Spoilers First hand behind the scenes information

[Kor]

Thing is, what about the things that gave Darvin away? Things like irregular heartbeat and body temperature? These are things McCoy picked up with a simple tricorder, while Tyler was scanned by one of Starfleet's most advanced shipboard medical computers at least twice without anything being noticed, and it wasn't until the third time that something was picked up that warranted "further investigation" at which point Tyler kills Culber. And to make things worse, the writers tried to claim Tyler underwent the same process as Darvin, so how does a medical computer aboard a science ship repurposed for combat somehow miss a patient's irregular heartbeat and body temperature twice when someone with a tricorder can pick up on these things right away?

To say nothing of the fact that Tyler was obviously never in Lorca's ready room or else Lorca's pet tribble should have exposed him right there and then. Just how likely is it that Lorca never had one of his department heads in the ready room?

Ah, but McCoy's tricorder was the product of eight years or so of innovative advancement since the time of STDisco.

Kor

 

[The Wormhole]

Are you saying a computer in Disco's era would be incapable of noticing someone has a heartbeat and body temperature different from the human norm after being scanned twice?

 

[Kor]

Are you saying a computer in Disco's era would be incapable of noticing someone has a heartbeat and body temperature different from the human norm after being scanned twice?

As I said above, I try not to think too much about this whole plot point.

Kor

 

[Turtletrekker]

Ah, but McCoy's tricorder was the product of eight years or so of innovative advancement since the time of STDisco.

Kor

Exactly. The tricorders from the era of The Trouble with Tribbles would be programmed with the new information learned in the Ash Tyler case.

 

[Spaceship Jo]

That's true. Lorca murdered the crew of the Buran and admitted to it in his official report, and what does Starfleet do? They give him command of the fleet's most important wartime asset and give him carte blanche to decide which orders he wants to follow..

Minor point, but Discovery only became the fleet's most important wartime asset after Lorca was already in command. It was just a random research vessel when they presumably gave him an easy post after the trauma of the loss of his previous command. Discovery was in no way supposed to be on the front lines, it was only there because Lorca knew he could use it to hitch a ride home.

Or my memory is faulty. Was it just "destiny" that landed him on Discovery? Sigh, I'm not going back to rewatch to find out. Either way, my point is Discovery wasn't any kind of wartime asset until Lorca --> Tardigrade --> lots of plot contrivance / destiny / luck.

 

[David cgc]

They never said how Lorca ended up in command of Discovery, but given that he knew Mirror-Stamets, my guess is he knew enough to know that our Stamets' research was a way back home, so he lobbied for the opportunity to command the ship Stamets got. Starfleet captains have a lot of weird hobbies, so it probably wouldn't raise too many eyebrows when Lorca revealed a hitherto unknown familiarity with astromycology that would've made him the top (or top-two, given the Glenn) candidate to command a spore-drive testbed.

 

[Mudd]

Nothing about Lorca qualified him or made him a likely candidate to be put in charge of a secret project that the outcome of the war turned on.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Nothing about Lorca qualified him or made him a likely candidate to be put in charge of a secret project that the outcome of the war turned on.

He had friends in the Admiralty.

 

[Mudd]

As I said...

 

[David cgc]

Nothing about Lorca qualified him or made him a likely candidate to be put in charge of a secret project that the outcome of the war turned on.

The Admiralty did start looking for excuses to pull Lorca off the front line once the spore drive actually worked, and then to get a different captain on the Discovery once they found the drive was impractical to duplicate. Before the drive functioned, it was just another Starfleet science-boondoggle waiting to happen (and the boondoggle did happen! If Starfleet hadn't decided to split up the two scientists working on it, the drive would've been scrapped after it pretzeled everyone, including the inventors, to death). I'm sure being stupid enough to volunteer would've also gotten you to the front of the line of testing the totally automated starship with paranoid delusions, or the ship whose computer can get the flu from being too close to dairy products.

 

[urbandk]

The Admiralty did start looking for excuses to pull Lorca off the front line once the spore drive actually worked, and then to get a different captain on the Discovery once they found the drive was impractical to duplicate. Before the drive functioned, it was just another Starfleet science-boondoggle waiting to happen (and the boondoggle did happen! If Starfleet hadn't decided to split up the two scientists working on it, the drive would've been scrapped after it pretzeled everyone, including the inventors, to death). I'm sure being stupid enough to volunteer would've also gotten you to the front of the line of testing the totally automated starship with paranoid delusions, or the ship whose computer can get the flu from being too close to dairy products.

