Geordi's Authority

[indolover]

A doctor cannot take lead in a crisis, rank notwithstanding. Worf over Geordi made sense due to the fact that somebody had to man the engines.

[USS KG5]

indolover wrote:

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A doctor cannot take lead in a crisis, rank notwithstanding.

Apparently she can, see "Descent". She might not be first choice, and ranks below all the regular senior officers in the line of command, but Bev seems to be considered more suitable for the command than dozens of Lt. and even Lt. Cmdr. officers who are wandering around the Enterprise!

Of course the real reason is she is a regular character, and it is a TV show, but we are just messing!

Worf over Geordi made sense due to the fact that somebody had to man the engines.

Someone needed to man tactical as well, but it is fair to assume Worf was more disposable than Geordi. Geordi must be a very nice guy though because in his place, I'd be pissed at being passed over for a mere Lt.

[Timo]

Data and Geordi are of course equal in rank from season three onwards.

In real military hierarchies, the one reaching that rank earlier would have very clear-cut authority over the one reaching it later. That is, if the explicit need arose for one to have authority over the other. But the LaForge/Data relationship (professional or personal) never ran into issues where Data's hierarchical superiority would have been of relevance.

Bev seems to be considered more suitable for the command than dozens of Lt. and even Lt. Cmdr. officers who are wandering around the Enterprise!

In that particular incident, the competition supposedly wasn't aboard the ship; the highest-ranking person was a mustard-shirted Lieutenant.

Of course, Crusher wasn't assigned to stay aboard the ship because she would have been particularly valuable there; she was ordered to stay there because Picard didn't want her down on the planet, where the away teams faced the hopeless task of locating a needle in a haystack and then protecting themselves from its sharp stings while deprived of the usual technological support of an orbiting starship. Picard was rather clever to assign Crusher a duty that would make it impossible for her to depart the ship (without facing court martial); merely leaving her as the CMO would have left open the possibility that she would send herself down on a medical errand.

It was incredibly forced and tactically unsound, but it sort of made character-continuity sense.

Timo Saloniemi

[DanCPA]

LaForge, like all other department heads, commands in all aspects relating to his department. He reports to Riker. Data and Worf also report to Riker.

[Vanyel]

I kind of thought that as long as Picard and Riker were aboard Geordi had near total control of Engineering, and Data while in Engineering would be under Geordi's command. But if either Picard or Riker were off ship, Data position is Acting First Officer and makes his position higher than Geordi's.

[Nightdiamond]

I usually tend to think that Geordi is supposed to get command when Riker or Data isn't there.

But now, I'm beginning to think that Worf is the one they went to when they needed someone to take command if Data wasn't there.

In Genesis, when the crew is afflicted with the virus, it looks like Geordi, because he's asking Riker if he should order the ship to go to a higher security level.

The other is in Descent where you see Geordi sitting in the spot Crusher usually sits in.

But in those two cases Worf isn't available for some reason.

In Gambit, when Worf is there, he is automatically made the acting first officer by Data.

[Retu]

Nightdiamond wrote:

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I usually tend to think that Geordi is supposed to get command when Riker or Data isn't there.

But now, I'm beginning to think that Worf is the one they went to when they needed someone to take command after Data was gone.

In Genesis, when the crew is afflicted with the virus, it looks like Geordi, because he's asking Riker if he should order the ship to go to a higher security level.

The other is in Descent where you see Geordi sitting in the spot Crusher usually sits in.

But in those two cases Worf isn't available for some reason.

In Gambit, when Worf is there, he is automatically made the acting first officer by Data.

Also, in The Most Toys, Worf is the replacement OPS officer after Data is presumed to be dead.

[Nightdiamond]

Retu wrote:

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Also, in The Most Toys, Worf is the replacement OPS officer after Data is presumed to be dead.

True-- Troi called it a 'promotion' too, which would have put him right in the command track. In a way it makes sense since Worf was a bridge officer full time.

In some ways it doesn't, because early in the show it was stated Geordi had more experience.

Strangely, Geordi was the go-to guy if the top three were off the bridge during the first season.

Then after he got his two promotions, he wasn't left in command once AFIK-- it was either Worf or some other junior officer.

[rahullak]

I think that Data follows Geordi's orders in Engineering only when Data is carrying out Engineering related tasks, of which Geordi is the expert and commander.

Also, other commanding officers such as Picard, Riker and visiting ranking officers would have complete authority over Geordi over the larger decisions that need to be taken, while leaving the minutiae to him.

[LobsterAfternoon]

Not sure if anyone has addressed this, but does Data have command responsibilities when Picard/Riker are on the ship and on-duty or does his "second officer hat" so to speak, only get used when those two are not on-board/on-duty?

[Nightdiamond]

LobsterAfternoon wrote:

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Not sure if anyone has addressed this, but does Data have command responsibilities when Picard/Riker are on the ship and on-duty or does his "second officer hat" so to speak, only get used when those two are not on-board/on-duty?

I saw where he had the authority to confine a crewman to quarters or to order security take someone into custody--and this was when Picard and Riker on duty.

As with the visiting officers, I noticed that Cmder Shelby had the same rank as Data, but she was giving Data orders even though he's the ship second officer.

Shelby wore the red uniform that kind of suggested she had automatic authority or something.

[C.E. Evans]

Shelby's authority was backed by Admiral Hanson, IIRC. She was more or less there to lead the initial investigation of what happened at Jouret IV for Starfleet Tactical.

As far as Data filling when Picard and Riker aren't present, we saw a little of that in "Data's Day" when Data was in charge of the ship's graveyard shift.

[USS KG5]

Nightdiamond wrote:

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As with the visiting officers, I noticed that Cmder Shelby had the same rank as Data, but she was giving Data orders even though he's the ship second officer.

Shelby wore the red uniform that kind of suggested she had automatic authority or something.

Again it is her position, not rank. She was essentially inserted into the command crew by Hansen, and seems to report directly to Riker.

That said, it never comes to a crunch during the episode, it is quite likely Data would have listened to an Ensign Shelby at that point, nothing to lose!

[Melakon]

Data rarely pulled rank, too.

I seem to recall Picard in engineering once, with Geordi giving him instructions on how to do something. Maybe I'm mistaken. And it wasn't "Tapestry".

[Nightdiamond]

So far it seems that rank, division, position, and posting all have to do with who gets command and when.

You'd think they would clash, but they don't, at least most of the time.

When Riker got promoted to captain, he actually considered Worf for the position of first officer, before he even considered Data.

As second officer, it would be assumed that Data would automatically get the first officer position since it's like he's a first officer in training.

Riker totally skips this idea and considers promoting others.