I ask again: are the Enterprise crew cowards or incompetent?
Neither. They're competent who are simply following the chain of command on the Enterprise. You don't do anything unless the CO or XO tells you to. If there's an officer of the watch on duty, you obey their orders, but even they may not be authorized to respond to something like that without consulting the CO or XO.
She may have been given standing orders not to increase or decrease their current speed without prior authorization. Not unusual for the night shift where you have decreased crew on duty. Engineering doesn't need a full staff if you're not redlining the warp core.
You're talking about normal procedure; this is a bona fide emergency: people for whose welfare you are legally responsible are in immediate danger. The correct procedure is to sound battle stations, calling everyone to their stations, and go to maximum warp. Even warp 9 is too slow: at the speeds the Enterprise-F is capable of, they can be there before anybody even finishes a sentence. The officer of the watch has the authority to order this and then hand off command to the captain when he gets to the bridge.
It's a bona fide emergency from the freighter's perspective. But even then, it's possible the officer of the watch does not have the authority to bring the Enterprise into a hostile battlezone without consulting the XO first. Maybe Winters has a different strategy in mind.
Maybe he'd send the Aquarius (or Aquarius II) instead. Maybe he knew something about the U.S.S. Day that Kav didn't. There's any number of ways they could have gone about this. But that's his perogative.
Contrast a rather memorable scene in The Short Victorious War by David Weber when a Havenite battlecruiser squadron drops out of hyper right on top of a Manticoran dreadnought. The officer of the watch on the HMS Bellerophon at this time is a radioman, and he does exactly what I said: calls battle stations and then flattens the enemy squadron by basically going down a checklist. Fight's over before the captain even reaches the bridge.
Shon and Winters may do things differently on the Enterprise. Maybe Starfleet does things differently. Beverly Crusher and Data never made any of these decisions on the Enterprise-D during the night watch without Picard or Riker to greenlight it.
Kav already made the right call by getting the U.S.S. Day to respond to the distress call first. The Day was already closer to the freighter than Enterprise, and even though she was only a Miranda, she's still adequate as a first-response unit until Enterprise can show up.
Yellow alert and warp 9 after waiting to consult the XO? Don't make me laugh.
That's what Commanders and Captains are there for. That's why the night shift and bridge crews just don't do what they feel is the best idea while the CO and XO are asleep. There's a clear chain of Command to be followed even if they're asleep.
It's an emergency, but any emergency needs to be approached intelligently instead of in a panic. Enterprise was not the only ship out there, even though it was likely the best ship to respond. This means the officer of the watch is able to get the Day on scene first, while allowing Winters to get to the bridge and start issuing orders.
Look at the Enterprise-B for instance. Kirk ordered the ship to help the El-Aurians when the ship was clearly not prepared for it. Harriman didn't want to do it because he knew the ship was barely undergoing her sea trials.
We don't know what kind of shape the Enterprise-F was in. Or what they might be getting themselves into. If anyone is going to make that choice, it's going to be either Shon or Winters.
In comparison, Best of Both Worlds was a bona fide emergency, but even Riker was unwilling to burn himself and Shelby out trying to formulate a strategy with Data, and knew that trying to rescue Picard while they were exhausted was a dangerous idea, and not one he was willing to entertain -- even if lives were at stake, including Picard's.
I ask again: are the Enterprise crew cowards or incompetent?
Neither. They're competent who are simply following the chain of command on the Enterprise. You don't do anything unless the CO or XO tells you to. If there's an officer of the watch on duty, you obey their orders, but even they may not be authorized to respond to something like that without consulting the CO or XO.
She may have been given standing orders not to increase or decrease their current speed without prior authorization. Not unusual for the night shift where you have decreased crew on duty. Engineering doesn't need a full staff if you're not redlining the warp core.
This may come as a bit of a shock to you but there is no night shift on a starship. There's no night on a starship. At best you've got the pre-scheduled time of day in which the CO and XO are supposed to be getting rack time but are still subject to being called to the bridge for emergencies.
Realistically, it's going to work like the shifts on a submarine. Normal operations, they've got a few people working in every section 24/7/365. Emergency situations, everybody gets to their section regardless of what time of day it is.
You're talking about normal procedure; this is a bona fide emergency: people for whose welfare you are legally responsible are in immediate danger. The correct procedure is to sound battle stations, calling everyone to their stations, and go to maximum warp. Even warp 9 is too slow: at the speeds the Enterprise-F is capable of, they can be there before anybody even finishes a sentence. The officer of the watch has the authority to order this and then hand off command to the captain when he gets to the bridge.
It's a bona fide emergency from the freighter's perspective.
