Now, this is what ST is about!!

[Clawhammer]

But as far as the Aventine herself, it kind of continues the idea that Starfleet is moving farther and farther away from the traditional saucer section designs and more towards single-hulled configurations, IMO...

That probably has something to do with the current (read 2380) understanding of Quantum Slipstream technology. Starfleet has made a big leap forward, but has a longer way to go: I think the technology has been fully mastered if it can be applied on any shape of ship. This means that in the future ships might return with 50% smaller deflectors and necks. Perhaps an Enterprise F would look more like a classic and still be capable of doing QSD. We will see, for now my rendition of the F is only a tiny concept far away in a very deep folder on an obscure network storage device. (But it does have neck and a round saucer.)

 

[J.T.B.]

I could be wrong, but a doctor in the Navy doesn't need to captain a ship in order to eventually attain admiralty, does he?

Not that I'm aware of. I think the USN is content to let MDs just be MDs.

Indeed. Medical corps officers compete against other medical corps officers for advancement, and have their own standards which are nothing like those of line officers. Once they reach one-star admiral, all medical (physicians), dental, nurse and medical service corps officers become Senior Health Care Executive officers whose duties are administrative and who can be assigned pretty much interchangeably.

As a side-note, though, there is a statute that requires commanding officers of aircraft carriers be qualified aviators.

Naval aviators or naval flight officers.

--Justin

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Didn't they say in a 'future' episode of Voyager that Geordi is a captain too? That's nuts. He's a tech guy for life, he could never be a captain.

I thought he showed good organizational and command skills in getting people to do things in Engineering. I could see him being promoted to an XO of a ship (and maybe learn the skills to be captain from there).

I agree, much as how Scotty was Captain of engineering. However, even with his command experience, he never commanded his own ship.

He commanded the Enterprise on more than one occasion.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

One of these days someone will push it too far and write a series of books about Captain Wesley Crusher.

Excuse me while I go poke out my mind's eye.

 

[Starbreaker]

It looks okay. It's kind of a Sovereign/Intrepid variant.

 

[Myasishchev]

That's a beautiful ship.
..."Captain Ezri Dax"? I don't think I like that.

The only way I can even remotely "consider" Ezri a potential captain, is taking in account her symbiote holding several life-experiences..

Do Trills actually have to start over? I mean, say I were a Trill captain, had access to all the memories and skills I possessed as an captain, I'd be kind of pissed if I suddenly had to retake all the tests, go back through Academy, climb my way up the ranks, possibly die again, to get back to captain.

As for the Vesta-class, it looks okay, I guess.

 

[Sector 7]

It looks like the offspring of Ent-E and Voyager. I know Voyager has many detractors, but I always thought it to be a better, more stable design since it no longer had such frail neck and pylons.

 

[plynch]

Are there any books revealing Ezri's development into Capt.? It seemed strange to me too. I read Destiny trilogy (Christmas present) without having read any Trek fiction in the past 10 years, so I am a newbie to Trekfiction universe.

 

[Myasishchev]

The DS9 relaunch stuff is apparently way behind everything else, by the order of several years. So not yet.

 

[Triskelion]

Nice ship! Great job.

 

[JarodRussell]

The Aventine is the best starship design I've seen since the Defiant.

Really? I think it's ugly. Any previously officially designed ship looks much better imho.

But I already didn't like the fan-designed Titan. There's probably a reason why there are professional designers and fans who try.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Are there any books revealing Ezri's development into Capt.? It seemed strange to me too. I read Destiny trilogy (Christmas present) without having read any Trek fiction in the past 10 years, so I am a newbie to Trekfiction universe.

There were quite a few DS9 books set after the end of the TV series, and they actually do show her transition into a command officer pretty well. A lot of it, though, came as a result with Ezri really becoming one with the Dax symbiont and realizing that being a counselor no longer suited her.

But both Ezri's switch to the command division and promotion to captain of the Aventine came from her being at the right place at the wrong time, and yet scoring a victory despite impossible odds. But even Ezri herself briefly wondered if Starfleet had made a mistake giving her the Aventine (she was originally the ship's second officer with the rank of lieutenant commander)...

 

[Gotham Central]

Captain Ezri Dax

That's ridiculous. Why does every character in Star Trek have to eventually become a Captain or an Admiral once they get older? Don't get me wrong, I like Ezri as much as the next guy, but come on.

I don't care how much she matures in the book, I don't believe she could ever convincingly be a captain. Some people just don't have it in them, yet in Star Trek, the rule seems to be that once a major character gets old enough, they'll become a captain.

Didn't they say in a 'future' episode of Voyager that Geordi is a captain too? That's nuts. He's a tech guy for life, he could never be a captain. I think it's equally absurd for McCoy to be an Admiral eventually too. The highest rank he should ever have (as a doctor) is Surgeon General or whatever the most prestigious medical rank might be.

No joke. Agreed big-time. Crusher captaining the Pasteur was silly too. Sure it's a medical ship, but that doesn't mean it's crewed entirely by doctors. I can't see a U.S. Navy doctor, after a lifetime of practicing medicine, take the reins of a naval ship. Then we have Harry Kim in the Voyager finale, but that one I can accept because he seemed the career officer type.

Geordi definitely had people command skills, in that he ran an engineering team. I could see him running some special research project after his stint on starships. But he didn't seem like the type to talk down an aggressive Romulan fleet, for example. He had a hard enough time trying to talk to women.

It was specifically noted during the run of TNG that COMMANDER Crusher chose to take on the necessary training to become a line officer. She was shown serving as the watch commander during night shifts and took command of the Enterprise during "Descent." Thus she clearly had an interest in a command position. Being placed in command of her own ship would seem to be a natural extension of that.

Please remember that Captain Janeway started her starfleet career in the sciences and Captain Sisko began in engineering.


As for Geordi, people seem to forget that he was part of the command structure during TNG's first season and was actually left in command during "Arsenal of Freedom." Thus he clearly had the training and experience for command.