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Captains Swapped in TNG Era

polyharmonic

Lieutenant Commander
Red Shirt
During TNG era, we have the following captains:
Jean Luc Picard
Benjamin Sisko
Katherine Janeway

What if we swapped the captains so that they were in command in their fellow captains' posts?

How would they fare and for better or worse? (Picard in DS9 or Voyager, etc.)
 
For some reason I suspect Picard would have found a way to save the Ocampa AND get home right away.

I highly doubt that. The only possibility would be to 'ensure' that the Array be destroyed right after it sends Voyager home, but since Voyager would then be home there would be absolutely no way to ever know for sure if the Array were actually destroyed as intended.

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Regarding the question in general, I would say DS9 is the easiest to answer: Neither Picard nor Janeway would do half as well in Sisko's position as he did. The first major obstacle is, of course, the Emissary. If Picard and Janeway aren't the Emissary, then a huge portion of DS9 is undone, including much of the cultural exchange that brought Bajor closer to the Federation (DS9's original mission) and one of the most pivotal moments of the Dominion War (DS9's later mission). Even if we rewrote their characters to say that they actually were the Emissary, neither one of them would ever really accept that position and thus would still never achieve the same level of relations with the Bajorans or the Prophets.

I also doubt if Picard would truly understand the importance of the civilian life on the station or the continuity of that civilian life even between different regimes. Under Picard, Quark would've been gone from the first episode and most other civilians with him. DS9 would've been almost exclusively a Starfleet/Bajoran Militia station guarding the wormhole but not really attracting any sort of cultural exchange. I'm not sure where Janeway would fall on this question, but I'm guessing maybe closer to Sisko than Picard.

The other big elephant in the room is the Dominion War itself - Picard would be more diplomatic to start with. Maybe he might even wind up negotiating a peace treaty of some sort at the outset, and he certainly wouldn't mine the wormhole as a pre-emptive defense measure. But his very successes would be the literal death of the Federation. The Dominion is obsessed with control and is shown to betray and overthrow even those with whom they make treaties. The Dominion also was nearly able to destroy the Federation and Klingons both using just the Cardassian fleet and the small number of Dominion ships that made it through the wormhole plus whatever they could build and crew from within the AQ. If that tactical separation between alpha and gamma quadrant had not been in place, the Dominion would've steamrolled over everyone and proven themselves more unstoppable than the Borg (since, unlike the Borg, the Dominion actually uses fleets). That is, if they even allowed any of it to go a 'Dominion War' scenario at all, rather than using infiltrators to start an 'Alpha Quadrant war' wherein all the AQ powers just tear each other to shreds, leaving the Dominion to mop up, or rather than simply replacing all the political leaders and effectively 'signing treaties' with themselves until all political power rest de facto with the Founders.

Where Janeway would fall in the DW question is a weird one to answer. Based on what we've seen of her, I would say she would make similar choices to Sisko, though she would not have the advantage of being tight with the Prophets. But everything we know about her in her capacity as a leader is based on her behavior in an extremely unrepresentative situation. If she at times seemed severely cautious, maybe even paranoid, in the face of alien cultures that were anything less than open, well, she actually had really good reason to be. She was alone and carried the sole responsibility for her people's safety and happiness and she actually was beset on all sides by dangerous, malevolent races. What would Captain Kathryn Janeway even be like if she had never experienced her trek through the DQ? I honestly have no idea. (For the same reason, I will say off the bat that I really have no idea how Janeway would work out in TNG, either).

So DS9 had to be Sisko.

Voyager, I would say could not have been Sisko. For one thing, at the start of his story he's lost all hope and faith in Starfleet. He's on the verge on leaving altogether. He's helped through it by the Prophets, but without them, he was keeping himself stuck in that moment eternally. If, during that time, he were flung to the far side of the universe, would he even still want to be Captain after that at all? I honestly doubt it. Captain Sisko probably would've stepped down and just focused on being a father to Jake, unless something absolutely forced him not to - and that obviously wouldn't be a good situation for anyone, since a Captain whose heart isn't in it is disastrous. That's without even going into his major issues with the Borg. Most definitely, Sisko would never have been able to ally with them even temporarily, and he almost certainly wouldn't have rescued Seven of Nine.