Stop right there. If it's a bona fide emergency from the perspective of a group of civilians who aren't supposed to be in combat in the first place, because they're civilians, then it should bloody better be a bona fide emergency for the Enterprise since it is Starfleet's job to protect them.
Contrast a rather memorable scene in The Short Victorious War by David Weber when a Havenite battlecruiser squadron drops out of hyper right on top of a Manticoran dreadnought. The officer of the watch on the HMS Bellerophon at this time is a radioman, and he does exactly what I said: calls battle stations and then flattens the enemy squadron by basically going down a checklist. Fight's over before the captain even reaches the bridge.
Shon and Winters may do things differently on the Enterprise. Maybe Starfleet does things differently. Beverly Crusher and Data never made any of these decisions on the Enterprise-D during the night watch without Picard or Riker to greenlight it.
Kav already made the right call by getting the U.S.S. Day to respond to the distress call first. The Day was already closer to the freighter than Enterprise, and even though she was only a Miranda, she's still adequate as a first-response unit until Enterprise can show up.
What part of "the Enterprise has quantum slipstream drive" escaped you? They don't have to wait for the USS Tin Can of the Week to mosey its slow TRIBBLE$ on over, they can be on-scene in less than a second and be vastly more effective. And by the way, in addition to being officer of the watch, as operations officer Jirelle Kav is third-in-command of the ship. By virtue of her position she has the authority to respond to an emergency without needing discuss it in committee.
Look at the Enterprise-B for instance. Kirk ordered the ship to help the El-Aurians when the ship was clearly not prepared for it. Harriman didn't want to do it because he knew the ship was barely undergoing her sea trials.
We don't know what kind of shape the Enterprise-F was in. Or what they might be getting themselves into. If anyone is going to make that choice, it's going to be either Shon or Winters.
In comparison, Best of Both Worlds was a bona fide emergency, but even Riker was unwilling to burn himself and Shelby out trying to formulate a strategy with Data, and knew that trying to rescue Picard while they were exhausted was a dangerous idea, and not one he was willing to entertain -- even if lives were at stake, including Picard's.
In order:
The Enterprise-B was only in that situation because every other ship in the Sol system somehow magically vanished into thin air. That scene is even worse in terms of Starfleet incompetence than this piece of TRIBBLE.
If the Enterprise-F was in such disrepair, why is that not stated? Certainly the weapons systems are explicitly stated to be fully operational.
I'm not even completely certain what scene you're talking about.
I wish you could better transfer that sense of despair and depression into the game. The alliance is appearently on the brink of losing the war. I would expect being involved in a desperate defensive war, escorting convoys full of refugees, evacuating border worlds etc. Instead we celebrate victory after victory (only exeption: house Pegh).
These tales of the war need to be part of the game, not hidden away in a subforum.
Contrast a rather memorable scene in The Short Victorious War by David Weber when a Havenite battlecruiser squadron drops out of hyper right on top of a Manticoran dreadnought. The officer of the watch on the HMS Bellerophon at this time is a radioman, and he does exactly what I said: calls battle stations and then flattens the enemy squadron by basically going down a checklist. Fight's over before the captain even reaches the bridge.
That is slightly different in that the above mentioned scenario was an immediate combat situation. The Enterprise however, is not in an immediate combat situation, they are responding to an emergency and the ship is not in immediate danger.
Although yes, Kev could have responded and she would not get in trouble for it, but she won't get in trouble for sticking to procedure either.
Asking about the weapon systems makes me wonder if the Enterprise already has some battle damage. If the captain has been spending a lot of time on the bridge, plus only flying at warp 6; could be possible.
"All major systems online" suggests to me that the engineers are able to keep things like the warp core and the phasers running well, but secondary systems have much lower priority.
I don't know if Cryptic will go as far as to destroy the Enterprise-F, but a refit feels very much on the cards.
Yeah, I doubt that they would destroy her but I would love a refit. The Ody is a brick to fly but I miss her.
This may come as a bit of a shock to you but there is no night shift on a starship. There's no night on a starship. At best you've got the pre-scheduled time of day in which the CO and XO are supposed to be getting rack time but are still subject to being called to the bridge for emergencies.
There are night shifts on starships and space stations. I believe DS9 even operated on Bajoran time (rather than a 24/7 time in Starfleet), and their work shifts were adjusted accordingly. If I remember right, the Enterprise-D worked in three shifts. The Alpha, Beta, and Gamma shifts. Just about every episode of TNG took place during the Alpha/Beta Shifts, with the Gamma Shift being left to Data, since he had no sleep requirement and did not suffer from fatigue. Beverly Crusher also took the Gamma shift from time to time because she had an interest in Command (which would later help land her in the Pasteur).
