Married Starfleet Officers and Senoir Staff

[Orion's Belt 27]

I know the title sounds weird, but what I'm driving at with my question is this:

If two Starfleet officers are married, and one is offered the command of a new ship as Captain, can he/she request their spouse as a member of their senior staff, or is that a no-no? I'm asking because I'm working on a Voyager fanfic where Captain Janeway is paired with an OC, and I need them both on the ship when it's catapulted into the DQ. I had thought that she could request him as her First Officer on Voyager (the unlucky Cavit would be Second Officer with Chak taking his place while Tuvok is security chief/tac officer only) but I was told in a writing forum thread on FF.Net that was not a plausible scenario.

 

[OldManDoom]

In Nemesis, I believe Riker is becoming Captain of the USS Titan and Deanna Troi is going with him to be the counselor. So I think asking for your spouse to serve on the same vessel isn't unheard of.

 

[2takesfrakes]

In Reality, even NASA does not typically allow married couples on the same space flight. I believe it's happened a total of once and I forget the particulars, at the moment. And though Civilian, NASA is still a government agency and the military has always been married to it.

In STAR TREK, Starfleet is even less military than NASA is, now. A lot more flies in Starfleet than ever could, even in the Coast Guard. For one thing, weight requirements. There are a lot of fat people in Starfleet - particularly amongst the elderly. Captains are plentiful on a Starship, even. Captain Kirk, Captain Spock & Captain Scott all served together on Enterprise-A, at the same time, as the same rank. And finally, Starfleet officers have had spouses serving with them, for a long time in STAR TREK. Not a lot ... but it's been covered.

So much of STAR TREK's "canon" is contradictory, or is unintentionally laughable and yet? It's all OFFICIAL STAR TREK. And I know you know what I'm talking about! If this franchise can unshackle its chains long enough to give us "Spock's Brain," surely you can open your mind ... and just explore it. Cynicism and conventionality have as much to do with creativity as defacing works of Art.

 

[Thomas Eugene]

In Reality, even NASA does not typically allow married couples on the same space flight.

What about unmarried couples?

I know the title sounds weird, but what I'm driving at with my question is this:

If two Starfleet officers are married, and one is offered the command of a new ship as Captain, can he/she request their spouse as a member of their senior staff, or is that a no-no? I'm asking because I'm working on a Voyager fanfic where Captain Janeway is paired with an OC, and I need them both on the ship when it's catapulted into the DQ. I had thought that she could request him as her First Officer on Voyager (the unlucky Cavit would be Second Officer with Chak taking his place while Tuvok is security chief/tac officer only) but I was told in a writing forum thread on FF.Net that was not a plausible scenario.

Although I'm not reading the Titan series, as far as I know it's not only Riker and Troi who serve aboard that ship as a married couple, but also Tuvok and T'Pel.

 

[2takesfrakes]

What about unmarried couples?

NASA normally has a policy against letting married couples fly together, because it might hurt the team dynamic. I can only imagine that this applies to any known romantic relationships. But I'm not THE source to go to about this. It's just my understanding. NASA doesn't normally talk about that kind of stuff, it's much more concerned with appealing to young people to keep it well-funded.

 

[The_Baroness]

Even my employer has rules about this sort of thing. Although relationships within the company are permitted (it's how I met my ex wife), if you work closely together you will be separated to different departments.

While theres precedent that married couples can serve together, I'd say it's hugely unrealistic that it would be allowed. At least for a captain. Would YOU want to send your spouse on a possible suicide mission? I wouldn't. (Well...maybe now...)

 

[Tosk]

You can bring family aboard even if you aren't made captain. As in Second Chances, Tom Riker says to Deanna that after six months on the U.S.S. Gandhi he'll be eligible to bring family aboard.

 

[Ghislaine H. B. BRAEME]

I know the title sounds weird, but what I'm driving at with my question is this:

If two Starfleet officers are married, and one is offered the command of a new ship as Captain, can he/she request their spouse as a member of their senior staff, or is that a no-no? I'm asking because I'm working on a Voyager fanfic where Captain Janeway is paired with an OC, and I need them both on the ship when it's catapulted into the DQ. I had thought that she could request him as her First Officer on Voyager (the unlucky Cavit would be Second Officer with Chak taking his place while Tuvok is security chief/tac officer only) but I was told in a writing forum thread on FF.Net that was not a plausible scenario.

To answer to your question, I'd say that if Starfleet's protocol works on US Navy's regulations, which is the future, 1) 2 Starfleet officers can be married (even if one is a Commanding officer and the other is a senior officer) and work in the same place but it must have no direct hierarchical link between them, to avoid any conflict of interest between husband/spouse -> Janeway can't have her husband serving as First Officer.; 2) by his function (especially if he is a Chief of Department, which the point of view is essential), he could de facto be a member of senior staff meetings.
-> to summarize : Janeway is a Capitain, her husband can be a Lieutenant Junior (like Tom Paris)/ a full Lieutenant or a Lieutenant Commander (like Tuvok), he will have to be accountable only to the First Officer. If Capitain Janeway wants to have some more explanations, she can always ask him to come to her ready room but she will have to address him from a commanding officer to a senior officer, personal affair stay in their qarters.

The situation would be similar if the husband was a civilian member.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Sarah and Robert April served together, but she was his CMO, not his first officer. Not sure if that helps...

