I Have a question...
In the "Next Generation", If It's Picard, Then Riker, Then Data that are in line for command on the Enterprise. Who Is After Data?
~ Moonlyte
Next In Line...
- Thread starter *Moonlyte*
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If it is comprised of bridge officers I believe it is who is actually present at that point depending on where at in TNG we are, during the 7 years or after during the movies? I would think, Geordie, Crusher, Troi, Worf..Spot?
Or perhaps I read into this question wrong...
Or perhaps I read into this question wrong...
^ Yep, I agree, but only up until Troi was promoted.
In Gambit, Data would have assigned Geordi to the XO postion if he felt Worf wouldn't be capable serving in that postion. So my guess as to the command structure at this time would be...
Picard > Riker > Data > Worf > LaForge > Crusher > Troi
When Troi was promoted, I would say she came after Data, because she was in the command chair whilst Worf was at Tactical as seen in Genesis and Insurrection...
Picard > Riker > Data > Troi > Worf > LaForge > Crusher
In Gambit, Data would have assigned Geordi to the XO postion if he felt Worf wouldn't be capable serving in that postion. So my guess as to the command structure at this time would be...
Picard > Riker > Data > Worf > LaForge > Crusher > Troi
When Troi was promoted, I would say she came after Data, because she was in the command chair whilst Worf was at Tactical as seen in Genesis and Insurrection...
Picard > Riker > Data > Troi > Worf > LaForge > Crusher
Re: Gambit...I always interpreted this a bit differently. I thought that Worf was Acting XO because Data preferred to keep Geordi in his role as Chief Engineer...I inferred that Data bypassed Geordi to give Worf the opportunity to obtain some Acting XO experience. When Data says he can give the position to Geordi instead, I inferred it to mean "If you can't do this Worf, then I will give it to the person who should be the Acting XO ---Geordi."
Geordi was also acting as XO briefly in Descent, Part 1 when Data was missing and Riker and Worf were on the planet...
Geordi was also acting as XO briefly in Descent, Part 1 when Data was missing and Riker and Worf were on the planet...
In all of the Trek shows, the "order of succession" is established only for the top three, sometimes only for the top two. And probably rightly so, because in all of the shows, there are plenty of background extras who carry higher rank than the main characters from #3 down. Those are the likely people to succeed the #3 hero.
Of course, we basically never see anybody succeed the #3, because that would mean that the ship has taken horrible casualties or that a great many heroes have deserted their posts. Instead, we often see a situation where #1 and #2 beam down and do NOT leave #3 in command - but instead "give the conn" to some junior officer who happens to be the highest-ranking and/or best qualified junior officer present on the bridge at that time. This makes good real-world sense: if top officers feel confident that they can leave the ship, they should also feel confident to leave the bridge in the hands of a qualified but not particularly senior officer, rather than bother the more senior officers who would theoretically be next in the line of "succession" but who no doubt have much better things to do.
In the real world, sitting on the center seat of a warship is often boring and tedious work handled by junior officers, except when there's something important going on. And today, the skipper is more likely to leave the bridge than to enter it if battle is imminent, because modern ships have separate command facilities for conducting the battle. In Trek, no such separate facilities exist or are needed, so things are closer to the sailing-ship era again...
As for Troi or Crusher taking command of the ship in a "line of succession", I'd say it would never happen, quite regardless of their rank. That's not their job, they are not line officers - and indeed there would customarily be objections to giving a medical officer line officer authority, because such a person could theoretically declare everybody but him- or herself medically unfit and have his way in commanding the ship. No other officer would enjoy such unfair and dangerous powers.
Of course, Troi and Crusher are likely to have the basic training necessary for the menial job of watching over the bridge, just like, say, Ensign Kim or Ensign Chekov. So they can get assigned this duty when the top officers so decide, even though they in no way feature in the line of succession. Picard could assign Livingston the Fish such duty if he so wanted; but obviously, even Crusher is a better choice in "Descent".
Timo Saloniemi
Of course, we basically never see anybody succeed the #3, because that would mean that the ship has taken horrible casualties or that a great many heroes have deserted their posts. Instead, we often see a situation where #1 and #2 beam down and do NOT leave #3 in command - but instead "give the conn" to some junior officer who happens to be the highest-ranking and/or best qualified junior officer present on the bridge at that time. This makes good real-world sense: if top officers feel confident that they can leave the ship, they should also feel confident to leave the bridge in the hands of a qualified but not particularly senior officer, rather than bother the more senior officers who would theoretically be next in the line of "succession" but who no doubt have much better things to do.
In the real world, sitting on the center seat of a warship is often boring and tedious work handled by junior officers, except when there's something important going on. And today, the skipper is more likely to leave the bridge than to enter it if battle is imminent, because modern ships have separate command facilities for conducting the battle. In Trek, no such separate facilities exist or are needed, so things are closer to the sailing-ship era again...
As for Troi or Crusher taking command of the ship in a "line of succession", I'd say it would never happen, quite regardless of their rank. That's not their job, they are not line officers - and indeed there would customarily be objections to giving a medical officer line officer authority, because such a person could theoretically declare everybody but him- or herself medically unfit and have his way in commanding the ship. No other officer would enjoy such unfair and dangerous powers.
Of course, Troi and Crusher are likely to have the basic training necessary for the menial job of watching over the bridge, just like, say, Ensign Kim or Ensign Chekov. So they can get assigned this duty when the top officers so decide, even though they in no way feature in the line of succession. Picard could assign Livingston the Fish such duty if he so wanted; but obviously, even Crusher is a better choice in "Descent".
Timo Saloniemi
Are you going on the basis of rank? Because if there is one thing we have seen time and time again, is that position seems to be the deciding factor in determining seniority, and Worf as a bridge officer might be why Worf became the acting XO.
There are also subtle references which suggest Worf is high up in the command chain, such as in BoBW where he was considered for XO by Riker, and in Parallels where he became XO over Data.
After they sorted out the positions in season 2, I always took it as it being Picard>Riker>Data>Worf>Geordi, even though Geordi always outranked Worf, Worf was ahead of him by virtue of being on the bridge more and gaining experience simply by osmosis, while Geordi was mucking about in Engineering.
That said, there was that ep where Data is presumed dead and when Picard and Riker are discussing his replacement at ops, they seem to give equal weight to both Worf and Geordi for the spot. So I wouldn't think of that rank chain as being something they would slavishly follow when normal promotions came around, it's basically for when things go really bad and you need a warm body in the center seat.
That said, there was that ep where Data is presumed dead and when Picard and Riker are discussing his replacement at ops, they seem to give equal weight to both Worf and Geordi for the spot. So I wouldn't think of that rank chain as being something they would slavishly follow when normal promotions came around, it's basically for when things go really bad and you need a warm body in the center seat.
I am also reminded of Picard's threat to Riker in "The Pegasus" that he might be forced to "re-evaluate" the ship's command structure. If Picard did this, he would need to either demote Riker, or promote a more junior officer into the XO position ahead of Riker.
Thank you! This has bugged me for days! Haha.
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