I use the term 'night shift' as a lay term. It's a period of maintenance and downtime. Like any other ship, yes, it does run 24/7 but the Gamma Shift does not do the same things that are done on the Alpha/Beta Shift.
When Jellico took over the Enterprise, I believe he transferred his own shift schedule from the Cairo, which was splitting the entire crew up into 4 shifts instead of 3. This was one of many sudden changes Jellico instituted that made Riker, Troi, and just about everyone else chafe under his command.
Realistically, it's going to work like the shifts on a submarine. Normal operations, they've got a few people working in every section 24/7/365. Emergency situations, everybody gets to their section regardless of what time of day it is.
Something like that, yes. Which is why it's important the officer of the watch alert the XO for orders. There are obviously going to be procedures she is going to have to follow. It's unlikely she is going to put the ship and crew in danger under her own authority. She is going to wake Winters up for this.
You're talking about normal procedure; this is a bona fide emergency: people for whose welfare you are legally responsible are in immediate danger. The correct procedure is to sound battle stations, calling everyone to their stations, and go to maximum warp. Even warp 9 is too slow: at the speeds the Enterprise-F is capable of, they can be there before anybody even finishes a sentence. The officer of the watch has the authority to order this and then hand off command to the captain when he gets to the bridge.
If Starfleet is anything like international maritime law, yes, the ship is required to investigate a distress signal. But there are usually addendums to that -- which likely include whether or not the ship is capable of it. A ship that is heavily damaged, has fatigued crew, or inoperable or insufficient facilities are likely not required to investigate the distress signal because they themselves might be subjecting themselves to danger.
Emergency response teams have a legal obligation to protect themselves. If they rush into a firefight as a panic reflex, Kav could be held liable for endangering the ship. She could do more harm than good without consulting the XO first.
Stop right there. If it's a bona fide emergency from the perspective of a group of civilians who aren't supposed to be in combat in the first place, because they're civilians, then it should bloody better be a bona fide emergency for the Enterprise since it is Starfleet's job to protect them.
Incorrect. Like Kirk stated (repeatedly) in TOS, he was concerned about the safety of the Enteprise first, and everybody else second. Picard, Janeway, Sisko, etc. did not have that command style.
An emergency for a freighter is going to be handled different from an emergency for the Enterprise. If there was a danger to the Enterprise, yes, I fully believe Kav would be authorized to take emergency actions and break any standing orders if it was a life-or-death situation.
But Enterprise isn't the ship in danger. This bolian freighter is. Procedures need to be observed, and Kav doesn't seem the sort to break procedure because of an emotional panic response. The Day is already ahead of Enterprise. 4 minutes away. That's 4 minutes that are being used to get Winters up on the bridge. Whatever emergency there ends up being, the Day, despite being a frigate, is likely equipped with facilities to handle a first-response situation. Not sustainable, obviously. But it gives Enterprise some breathing room on how best to approach the situation.
What part of "the Enterprise has quantum slipstream drive" escaped you? They don't have to wait for the USS Tin Can of the Week to mosey its slow TRIBBLE$ on over, they can be on-scene in less than a second and be vastly more effective. And by the way, in addition to being officer of the watch, as operations officer Jirelle Kav is third-in-command of the ship. By virtue of her position she has the authority to respond to an emergency without needing discuss it in committee.
I think that's more of a flaw with the writing of these blogs. It's the same reason why I think it's ludicrous we need the Solanae and Jenolan Dyson Spheres to get to the Delta Quadrant, when we have active transwarp and quantum slipstream drive technologies that can also get us there.
I don't think the Enterprise-F has ever been shown to use their quantum slipstream drive, but I could be wrong. Maybe it robs the story of its sense of desperation if you consider the ship can just magically teleport to the freighter. I don't know. I'm not a writer for the Tales of War.
But space magicing a solution for the freighter kind of cheapens the story. Kind of like using temporal warfare to hand-wavium the Iconian threat away. Sure, we could use any number of Deus ex Machinas at any given time. Bounce a particle beam off the deflector dish. But if this follows Star Trek storytelling, they have to do everything else first before having their "Eureka!" moment.
You aren't wrong. But the story would be a lot more boring if it just ended with Kav hitting the QSSD and appearing on top of the freighter. Beaming all the things aboard, then warping away before anything happened.
The Enterprise-B was only in that situation because every other ship in the Sol system somehow magically vanished into thin air. That scene is even worse in terms of Starfleet incompetence than this piece of TRIBBLE.
If the Enterprise-F was in such disrepair, why is that not stated? Certainly the weapons systems are explicitly stated to be fully operational.
I'm not even completely certain what scene you're talking about.
Yes, the Enterprise-B thing was horrible storytelling. But the point is it was the only ship out there (again, really dumb), but the Enterprise-F isn't the only ship out there. There's a Miranda-class piece of space cardboard and a few other freighters in the area. The situation is not as dire.
