Do you want Worf in Ops or on the Defiant's Bridge?

I was thinking about the thread about Kira's posting and the dialogue in Apocalypse Rising: if the station were under attack, where would Worf best be used? And in the absence of Sisko, would he be better placed in DS9's ops or on the Defiant's bridge?

In the logic of the show and the franchise, I think Worf would always be placed in Ops. The station is far better armed than the Defiant. Sisko never himself captained the Defiant when the station was attacked, assigning it to Kira and Dax. Indeed, he never turned it over to Worf in such circumstances. And when Sisko was relieved of command, Worf was not recalled... sort of a strike against him.

Moreover, the franchise tends to prefer piloting as a tactical skill in a captain more than weapons knowledge. Under attack, the captain tends to work with the helmsman,while the first officer works with the security officer. Worf being less of a pilot might means his command skills would be better used where maneuver is less of an issue.

Overall, I think it makes more sense to have Worf in Ops when the station is under attack, whether Sisko was in command, Kira was in command, or indeed Worf was in command. It would be better to turn the Defiant over to Dax.

 

Worf should be serving under Picard.

 

It depends on the situation that you're envisioning. Assuming there's a large fleet at or near DS9, Sisko would command on DS9, assigning Kira, Worf or Dax to command the Defiant under his authority as Commander of the overall battle, supervising runabouts, maybe the Rotarran, etc.

Kira, Worf and Dax all have piloting and weapons experience. Remember, Worf was at the helm on the Enterprise-D multiple times, has piloted shuttlecraft and runabouts multiple times. All 3 of them are highly qualified and have a lot of battle experience.

If Sisko is unavailable, Kira stays in Ops as the commander of the battle, with Worf on the Defiant. If Sisko and Kira are unavailable, Worf stays in Ops as commander of the battle, sending Dax to the Defiant.

Battle from a stationary target is somewhat less complicated than attacking a moving target from a moving target, with other moving and stationary targets in the battlezone. I would assume if all Senior staff were available for this incident, Worf would be on the Defiant either in command or at tactical, given the complexity of the battle.

 

I'm not sure that explains why you wouldn't put Worf in charge of the larger, more powerful arsenal. What the Defiant does could be at best a small piece of the overall battle, whereas all the major decision would be taken in Ops.

 

Worf is a starship guy. He doesn't really understand the station that well.

 

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in DS9 I think he belonged in ops, didn't they say he was the Strategic Operations Officer for the sector ? or was it just the station ? it seems like he had a wide area of responsibility that might be better severed with him on the station. I do love him on the bridge of the enterprise though I liked how they just shoe horned him into every movie with a few quick lines , he was an important part of the enterprise crew

 

He lived on the defiant because (a) it was the closest he could get to a command of his own and (b) he couldn’t get the hang of actually living in what amounts to a town with people...he liked to putter off to use the defiant sound system at night. Out of towner. But mostly (a).

 

Worf's quarters were on the station 59% of the episodes. They were on the Defiant 37% of episodes.

 

Best as a tactical officer on the bridge of a starship.

 

you know, i always thought the roles kira and worf played were not delineated well enough in DS9. once worf arrived, i thought it was pretty clear he was the first officer of the defiant and kira was first officer of the station. and there shouldn't have been any crossover, especially since kira wasn't even starfleet.

so i'll say worf on the bridge of the defiant. or in his quarters on the defiant -- always loved that he wanted to live there rather than on the station in those early days.

and btw definitely no worf on the bridge of the enterprise-E. those TNG guys really didn't want to move on in life and it started to get sad.

 

Agree. He's a great starship tactical officer. A space station has a couple of different weapons and shields, but that's about it. It can sit and fight... or sit and fight. It can't maneuver, run, hide in nebulae, ram, or cloak. Worf can make the most of those options.

 

The station is more powerful than the Defiant by several factors. If you want to maximize damage, wouldn't you want Worf on the station?

 

I can agree on that.

However, if he's duties are at Deep Space Nine, he should be at the Defiant. He's a warrior and would be at his best on a ship which can both attack and defend.

 

Agreed. But from a show stand point if there under Picard, DS9 wouldn't be the same and the show would suffer wouldn't it? Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm at half way point in viewing.

 

I actually agree. Worf was a great addition to DS9.
But I could imagine him being transferred back to Enterprise after some years on DS9.

 

True, but the station's weapons are for defensive purposes. IMHO, I still believe that Worf's tactical acumen is better utilized in offensive tactics and strategic support in a mobile, fluid battle situation rather than manning a console and firing from a stationary fortification.

 

The station is capable of attacking multiple targets simultaneously. In the first volley in Way of the Warrior, it destroyed two ships and hit three others. When assaulted by the Dominion fleet in Call to Arms, it withstood several assaults, including being rammed, while providing some cover for the Defiant. It has multiple weapons platforms that target whole areas. No ship, including the Prometheus, could claim to do the same. The fact that the station is static is immaterial. The Defiant only targets, thus destroys, one ship at a time. It's great for penetrating a line in order to breakthrough, but that would not be the goal of defending the station or the wormhole.

 

I always felt that "strategic operations officer" was more or less a made up post by Sisko for Worf--not every outpost has one, IMO. But the job enabled Worf to be the guy that coordinated things between DS9 and other Starfleet forces in the Bajor Sector and it also allowed him to participate in those operations via provisional command of the Defiant. Had Sisko not wanted Worf on DS9, the station's weapons and defenses would likely have been handled mostly by O'Brien as they had been earlier. Given his extensive combat record (230+ battles, 15 battle decorations, the hailed "Hero of Setlik III," etc.), O'Brien was no slouch when it came to tactics, but I think he had the added bonus as an engineer of knowing what to do when station systems were being uncooperative or just outright crashed during a battle. As it was, Worf would have done fine either on station or on the Defiant, but I believe he wasn't necessarily indispensable on the station.

 

I’d put him in Ops.

Word is a great tactician but every command opportunity he got he made emotional decisions. Worf as of DS9 was not ready for command.