What is your personal head canon?

[fireproof78]

STONE: Admit nothing. Say nothing. Let me bury the matter here and now. No starship captain has ever stood trial before, and I don't want you to be the first.

Thank you.

As I said, I missed it. But, a starship is considered a different class of vessel so there is some wiggle room there.

I am talking about fans of the show.

Because the grass is greener. People have such a negative view of the world nowadays that anything is considered better and more positive, regardless of the thorns or poison in the apple.

 

[ED-209]

I do wonder why people treat the Federation as this great entity, when they hide as much stuff from the public as they do.

There are endless YouTube videos on whether or not UFP is a fascist state.

 

[kkt]

And Phillipa Louvois says in "The Measure of a Man" that a court martial is standard procedure when a ship is lost.

I assume that's another rule that came into being after Kirk's time, since they say in "Court Martial" that he's the only Captain who's ever been court martialed before. (Or has that already been contradicted by some other Trek? I feel like it has to have been by this point, right?)

I understand that's also normal procedure in the British or American navies - if a ship is lost and somehow the captain survives, they are court-martialed. I don't see how what Stone said about Kirk being the only captain to ever be put on trial before can be true. Stone wasn't making prepared remarks, so in my head canon he was just speaking without thinking.

 

[BillJ]

I understand that's also normal procedure in the British or American navies - if a ship is lost and somehow the captain survives, they are court-martialed. I don't see how what Stone said about Kirk being the only captain to ever be put on trial before can be true. Stone wasn't making prepared remarks, so in my head canon he was just speaking without thinking.

Deep space. Many captain's may not come home.

 

[cooleddie74]

Unless he meant a Captain court martialed on criminal charges involving the negligent death of a fellow officer. But even then - Starfleet is well over a century old by even that point. Kirk's the first ever? Eh.

 

[BillJ]

Unless he meant a Captain court martialed on criminal charges involving the negligent death of a fellow officer. But even then - Starfleet is well over a century old by even that point. Kirk's the first ever? Eh.

What we know of Starfleet now, is that it is well over a century old. Back then? I always got the feeling that it and the Federation were newer outfits. Probably less than fifty years old.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

What we know of Starfleet now, is that it is well over a century old. Back then? I always got the feeling that it and the Federation were newer outfits. Probably less than fifty years old.

Yes, that's what TOS seems to imply more often than not.

 

[kkt]

Or an alternative head cannon is that "Court Martial" isn't a real Star Trek episode. It was made as a drinking game for law students. When you see a violation of criminal procedure, take a drink. If you're still sober by the time they kiss, you probably should retake Criminal Procedure.

 

[Commander Troi]

 

[kkt]

Deep space. Many captain's may not come home.

True at sea also.

 

[BillJ]

Unless he meant a Captain court martialed on criminal charges involving the negligent death of a fellow officer. But even then - Starfleet is well over a century old by even that point. Kirk's the first ever? Eh.

Could just be no captain has ever been tried for negligence. Probably why Stone was on about it. You're sending these people out in giant, space warping, weapons of mass destruction. You don't want the public to think there's a flaw in the process of putting these people out there.

 

[fireproof78]

Yes, that's what TOS seems to imply more often than not.

I always felt it was at least a hundred years old.

 

[cooleddie74]

Works for me. Makes more sense that "the first Captain put on trial" means negligence and criminal charges, because no way has every other Captain in Starfleet's history avoided a legal hearing over something more mundane and less life-changing.

 

[Macintosh]

I'll just about buy that Stone meant "court martialled for whatever we're court-martialling Kirk for".

Incidentally, if Louvois's line about a court martial for a surviving captain being standard procedure whenever a ship is lost, does this mean that Picard was court martialled again for the loss of the Enterprise-D? Or would that have been Riker since he was in command at the time? What about Sisko and the Defiant? One imagines the rules might be somewhat different in wartime.

 

[Citiprime]

Incidentally, if Louvois's line about a court martial for a surviving captain being standard procedure whenever a ship is lost, does this mean that Picard was court martialled again for the loss of the Enterprise-D?

I would think one happened, and arguably should have happened, since you would want to learn the reason the Duras sisters were able to penetrate the shields and make sure that something like hacking Geordi’s VISOR can’t happen again.

What about Sisko and the Defiant? One imagines the rules might be somewhat different in wartime.

I would guess Ross and the Starfleet admiralty had the ability to issue wartime waivers. No way is it feasible to have hundreds of court martials given the number of ships they were losing to the Dominion.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Incidentally, if Louvois's line about a court martial for a surviving captain being standard procedure whenever a ship is lost, does this mean that Picard was court martialled again for the loss of the Enterprise-D? Or would that have been Riker since he was in command at the time?

Possibly both.

Because while it was Riker's actions that lead to the vessel's loss, Picard as CO is ultimately responsible.

 

[kkt]

I would think one happened, and arguably should have happened, since you would want to learn the reason the Duras sisters were able to penetrate the shields and make sure that something like hacking Geordi’s VISOR can’t happen again.

I would guess Ross and the Starfleet admiralty had the ability to issue wartime waivers. No way is it feasible to have hundreds of court martials given the number of ships they were losing to the Dominion.

In a lot of those cases, the captain would be killed along with the ship though. Some might get away in escape pods, but the captain would be the last one out.