I didn't state the Enterprise-F was in disrepair. I'm just saying the state of the Enterprise-F is ambiguous at best. If the ship itself isn't in disrepair, maybe the crew are fatigued and exhausted. We know for a fact Shon is, as he's been overexerting himself with 36 hour shifts. It's not unreasonable to assume others have been put into similar battle-ready positions enough already.
Another emergency call will just stress everybody else out more. Which is why Winters wasn't going to alert Shon until they got there.
As for the scene in question... Best of Both Worlds wasn't just about the Battle of Wolf 359. It was about whether or not Riker was ready to command a starship. Shelby was a spitfire, extremely gung-ho and unwilling to rest until this Borg threat was dealt with.
In the scene, Riker, Data, and Shelby are standing in Engineering/Operations where Data and LaForge usually hang out. They've been there for a really long time going over solutions against the Borg (rememeber, this was the first engagement against them, so they were really flying blind).
Riker says they need to break and get some sleep despite Shelby's enthusiasm that they can find a solution that night. Riker says he's not willing to go into battle against the Borg with the command crew of the Enterprise-D exhausted and tells Shelby to give it a rest. Shelby says that maybe she and Data could work together then -- since Riker needs to sleep. She mentions that because Data doesn't need to sleep, the two of them can spend the rest of the time going over solutions.
Riker says no to that, since he also feels Shelby is getting stressed out and exhausted and also needs to sleep.
The third or fourth officer of a ship would not have the authority to order the ship into a combat zone, especially against an enemy on the scale of the Heralds. Heck, if Shon wasn't on medical downtime he'd have been called to the bridge along with Winters.
I ask again: are the Enterprise crew cowards or incompetent?
You're talking about normal procedure; this is a bona fide emergency: people for whose welfare you are legally responsible are in immediate danger. The correct procedure is to sound battle stations, calling everyone to their stations, and go to maximum warp. Even warp 9 is too slow: at the speeds the Enterprise-F is capable of, they can be there before anybody even finishes a sentence. The officer of the watch has the authority to order this and then hand off command to the captain when he gets to the bridge.
Contrast a rather memorable scene in The Short Victorious War by David Weber when a Havenite battlecruiser squadron drops out of hyper right on top of a Manticoran dreadnought. The officer of the watch on the HMS Bellerophon at this time is a radioman, and he does exactly what I said: calls battle stations and then flattens the enemy squadron by basically going down a checklist. Fight's over before the captain even reaches the bridge.
Yellow alert and warp 9 after waiting to consult the XO? Don't make me laugh. If that's how the Federation flagship handles emergencies it's no wonder the Iconians are winning. And I thought House Pegh was bad.
The answer to your question: no, they aren't, you can't just bypass the command, and Weber is a horrible horrible example to cite, this isn't badly written mil sci-fi. In addition, warp 9 actually isn't that fast, in general, star trek speeds are speed-of-plot. While this would be bad in say, the Honorverse, Star Trek isn't that. Never has been. Doesn't pretend to be.
I enjoyed this read. I agree with some that the state of the Enterprise should have been more apparent. One or more Enterprise tales, previous to this one, would have been nice. If for no other reason than to better define Shon's command behavior, which lead to his mandatory down time. Otherwise, I thought the bridge officer behavior was written just fine.
I would've formatted the blog a bit more dramatically. The shattered, Starfleet arrowhead is certainly foreshadowing of something about to go badly. But not enough imagery for a tale of our current flagship. I would have enlarged and italicized that distress call text all alone at the top.
And definitely add a picture of Enterprise-F at Warp at the bottom. I searched google and found this one:
(/\) Exploring Star Trek Online Since July 2008 (/\)
Asking about the weapon systems makes me wonder if the Enterprise already has some battle damage. If the captain has been spending a lot of time on the bridge, plus only flying at warp 6; could be possible.
I don't know if Cryptic will go as far as to destroy the Enterprise-F, but a refit feels very much on the cards.
oh how I've Dreamed of this a refit at Last at least i hope
I ask again: are the Enterprise crew cowards or incompetent?
You're talking about normal procedure; this is a bona fide emergency: people for whose welfare you are legally responsible are in immediate danger. The correct procedure is to sound battle stations, calling everyone to their stations, and go to maximum warp. Even warp 9 is too slow: at the speeds the Enterprise-F is capable of, they can be there before anybody even finishes a sentence. The officer of the watch has the authority to order this and then hand off command to the captain when he gets to the bridge.
