The D Crew

[Bry_Sinclair]

In the thread "If You Could Do Things Differently", a recurring point is how the DS9 senior staff take out the Defiant. Since the show did great things with recurring characters, which new crew members would you include to act as the Defiant's go-to crew for standard deployments or support the main characters when they do need to be onboard.

Pretty much free reign, so enjoy!

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I might as well get the ball rolling:

• Officer-in-Charge: Lieutenant Commander Irsat Jofe. A Bolian combat veteran, who has had a number of dealings with the Cardassians over the years.
• Flight Control/Operations Officer: Lieutenant Koji Saito. A life-long spacer and pilot, easy-going with 'roguish' charm he could give Bashir a run for his money when it comes to success with the opposite sex.
• Tactical Officer: Lieutenant (j.g.) Nev Keron. A Bajoran from the refugee camps, he never experienced the Occupation so has mixed feelings about his posting--especially as a Starfleet officer.
• Engineering Supervisor: Chief Petty Officer Jane Ellis. One of O'Brien's best engineers, she is dependable and adaptable, making her ideal to handle whatever the Defiant's missions throw at her.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I might as well get the ball rolling:

• Officer-in-Charge: Lieutenant Commander Irsat Jofe. A Bolian combat veteran, who has had a number of dealings with the Cardassians over the years.
• Flight Control/Operations Officer: Lieutenant Koji Saito. A life-long spacer and pilot, easy-going with 'roguish' charm he could give Bashir a run for his money when it comes to success with the opposite sex.
• Tactical Officer: Lieutenant (j.g.) Nev Keron. A Bajoran from the refugee camps, he never experienced the Occupation so has mixed feelings about his posting--especially as a Starfleet officer.
• Engineering Supervisor: Chief Petty Officer Jane Ellis. One of O'Brien's best engineers, she is dependable and adaptable, making her ideal to handle whatever the Defiant's missions throw at her.

Why not make more of these characters NCOs? With the size of the defiant, I think it would make more sense for the hierarchy of the Defiant to be more bottom heavy, and fewer of them would have gone through Starfleet Academy. It might also help by making the ship's crew more diverse, less human-centric, much like the crew on the station.

 

[DeannaTroi]

I love DS9. It's probably my favorite Star Trek show.

I really loved how the characters were done on the show (I do pretty much like everyone), as well as the fact that it didn't always reset after the next episode. I could keep going on...

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Why not make more of these characters NCOs? With the size of the defiant, I think it would make more sense for the hierarchy of the Defiant to be more bottom heavy, and fewer of them would have gone through Starfleet Academy. It might also help by making the ship's crew more diverse, less human-centric, much like the crew on the station.

I think that the Defiant should probably have four or five officers - Command Pilot/XO (if Sisko/Worf are onboard, maybe Kira), Navigator/Science Officer, Tactical Officer, Engineer (replace rather than drop T'Rul?), Boarding/Security Officer - but the rest should be (Chief) Petty Officers and crewmen, maybe the odd cadet.

 

[kkt]

Yep. That's about what small Navy ships had in the classic age of sail. On a small shift, often only 3-4 commissioned officers under the captain. Enough for one to be officer of the deck for each shift without the need to work double shifts, as long as all went well and no one was indisposed. The surgeon, purser, master (in charge of navigation), boatswain, carpenter, and gunner were all warrant officers.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Closest I can find for modern USN warships is for the slightly larger crews of mine-countermeasures ships.

The Dextrous (MCM-13) for instance has a total of 8 officers:
1 LTCDR (CO)
2 LTs (XO & CHEng)
4 LT-JGs (1st LT*, SUPPO, OPS, DC Asst)
1 ENS (CICO)

5 chiefs:

2 Senior Chiefs (COMMO, Asst SUPPO)
3 Chiefs (ENG, Bosun, Doc)

and 71 Petty Officers and Crew.

*Also NAV?

Based on the Defiant having a crew of 40-50 I think we can probably cut that in half roughly, so CO, XO & two JOs (either JG or ENS) and three chiefs (1 SCPO, 2 CPO) and about 35-45 enlisted?

 

[Nakita Akita]

Yep. That's about what small Navy ships had in the classic age of sail. On a small shift, often only 3-4 commissioned officers under the captain. Enough for one to be officer of the deck for each shift without the need to work double shifts, as long as all went well and no one was indisposed. The surgeon, purser, master (in charge of navigation), boatswain, carpenter, and gunner were all warrant officers.

What always gets me is that they have their Medical Officer on the bridge, navigating or firing weapons or whatever they have him doing.

" ensign jones to the bridge!"
" Bridge, go ahead Esign Jones."
"Sir,we have two crew members with flash burns over 3/4 of their bodies. Is the doctor there?"
"Yes, Ensign Jones, it's me, Dr. Bashir.
If you can come up here and relive me at tactical, I'll come down and be the doctor."

"Sir, I graduated with a degree in human biology, I only did a total of less that half a day simulated training on bridge tactical station."

"Ensign Jones, this is the captain, i'm sorry son, you'll have to take care of those burned crew mates, the doctor is busy right now. So stop chattering and free up the com-line."

