Why make Paris a lieutenant?

[Lazarus]

Why make Paris a lieutenant straight off the bat? Why give this man, cashiered out of Starfleet in disgrace, a rank above all the various ensigns and non-comissioned officers onboard Voyager?

Yes one could argue that Paris was a lieutenant JG when he got the boot, so Janeway simply restored him to that rank, but why do it? Okay she wanted him as the man at the helm because he was the best they had - although I can't actually remember seeing much evidence of this - but he could hold the position of helmsman as a crewman.

So why give a disgraced officer like Paris authority over most of the crew?

 

[Timo]

Funnily enough, Janeway originally made Paris a senior Lieutenant - he got busted down to Lt(jg) only towards the end of the first season, about the same time Torres, Tuvok and a few others did.

(Some might call that sorting out a costuming error, or creating a costuming error that lasted for the remaining six seasons. But there'd be plenty of reason to bust down Torres and Tuvok in rank after "Prime Factors", and one probably wouldn't need to look hard to find reasons to demote Paris.)

I'd say Janeway simply honored an arrangement made before Paris agreed to help Starfleet. Why not give him the rank? She gave similar or higher rank to horrible outlaws whom she opted to trust with her life. At least Paris was Starfleet, while most of the Maquis were not.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Lazarus]

I'd say Janeway simply honored an arrangement made before Paris agreed to help Starfleet. Why not give him the rank? She gave similar or higher rank to horrible outlaws whom she opted to trust with her life. At least Paris was Starfleet, while most of the Maquis were not.

Timo Saloniemi

To be honest I wonder why anyone would simply be 'given' an officer rank without having been through the appropriate training - I don't refer to Torres, Chakotay or Paris since they were all graduates of Starfleet Academy - or were the rest of the Maquis simply given crewman positions?

It's a bit of a kick in the teeth to all the ensigns and enlisted personnel onboard with no black marks on their careers having to take orders and call someone like Paris - who was cashiered out of the service after caused the deaths of three people - 'sir' because their captain inexplicably chose to give him a field comission of lieutenant. Give him a crewman's position - he is afterall a man who caused the deaths of three people then lied to cover up the facts and is at the time of Caretaker still serving the sentence for his crimes - he could still be chief helmsman if he is who Janeway wants piloting her ship.

On a side note, I wonder why the two main Maquis characters had to be ex-Starfleet as well. What did it really add to Chakotay or Torres having them have a Starfleet background? Why not just have them as civilian Maquis?

 

[Timo]

Probably Starfleet forms a big part of the Maquis movement's active, armed core, because civilians would have difficulty coming up with the required weapons. Not hand weapons, because those seem to be freely available within the Federation - but starships and armed spacecraft, which the DMZ participants carefully removed from the Zone originally.

Without the presence of the ex-Starfleeters, it would be all the less plausible for Janeway to accept the criminals as part of her crew. But she apparently did need more crew, and not just axle greasers. She was down one Chief Engineer for starters; giving that job to a Maquis expert and then pinning the Crewman insignia (i.e. none) on her would probably only end up getting Janeway one cut throat for breakfast.

Similarly, other Maquis that Janeway needed would probably be specialists who needed to be able to boss their lessers around. So what if those lessers had Starfleet uniforms and training? If they couldn't hold a sonic screwdriver as well as their Maquis counterparts, they shouldn't be allowed to give orders to said counterparts - the opposite arrangement would be what the ship needed.

Paris should probably rank right there as well. He was a better pilot than the others, so why not give him better rank than the others had? He was officially pardoned for his help - so anybody who still considered him a criminal would be guilty of a hate crime himself, and prime candidate for being busted in rank. Paris might remain guilty as all hell, but he'd no longer be a criminal and no longer eligible for any sort of punishment.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Lazarus]

Probably Starfleet forms a big part of the Maquis movement's active, armed core, because civilians would have difficulty coming up with the required weapons. Not hand weapons, because those seem to be freely available within the Federation - but starships and armed spacecraft, which the DMZ participants carefully removed from the Zone originally.

Yeah I can see that this would make a lot of sense, still I think that giving the Maquis central characters Starfleet backgrounds was a bit of a cop out - basically making them Starfleet without making them Starfleet if you know what I mean. Better to make Chakotay a captain with no Starfleet background, mix things up a little rather than someone who only left the service a few years earlier.

Without the presence of the ex-Starfleeters, it would be all the less plausible for Janeway to accept the criminals as part of her crew. But she apparently did need more crew, and not just axle greasers. She was down one Chief Engineer for starters; giving that job to a Maquis expert and then pinning the Crewman insignia (i.e. none) on her would probably only end up getting Janeway one cut throat for breakfast.