Regarding Sisko on TNG, I again have to say there's no real way to answer that. If you take Sisko back to before Wolf 359 you are erasing the most fundamental layers of his character, so there's no telling what he'd be like.

So that leaves Picard on Voyager. As I said, I don't believe for a second he would've been able to just magically fix everything. I do think this is probably the most likely crossover to actually work as Picard's diplomacy could have perhaps made some situations easier and he can be a disciplinarian when he wants to, as well. His Borg issue, unlike Sisko's, is not at the center of his character and if Picard were placed in command of the Voyager instead of the Enterprise, he would simply never have had the Borg issue, until he met them in the Delta Quadrant. Even then, his TNG arc showed him capable of overcoming it anway.

My biggest concern with Picard on Voy is that he's too by the book and inflexible. I suspect he would allow himself to be talked into accepting the Maquis as shipmates rather than prisoners, because there really is no other practical option. But I kind of doubt whether he would ever really treat them equally with his own officers, because they are literally criminals. Terrorists, even. I think that may be going to far for him, and as a result, I question whether Voyager would ever truly become a coherent, reliable gestalt.
 
I dont think Janeway or Picard could have done well in Siskos position. I lean towards Picard maybe doing a little better because of his understanding of Bajoran culture, and his diplomatic skills. However you can't replace the importance of the Emmisary.

On Voyager, I think sisko was too much of a hothead, he most likely would have been having fistfights with Chakotay rather than intergrating him into his crew. Picard I think would have done a better job, His diplomacy skills could have smoothed over a few rough situations and I think he would handle the maquis better than sisko.

As for the Enterprise, I think both sisko and janeway could have done OK to an extent, but the Enterprise was the flagship and in many occasions required Picards diplomatic skills to achieve its missions.
 
I also doubt if Picard would truly understand the importance of the civilian life on the station or the continuity of that civilian life even between different regimes. Under Picard, Quark would've been gone from the first episode and most other civilians with him. DS9 would've been almost exclusively a Starfleet/Bajoran Militia station guarding the wormhole but not really attracting any sort of cultural exchange.
I think this is being unfair to Picard. If Starfleet wanted him to run a station with civilians on it, he'd run a station with civilians on it. He'd bitch about it all the way and expect his XO to present a more congenial face, just as he did with the situation of having families on the Enterprise.

Voyager, I would say could not have been Sisko. For one thing, at the start of his story he's lost all hope and faith in Starfleet. He's on the verge on leaving altogether. He's helped through it by the Prophets, but without them, he was keeping himself stuck in that moment eternally. If, during that time, he were flung to the far side of the universe, would he even still want to be Captain after that at all? I honestly doubt it. Captain Sisko probably would've stepped down and just focused on being a father to Jake, unless something absolutely forced him not to - and that obviously wouldn't be a good situation for anyone, since a Captain whose heart isn't in it is disastrous.
And this is being unfair to Sisko. As the person in command, finding himself in a situation like that, he'd more likely find new purpose in the situation rather than just quit. I can't even imagine any commander of the vessel just quitting when he has nowhere to go.
 
On Voyager, I think sisko was too much of a hothead, he most likely would have been having fistfights with Chakotay rather than intergrating him into his crew. Picard I think would have done a better job, His diplomacy skills could have smoothed over a few rough situations and I think he would handle the maquis better than sisko.

Unless you're alluding to Sisko's issues with the Maquis - both of which occasions included personal betrayals - I doubt this would be the case. He managed to deal with arguments with Kira and Odo without devolving into irrational behaviour. And Kira challenged his command a helluva lot more than Chakotay ever did with Janeway.
 
Sisko would have probably made it home through the Barzan wormhole. Don't 'Out Ferengi the Ferengi', just out transport them and get moving. And would have been a little more willing to make compromises and alliances. But he also probably wouldn't have gained the trust of the Maquis or let them integrate into the crew so soon.

I disagree with the idea that Picard or Janeway would just be pushovers in the face of the Dominion. Yeah, they'd look for a diplomatic solution, but of course they would have seen what the Dominion was doing and tried to prevent ships from crossing the wormhole. And Picard would have avoided the Klingon conflict.

Yeah, Picard always pushed for peace, but he was keen enough to tell when he was being played. (Most of the time at least, guess not so much in Next Phase).
 
