The Replacement First Officer

I knew that there was something wrong as I was writing that.

 

Madden isn't canon - just a character in a deleted scene.

The post-NEM novels from Pocket Books have Worf returnin' to the Picard's crew as the first officer.

 

In my head Worf is still the Federation Ambassador to the Klingon Empire, he just took some leave from his duties to attend the Riker-Troi wedding. He then thought for old time's sake he'd get back into uniform and give the E-E's Security Chief a break for a couple of weeks.

Once NEM ended, he said farewell to the E-E and returned to Qo'noS to resume his ambassadorial duties and hunting targs with Chancellor Martok. Doing it that way makes me feel much better about that one glaring plot hole--especially since his career in Starfleet has probably gone as far as it could (need I mention firing on an unidentified ship decloaking, sacrificing a key source of intelligence to save his wife).

 

As a preference, I would have liked to see a new character from "off the ship" come in as the replacement first officer.

Someone with a different personality and style from Riker, so that we were not simply getting Riker 2.0.

 

I recently watched Insurrection and First Conact. I've long since lost track of any DS9/TNG continuity so the couple of throwaway lines (particularly in Ins) that bring Worf back on board suited me fine.

 

Data

 

I tend to think Worf would have gotten bored as an Ambassador really quickly and found his way back to the action one way or another.

I imagine one day, Worf enters his office to see a stack of paperwork. He works on it for an hour and starts to fidget. Two hours more, the stack is barely half empty. Two hours more, he takes a bat'leth to the stack, marches back into Starfleet HQ and says "I saved the Federation a billion times, make me a Captain".

 

I think it really would be Data as the new XO with Ops being minimized in dramatic importance and filled by different officers like Conn ultimately was after Ro left.

 

Data would be too much of a 'Spock-Lite'- the characters are pretty close and TNG is always trying to distance itself from the TOS structures. Worf is good, but we also saw him resign his Starfleet commission then having to choose between Klingon Honor and the Federation.
I vote for Shelby- she thinks outside the box and has initiative.

 

Being honest, I never thought it made sense that the Federation would appoint him as Federation Ambassador to the Klingon Empire (and it wouldn't be a Starfleet matter, so Ross & Sisko wouldn't have the final say).

It would be like the UK appointing an adoptive son of Obama as British Ambassador to the USA. If that hypothetical son had previously played a key role in Obama's election campaign.

 

I could have very easily seen Worf being frustrated at being in the diplomatic corps and returning to Starfleet. I don't have a problem with that, though really one or two lines of exposition in Nemesis would've explained that. Or that he just was back for the wedding.

 

Worf probably is the best person suited to be the Federation ambassador to Qo'noS. He is a Klingon and also a Federation citizen as he was adopted by the Rozhenkos (he's probably listed as Worf Rozhenko in the adoption file, IMO). If there's anyone who understands the needs of both the Klingons and the Federation, it's Worf.

 

Yes, but he also put Martok on the throne, and couldn't even get married without the permission of Martok's wife. You can't see a great honking conflict of interest there?

At the very least he'd need to leave the House of Martok. And I doubt that would be enough for the Federation Council.

 

Only if Worf was intending to serve on the Klingon High Council. Otherwise, as a Federation official, Worf's background would make him ideal as the person to maintain good relations & communications between the Empire and the Federation, which is likely all his job entailed.

I don't think so at all. Worf's personal connection to Martok probably would be considered an asset to his position.

 

When Curzon Dax was the UFP Ambassador to the Empire, he became godfather to the son of a prominent military commander (namely Kang), who held enough power in the Empire to play a key role in negotiations between the two governments. That friendship led to a Blood Oath and lasted over two lifetimes.

Picard played a pivotal role in appointing the previous Chancellor, and he was more than a little bias--having negative feelings towards Duras, who appointment would most likely have damaged/destroyed Klingon-Federation relations.

Fostering good, personal relations between the Federation and Klingons would be key to ensuring stability between them. Worf being in Matrok's House would probably put him in a better position, being a metaphoric bridge between his status as a UFP citizen and the Klingon Chancellor.

 

^

Remember the old Vulcan proverb, "Only Nixon could go to China."

 

Until Martok gets assassinated. Then he's a liability.

 

That's politics for you. You're the flavor of the month until someone gets happy with a bat'leth.