Although she was Sisko's first officer on DS9, what qualification did she have to take command of the Defiant in his absence and what authority did she have to give orders to Starfleet personal like a Starfleet officer? How did she know about Starfleet battle strategies when the Defiant was in combat and why was she written to act like and be treated like a Starfleet officer despite previously being part of a rebel militia?
About Kira Nerys
- Thread starter Soong-type Android
- Start date
The same training as everyone else.
(Before you respond, no one in a real navy is simply promoted into the position. Being able to command a vessel requires special training and education. No one in Star Trek, save Tilly and Savvik, is ever shown doing so. OTOH, the training to be at the conn can be done by anyone. Even chief petty officers in the USN can do it now.)
(Before you respond, no one in a real navy is simply promoted into the position. Being able to command a vessel requires special training and education. No one in Star Trek, save Tilly and Savvik, is ever shown doing so. OTOH, the training to be at the conn can be done by anyone. Even chief petty officers in the USN can do it now.)
The Federation and Bajor are friends and allies. It's like a Royal Navy officer serving on a U.S. Navy ship. Kira got cross training about Starfleet practice on starships including combat. A lot of the training was probably through holosuites/holodecks. Kira goes to the senior staff meetings where they talk about the current situation. All concerned are assuming Bajor will enter the Federation in the fairly near future and at that time the Militia will transition to being part of Starfleet; probably most people in the Militia are getting Starfleet training.
It's a bit like when Riker worked on the Klingon ship and Kurn on the Enterprise but a full time agreement.
The only time I wasn't entirely sure about Kira's role was during the Dominion War. Given that Bajor had a non-aggression pact with the Dominion and Kira remained a member of the Bajoran militia, it seemed odd that her fighting alongside Starfleet didn't have any repercussions.
Except they were actually trained to serve on starships unlike Kira.
I think the non-aggression pact went up in smoke once the fleet re-took DS9.
They’ve been open allies ever since.
From the age of 13 she was employing tactics and strategy in the field against hugely superior forces, she is an expert in guerrilla warfare and fighter combat. Her training might not be official and she might not have and diplomas to her name, but she'll have learned more about war and battle by the time most of the other characters were old enough to enter Starfleet Academy.
There is also the matter that the station is Bajoran property, Starfleet is just there to administrate as well as observe and assess their suitability to enter the UFP. Part of that agreement is joint working, in "A Time To Stand" she even says to Weyoun, "The Federation and Bajor always shared equal responsibility for station security", and given the number of command, engineering, medical and technical militia staff onboard then I'd assume there was a similar arrangement in place for all facets of station operations.
There is also the matter that the station is Bajoran property, Starfleet is just there to administrate as well as observe and assess their suitability to enter the UFP. Part of that agreement is joint working, in "A Time To Stand" she even says to Weyoun, "The Federation and Bajor always shared equal responsibility for station security", and given the number of command, engineering, medical and technical militia staff onboard then I'd assume there was a similar arrangement in place for all facets of station operations.
Here's the thing: you have been misled by Star Trek about officers education and training and what it would take to become a CO or and XO on a ship. No one says, your a captain now, you get to captain a ship. It takes special training at a higher level, far beyond the cadet stages, to reach that level. Brett Crozier, famously captain of the USS Roosevelt at the covid outbreak, had to go to numerous schools before being able to command a nuclear aircraft carrier. We never see any character in Starfleet doing this training. OK, fine, but there is no reason then to think we should see Kira do the same.
Actually we do, or at least the completion of it. Even you don't count Tilly's "Command Training Program" course as being this, then Cadet Lieutenant Saavik's Kobayashi Maru simulation was explicitly part of hers.
That we haven't seen it much since (though the bridge simulation from Learning Curve could also have been drawn from that sylabus at least) is an artifact of most of PoV characters being relatively senior.
Read my first comment in this thread.
Learning Curve is not advanced officer training.
Why?
I wasn't arguing with that post, I was countering your assertion that we never see any character (not just Kira which is true) taking command training. Which isn't true as I pointed out.
I'd rather Kira in command of the Defiant than Worf; she's such a well rounded leader as the series progressed. Worf had the responsibility because he really didn't have much of a designation after the Klingon War fizzled. Kira never was in a court martial for incompetence destroying a Klingon freighter; with her in command I know the situation would been executed more smoothly.
I already accounted for them. NEXT!
She's a Bajoran Militia officer with decades of combat experience.
The Federation and the Bajoran Republic probably have a treaty that provides for the integration of Starfleet and Bajoran Militia officers into a single command structure for both the station and for ships permanently attached to the station like the Defiant.
I'm sure Starfleet and the Bajoran Militia have ongoing tactical cross-training problems.
Because the Federation treats Bajor as an equal partner instead of a colonial possession. The station is Bajoran territory and Starfleet and the Bajoran Militia are co-equal partners in running it.
I think it's clear the Bajoran Republic only signed the non-aggression pact under duress and that upon the return of the Federation to the Bajor system, the Bajoran government rescinded its agreement and became one of the Allied powers alongside the Federation and Klingon Empire (and, later, the Romulan Star Empire).
True, but those decades were mainly spent in the area of guerilla tactics. And even though I would expect her to also have some combat experience in small craft, I'd expect that command of a full-fledged warship is a different animal, one which needs its own expertise. But presumably she took some time receiving training in this area.
What experience did Sisko or Worf have of commanding a warship (a type of vessel that Starfleet didn't have before the Defiant)? Sisko was involved with the development of the ship though given he was thinking about resigning from Starfleet at the time after Wolf 359 then he hadn't seen himself commanding the ship, whilst Worf was second choice of security chief on a luxury cruise ship. Even when Worf transfers to command he's not shown undertaking any additional training or classes for the new role.
I would assume them to have undergone training, too. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. After all, we only saw them for about 45 minutes of each 168-hour week 
I still wonder how much command training they have just as standard part of Starfleet academy, and how much they have to do later, if they want to go the command track.
I still wonder how much command training they have just as standard part of Starfleet academy, and how much they have to do later, if they want to go the command track.
Last edited:
The Galaxy class ships are not luxury cruise ships. They're full of labs and instruments, and they are expected to go into battle, if necessary, without even dropping the saucer section first.