And the court martial wouldn't necessarily have to be very time consuming if it was a pretty clear case. Logs show this, testimony from surviving nearby ships shows this, testimony from surviving crew, questioning, "acquitted without a stain on their character."

 

[Henoch]

STONE: Admit nothing. Say nothing. Let me bury the matter here and now. No starship captain has ever stood trial before, and I don't want you to be the first.

Stone says "starship" captain; he's not including lesser "spaceship" captains. At the time, Stone's chart only shows 10 Starships in service, and a few months later, Kirk says there's only 12 like her in the fleet. Starships only make up a small portion of the Starfleet fleet, so, the pool of candidates is fairly small.

Also, the "bury the matter" seems to be a way to avoid the court martial in the past where other captains plead out before any official court martial. Even Ron Tracy won't face a court martial if he simply pleads out (temporary insanity) before a trial.

Unless he meant a Captain court martialed on criminal charges involving the negligent death of a fellow officer. But even then - Starfleet is well over a century old by even that point. Kirk's the first ever? Eh.

The first mention of Starfleet by both production order and stardate was in Court Martial itself. By airdate, it was in
The Menagerie, Part 1. In either case, the concept of the Federation did not exist, only "Earth", "United Earth" and "UESPA".

As for the age of Starfleet itself, in A Taste of Armageddon, the USS Valiant was destroyed 50 years prior, but Spock says it was an "Earth expedition" at the time, not connected to Starfleet nor the Federation. Fox says, "Captain, in the past twenty years, thousands of lives have been lost in this quadrant. Lives that could have been saved if the Federation had a treaty port here." I think this implies that the Federation existed 20 years ago, but no connection to Starfleet in this episode.

In TWOK, Carol Marcus says Starfleet has kept the peace for a hundred years, so this could be the creation of Starfleet, or just the time to the last major war (is she referring to the Earth-Romulan War referenced in Balance of Terror?).

I conclude that Starfleet has existed at least a hundred years, but it was under the United Earth. My theory: Starfleet transitions to be under the Federation (UFP) before the first season of TOS (stardate 0000.0 by any chance?), but the reassignment of Earth's space assets (starships/spaceship/starbases/colonies/outposts) are still in committee. By stardate 3030, Earth's starbases/colonies/outposts are moved under the Federation, and around 3115, the transition is complete with the reassignment of starships/spaceships now directly under Federation control. Prior to this, Kirk (i.e. the Enterprise and Starfleet) may have represented the Federation, but through the United Earth middleman. Just after Tomorrow is Yesterday, the United Earth middleman is removed. YMMV .

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I don't see how what Stone said about Kirk being the only captain to ever be put on trial before can be true.

I take it to mean it's the first time a court martial for a captain wasn't due to a formality - something which must be done to keep up appearances/for the record but which will undoubtedly end in the captain's favor, because space is full of unknowns and dangers, which can and do certainly end with a tragedy/loss of a ship, etc.

In Finney's apparent death, however, Kirk's actions leading to that incident are a matter of procedures not followed for a routine incident that shouldn't have ended that way by any means - Kirk wasn't under the influence of a drug, or mind-warping alien, or anything of the sort.

 

[FredH]

Also posted on rpg.net—

Just as other Federation worlds have non-Starfleet ships, so does Earth — that’s what UESPA handles these days. They’re authorized to act in matters relating to Earth and its specific colonies, as opposed to the Federation as a whole. Up through the 2260s, the Enterprise and most mainly-human starships (as opposed to “spaceships”, a technical distinction in use at the time) were jointly operated by Starfleet and UESPA, and UESPA continues to operate mostly Earth-sector police ships and other near-Earth local operations not involving other member worlds.

Starfleet capital ships are inevitably more powerful than those of individual member-world fleets. In TMP, 1701 was the only Starfleet capital ship in range and fast enough to intercept V’Ger far away from Sol. There were lesser ships available and close enough — UESPA ships and “spaceships” — but their survivability chances were seen as much lower, and none were as fast or as powerful, and so they were not seriously considered for the mission. (That would not have been the case had Earth been attacked by, say, a squadron of Klingon raiders; but something like V’Ger was many orders of magnitude more powerful.)

Like other member fleets, UESPA/Earth ships have an architecture visibly distinguishable from Starfleet’s, though certainly they, like Starfleet hulls, would have evolved from Earth Starfleet’s designs of the 22nd century. With exceptions, Earth ships are generally smaller. Instead of a saucer, usually they have a big spherical primary hull, as tall as it is wide, with the bridge inside at the center. Generally the engineering hull solidly projects from the rear of the sphere, on the centerline, and non-glowing, concave-tipped nacelles are held off from it in long pylons extending beyond the sphere’s “shadow”. This often leads to a ship’s silhouette with a greater width than length. The nacelle tips usually combine Bussard-collector, sensor and deflector-projection functions, eliminating the need for a large forward dish on the sphere itself. Earth ships are typically regarded as chunky and practical, but not beautiful.

Earth ships typically still carry MACOs, though these rarely see significant action beyond law-enforcement and anti-piracy operations; otherwise, they function as ship’s security.

(Whether there still remains an Earth-specific division of Section 31, and what relationship it may have with the Section 31 of the Federation at large, are matters of speculation.)