Contrast a rather memorable scene in The Short Victorious War by David Weber when a Havenite battlecruiser squadron drops out of hyper right on top of a Manticoran dreadnought. The officer of the watch on the HMS Bellerophon at this time is a radioman, and he does exactly what I said: calls battle stations and then flattens the enemy squadron by basically going down a checklist. Fight's over before the captain even reaches the bridge.
Yellow alert and warp 9 after waiting to consult the XO? Don't make me laugh. If that's how the Federation flagship handles emergencies it's no wonder the Iconians are winning. And I thought House Pegh was bad.
Have you ever watched any of the Star Treks? I mean, seriously, any of them?
This can't be reiterated enough. There's an enormous disconnect between the hype around the Iconian War, and its apparent absence in STO itself. I'm kind of impressed, actually, that most commenting on this have arrived at a consensus that the obvious fix would be to add Red Alert events involving Heralds.
Today we also had an announcement for the "Year of Hell" lockboxes, and for a moment, I had hopes that we'd have a really interesting plot twist in which the Alliance deploys the Weapon, but fails to predict what would actually happen, and we get a radically transformed STO universe until we find a way to undo it. I suppose that's too much to hope for, though.
Lieutanant Kav, and her "I'm here to help" comment on Bajor, easily one of the most annoying characters on STO. if shes getting involved in the next FE... would sooner eat a phaser rifle.
She was the ONLY person I liked on Bajor in that episode. The one I wanted to kill was that insubordinate bimbo Commander Achebe. We aren't Academy Cadets by the time we meet her. Or even at (or below) her rank. How DARE she address my three Vice Admirals and my Lt. General as she did! "Give me a sit rep," indeed! Her dialogue should have been laced with a lot of "sirs" and polite, subordinate requests, instead of curt, arrogant bullying. Five minutes after beaming to Bajor, any real flag officer subjected to that from a mere Commander would have had her in the stockade or (charitably) in hospital undergoing psych exams for PTSD. Kav was at least properly respectful and deferential while giving the PC missions. If only the rest of the arrogant lowbie quest givers were like her!
The crew of the Enterprise-F reacted just like I'd expect any other group of filthy civilian ROTC washouts with PhD's (read: typical Federation "officers") to respond to a crisis situation. The completely choke, fall back completely on The Book, do everything in their power to pass the buck, and wait for an adult to show up.
"So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again."
-Dedication plaque of the Federation Starship U.S.S. Merkava
The Enterprise-B was only in that situation because every other ship in the Sol system somehow magically vanished into thin air. That scene is even worse in terms of Starfleet incompetence than this piece of TRIBBLE.
If I recall correctly, they used the "only ship available in the Sol system" in at least three movies, and it strained credulity the first time.
Nice story and that fractured chevron looks awesome and really sets the mood for some grim war stories.
But once again it just reads like stuff missing from the game....
Srsly, this exact scenario could have been the premise for iconian deep space encounters.
Hey guys, how about showing some gratitude to pwlaughingtrendy for making this blog?
Seriously nice work and fine reading Trendy and i liked the broken glass chevron too. Keep up the good work!
Lieutanant Kav, and her "I'm here to help" comment on Bajor, easily one of the most annoying characters on STO. if shes getting involved in the next FE... would sooner eat a phaser rifle.
She was the ONLY person I liked on Bajor in that episode. The one I wanted to kill was that insubordinate bimbo Commander Achebe. We aren't Academy Cadets by the time we meet her. Or even at (or below) her rank. How DARE she address my three Vice Admirals and my Lt. General as she did! "Give me a sit rep," indeed! Her dialogue should have been laced with a lot of "sirs" and polite, subordinate requests, instead of curt, arrogant bullying. Five minutes after beaming to Bajor, any real flag officer subjected to that from a mere Commander would have had her in the stockade or (charitably) in hospital undergoing psych exams for PTSD. Kav was at least properly respectful and deferential while giving the PC missions. If only the rest of the arrogant lowbie quest givers were like her!
THANK YOU. Everyone hates on Jirelle Kav, when IMO she's one of the most pleasant characters in-game. She speaks respectfully to KDF toons, unlike Achebe or the DS9 traffic controller ("I'm here to help" vs "Gimme a sitrep"). She doesn't order us admirals and generals around, she requests our assistance.
Your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved 800 lives, including your mother's, and yours.
Lieutanant Kav, and her "I'm here to help" comment on Bajor, easily one of the most annoying characters on STO. if shes getting involved in the next FE... would sooner eat a phaser rifle.
