OK,
Penguin, perhaps I shouldn't have said 'sordid'. I was paraphrasing as best I could.
I wouldn't like to sound like I am harassing a junior officer.
I don't remember the episode well, but I believe you are speculating on back story. We don't really know all that went down between them and how they broke up.
Besides, I think that in case of inter-rank relationships, people look the other way as long as discretion is maintained. There must have been other reasons. I think the relationship was probably not that strong. Which makes the casual encounter in the episode easier. Easy come, easy go. Although there is also a potential for a serious relationship. It's a matter of priorities. To those 2, career comes first. They happen to like each other and if their priorities changed, they would be each other's first choice. They are just not passionate about each other.
I seem to remember there was chemistry. But we're talking about people governed by reason and even if Erika suffers more than Jon, she's a cool-headed captain who can handle it. If he had completely broken her heart before, would she come back for seconds? You say she has no pride. She doesn't seem like that kind of woman. You don't know that she got her heart broken in the first place. You don't know that Jon was as brutal as you say. You don't know the circumstances. You only know how little they say.
For the sake of argument, a pregnant captain loses command (if only temporarily) and the problem solves itself.
And isn't the problem mostly for people who are within the same chain of command, not just of different ranks and from different postings??
Anyway, I don't care much about this and I admit I am not comfortable discussing an episode I haven't seen again yet. Use it to foil my arguments if you will, I'm too tired to care.
I just don't like to see female pride insulted - or women clichéed to all be sensitive and romantic. I believe that men's feelings are just as sensitive as women's as a whole.