Get Bent - Star Fleet Flag Officer: A Discussion

[M.A.C.O.]

Ah, the top brass of Star Fleet. To quote Obi-Wan Kenobi, 'You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."

How many crooked admirals are there in Star Fleet?

TOS:
Decker - Doomsday Machine
Cartwright - The Voyage Home, The Undiscovered Country

TNG:
Jameson - Too Short A Season
Haftel - The Offspring
Satie - Drumhead
Kennelly - Ensign Ro
Pressman - Pegasus
Doughtery - Insurrection

DS9:
Leyton - Homefront, Paradise Lost
Ross - The Dominion War arc, Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges

VOY:
Future Janeway - Endgame

Kelvinverse:
Marcus

So many flag officers who break the rules. Sure, captains bend the rules, but the aforementioned flag officers take a lot of liberties they know they shouldn't.

Assassinations, conspiracies, forbidden experiments in violation of treaties,government coup d'etats, prime directive violations, temporal prime directive violations, weapons/arms deals, mass murder, sanctioning Section 31 operations, collaborating with foreign actors for personal gain.

So many bad apples. What do you think is the cause?


Positive Flag examples
ENT:
Forrest - Recurring throughout ENT

TOS:
Kirk - TMP, TWOK, TSFS, TVH

TNG - DS9:
Hanson - Best of Both World
Henry - Drumhead
Nechayev (Yeah, yeah. She's rigged and approachable as a porcupine, but she's isn't crooked.)

VOY:
Paris - Recurring

Kelvinverse:
Pike - STID
Paris - Beyond

 

[StarCruiser]

Commodore Decker was NOT a crooked officer, he was "broken" after loosing his crew...

 

[Farscape One]

Exactly.

And Admiral Nakamura seemed like a good one. He appeared multiple times on TNG.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

TOS:
Decker - Was broken, suffering survivors guilt and depression after his crew were killed
Cartwright - Yup

TNG:
Jameson - He was a crooked captain, so it stands to reason he'd be a crooked admiral
Haftel - Nope. He was looking out for the best interests of Starfleet, his approach made Picard disagree (because he didn't know Data or come to feel for him as the crew/audience had)
Satie - Obsessed more than crooked, she was on a witch hunt and lost sight of the bigger picture
Kennelly - Duped more than crooked, though his trusting of Cardassian opinions is a little worrying
Pressman - Definitely
Doughtery - Yup

DS9:
Leyton - Yup, though his reasoning (keeping Earth safe from shape-shifters) is understandable
Ross - He made a hard decision for the benefit of the greater good. More sleekit than crooked

VOY:
Future Janeway - Obsessed and lost sight of reason, though she was doing it for her family


TOS
Kirk - He usurps his successor, steals a starship for personal reasons, violates the temporal prime directive, whilst results in his demotion, hmm...

TNG - DS9:
Nechayev - She is by far the best admiral in the fleet, won't be long until she's running everything

VOY:
Paris - Seems a bit of a dick to his family, but other than that is mostly harmless

 

[Mojochi]

I wouldn't necessarily say Kennelly was crooked, just a stupid sucker with a lot of weight to throw around

I'd say the good ones outnumber the bad ones heartily. Fleet Admiral Shanthi is one that stands out in my memory of Picard needing to build a blockade in Redemption. There's Brand at the Academy during First Duty

In fact, here's a list of known flag officers, http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Starfleet_flag_officers

Your dozen or so are really just a small amount of the ones we've ever even seen, & there'd likely be many more out there we don't know about. Best not to judge the upper command by the bad examples only. Much like political extremists, they're just the ones making all the headlines lol. The overall hierarchy did in fact do some things right, like give Picard the Enterprise

 

[Delta Vega]

For the most part, high ranking officers in Trek seemed to be so out of their depth, so bad at their jobs, or morally questionable. (The same with Ambassadors who somehow end up on the bridge of the ship)
One would have to wonder how they moved through the ranks in the first place.
Admiral Forrest is the apparent exception to the rule.

 

[Agony_Boothb]

Not sure why Nechayev is on the list? She could be pretty hardline, but it's pretty clear that she gives a damn about her job and the security of the Federation.