She was the ONLY person I liked on Bajor in that episode. The one I wanted to kill was that insubordinate bimbo Commander Achebe. We aren't Academy Cadets by the time we meet her. Or even at (or below) her rank. How DARE she address my three Vice Admirals and my Lt. General as she did! "Give me a sit rep," indeed! Her dialogue should have been laced with a lot of "sirs" and polite, subordinate requests, instead of curt, arrogant bullying. Five minutes after beaming to Bajor, any real flag officer subjected to that from a mere Commander would have had her in the stockade or (charitably) in hospital undergoing psych exams for PTSD. Kav was at least properly respectful and deferential while giving the PC missions. If only the rest of the arrogant lowbie quest givers were like her!
THANK YOU. Everyone hates on Jirelle Kav, when IMO she's one of the most pleasant characters in-game. She speaks respectfully to KDF toons, unlike Achebe or the DS9 traffic controller ("I'm here to help" vs "Gimme a sitrep"). She doesn't order us admirals and generals around, she requests our assistance.
Considering that the Klingons and Federation are de jure still at war at that point (if not de facto) and that the Klingons have been committing war crimes left and right, I think Achebe and the other Federation officers involved can be excused for being a little cheesed off at them. Frankly, Kav is the odd one out in that respect.
Considering that the Klingons and Federation are de jure still at war at that point (if not de facto) and that the Klingons have been committing war crimes left and right, I think Achebe and the other Federation officers involved can be excused for being a little cheesed off at them. Frankly, Kav is the odd one out in that respect.
But also, considering that Starfleet and the KDF are in the midst of a joint operation against the Dominion, treating your ally (if only temporary ally) respectfully is sort of a smart thing to do. Also, this doesn't excuse the mouthy ones from speaking to their allied superior officers like that.
Your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved 800 lives, including your mother's, and yours.
Comments
Neither. They're competent who are simply following the chain of command on the Enterprise. You don't do anything unless the CO or XO tells you to. If there's an officer of the watch on duty, you obey their orders, but even they may not be authorized to respond to something like that without consulting the CO or XO.
She may have been given standing orders not to increase or decrease their current speed without prior authorization. Not unusual for the night shift where you have decreased crew on duty. Engineering doesn't need a full staff if you're not redlining the warp core.
It's a bona fide emergency from the freighter's perspective. But even then, it's possible the officer of the watch does not have the authority to bring the Enterprise into a hostile battlezone without consulting the XO first. Maybe Winters has a different strategy in mind.
Maybe he'd send the Aquarius (or Aquarius II) instead. Maybe he knew something about the U.S.S. Day that Kav didn't. There's any number of ways they could have gone about this. But that's his perogative.
Shon and Winters may do things differently on the Enterprise. Maybe Starfleet does things differently. Beverly Crusher and Data never made any of these decisions on the Enterprise-D during the night watch without Picard or Riker to greenlight it.
Kav already made the right call by getting the U.S.S. Day to respond to the distress call first. The Day was already closer to the freighter than Enterprise, and even though she was only a Miranda, she's still adequate as a first-response unit until Enterprise can show up.
That's what Commanders and Captains are there for. That's why the night shift and bridge crews just don't do what they feel is the best idea while the CO and XO are asleep. There's a clear chain of Command to be followed even if they're asleep.
It's an emergency, but any emergency needs to be approached intelligently instead of in a panic. Enterprise was not the only ship out there, even though it was likely the best ship to respond. This means the officer of the watch is able to get the Day on scene first, while allowing Winters to get to the bridge and start issuing orders.
Look at the Enterprise-B for instance. Kirk ordered the ship to help the El-Aurians when the ship was clearly not prepared for it. Harriman didn't want to do it because he knew the ship was barely undergoing her sea trials.
We don't know what kind of shape the Enterprise-F was in. Or what they might be getting themselves into. If anyone is going to make that choice, it's going to be either Shon or Winters.
In comparison, Best of Both Worlds was a bona fide emergency, but even Riker was unwilling to burn himself and Shelby out trying to formulate a strategy with Data, and knew that trying to rescue Picard while they were exhausted was a dangerous idea, and not one he was willing to entertain -- even if lives were at stake, including Picard's.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
Realistically, it's going to work like the shifts on a submarine. Normal operations, they've got a few people working in every section 24/7/365. Emergency situations, everybody gets to their section regardless of what time of day it is.
Stop right there. If it's a bona fide emergency from the perspective of a group of civilians who aren't supposed to be in combat in the first place, because they're civilians, then it should bloody better be a bona fide emergency for the Enterprise since it is Starfleet's job to protect them.
What part of "the Enterprise has quantum slipstream drive" escaped you? They don't have to wait for the USS Tin Can of the Week to mosey its slow TRIBBLE$ on over, they can be on-scene in less than a second and be vastly more effective. And by the way, in addition to being officer of the watch, as operations officer Jirelle Kav is third-in-command of the ship. By virtue of her position she has the authority to respond to an emergency without needing discuss it in committee.