But giving B'Elanna the rank of ensign and the position of chief engineer still gives her all the power she requires to do her job. Chief engineer is a position of responsibility regardless of rank - a lieutenant, lieutenant commander, commander, captain if you're Scotty can all be the chief engineer of a starship. Ensign B'Elanna Torres can still give all the orders she wants as chief engineer, any lieutenants on her team still have to do as they're told because she is in charge of that department of the ship.

Paris should probably rank right there as well. He was a better pilot than the others, so why not give him better rank than the others had? He was officially pardoned for his help - so anybody who still considered him a criminal would be guilty of a hate crime himself, and prime candidate for being busted in rank. Paris might remain guilty as all hell, but he'd no longer be a criminal and no longer eligible for any sort of punishment.

Well I don't think "hate crime" is really the term to be used in this situation - a murderer who has served a sentence is still a murderer and people still consider them as such, same as a convicted rapist who is eventually let out of jail is still a rapist.

Was Paris pardoned then? Pardoned by a captain for getting three colleagues killed then convering up the circumstances to save himself?

 

[exodus]

Because Paris like Janeway grew up as an army brat.
Both their fathers were Admirals in Starfleet. So like Janeway, Paris had a full understanding of military life and what his rank required and Janeway knew that.
The only difference is while Janeway embraced that life, Paris went rogue.

 

[Triskelion]

Yes, Paris was recruited to scout the badlands for Janeway as an observer, with the understanding that the rest of his sentence would be commuted.

Time served.

Um, interesting topic. I've been giving it some thought lately too, coincidentally. The Maquis were given "Provisional" ranks, for which new insignia had to be designed (striped lozenges).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfleet_ranks_and_insignia

The rank of Ensign is given to a newbie. Every enlisted or warrant officer is ranked below the lowliest ensign. Wesley could have dressed down Chief O'Brien at any time and the Chief would have to salute and hop to. Imagine - the moment Picard said "We'll have to make him an acting Ensign", Wesley could have busted O'Brien's balls. That would have made for a good comedy, and plus the added bonus of seeing Wesley trying to free himself from a torpedo tube before being fired at a Romulan Bird of Prey).

While an ensign is able to function as the chief of a department, the rank is really more of an introductory one meant to last less than 3 years. By which time the person will have gotten more command experience and can serve as a lieutenant and more likely to lead a department. Harry Kim notwithstanding, Ensigns that stay Ensigns for much longer are considered "disappointments".

I've been thinking about how a captain builds a command crew (since I'm covering that issue in my current chapter). You want the people who make things happen to have the authority, regardless of any other circumstances. Look at how Janeway chose B'Elanna over Carey for Chief Engineer, the more conventional choice. B had people issues. But in the end, she had the ideas that saved their hides. I think that rates more than "qualifications". But other captains may value institution over innovation.

So Seven of Nine was given a position on the ship regardless of not even having been trained. Tom was exactly the kind of guy you want at the helm - compared to Kim, who was JAFO by comparison - look how easily Quark played him in the premier. (Kim never got the growth of a Julian Bashir, until the far future Kim came back in time). In Nightingale we saw Kim in command - and it was like watching a kid ride an adult bicycle.

In the field, especially in Voyager's case, a captain can give provisional rank to anyone they damn well please. My guess is, those who get the job done.

But once the provisional commission is given, it's a commission and that's it.

Tom was a wise guy. He wasn't any fresh faced ensign playing soldier. He had perspective.

That he was a lieutenant before his crime is due to his always pushing himself, and being pushed by his father to excel. The pressure got to him and he burned out.

If anyone had a right to be upset it was Tuvok. He should have been first officer, and let Chakotay play with his "old Maquis tricks" at Tactical. Imagine Protocol Droid Tuvok trying to rein in the ragtag Maquis. Or running interference with 7 of 9 for the Captain. And honestly, I think 7 should have been confused and needing Kes's help, while the former Maquis captain badgered Captain Janeway and questioned her every decision. Chak was a great character (sans an understandable culture) and it's like buying a Ducati and letting it rot in the barn.

 

[Guy Gardener]

But Tom was in Rebellion of what was expected of him. Careerwise the lad was on a suicide kick. Please note Non Sequitor.

He was fourth Officer.

If Janeway and Chakotay got taken out by a lucky shot (Resolutions. Coda (almost).), that makes Tom Tuvok's XO.

