DS9 was a Bajoran station, so it fell within the jurisdiction of the Bajoran militia.
--Sran
Kira in charge of the Defiant
- Thread starter LobsterAfternoon
- Start date
DS9 was a Bajoran station, so it fell within the jurisdiction of the Bajoran militia.
--Sran
It happened in "Apocalypse Rising." Worf wanted to take the Defiant to find Sisko and Dax. Kira preferred to have the ship guarding the station, to which Worf replied, "You may command the station, but I command the Defiant."
--Sran
It was in Apocalypse Rising. Sisko was over due from a meeting with Starfleet and Worf wanted to go looking for him, while Kira wanted to wait. The argument was moot being Sisko arrived right as they both drew the lines.
Both.
The Defiant is generally assigned to the station. So the ship is commanded by whoever DS9's commander says - In this case, Sisko. If he feels like giving Kira the ship, she gets it, and all questions are moot.
IIRC, though, after Worf arrives, he usually gets the Defiant. A notable exception would be "Trials and Tribble-ations" and that's because Kira - as a Bajoran - would have no reason to sneak aboard the NCC-1701 (Dax was a more obvious choice to do that because she is an expert on that time period and Kira isn't).
^Kira staying on the Defiant also gave her time to figure out how the Orb of Time worked so they could return to the twenty fourth century.
--Sran
--Sran
I figured Kira was second in command on the Defiant because Sisko said so.
Kira is a ground soldier assigned to a administration job.
Yes. She seems to have more authority than she should.
And weirdly, she seems to answer equally to both Star Fleet AND Bajor. I find her role a bit confusing.
I wouldn't call British aristocracy overriding common experience a good thing.
Seems like Bajor basically signed over the station to Starfleet, in exchange for their aid in rebuilding the planet's shattered infrastructure. If they wanted to tell Starfleet to go, they were well within their rights - and this happened in "The Siege". On the other hand, Starfleet can basically tell them where to go, because the Bajorans don't have the capacity to force them to go - see "A Call to Arms".
It's similar to how the US has bases in places like Okinawa and Diego Garcia. In theory the Japanese and UK governments could tell them to leave. In practise they couldn't force the US military out of their bases.
If it's just a matter of might, sure, the Bajorans could not independently dislodge the federation from the base. On the other hand, states have diplomatically have the right to refuse to launch missions from their territory, even when a foreign country operates that base. As the senior Bajoran official at DS9, Kira would be the one to have immediate say over what missions are launched from DS9, regardless of who would command the Defiant.
From the scene, it seems like it was a case of Worf challenging Kira's authority and Kira reminding him who was in charge in Sisko's absence.
"Mister Worf, the Captain has given us our orders and I intend for us to follow them until he issues new ones."
--Kira Nerys
There's nothing confusing about that at all. She's the liaison officer between the two organizations, so she should answer to both. She's a representative of the Bajoran militia, but she serves under the command of a Starfleet officer. By definition, she should have one foot in each camp at all times.
--Sran
I have the same problem with Kira commanding the Defiant as I do with O'Brien being on the Defiant acting as engineer, yet still clearly assigned as DS9's chief engineer. As well, Cadet/Ensign/Lt. Nog acting as helmsman on the Defiant and showing up as O'Brien's engineering assistant on the station. And really, what is Sisko doing commanding both the station and the ship?
It's all very messy and confusing. In military organizations, a person is stationed to just one place with very specific duties one has been trained to fulfill. When has Kira received training for command of a warp powered ship? Of course, it could be equally asked what training did she receive to be an administrator on a space station?
For me, these sorts of things require the old "suspension of disbelief," but it is quite annoying!
It's all very messy and confusing. In military organizations, a person is stationed to just one place with very specific duties one has been trained to fulfill. When has Kira received training for command of a warp powered ship? Of course, it could be equally asked what training did she receive to be an administrator on a space station?
For me, these sorts of things require the old "suspension of disbelief," but it is quite annoying!
^^^
It helps a lot if you think that Starfleet does things differently in the future than we do today.
It helps a lot if you think that Starfleet does things differently in the future than we do today.
Maybe the Defiant is considered an "extension" of the station, thus the command structure is the same on both the station and the ship.
Yeah, it was always an ancillary ship, with limited range. It was also initially assigned to Sisko for one mission. Obviously it came with it's own crew, and Sisko picked his officers from the station to be his senior staff. We don't see any Bajoran techs on the ship, Kira and Odo are exceptions of captain's discretion.
Let's also remember that the Defiant isn't exactly an example of standard Starfleet practice. The lemon of a prototype ship was given to Sisko for a suicide mission; that the ship ended up surviving the mission was a surprise to Starfleet, and probably to Sisko as well. It's essentially a piece of bureaucratic jetsam now, much like the whole DS9 affair: exception piled upon exception.
A more orderly starbase closer to home would no doubt have a more orderly commander, with a thing or two to say about how his or her attached ship assets are crewed and used. But Sisko revels in his exceptions, and Starfleet is delighted to have this "special arrangement" where a low-ranking outsider manages to become the de facto religious leader of the entire planet, even if this means turning a blind eye to various rules and regulations.
Timo Saloniemi
A more orderly starbase closer to home would no doubt have a more orderly commander, with a thing or two to say about how his or her attached ship assets are crewed and used. But Sisko revels in his exceptions, and Starfleet is delighted to have this "special arrangement" where a low-ranking outsider manages to become the de facto religious leader of the entire planet, even if this means turning a blind eye to various rules and regulations.
Timo Saloniemi
What's perhaps surprising is that Starfleet didn't seek to replace Sisko, or appoint a senior officer above him. He's initially appointed essentially to coordinate relief efforts on Bajor, then accidentally finds himself commander of an increasingly critical outpost. I guess he proves that he can get the job done, albeit in unconventional ways. Where more by-the-book captains like Keogh and Saunders failed, he got a result.
It might not have looked good to the Bajoran's if Starfleet decided to remove their Emissary to the prophets. Sure Starfleet never really liked the fact that he was but from a PR point of view so long as he was getting the job done there was no need to remove or replace him.