In order:
These tales of the war need to be part of the game, not hidden away in a subforum.
That is slightly different in that the above mentioned scenario was an immediate combat situation. The Enterprise however, is not in an immediate combat situation, they are responding to an emergency and the ship is not in immediate danger.
Although yes, Kev could have responded and she would not get in trouble for it, but she won't get in trouble for sticking to procedure either.
Yeah, I doubt that they would destroy her but I would love a refit. The Ody is a brick to fly but I miss her.
There are night shifts on starships and space stations. I believe DS9 even operated on Bajoran time (rather than a 24/7 time in Starfleet), and their work shifts were adjusted accordingly. If I remember right, the Enterprise-D worked in three shifts. The Alpha, Beta, and Gamma shifts. Just about every episode of TNG took place during the Alpha/Beta Shifts, with the Gamma Shift being left to Data, since he had no sleep requirement and did not suffer from fatigue. Beverly Crusher also took the Gamma shift from time to time because she had an interest in Command (which would later help land her in the Pasteur).
I use the term 'night shift' as a lay term. It's a period of maintenance and downtime. Like any other ship, yes, it does run 24/7 but the Gamma Shift does not do the same things that are done on the Alpha/Beta Shift.
When Jellico took over the Enterprise, I believe he transferred his own shift schedule from the Cairo, which was splitting the entire crew up into 4 shifts instead of 3. This was one of many sudden changes Jellico instituted that made Riker, Troi, and just about everyone else chafe under his command.
Something like that, yes. Which is why it's important the officer of the watch alert the XO for orders. There are obviously going to be procedures she is going to have to follow. It's unlikely she is going to put the ship and crew in danger under her own authority. She is going to wake Winters up for this.
If Starfleet is anything like international maritime law, yes, the ship is required to investigate a distress signal. But there are usually addendums to that -- which likely include whether or not the ship is capable of it. A ship that is heavily damaged, has fatigued crew, or inoperable or insufficient facilities are likely not required to investigate the distress signal because they themselves might be subjecting themselves to danger.
Emergency response teams have a legal obligation to protect themselves. If they rush into a firefight as a panic reflex, Kav could be held liable for endangering the ship. She could do more harm than good without consulting the XO first.
Incorrect. Like Kirk stated (repeatedly) in TOS, he was concerned about the safety of the Enteprise first, and everybody else second. Picard, Janeway, Sisko, etc. did not have that command style.
An emergency for a freighter is going to be handled different from an emergency for the Enterprise. If there was a danger to the Enterprise, yes, I fully believe Kav would be authorized to take emergency actions and break any standing orders if it was a life-or-death situation.
But Enterprise isn't the ship in danger. This bolian freighter is. Procedures need to be observed, and Kav doesn't seem the sort to break procedure because of an emotional panic response. The Day is already ahead of Enterprise. 4 minutes away. That's 4 minutes that are being used to get Winters up on the bridge. Whatever emergency there ends up being, the Day, despite being a frigate, is likely equipped with facilities to handle a first-response situation. Not sustainable, obviously. But it gives Enterprise some breathing room on how best to approach the situation.
I think that's more of a flaw with the writing of these blogs. It's the same reason why I think it's ludicrous we need the Solanae and Jenolan Dyson Spheres to get to the Delta Quadrant, when we have active transwarp and quantum slipstream drive technologies that can also get us there.
I don't think the Enterprise-F has ever been shown to use their quantum slipstream drive, but I could be wrong. Maybe it robs the story of its sense of desperation if you consider the ship can just magically teleport to the freighter. I don't know. I'm not a writer for the Tales of War.
But space magicing a solution for the freighter kind of cheapens the story. Kind of like using temporal warfare to hand-wavium the Iconian threat away. Sure, we could use any number of Deus ex Machinas at any given time. Bounce a particle beam off the deflector dish. But if this follows Star Trek storytelling, they have to do everything else first before having their "Eureka!" moment.
You aren't wrong. But the story would be a lot more boring if it just ended with Kav hitting the QSSD and appearing on top of the freighter. Beaming all the things aboard, then warping away before anything happened.
Yes, the Enterprise-B thing was horrible storytelling. But the point is it was the only ship out there (again, really dumb), but the Enterprise-F isn't the only ship out there. There's a Miranda-class piece of space cardboard and a few other freighters in the area. The situation is not as dire.
I didn't state the Enterprise-F was in disrepair. I'm just saying the state of the Enterprise-F is ambiguous at best. If the ship itself isn't in disrepair, maybe the crew are fatigued and exhausted. We know for a fact Shon is, as he's been overexerting himself with 36 hour shifts. It's not unreasonable to assume others have been put into similar battle-ready positions enough already.