In the beginning however he would have been destroyed by all the people who hated him with superior rank that would have done horrible things to him assigning menial and unflattering punishment for kicks hoping he'll just piss off.

The rank might have also stopped a shiv from being stuck in his back by some of the maquis too?

Why did he get Pips when the rest of the Maquis got Provisional rank badges?

 

[Tomalak]

Why did he get Pips when the rest of the Maquis got Provisional rank badges?

Because he'd served his time. Presumably Janeway just reactivated his commission and he picked up where he'd left off when he resigned.

That's not to say he wasn't watched like a hawk, but he proved himself a loyal and valuable officer.

 

[Pavonis]

But giving B'Elanna the rank of ensign and the position of chief engineer still gives her all the power she requires to do her job. Chief engineer is a position of responsibility regardless of rank - a lieutenant, lieutenant commander, commander, captain if you're Scotty can all be the chief engineer of a starship. Ensign B'Elanna Torres can still give all the orders she wants as chief engineer, any lieutenants on her team still have to do as they're told because she is in charge of that department of the ship.

As a point of fact, Torres did not graduate from the Academy; she dropped out two years in.

As for the Maquis, they needed some of their own to be in positions of responsibility and authority, lest they get ideas that they were merely passengers, or worse, prisoners, aboard Voyager. Making Chakotay XO was a political necessity - his faction was the second-largest on the ship, so the Maquis needed to see their leader being respected by the captain.

But only one Maquis in authority comes off as a token Maquis. I believe that was even mentioned by Chakotay early in the series ("I won't be your token Maquis!"). So politics requires the captain appoint another Maquis to a position of power somewhere else aboard ship. A chief engineer was needed, so Torres ending up as Chief Engineer was as much about political needs as about getting the right person for the job.

So, after appointing officers to positions of authority, why not give them a rank appropriate to their jobs? If rank doesn't matter, Lazarus, then why not give them the higher rank?

Was Paris pardoned then? Pardoned by a captain for getting three colleagues killed then convering up the circumstances to save himself?

Wait a minute, wasn't Paris in the New Zealand penal colony, not for the cover-up of his accident (he was court-martialed and cashiered out of Starfleet for that), but for getting caught on his first mission for the Maquis?

 

[Lazarus]

Wait a minute, wasn't Paris in the New Zealand penal colony, not for the cover-up of his accident (he was court-martialed and cashiered out of Starfleet for that), but for getting caught on his first mission for the Maquis?

Yeah, you're bang on with that.

As a point of fact, Torres did not graduate from the Academy; she dropped out two years in.

True, but still that's two years of Starfleet training, all the core stuff would've been drummed into her by then - Starfleet operating procedures ect. Torres never appeared to stuggle to come to terms with being chief engineer aboard a Starfleet ship beyond the second episode - giving her and Chakotay no Starfleet background, rather people Janeway is basically forced into giving positions of power due to their abilities or status, would have provided the oppurtunity for more drama.

As for the Maquis, they needed some of their own to be in positions of responsibility and authority, lest they get ideas that they were merely passengers, or worse, prisoners, aboard Voyager. Making Chakotay XO was a political necessity - his faction was the second-largest on the ship, so the Maquis needed to see their leader being respected by the captain.

But why do you need to give this group of wanted civilians positions of authority onboard Voyager? Janeway didn't ask them all aboard as a favour to her, Chakotay was the person who chose to destroy their ship and thereby basically make his crew refugees and throw themselves on the mercy of Captain Janeway.

She didn't owe the Maquis anything, she was good enough to take them all aboard her ship and head home, but why the need to give them positions of power?

Take a US Navy aircraft carrier in a similar predicament - would the captain take aboard a group of wanted people and give them positions of authority over his own crew? Take them aboard yes, perhaps give them jobs to do, but not put them in positions of power where the US Navy crew was being ordered around.

So, after appointing officers to positions of authority, why not give them a rank appropriate to their jobs? If rank doesn't matter, Lazarus, then why not give them the higher rank?

Then why not make them all commanders? Or admirals?

The point I was making was pretty clear - just because Torres was given the position of chief engineer it doesn't mean that she need be a lieutenant. Same with Paris.

 

[Pavonis]

I think the situation aboard Voyager was supposed to be that enough of the original Starfleet crew were killed in the trip to the Delta Quadrant that they couldn't operate the ship without the cooperation of the Maquis. I don't think it was depicted that way onscreen, but there were supposed to be enough Maquis aboard Chakotay's ship to make up the losses aboard Janeway's ship. If the Maquis, for some reason, decided to go on strike, then the ship couldn't be handled (for some reason) by the Starfleet crew alone. Hence the need for an alliance between the Maquis and Starfleet.