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Unless you're alluding to Sisko's issues with the Maquis - both of which occasions included personal betrayals - I doubt this would be the case. He managed to deal with arguments with Kira and Odo without devolving into irrational behaviour. And Kira challenged his command a helluva lot more than Chakotay ever did with Janeway.

I think the combination of sisko and early Chakotay would have been explosive.

Both mellowed out (Chakotay moreso) but emissary sisko and caretaker Chakotay.... that'd be fireworks.
 
Sisko would have probably made it home through the Barzan wormhole. Don't 'Out Ferengi the Ferengi', just out transport them and get moving. And would have been a little more willing to make compromises and alliances. But he also probably wouldn't have gained the trust of the Maquis or let them integrate into the crew so soon.

I disagree with the idea that Picard or Janeway would just be pushovers in the face of the Dominion. Yeah, they'd look for a diplomatic solution, but of course they would have seen what the Dominion was doing and tried to prevent ships from crossing the wormhole. And Picard would have avoided the Klingon conflict.

Yeah, Picard always pushed for peace, but he was keen enough to tell when he was being played. (Most of the time at least, guess not so much in Next Phase).
Sisko was sympathetic with the Maquis until they broke his patience later on with Eddington. So I think Sisko on Voyager would've been as accommodating as Janeway. Janeway would've taken Eddington's defection probably not that dissimilarly to the way she took Ransom's shenanigans. Like Sisko, Janeway has obsessive character traits. Picard had that too in First Contact I suppose.
 
I think this is being unfair to Picard. If Starfleet wanted him to run a station with civilians on it, he'd run a station with civilians on it. He'd bitch about it all the way and expect his XO to present a more congenial face, just as he did with the situation of having families on the Enterprise.

And this is being unfair to Sisko. As the person in command, finding himself in a situation like that, he'd more likely find new purpose in the situation rather than just quit. I can't even imagine any commander of the vessel just quitting when he has nowhere to go.

Re: Picard - following orders to facilitate civilians isn't enough. Sisko had to proactively scheme, cajole and encourage from the moment he set foot on the station in order to inspire the civilian population to stick around and rebuild. Picard simply would not have done that. Even if that oversight were eventually rectified because SF complained, the loss of the pre-existing community would likely have led the station's civilian presence to be really no different from any other Fed. Starbase, which would be bad for relations with the Bajorans.

Re: Sisko - I agree he'd do his best for the duration of the immediate crisis, but when the dust settles and its time to ask 'what now?', I honestly am not sure if he could bring himself to carry that responsibility for what promised at the start to be essentially the rest of his life. Lack of purpose was never his problem and the problem that he had could not be solved by being handed this giant sack of responsibility. Being handed DS9 didn't solve his problem, either. He needed the help of the Prophets for that. In fact, there's every reason to believe putting him in Janeway's shoes would make his problem worse. Survivor's guilt was a huge component of what was killing him and suddenly being faced with the idea that you're responsible for this whole crew for the rest of their lives, essentially (and you know some of them will die eventually), is a perfect recipe for a breakdown. I think there's a real possibility that it would be a bridge too far for him and he would look for a different role and promote someone he believed could do the job better. Even if not, if his issue isn't solved, he wouldn't really be fully fit for command anyway, so Voyager suffers either way. The only happy way out I see is if someone on Voy's crew is astute and intelligent enough to do for him what the prophets did for him on ds9.
 
Sisko was considering leaving Starfleet but he's loyal enough to his crew that he wouldn't just give up and abandon them once they arrived.

But Sisko would have been more single-minded about getting home, and would spend less time studying nebulae and debating the philosophy of how principles change in the DQ. He probably would have gotten home in False Profits. But if he didn't, he certainly wouldn't have made a deal with the Borg. So his Voyager would take a totally different path.

I think Picard would have managed to convince 8472 that the Borg were their enemy, not them.
 
