power to any Ship, Vessel, or Starfleet Force the ability to completely militarize any Federation Starship, Starbase, or Installation during extreme crisis or emergency in order to secure and maintain the safety and well being of Federation Citizens. In fact, there is only one known instance of the activation of Secondary Protocol within Starfleet since before the formation of the Federation in 2161.

The Use of Secondary Protocol
In 2402, the Federation again played host to a number of delegates at the Babel Complex on Babylon; for what was then termed, the [|New Babel Talks]. Starfleet made an impressive show at the Talks, sending in three Starship's to keep watch over the Babel Complex, the Delegates, and all other's involved with the process. In the initial stages of the talks, disaster struck as Delegates from Romulus, Vulcan , and Qo'Nos were found murdered in their chambers. Shortly after the murder, scandal began to erupt surrounding Starfleet and it's officers and at the height of it all, the Commander and Chief; [|Admiral Theodore Robinson], was kidnapped from the Babel Complex. Upon learning of this, [|Admiral Donovan Montgomery] assumed the roll of Acting Commander and Chief and ordered the activation of the little known and archaic Secondary Protocol.

[|Captain Jesse Matthews]; commanding the Enterprise, was then forced to put Secondary Protocol into effect causing the New Babel Talks to disintegrate into a downward spiral of which the Media made a quick lunch. Little else is known about the incident at the New Babel Talks or the events that surround the incident itself.