Another emergency call will just stress everybody else out more. Which is why Winters wasn't going to alert Shon until they got there.
As for the scene in question... Best of Both Worlds wasn't just about the Battle of Wolf 359. It was about whether or not Riker was ready to command a starship. Shelby was a spitfire, extremely gung-ho and unwilling to rest until this Borg threat was dealt with.
In the scene, Riker, Data, and Shelby are standing in Engineering/Operations where Data and LaForge usually hang out. They've been there for a really long time going over solutions against the Borg (rememeber, this was the first engagement against them, so they were really flying blind).
Riker says they need to break and get some sleep despite Shelby's enthusiasm that they can find a solution that night. Riker says he's not willing to go into battle against the Borg with the command crew of the Enterprise-D exhausted and tells Shelby to give it a rest. Shelby says that maybe she and Data could work together then -- since Riker needs to sleep. She mentions that because Data doesn't need to sleep, the two of them can spend the rest of the time going over solutions.
Riker says no to that, since he also feels Shelby is getting stressed out and exhausted and also needs to sleep.
The answer to your question: no, they aren't, you can't just bypass the command, and Weber is a horrible horrible example to cite, this isn't badly written mil sci-fi. In addition, warp 9 actually isn't that fast, in general, star trek speeds are speed-of-plot. While this would be bad in say, the Honorverse, Star Trek isn't that. Never has been. Doesn't pretend to be.
Also, ITT: "But my immersion!!"
I would've formatted the blog a bit more dramatically. The shattered, Starfleet arrowhead is certainly foreshadowing of something about to go badly. But not enough imagery for a tale of our current flagship. I would have enlarged and italicized that distress call text all alone at the top.
And definitely add a picture of Enterprise-F at Warp at the bottom. I searched google and found this one:
oh how I've Dreamed of this a refit at Last
Have you ever watched any of the Star Treks? I mean, seriously, any of them?
Gimme T6 Ody now!!!
Today we also had an announcement for the "Year of Hell" lockboxes, and for a moment, I had hopes that we'd have a really interesting plot twist in which the Alliance deploys the Weapon, but fails to predict what would actually happen, and we get a radically transformed STO universe until we find a way to undo it. I suppose that's too much to hope for, though.
She was the ONLY person I liked on Bajor in that episode. The one I wanted to kill was that insubordinate bimbo Commander Achebe. We aren't Academy Cadets by the time we meet her. Or even at (or below) her rank. How DARE she address my three Vice Admirals and my Lt. General as she did! "Give me a sit rep," indeed! Her dialogue should have been laced with a lot of "sirs" and polite, subordinate requests, instead of curt, arrogant bullying. Five minutes after beaming to Bajor, any real flag officer subjected to that from a mere Commander would have had her in the stockade or (charitably) in hospital undergoing psych exams for PTSD. Kav was at least properly respectful and deferential while giving the PC missions. If only the rest of the arrogant lowbie quest givers were like her!
-Dedication plaque of the Federation Starship U.S.S. Merkava
If I recall correctly, they used the "only ship available in the Sol system" in at least three movies, and it strained credulity the first time.
But once again it just reads like stuff missing from the game....
Srsly, this exact scenario could have been the premise for iconian deep space encounters.
Mike Okuda once theorized that the other ships just stayed away when the Enterprise was in the area it's the only one available so often.
Seconding that I really like the feeling coming across in the blogs, really enjoy the blogs, and wish the feeling was translating better to the game.
Member Access Denied Armada!
My forum single-issue of rage: Make the Proton Experimental Weapon go for subsystem targetting!
Hey guys, how about showing some gratitude to pwlaughingtrendy for making this blog?
Seriously nice work and fine reading Trendy and i liked the broken glass chevron too. Keep up the good work!
THANK YOU. Everyone hates on Jirelle Kav, when IMO she's one of the most pleasant characters in-game. She speaks respectfully to KDF toons, unlike Achebe or the DS9 traffic controller ("I'm here to help" vs "Gimme a sitrep"). She doesn't order us admirals and generals around, she requests our assistance.
Your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved 800 lives, including your mother's, and yours.
I dare you to do better.
Considering that the Klingons and Federation are de jure still at war at that point (if not de facto) and that the Klingons have been committing war crimes left and right, I think Achebe and the other Federation officers involved can be excused for being a little cheesed off at them. Frankly, Kav is the odd one out in that respect.
But also, considering that Starfleet and the KDF are in the midst of a joint operation against the Dominion, treating your ally (if only temporary ally) respectfully is sort of a smart thing to do. Also, this doesn't excuse the mouthy ones from speaking to their allied superior officers like that.
Your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved 800 lives, including your mother's, and yours.
I dare you to do better.