 

[Paradise City]

Picard comments in Lessons seemed to infer there was no regulations regarding this kind of thing. (IIRC)

But I imagine they'd have to meet the normal requirements on merit of course.

 

[Ghislaine H. B. BRAEME]

Orion Belt 27, I just forgot to specify that usually, the Army (Navy, Marine, etc...) prefers to seperate married couples of officers because, well, it's easier to manage for commanding officers. Like that, they know, at least, that their officers are 100 % focused on their tasks.

On the other hand, romances between a commanding officer and one of his/her subordinates during a mission are formally forbidden. -> couples already married which would work in the same place, it's tolerates; relationships which would result in a marriage during a mission, it's forbidden!
This last element could be important for writing your fanfiction!

 

[Tenacity]

IIRC, Captain Jellico had children's pictures on the walls of the ready room, suggesting his family was aboard the Cairo (and maybe the Enterprise), that doesn't mean the spouse was in Starfleet. But it's possible.

 

[Ghislaine H. B. BRAEME]

Thanks for the replies, everyone, especially @Ghislaine H. B. BRAEME. You've given me a lot to think about.

Now I've got to decide what to do ...

BTW, if anyone's interested, I posted the two completed chapters in the Fanfiction Forum. I'll warn you, the story's going to seem very odd at first, but I do have a specific plan and endgame in mind.

Glad to have help you. And what is the title of your fanfiction that I go to take a look at it...

 

[Six of Twelve]

What about unmarried couples?

Although I'm not reading the Titan series, as far as I know it's not only Riker and Troi who serve aboard that ship as a married couple, but also Tuvok and T'Pel.

With Riker and Troi on the Titan, her job isn't part of the chain of command, so there's no conflict of interest there. In the Destiny trilogy, Beverly is married to Picard, yet continues in the job she already had. Again, she's not part of the senior command structure. I believe T'Pel was not part of Starfleet and was aboard Titan as part of the civilian complement.

To the OP, it would be unusual to have the command structure you describe, but if it's important to you, think of a believable reason for this deviation from the usual thing. Perhaps, he's not there in an official capacity, but is along for the ride, as he's got some vacation time, and it was supposed to be a short mission. Once they're stuck in the Delta Quadrant and you have a dead Cavit, Janeway makes use of the personnel she has available, out of sheer necessity. Thus, you get the command structure you want in the end. Problem solved.

 

[Tracy Trek]

With Riker and Troi on the Titan, her job isn't part of the chain of command, so there's no conflict of interest there. In the Destiny trilogy, Beverly is married to Picard, yet continues in the job she already had. Again, she's not part of the senior command structure. I believe T'Pel was not part of Starfleet and was aboard Titan as part of the civilian complement.

Well, in TNG, in the episode Lessons, Commander Daren wasn't part of the command structure (she was head of Stellar Cartography). And Picard chose to end their relationship after the incident where he let her go on that away mission and almost lost her. He thought it would compromise his decision making if something like that happened again.

I would think even if they were not in the same departments or command structures, it would not be good for couples to go on the same away missions. Especially if they had children. If something happened to a whole away team, the children could be orphaned.

 

[Finn]

Why would one compare Starfleet to NASA? Starfleet exists in a fictional future where they send out starships with over a thousand folks aboard routinely when NASA exists in the present where they send up only four or five at a time.....

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

In DC Fontana's novel "Vulcan's Glory" there is a scene where (I think it's) Doctor Boyce mentions about husband and wife command teams onboard ships being rather effective. Personally I'm not all that sure about it, well definitely with one being CO and the other being XO, thought having the Captain's spouse being a department head who reports to the First Officer wouldn't bother me as much.

 

[Six of Twelve]

In real life, there is the Sullivan rule, though I'm not sure if that's the way it's officially referred to. This refers to the five Sullivan brothers, who were all assigned to the same ship during WWII. The ship was sunk, all five brothers were lost, and their parents lost all their kids in one fell swoop. Since this tragedy, the Navy has had a practice of not assigning close relatives to the same ship, though I'm not sure if it's an official policy. I have to wonder if the Sullivan rule had been carried into the 24th century.

 

[Finn]

^The Delaney family probably would feel that when Voyager got lost

 

[Triskelion]

On the USS Voyager, all senior staff report to the briefing room (plus local hitchhikers). I may be wrong, but it seems that the organizational structure of the ship doesn't include non-command departments like Stellar Cartography, Security MACO's or Counseling. But that all departments are headed by the likes of Chakotay (Command), Tuvok (Security), Engineering (Torres), Operations (Kim). Navigation (Seven and Paris) are the odd functions out.

They don't even seem to have enlisted Chief Petty Officers for transporters, etc.

So it may also seem that Janeway could have pursued a romance with Chaks (or Sevs) if she had really wanted. But it seemed like a personal decision not to - not an express regulation. They never mentioned it was Chak's belonging to the Command Department that would disqualify a relationship, nor that it would be different from anyone else. (Or it should have come up in Resolutions, I should think).

Still - Janes would put the ship ahead of her emotional needs. If she is to change the basic nature of her captain's role, best have a damn good reason for it. Her isolation was never a whim. She could barely bring herself to the holodeck, for that matter.

Early on, she told herself to be "larger than life" because that's what the crew would need to function smoothly long enough to make the journey.

A relationship with a senior officer may fly in the face of a lot of established character arc. Not saying it can't be done; am saying every inch of verisimilitude will have to be earned or it will come off as slashfic. Which is also fine, but distinctly different from "canon".



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