 

[M.A.C.O.]

Not sure why Nechayev is on the list? She could be pretty hardline, but it's pretty clear that she gives a damn about her job and the security of the Federation.

Nechayev is listed with the positive admirals. Alongside Forrest, Pike, Kirk and Paris.

DS9:
Leyton - Yup, though his reasoning (keeping Earth safe from shape-shifters) is understandable.

Ross - He made a hard decision for the benefit of the greater good. More sleekit than crooked

With Leyton he staged a military coup and began suspend freedoms in the name of security.

With Ross, we know he was directing or at least working with Sloan. Given Section 31 and Star Fleet medical were responsible for the creation of the changeling virus and knowingly used Odo as a carrier to infect others. It's hard to draw the line on Ross's actions. If he was in bed with Section 31 for political assassinations and framing of innocent To Romulan offcials. He was likely in the know about other things Section 31 was doing.

Remember, it was Ross who said "in times of war the law falls silent". A "by any means necessary" attitude.

 

[JRoss]

Fleet admiral Shanthi from Redemption was fine. Even though all we saw of Commodore Mendez in TOS was a simulation, there's no reason to assume that he was crooked. Commodore Stone was okay, too.

 

[JRoss]

Oh, Admiral Hansen was fine.

 

[Doom Shepherd]

Kirk nearly killed his ship in TMP by not being up on its tech specs. "Belay that phaser order!"
Kirk nearly killed his ship, and DID kill a bunch of cadets, and ultimately Spock, in TWOK by not following a simple regulation.
Not such a great Admiral.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

And of course, you're in good hands with Admiral Fitzpatrick. (And tribbles.)

Kirk nearly killed his ship, and DID kill a bunch of cadets, and ultimately Spock, in TWOK by not following a simple regulation.

What regulation would that be? And he kept Genesis out of the hands of an Augment leader bent on revenge, who likely would have used it to kill billions.

 

[Farscape One]

When Kirk didn't immediately raise shields when Reliant appeared and didn't answer hails.

 

[Doom Shepherd]

What regulation would that be?

I can't quote the regulation precisely, but in the film, it basically said "If the ship you're hailing doesn't respond, at least raise the frickin' shields!"

And he kept Genesis out of the hands of an Augment leader bent on revenge, who likely would have used it to kill billions.

And he would have had an easier time of it had he not nearly let the Enterprise be blown out from under him.

 

[valkyrie013]

Then we have a list of admirals who just do there job crapily.. as in, they don't want to take any risks, covering there own behind, or somehow taking credit or enriching themselves. Many an admiral was pulled kicking or screaming to do the right thing by Kirk, Picard, even Archer. In the books, Admiral Akaar, and Admiral Nogura were good admirals, but they had to kick some lower admirals out sometimes.

As for Kirk, he was damn the consequences, full speed ahead most of the time. but he did get cought with his britches down by Khan.

 

[The Wormhole]

For the most part, high ranking officers in Trek seemed to be so out of their depth, so bad at their jobs, or morally questionable. (The same with Ambassadors who somehow end up on the bridge of the ship)
One would have to wonder how they moved through the ranks in the first place.

I've thought the same thing about several managers I've worked for in my career.

 

[Kor]

I can't quote the regulation precisely, but in the film, it basically said "If the ship you're hailing doesn't respond, at least raise the frickin' shields!"
...

General Order Twelve. Actually, Spock cut off Saavik before she quoted the part of the regulation that said what was supposed to be done. So we may never know what the exact procedure was supposed to be.

Kor

 

[Tenacity]

Doughtery - Yup

I wouldn't put Dougherty on the bad list. Some fans object to his (and the Federation Council's) philosophy of "the needs of the many out-weigh the needs of the few," but I don't feel that makes him bent.

 

[Agony_Boothb]

Nechayev is listed with the positive admirals. Alongside Forrest, Pike, Kirk and Paris.

Apologies, It was late when I read the post and I was too tired to be paying attention

Oh, Admiral Hansen was fine

He was a bit of a creep though 'Only in old man's fantasies'

 

[MacLeod]

Wasn't Admiral Kirk (along with his crew) charged with nine violations of Starfleet Regulations