Starfleet General Orders and Regulations Starfleet General Orders and Regulations were a series of guidelines used to instruct members of Starfleet on the proper etiquette and policy in a situation that required consultation for a resolution . These protocols were the foundation of Starfleet and the responsibility of its officer s to uphold and protect , ranging from all manners of duty , such as interstellar diplomacy to punctuation of report s . Violations of protocol could have led to being placed on report , a court martial , demotion of rank , or other reprimands . These guidelines ' fundamental principles were integral for Starfleet officers to help avoid conflicts of interest , ( ) including one ' s duty to the truth . ( ) Guidelines were useful in many situations , including when flag officer s could not be consulted to resolve a situation . ( ) Several of the first one - hundred - plus Starfleet Orders were used by the United Earth Starfleet prior to the founding of the Federation . ( ) As of 2366 , there were no regulations prohibiting the unauthorized recreation of Starfleet personnel on the holodeck . ( ) Appendices . Background information . As referred to in the revised final draft script of , " Regulations 7 , Subsection D " related to courts martial . It did not allow the defense to call a witness to provide testimony prior to the prosecution resting its case . The regulation was cited by Areel Shaw during Kirk ' s court martial at Starbase 11 . In the revised final draft script of , " Protocol ' B " was said to regulate how crew members could access all power components on a starship if they were no longer deemed reliable . The has a picture of a prop made for Admiral Christopher Pike ' s office in . This prop has text for the first three Starfleet General Orders . The prop might or might not have appeared in the film . These general orders were written by Chris Gray and modified by Chris St . John . " " The text was slightly edited by the individual who made the prop for the film . " The only death penalty " . Varying statements about the status of the death penalty in the Federation and General Orders regarding it have been given in the " Star Trek " canon . Notably , both General Order 4 and General Order 7 were said to be the only death penalty left at different times . Further complicating the situation , in admiral Katrina Cornwell , while explaining the Starfleet ' s policy on prisoners of war to L ' Rell that " the Federation has no death penalty " . This episode is set in late 2256 or early 2257 , after Pike ' s visit to Talos IV but before " The Menagerie " , thus making it unclear as to when the death penalty for visiting Talos IV was established . Regarding the two General Orders each stated to be the only death penalty , if relations with the Talosian s have not changed , it could be that one of the two General Orders might have been made to include other planets which might be a threat to the Federation like Talos IV . It is also possible that , in " Turnabout Intruder " , Chekov misspoke . In the PC game " " , the computer states General Order 4 is sometimes confused with General Order 7 and the death penalty associated with it more generally refers to high treason .