This has probably already been debated to death, but I gotta ask: Since by this point, Ezri is a Captain by *rank* as well as by position, how exactly the hell did she make that rank so quickly? Does this series take place a few years in DS9's 'future'? She was only a lieutenant JG at the end of the series. For somebody with that rank to get all the way to an O-6 Captain would take years. So either this series takes place a decade or so hence, or Ezri is the next James Kirk/Jean-Luc Picard. No disrespect intended to her, but I'd be more inclined to believe the former. (Then again, Geordi LaForge practically zoomed up the ziggurat lickety-split as well: he was a LTJG in TNG's 1st season, a LT in the second, and a LCDR in the third.)
Destiny is about five years after "What You Leave Behind." It's been mentioned in promotion for Destiny that Ezri got a battlefield promotion at some point. It's fast, but perhaps not worth the wealth of discussion it's engendered.
Ezri was a full Lieutenant by some point in the relaunch, I believe (was it by Mission Gamma?) and Christopher has said she gets the promotion via a battlefield comission but we've yet to find out how that happens.
Surely you already know that it is, since it's been well-established that the DS9 novels are only up to January 2377 while the TNG and TTN series are up to mid-2380 or later. Specifically, Destiny takes place in February 2381. Will Riker was an ensign in 2357, a lieutenant by 2361, and a full commander by 2364. And he was offered a promotion to captain's rank later in 2364. You yourself mentioned Geordi going from lieutenant J.G. to lieutenant commander in little more than a year all told. And Christine Vale got promoted from full lieutenant to full commander within a matter of months. So it's not unprecedented for officers to rise rapidly through the ranks.
So obviously Ezri has a great deal of command ability, I grant that. I'm just having a bit of a hard time reconciling this with the rather timid person she was on the show. She must have changed quite a bit in the novels. (Although she is at least the third Dax host to serve in Starfleet; I'm sure previous hosts built up quite a bit of experience in that regard.)
I would never describe Ezri as timid. Morose and guilt-ridden from time to time (the latter unfairly) but never timid. She was unsure of herself when she joined the DS9 crew (and the Trill have rules about interacting with the friends of a previous host to avoid such complications). She has been depicted as fairly assertive in the literature I've read.
^ I can't see the Ezri that needed to call up memories of Joran ("Field of Fire") to figure out how to solve a few murders, the same as the one who apparently made Captain before her (host's) 30th birthday.
She switched from counselling to command in the relaunch novels. There's a reason for that. They explain everything.
This is from the episode Chrysalis BASHIR: (fascinated by her take on them [His friends]) What about Ezri? SARINA: (smiles) The day she realizes that she's more than just the sum of her parts, she's really going to be something. The Jack Pack was right about a lot of things (and wrong about others) but Sarina's interpretations of the Senior Staff were correct. Maybe she was right about Ezri too? Plus the novels have painted Ezri in a very different picture that we saw her in Season 7 of DS9.
AFAIK, Harry is still on Voyager: Spoiler: VOY-R Harry, like many of the crew, was promoted two steps in rank. He is now a full Lieutenant and basically has Tuvok's old job: Security/Tactical Officer.
That same episode also established that, having tapped Joran's memories so deeply, Ezri would never be able to repress him the way Jadzia did. So that might actually account, in part, for Ezri being more aggressive about her career goals than she previously was, or more drawn to the control offered by command positions. Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
Quite interesting to see that 3 former DS9 officers followed her to that command. I am wondering what this Vesta class is going to look like.
Jadzia, Ezri, and... who else? Audrid did work with a Starfleet team, but she didn't join, and Curzon was a diplomat, not in Starfleet. davidh