Defiant -- not staffed 24/7

[Nathan]

Just watched the DS9 Episode "Defiant" -- one where Tom Riker steals the ship. I thought it was a great show, but I always wondered why there was no DS9 crew on the ship...maintenance crew, skeleton crew, etc.

You'd think if they'd have to use it for emergencies, everyone be scrambling to get on-board.

Plus I always wondered why Riker didn't have more crew members when operating the ship. Probably due to budget reasons having more extras on the show.

To rectify it in my mind, I just assume once the ship went to warp, it met up with another maquis ship and transferred off the DS9 crew and got more maquis members on-board.

Still like the episode nevertheless.

Anyone else thought it was strange there was no crew members on board (and yeah, O'Brien was on it, but I don't think he was assigned to the ship/.

Your thoughts?

 

[ItIsGreen]

It's a support craft for the station, not a full-time starship on an ongoing exploratory/scientific/peacekeeping mission.

It's used infrequently at the discretion of the station commander, and staffed by regular DS9 crew. Presumably the docking airlock is kept secure, so beyond regular maintenance/repairs there's no reason to keep any crew on board. Same as the runabouts really.

 

[Timo]

To rectify it in my mind, I just assume once the ship went to warp, it met up with another maquis ship and transferred off the DS9 crew and got more maquis members on-board.

And that's exactly what happened in the episode. Or at least the concept of Maquis reinforcements joining the crew is confirmed.

Kalita: "The other Maquis ships just arrived."
Tamal: "The rest of the team's ready."

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Kinggodzillak]

Just before heading off to rescue the Xhosa near the start of Way of the Warrior Sisko yells to Dax "Tell the crew on the Defiant to man their stations!", which sort of implies that there are crew on board basically twiddling their thumbs.

Although later on Worf moves out there to be alone, so who knows what's going on.

 

[Karzak]

Here's a mindfuck for you: Kalita, the woman flying the Defiant in that episode is the same character Kalita who worked with Ro initially when Ro joins the Maquis in "Preemptive Strike."

Bonus Round:
Kalita was played by Shannon Cochran, who later played Sirella, General Martok's wife.

 

[Lance]

Just before heading off to rescue the Xhosa near the start of Way of the Warrior Sisko yells to Dax ''Tell the crew on the Defiant to man their stations!'', which sort of implies that there are crew on board basically twiddling their thumbs.

Although later on Worf moves out there to be alone, so who knows what's going on.

When Worf moves onto the Defiant, the entire regular crew (voluntarily) moves off.

It's close quarters. Worf likes to listen to his Klingon Opera at full volume. We've all had that guy as a room-mate, right?

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Do people continue to sleep and work on a submarine when it is in dock?

 

[Lance]

Depends whether they like to listen to ''Aktuh and Maylota'' at full volume at three in the morning.

 

[Timo]

Just before heading off to rescue the Xhosa near the start of Way of the Warrior Sisko yells to Dax "Tell the crew on the Defiant to man their stations!", which sort of implies that there are crew on board basically twiddling their thumbs.

Or then that there are not, which is why Sisko has to give special orders to get those people to drop their usual stationside work, rush on board and get to their stations...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Paradise City]

The Defiant "health indicators" for want of a better word are probably hooked up to the station and maybe a maintenance crew give it a once over daily. Something like that.

It'd be some job sitting on the Defiant all day doing nearly nothing.

 

[Lance]

I think those of you who've said it was a support craft for the space station (rather than a ship on regular patrol duties) have nailed it.

At the time it was introduced though, I'd always wondered if Defiant came with her own crew. Sure, we see DS9's regular staff in the command position more often than not. But on the other hand you have odd occasions, like in First Contact, where only Worf seems to be aboard as a contingent of DS9's staff. And my take on Eddington was that he arrived as 'Chief Of Starfleet Security' alongside the Defiant as much as anything else (hence his initially butting heads with Odo, who retained jurisdiction over security on the station, whereas Eddington might conceivably have been attached more to Defiant more than he was to Deep Space Nine itself). It definitely seemed strange to me those times when, for example, Kira or Odo might be undertaking duties aboard Defiant, even if Sisko was giving them his personal approval.

 

[Paradise City]

The Defiant class ships are Starfleet's only battleship class and are somewhat unloved. They seem a bit embarrassed about it. Starfleet doesn't like to place any overt emphasis on their starships having a military role and a pure battleship runs counter to that. So we see Defiant class ships as a supplementary to the station or as training vessels and so on. They are half hidden away - at least until the Dominion War forces a shift in priorities and these kind of ships comes more to the fore of things.

 

[Lance]

^ Interesting take.