Totally agree. Even granted its great success, it's had some crazy drawbacks, freak accidents, and needs a mutant engineer to run it. It's not surprising it didn't catch on, and I don't feel like I need an elaborate retcon explanation to erase it from existence.

 

[drt]

They never said how Lorca ended up in command of Discovery, but given that he knew Mirror-Stamets, my guess is he knew enough to know that our Stamets' research was a way back home, so he lobbied for the opportunity to command the ship Stamets got. Starfleet captains have a lot of weird hobbies, so it probably wouldn't raise too many eyebrows when Lorca revealed a hitherto unknown familiarity with astromycology that would've made him the top (or top-two, given the Glenn) candidate to command a spore-drive testbed.

It's been a while since i watched Context, but i sort of got the impression that Stamets was semi-drafted to develop the spore drive, presumably by Lorca who already knew what Mirror Staments was up to...

 

[DaveyNY]

Stamets and his partner on the USS GLEN (Straal) were already working on the Spore Drive before Lorca took over as captain of the Discovery.

I never really figured out if they were already in Star Fleet before that point or if they were drafted after discovering the Spore Network.

 

[David cgc]

It's been a while since i watched Context, but i sort of got the impression that Stamets was semi-drafted to develop the spore drive, presumably by Lorca who already knew what Mirror Staments was up to...

It's a question of timing, really. Personally, just thinking about how long it would take to fit Discovery and Glenn out with the spore drive and associated accoutrements, that the crew seemed to have been together for a while before Burnham showed up, that there were only five months between Lorca becoming available for another captaincy (to put it somewhat euphemistically) and Burnham showing up, I tend to think Stamets and Straal had already decided to take up Starfleet's offer for backing and support when the war started, and Discovery and Glenn were pretty near finished when Lorca came to Starfleet and said, "Hey, I know I just got a bad break, but the doctors have cleared me and you aren't in a position to turn away experienced officers, so how about we split the difference and you put me on this nice, low-key science experiment ship with mushrooms, which I know enough about to seem useful, but not enough about to seem suspicious?"

I just don't think five months is enough time for Lorca to sell Starfleet on the project, for Starfleet to sell Stamets on it, and to design and build/renovate two ships around it. IIRC, the Stamets backstory comic showed that he'd been telling Starfleet to go screw themselves for months, if not years, before he was finally worn down and accepted their backing.

 

[Agony_Boothb]

I just don't think five months is enough time for Lorca to sell Starfleet on the project, for Starfleet to sell Stamets on it, and to design and build/renovate two ships around it.

I don't think it would have taken much for someone trained in manipulation and deception most likely from childhood, to convince a shaken and reactionary and desperate starfleet command that his idea was a good one.

 

[DaveyNY]

It's a question of timing, really. Personally, just thinking about how long it would take to fit Discovery and Glenn out with the spore drive and associated accoutrements, that the crew seemed to have been together for a while before Burnham showed up, that there were only five months between Lorca becoming available for another captaincy (to put it somewhat euphemistically) and Burnham showing up, I tend to think Stamets and Straal had already decided to take up Starfleet's offer for backing and support when the war started, and Discovery and Glenn were pretty near finished when Lorca came to Starfleet and said, "Hey, I know I just got a bad break, but the doctors have cleared me and you aren't in a position to turn away experienced officers, so how about we split the difference and you put me on this nice, low-key science experiment ship with mushrooms, which I know enough about to seem useful, but not enough about to seem suspicious?"

I just don't think five months is enough time for Lorca to sell Starfleet on the project, for Starfleet to sell Stamets on it, and to design and build/renovate two ships around it. IIRC, the Stamets backstory comic showed that he'd been telling Starfleet to go screw themselves for months, if not years, before he was finally worn down and accepted their backing.

I've kinda been thinking along the same lines, Stamets & Straal must have been working on the Spore Network for some time before it's use as a means of travel became plausible.
The conversation Stamets had with Straal did kinda-sorta make it seem like the former felt he was drafted while the latter joined willingly.

 

[Spaceship Jo]

Either way, it wasn't a key to the war effort or whatnot when Lorca took command. It was a low profile posting that wasn't on the front lines. SF command wouldn't have approved (though of course they would have, being as full of stark raving admirals as they are) him commanding any key to the war effort.

He presumably asked for Discovery with a "I'm shaken from the loss of my ship and crew, let me take on this low key science ship that is far from the front lines until I'm ready for Prime Time."