That's how I understand the situation was supposed to be. Was it portrayed that way on TV? I don't think it was well executed. But early in the show some Maquis grumbled about their positions, and suggested they would support Chakotay in a mutiny against Janeway. That kind of thinking suggests they could have pulled it off (and they actually did, with Tuvok's help, in the seventh season).

As for the officer ranks, again, if you accept that the Maquis can be placed in a position of authority, without regard for ranks, then why not give them a rank appropriate for their job? I suppose Janeway could have made Torres a commander, but is that an appropriate rank for a chief engineer of a ship the size of Voyager?

Basically, Janeway and the rest of the Starfleet crew needed the Maquis to be happy and responsible for something other than waxing the transporter pads. If the Maquis didn't stay happy, they wouldn't work with the rest of the crew, and then no one would get anywhere.

 

[Triskelion]

Some random reactions:

A ship the size of Voyager could have been captained by a lieutenant.

You can't promote someone above your own rank. If you're captain, you can't make any admirals.

Tom was found innocent of pilot error that killed three people. It was only after the fact that in good conscience, he owned up to it, and lost his commission. Because of that confession, his sentence was lenient. This is what resulted in the bad blood with his father. Prior to that is father had treated him like any other cadet or officer. Which meant that Tom probably toed the line and was climbing the ranks.

After losing his commission he went rogue; he was recruited by Chakotay in Sandrines in Marseilles to be a Maquis pilot. He flew one mission and got caught and arrested for being a Maquis.

Janeway's reinstating his commission and giving him a bridge position improved his father's attitude towards him.

So check out my sig if you want to read my ongoing fanfic novel about Captain Tuvok and XO Paris.

 

[Tomalak]

I think the situation aboard Voyager was supposed to be that enough of the original Starfleet crew were killed in the trip to the Delta Quadrant that they couldn't operate the ship without the cooperation of the Maquis. I don't think it was depicted that way onscreen, but there were supposed to be enough Maquis aboard Chakotay's ship to make up the losses aboard Janeway's ship. If the Maquis, for some reason, decided to go on strike, then the ship couldn't be handled (for some reason) by the Starfleet crew alone. Hence the need for an alliance between the Maquis and Starfleet.

But equally there were enough Maquis that Tuvok feared a successful mutiny was a very real possibility. Even if some of the Starfleet crew joined the mutineers, the ship must still be operable by a minority. Hell, Seven of Nine flies the ship on her own through a nebula.

 

[Lynx]

I guess that Janeway saw qualities in Tom, that he was reliable and could do a good job in difficult situations. That, plus the fact that he did have a proper Starfleet education made him a good candidate for promotion.

As for Chakotay and Torres, I guess that their Starfleet education was the reason for them being on a Maquis ship in the first place. It would be hard for a civilian to become engineer, pilot or squadron leader for the Maquis.

 

[Timo]

still I think that giving the Maquis central characters Starfleet backgrounds was a bit of a cop out

Understood and agreed, to some degree. I just don't feel quite as strongly about it. If there were no semi-Starfleeters in the mix, Janeway would probably have had a full-blown mutiny in her hands, and the ship would soon have been sailing not with 150 grudgingly cooperating people, but 47 badly maimed survivors. It would have been a different story - and probably one where the ship would never have survived past the first season, let alone reached home.

Ensign B'Elanna Torres can still give all the orders she wants as chief engineer, any lieutenants on her team still have to do as they're told because she is in charge of that department of the ship.

But it undermines her authority if her underlings hold higher rank than she does. It's as if Janeway weren't trusting her with higher rank - how, then, could the underlings trust her with anything?

Nothing would really be won by giving Torres low rank, except if the intent was to humiliate her and the other Maquis. And that didn't seem to be Janeway's approach to the issue of Maquis control.

Chakotay obviously ran a tight ship (even if it was full of spies and traitors), and would have had a rank system of some sort in effect aboard that ship. Janeway would no doubt consult Chakotay on the issue, and try and preserve that rank system, interlacing it with whatever remained of her own rank system and personnel. The other option would have been to preserve the rank system but have it categorically be "beneath" the Starfleet one - but that would mean that nobody would listen to Torres at Engineering, or Ayala at Ops, or even Chakotay at the center seat.

Well I don't think "hate crime" is really the term to be used in this situation - a murderer who has served a sentence is still a murderer and people still consider them as such, same as a convicted rapist who is eventually let out of jail is still a rapist.

The point of the law, though, is that the ex-con is now innocent of all crime. And Starfleet would have a strong interest in enforcing the point of law here.