Defiant's backstory is that it was actually developed after Wolf 359, as an experimental vessel class streamlined towards battle-readiness in case or further Borg incursions. This would seem to support the 'fanon' that Wolf 359 is effectively the Star Trek universe's 9/11, a catastrophic event which shakes this complacent 24th century peace-time Federation into realising they might need to ''harden up'' a bit. On some level one might see that lineage/thinking carrying over to the Enterprise-E and the Voyager as well, to one degree or another. I agree that there could definitely have been some resistance within the Federation to any overt 'militarization' of Starfleet, so they may have been taking it forward in baby-steps.

As to your other point, it is interesting that even throughout DS9's run there was a general feeling that Defiant and Valiant were almost unique in the fleet, and maybe still experimental (although only Defiant carried an NX registration). It wasn't until late that they seemed to be rolling out more ships in the class, including Sao Paulo which became Defiant-2, and of course we see them again on Star Trek: Voyager, by which time it must be assumed they've become a much bigger part of the fleet.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

The fact that a Lt. Cmdr. could be made the CO points to the fact that it was primarily considered a support vessel. I don't know that we ever see it operate far from Federation Space, the way the Enterprise did, without being part of a fleet.

 

[nx1701g]

The fact that a Lt. Cmdr. could be made the CO points to the fact that it was primarily considered a support vessel. I don't know that we ever see it operate far from Federation Space, the way the Enterprise did, without being part of a fleet.

We sort of saw something similar in Valiant. In that episode the Valiant was described as having been assigned to circumnavigate the entire Federation as a training vessel. Later it was shown to survive on its own behind the lines for a long period of time.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Just before heading off to rescue the Xhosa near the start of Way of the Warrior Sisko yells to Dax "Tell the crew on the Defiant to man their stations!", which sort of implies that there are crew on board basically twiddling their thumbs.

Or then that there are not, which is why Sisko has to give special orders to get those people to drop their usual stationside work, rush on board and get to their stations...

Timo Saloniemi

That's long been my assumption: there are people on the station whose battle station in the event of an attack or emergency is the ship itself, as opposed to manning some auxiliary console. The Defiant could be viewed as a division area of the station, with some crew being fixed (a maintenance head, for instance) and others rotating on and off.

 

[Nathan]

I betcha there is probably (or should be) a rotating crew on the Defiant...meanin' say your regular assignment is assigned to Ops, but 1 week a month (or once every 2 weeks), you are assigned to the Defiant in case it is needed, if you the "emergency" or a mission requires the Defiant and your asssingment is the Defiant that day, then you are part of the crew. I suppose even someone from Medical is assigned to the ship. Even tho' you could say you would be twiddlin' your thumbs, you may have other duties you could complete (correspondence courses, on-line BS that is required (i.e. the annual Sexual Harrassment briefing you must take!) or even training that could be completed on the ship.

I think the Defiant is more of a support craft. If there was an emergency, everyone would bottle neck at the air lock.....or the commander would say, "Where is Phil our assigned Helmsman? " Response....he's in the bowels of DS9 and is gonna need another 5 minutes before we can take off!"

 

[The Old Mixer]

Is the Defiant manned when it's hanging on my Christmas tree? I know that Worf's over on the runabout....

 

[starburst]

The fact that a Lt. Cmdr. could be made the CO points to the fact that it was primarily considered a support vessel. I don't know that we ever see it operate far from Federation Space, the way the Enterprise did, without being part of a fleet.

Current day ships don't all have Captain's as the CO, our (our in the UK) Type 45 Destroyers have Commanders in the Captains chair (though previous commanding officers have held the rank of Captain) and some US Arleigh Burke Destroyers I have read about have Lt Commanders and neither of those I would consider a support ship.

Ships like the Defiant (and anything of similar size like the Saber and Nova) I could see being given to Commanders or Lt Commanders especially for patrol assignments, short term missions or when operating out of a home base (kind of like the Defiant).

Not all ships require a Captain and neither do all missions, plus some of a lesser rank can step up to the centre seat when the need arrises like Worf and Dax and Riker when he was promoted (and showed he could do the job) in BoBW.

 

[Timo]

That's long been my assumption: there are people on the station whose battle station in the event of an attack or emergency is the ship itself, as opposed to manning some auxiliary console.

Actually, I'd add the nuance that in the event of an attack, the Defiant is emptied of personnel, as the tiny starship is best protected by leaving her docked to the powerful station.

Whenever the station has actually come under attack in the episodes, the Defiant has remained sidelined. Except in the Mirror Universe, where the laws of combat and balance of power appeared different...

Timo Saloniemi