Re: Sisko - I agree he'd do his best for the duration of the immediate crisis, but when the dust settles and its time to ask 'what now?', I honestly am not sure if he could bring himself to carry that responsibility for what promised at the start to be essentially the rest of his life. Lack of purpose was never his problem and the problem that he had could not be solved by being handed this giant sack of responsibility. Being handed DS9 didn't solve his problem, either. He needed the help of the Prophets for that. In fact, there's every reason to believe putting him in Janeway's shoes would make his problem worse. Survivor's guilt was a huge component of what was killing him and suddenly being faced with the idea that you're responsible for this whole crew for the rest of their lives, essentially (and you know some of them will die eventually), is a perfect recipe for a breakdown. I think there's a real possibility that it would be a bridge too far for him and he would look for a different role and promote someone he believed could do the job better. Even if not, if his issue isn't solved, he wouldn't really be fully fit for command anyway, so Voyager suffers either way. The only happy way out I see is if someone on Voy's crew is astute and intelligent enough to do for him what the prophets did for him on ds9.
Still not seeing this. His issues about losing Jennifer could have been worked through or dealt with via other means than the Prophets. Faced with commanding Voyager in the Delta Quadrant, he'd get his shit together and deal with his current situation.
 
I agree, Sisko may have left Starfleet the moment he got back home, but no way he'd wallow in self pity while his crew are depending on him.
 
They're all three written as very capable Starfleet captains. Picard had something of a crew of the best, wheras Sisko was given an alien space station swarming with its own spies and factions, and a small group of officers working with the local government to run it with. Janeway had even worse circumstances. They all did well.

I do think if Picard had been captain of the Odyssey, instead of Keogh, they might have taken better precautions against the Jem Hadar attack and that may have put the Federation on better footing for what was to come. (I know.. it was written that way but.. we're supposing here). Picard had years of experience with the unknown whereas Keogh seemed a bit arrogant.
 
Voyager, I would say could not have been Sisko. For one thing, at the start of his story he's lost all hope and faith in Starfleet. He's on the verge on leaving altogether. He's helped through it by the Prophets, but without them, he was keeping himself stuck in that moment eternally. If, during that time, he were flung to the far side of the universe, would he even still want to be Captain after that at all? I honestly doubt it. Captain Sisko probably would've stepped down and just focused on being a father to Jake, unless something absolutely forced him not to - and that obviously wouldn't be a good situation for anyone, since a Captain whose heart isn't in it is disastrous.

You mean like Janeway did in Night where she isolated herself, seemingly for weeks on end, and the crew complained about it? It's just that in her situation, she literally had nowhere else to flee to, or nothing else to flee into (like Sisko might still have had by caring for Jake and peeling potatoes in the restaurant of his father)/
 
They're all three written as very capable Starfleet captains. Picard had something of a crew of the best, wheras Sisko was given an alien space station swarming with its own spies and factions, and a small group of officers working with the local government to run it with. Janeway had even worse circumstances. They all did well.

I do think if Picard had been captain of the Odyssey, instead of Keogh, they might have taken better precautions against the Jem Hadar attack and that may have put the Federation on better footing for what was to come. (I know.. it was written that way but.. we're supposing here). Picard had years of experience with the unknown whereas Keogh seemed a bit arrogant.

I think the enterprise D crew would certainly have fared better than those of the Oddesy. As you say Picard wasn't as arrogant and I'm sure Data could have come up with a plan in those several minutes. Those jem'hadar ships were OP in that episode but I guess that was the point for the story.
 
Sisko would have probably made it home through the Barzan wormhole. Don't 'Out Ferengi the Ferengi', just out transport them and get moving. And would have been a little more willing to make compromises and alliances. But he also probably wouldn't have gained the trust of the Maquis or let them integrate into the crew so soon.

I disagree with the idea that Picard or Janeway would just be pushovers in the face of the Dominion. Yeah, they'd look for a diplomatic solution, but of course they would have seen what the Dominion was doing and tried to prevent ships from crossing the wormhole. And Picard would have avoided the Klingon conflict.

Yeah, Picard always pushed for peace, but he was keen enough to tell when he was being played. (Most of the time at least, guess not so much in Next Phase).

How would Picard have avoided the Klingon conflict? That war was started by a changeling in the Klingon High Command and no one on DS9 ever even had any opportunity to shut it down before it started. The only opportunity available was to unmask the changeling and end the war as soon as possible.