Also, if a person isn't innocent when coming out of jail, then why should he ever come out of jail? The jail is supposed to correct him. Perhaps not in practice in today's world - but in the Trek world, that's more than a pious wish. Supposedly, all criminals are considered insane, and are put to therapy where they are cured of crime. If you get out of therapy, you no longer are a criminal (at least not on the specific type of crime that got you into that jam in the first place). You get a short bout of therapy for petty crime like Mudd's, or for treason like Paris's, or for attempted genocide like Garak's. If it doesn't work, you don't get out, but are sent to Elba II for life. For all we know, Mudd never ever attempted the use of counterfeit money or operating a starship without license again; Paris never defected to the Maquis again; and Garak never attempted genocide again...

Was Paris pardoned then? Pardoned by a captain for getting three colleagues killed then convering up the circumstances to save himself?

By Starfleet, probably, not by any specific captain (least of all Janeway). The deal for his pardon and release would have been made before the ship set out for the Badlands. Garak was pardoned/released for attempted genocide, which supposedly is much worse; Yates for helping the Maquis, which was what got Paris jailed.

For the deaths of the three colleagues, Paris apparently only got a reprimand. It was an accident, after all; probably many Starfleeters end up getting their colleagues killed, as space is a high-risk environment. For the cover-up, Paris got drummed out. But he didn't get drummed into therapy on a penal island.

She didn't owe the Maquis anything, she was good enough to take them all aboard her ship and head home, but why the need to give them positions of power?

The ship wouldn't have gotten far without a Chief Engineer. Even though Janeway couldn't predict anything specific, "Parallax" would already have killed them all had Torres not been aboard. Janeway's life depended on her enlisting the help of at least some of the Maquis - and once she did that, her life would depend on appeasing the remainder, too, lest she subject herself to a murderous mutiny.

I suppose Janeway could have made Torres a commander, but is that an appropriate rank for a chief engineer of a ship the size of Voyager?

We don't know the names and ranks of the top people Janeway lost, not as such (LtCmdr Cavit notwithstanding). But we can infer things from the casualty list that Seven of Nine reviews in "Imperfection". Cavit is not on that list, but one Commander and two Lieutenant Commanders are. We saw that the nameless Chief Medical Officer was a Lieutenant Commander, so he might be one of those two. The Commander (named J Bartlett, as per the "West Wing" theme of that casualty list) would probably not be a line officer eligible for command, or else he or she would have caused confusion by outranking Cavit. Perhaps that one was the Chief Science Officer, then? Or perhaps the Chief Engineer wasn't in the command path but was a specialist who would tend the new engines for the maiden voyage?

Since we have difficulty placing the names from that list in appropriate positions already (because of there not being sufficiently many plausible top positions), we should probably accept that the Chief Engineer used to be either Lieutenant Commander or Commander. So when Janeway made Torres a full Lieutenant after "Parallax", she was apparently holding back a bit.

She only made Chakotay a Lieutenant Commander, of course, so it would make sense to keep his most trusted underlings, such as Torres and Seska, at lower rank, to preserve the original Maquis rank structure.

Hell, Seven of Nine flies the ship on her own through a nebula.

Only for a very short period of time, though. Janeway knew she'd be facing a journey taking years if not decades. Probably not even the original Starfleet crew of 150 could have coped with that; a skeleton crew would have run into trouble immediately when the first repairs had to be made, and the full combined crew was really struggling with keeping the ship together after a couple of years. Good thing that they got outside help, from assorted friendly ports.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Brutal Strudel]

I always thought that Janeway should have busted Paris back to ensign and he should have stayed there. I also think that Kim should have been promoted to lieutenant and that the show should have spent an episode or two exploring the tension that arises when the power balance in a friendship shifts.

Ah, but what do I care? I largely hated the show, anyway.

 

[Kegg]

If Paris was an ensign, Kim would lose his only defining trait - he's the Only Ensign.

If Kim got promoted, he'd lose his defining trait again.

The fact nobody else on the senior staff is an ensign and the fact Kim remains an ensign for an impressive seven years (Nog enrolled in Starfleet and made Lieutenant all the while Kim was being an ensign in the DQ) are entirely attributable to these two facts.

 

[Harvey]

Kim had a defining trait?

 

[Kegg]

It didn't stop him from saying dialogue in any given episode that probably could be said just as well by Chakotay, Torres or Seven, but yeah, he had a defining trait.

(Random thought: What would "The Disease" look like if you gave his dialogue to all three characters? I like this idea!)