Personally I was more invested in Strange New Worlds characters by three episodes in than I was for the whole 2 and a half seasons I trudged through of Discovery.
I said I was enjoying it.
I will say the biggest surprise for me so far is that the parallels and homages were so obvious I really thought it had to be misdirection. But nope, playing it straight.
Starfleet.Thought episode 2 was slow, boring and predictable.
And "we are lowering our shields to let you scan our weapons"?! Who doesn't say "okay... fire phasers!"?
Agreed.
I'm pretty sure there are plenty in Starfleet who would. They are outside of any claimed space, responding to a distress signal, being threatened by obvious pirates without any political backing. Firing first would clearly be acting in preservation of life, is justified, and is legal.
We don't know what's legal for Starfleet but I should be shocked to find that shooting first is allowed.