And I don't think Picard would fail to understand the Dominion IF they acted just as shady around him as they did around Sisko. But I don't believe he would pre-emptively wall off the wormhole unless he was ordered to, because Picard doesn't strike first (Janeway might, but like I said, it's hard to say what Janeway even would be like without her experiences on Voyager). Also, if Picard was the lead contact with the Dominion, he would be more diplomatic from the start and the Dominion very likely would be far more smiles and happy than they were with Sisko. If they play the 'peaceful neighbors' card, I can see it leading to a treaty which Picard truly believes is good for the Federation, but any treaty under those circumstances will be just an excuse/opportunity for the Dominion to subvert and eventually subsume the Federation, with or without bloodshed. Again, I'm not saying Picard is an idiot and would never figure it out, but even being in that position to start with is a major problem and potentially irrecoverable.

Still not seeing this. His issues about losing Jennifer could have been worked through or dealt with via other means than the Prophets. Faced with commanding Voyager in the Delta Quadrant, he'd get his shit together and deal with his current situation.

You keep saying he'll 'deal with it' but you're not saying how. In the actual write-up of the character he *couldn't* deal with it by himself. He needed help. Now if we can pinpoint someone on Voyager who is a plausible source of that same sort of help, then fair enough (though there still remains the question of how long it takes him to get help and what kind of leadership he practices in the meantime), but if not, he's not going to magically get better just because he's needed.
 
Picard would have avoided the Klingon conflict because he knows how to get direct access to Gowron and how to make it a political necessity for him to do what he wants. He could have gotten past Changeling Martok and forced Gowron to listen, because that's what Picard does.

Mining the wormhole wouldn't be 'striking first'. It wouldn't be much different than when he set up the tachyon detection grid to prove the Romulans were helping the Duras. In The Search, Picard would have reacted to the simulation the same way Sisko did. Picard would have tried to make a treaty, but he would not have allowed the Dominion to station warships in the AQ.
 
I think each show got the captain they needed. Sure there are certain things they all would've done the same but Sisko had to be the Emissary. Picard and Janeway would never have countenanced such a position. Sisko himself took years of convincing and he was specifically born into the role.

Picard would probably have found a way to get back from the Delta Quadrant and save the Ocampa because he's Picard. Janeway was faced with much tougher decisions later on in the series without Starfleet to fall back on. Janeway became harder as the years went on. Picard softened as TNG continued. It's difficult to imagine him continuing as he was in Season 1 for an entire 7 years. I have no doubt Sisko would make the same decisions Janeway made. Perhaps he'd even be willing to break the rules earlier than Janeway did.

I think all of the captains could have handled the Enterprise D. It was a ship of exploration in a time of relative peace. Exactly what Starfleet and the Federation trains for. Picard was perfect in the role of course and I'm glad it was him in the big seat but I could visualise Sisko and Janeway there too.
 
Picard would have avoided the Klingon conflict because he knows how to get direct access to Gowron and how to make it a political necessity for him to do what he wants. He could have gotten past Changeling Martok and forced Gowron to listen, because that's what Picard does.

If we're talking about swapping the captains from one series to the other, Picard would arrive on DS9 having never Captained the Enterprise. He would have zero access to Gowron. And even if he did get past Martok, that wouldn't prevent the war because the war already started before that.

Mining the wormhole wouldn't be 'striking first'. It wouldn't be much different than when he set up the tachyon detection grid to prove the Romulans were helping the Duras. In The Search, Picard would have reacted to the simulation the same way Sisko did. Picard would have tried to make a treaty, but he would not have allowed the Dominion to station warships in the AQ.

It's obviously very different from a tachyon detection grid. The grid was designed only to reveal the presence of ships, not damage them or force them to stay on one side. The Federation had no cause to attack the Romulans, and didn't do so (even Data's torpedo based solution was designed to cause no damage), it merely provided proof to the Klingons that their territory was being violated.

Also, the Federation has no actual right to keep the Dominion out of the Alpha Quadrant - the near end of the wormhole is Bajoran space and the far end is unclaimed space, plus the Cardassian Union invited the Dominion into their space. Any attempt to do so is obviously an act of war, ergo no different than a pre-emptive strike.

I agree Picard would also react badly to The Search, but I wonder if Picard's more diplomatic attitude might make the Dominion less jumpy and have them choose the long game of diplomatic assimilation and slowly replacing the Federation govt. instead of being as aggressive as they were with Sisko.
 
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