 

[kkt]

Oh, yeah. And that went all the way back to McCoy. Must be those Starfleet Medical extension courses in starship combat...

 

[JirinPanthosa]

From a realism standpoint having a new Defiant crew makes sense, but from a TV production standpoint? Having some kind of ancillary cast as standing Defiant crew is one thing but do you really want to take the main cast out of the exciting action?

We have to go destroy the Iconian gate and work together with bloodthirsty Gem Hadar. But Sisko and Worf can’t come, instead we trust the mission to a cast of rando guys you just met.

That being said, it might have made sense to officially assign Worf to command the Defiant instead of his made up tactical position. And one or two new Defiant specific secondary characters would be welcome. Just, those aren’t the stories you want to take the mains out of.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

From a realism standpoint having a new Defiant crew makes sense, but from a TV production standpoint? Having some kind of ancillary cast as standing Defiant crew is one thing but do you really want to take the main cast out of the exciting action?

We have to go destroy the Iconian gate and work together with bloodthirsty Gem Hadar. But Sisko and Worf can’t come, instead we trust the mission to a cast of rando guys you just met.

That being said, it might have made sense to officially assign Worf to command the Defiant instead of his made up tactical position. And one or two new Defiant specific secondary characters would be welcome. Just, those aren’t the stories you want to take the mains out of.

I think that there's a big difference - particularly on an ensemble show like DS9 - between an episode focusing on mostly random characters (like TNG: Lower Decks) and episodes focusing on recurring guest stars like Garak, Dukat, Winn, Rom, Nog or indeed TNG characters like Guinan, O'Brien or Barclay. The former should always used sparingly, but the later can work quite well, and I think that a small 'D Crew' could have at least as effective as the 'Quark family' and others were on DS9.

 

[SPCTRE]

DS9 fans are all the same

they all want the D

 

[TheSeeker]

they all want the D

Gone too soon...

 

[Tenacity]

the Defiant's go-to crew for standard deployments

Remind me how many people the Defiant has standard.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

The standard complement seems to be between 40 and 50.

 

[USS Firefly]

Gone too soon...

It still hurts

 

[Arpy]

The Defiant crew could have been recurring cast like any of the others. It would mean that there was less on the Defiant though, which would be closer to the original intent of the series.

They could do it with maybe three characters and nameless extras. (Maybe some of the extras could be recurring, like the male Asian nurse and the spiky-haired woman on the Enterprise.) Sisko could command. You would only need a pilot, a chief engineer or ops officer, and maybe a first or tactical officer who’s in charge of the ship when Sisko is on station.

Maybe the Defiant crew could be both likable and still apprehensive about 1) guarding the warship and 2) the provincial Bajorans’ readiness to enter the cosmopolitan Federation. And be correct being so. Plus some cool Romulan spy stuff with T’Rul, and maybe Garak.

Maybe have one of the three be an founding member (Tellarite/Andorian/Vulcan/Human/Alpha Centaurian) to really sell the Federation connection. I wonder what a Tellarite or Andorian would have looked like in DS9.

Another of the three could be from a world with a custom or trait the Bajorans don’t like (a third gender or a people they think are especially godless or something) — a Deltan?

It would also be interesting to do an unexpected combination, like a warrior Betazoid at tactical. Or an XO who’s very alien looking yet being the one defending Earth and traditional Federation values.

 

[STEPhon IT]

I would want Kira having CO duties on the Defiant because she's a superior officer than Worf. I would also like to have some Bajoran personnel along with Starfleet. I like O'Brien and his gifts of being some kind of Scotty of the 24th Century, but he's a petty officer and a starship requires a commission officer to engineer the ship while O'Brien remain on the station. Sisko should've requested a Chief Engineer for the Defiant full time. Robin Lefler would've been my choice for Chief Engineer; I loved her on TNG and her "Lefler Laws"; I could imagine how many laws she'd written by the time DS9 had the Defiant. Also, I would've brought back Jean Hajar, from Nova Squad in TNG ep. "The First Duty", because I thought she was redeeming character and I maybe become a love interest for Jake.

 

[Maurice]

Oh, yeah. And that went all the way back to McCoy. Must be those Starfleet Medical extension courses in starship combat...

Bones never took a station on the bridge and never fired a ship's weapon. Fist fights? Yeah. Hand phasers on stun? Yeah. Defended himself on planet Rome? Yeah. I think the most violent thing he ever did was fry the Mugatu.

 

[Tomalak]

I just watched The Search, and it's pretty obvious that the Defiant was supposed to be really small - which goes back to the earlier plans for a "beefier runabout".

The crew is just the DS9 regulars, plus T'Rul. A couple of extras appear when Dax and O'Brien are 'captured' on the relay station, but it looks like the crew is no more than a dozen, max. I'm assuming there must have been a few more unseen, as Sisko obviously didn't come from Earth with just T'Rul, Eddington and Jake manning the bridge.

What's also weird is that Eddington is introduced and obviously travelled to DS9 on the Defiant, but he's not actually on the ship for the mission to find the Founders.