Warpath Discussion Thread (major, major spoilers)

[Rosalind]

I wonder what happened to all the generals in the Bajoran Millitia which got absorbed into Starfleet? wouldn't they be given the rank of Admiral?

 

[romulus]

Yeah but they are not main charictors so whatever they do is of no importance. Sort of like O'Brian. He is not even an officer but is the Chief Engineer.

 

[JeremyW]

Rosalind, if we use Kira Nerys as an example, then Major would be at Lt. Cmdr, Colonel is a full commander, and General would more than likely be a Captain. I don't know what comes after General though.

 

[Rosalind]

ah, but there's a lt. colonel in btn major and full colonel, we never figure out whether bajoran militia had the lt. colonel or not. besides a general is a general is an admiral whether it's army, air force or navy.

 

[David Mack]

JeremyW said:
Rosalind, if we use Kira Nerys as an example, then Major would be at Lt. Cmdr, Colonel is a full commander, and General would more than likely be a Captain.

Close, you skipped a step between major and colonel -- you forgot the lieutenant colonel.

A naval ensign would be a 2nd lieutenant in the army.
A naval junior lieutenant would be a 1st lieutenant.
A naval lieutenant would be a captain.
A naval lieutenant commander would be a major.
A naval commander would be a lieutenant colonel.
A naval captain would be a colonel.
Naval admirals would be generals.

 

[JeremyW]

^ Right on...Thank you Meester Mack. (almost want to call your Maester Mack...that's the Final Fantasy X fan in me talking).

"All hail Maester Mack, grand maester of Yevon".

The info was mucho appreciated, though.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Hmm...so that would mean that Kira skipped a rank between season 6 and season 7...

I smell a story...

 

[KRAD]

^ No, it means that the 24th-century Bajoran Militia rank structure doesn't quite match that of the 21st-century U.S. Army rank structure. "Colonel" is, after all, just a translation of a Bajoran word for someone of that rank.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I figured I was going to get answer like that.

 

[David Mack]

It's also possible that some Bajoran Militia officers with the rank of colonel might have entered Starfleet as commanders rather than as captains (as Kira did), and that Starfleet decides such rank assignments on an individual basis, taking into account such factors as length of service, honors and commendations (or, conversely, reprimands and serious infractions), etc.

Colonel Kira Nerys, because of her prestigious assignment and distinguished service, was deemed worthy of the rank of captain when she agreed to join Starfleet.

Just one possible theory. YMMV.

~ Dave

 

[Smiley]

No matter what rank people held in the Bajoran Militia, I would assume that their skills were evaluated when they became Starfleet personnel and ranks given on the basis of where their skills were needed. Some may have even gone to the Academy.

There is no way that all the Bajoran generals became Starfleet admirals. The organizations are not equivalent in structure or scale.

 

[David Mack]

^ For one thing, not all the Bajoran Militia personnel were "absorbed." Only a small percentage were actually transferred; it only seems all-encompassing because Deep Space 9 was turned into a fully Starfleet-run installation, meaning that all its active-duty officers and crew are now Starfleet.

Even after becoming a UFP member world and contributing some of its personnel to Starfleet, Bajor retains the majority of its militia force for homeworld defense. Consequently, it is reasonable to assume that the few generals who might have been welcomed into Starfleet would have been given rear admiral ranks commensurate with their status and experience.

~ Dave

 

[Rosalind]

^good point

 

[elaithin]

David Mack said:
It's also possible that some Bajoran Militia officers with the rank of colonel might have entered Starfleet as commanders rather than as captains (as Kira did), and that Starfleet decides such rank assignments on an individual basis, taking into account such factors as length of service, honors and commendations (or, conversely, reprimands and serious infractions), etc.

Colonel Kira Nerys, because of her prestigious assignment and distinguished service, was deemed worthy of the rank of captain when she agreed to join Starfleet.

Just one possible theory. YMMV.

~ Dave

You could also take into account that Kira got her commission as a Starfleet Commander when she carried the equivalent militia rank of Lt. Colonel.

 

[KRAD]

^ Er, no, she was a colonel in the seventh season of DS9. The prefix "lieutenant" was never once attached to the rank of "colonel," so there's no reason to assume that she had that rank, or that the Bajoran Militia even has such a rank.

 

[Guest]

I wanted to throw a question/observation in on Kira's experience with the prophets. As it's been mentioned, most of the characters and occurances in her experience are anagrams of real life crew or ships or the like. Which I think leads to the obvious question of Parek Tonn. While there's a discussion of the fortress being faith and the Celestial Temple, I wonder if there's a different suggestion going on here? When I wasn't thinking about it, I kept thinking "wow, that sounds a lot like Terok Nor." Then, when I started reading it with a better understanding...are we about to see another Nor-class station introduced on the Gamma side of the wormhole? I might be looking at too many hints...but you have a fortress that appears indistingushable from what the characters recall as home that's protecting a given planet beloved of the Prophets from an approaching threat...That sounds almost like a DS9 like reference. Or is there something going on with the mirror-DS9? Or am I just reading too much into the anagrams and the fortress and this is a situation when sometimes a cigar is just a cigar? Just wanted to throw those random thoughts out for discussion...

 

[JeremyW]

^ In regards to this, I re-read "Fragments And Omens" and the chapter to read is one involving Hovath. Chapter 16, actually. Hovath's captor asks him about his thoughts of the wormhole, and Hovath goes to say that they always accepted that the Celestial Temple opened in the skies above Bajor, and the Bajorans always accepted it, yet were perplexed that it'd open over the skies of another world, but after the discover of the Eav'Oq, it became somewhat acceptable, and also that the termini of the wormholes are linked to B'Hava'el and Idran, respectively. Yet those are only two of the supposed infinite doors that could realistically be open.

Now in 'Warpath', the Eav'Oq mention that their fortress is Idran. Therefore, I'm personally left to believe that the fortress is the gate to the Gamma Terminus of the Wormhole, a terminus that looks a whole lot like the Bajoran terminus.

My two cents, although seeing another DS9 would be really cool. Well, we have two Nor stations in existence now, we had three at one time during 'The Battle of Betazed', so it wouldn't surprise me to see another one emerge in 'Fearful Symmetry'.

 

[William Leisner]

David said the following in his annotations:

p.101 — Parek Tonn is an invention of the author and former Star Trek Books editor John J. Ordover. It was originally intended as an analog for the Hebrew fortress of Masada, in a Mack/Ordover spec teleplay for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Though that script did not sell, it served as a calling card that landed Mack and Ordover their first DS9 script assignment, "Starship Down."

 

[Christopher]

Hey, I didn't realize there were annotations. Thanks for alerting me.

Re: this entry:

p.13 — Neurocine was established in the DS9 episode "Civil Defense" as a lethal aerosol. Since I didn't realize when I wrote the word in the manuscript that it had actually been used before in Star Trek, one can only hope that Starfleet's drug of the same name has a more beneficial effect than that used in Cardassian counter-insurgency systems. It's also possible that the two cultures use the same name for two different drugs.

Maybe it's like theragen in "The Tholian Web" -- in normal concentration it's a Klingon nerve toxin, but when diluted it's a useful medicine.

p.163 — Taran'atar's belief that the word Jem'Hadar means "soldier" is an invention of the author.

Maybe -- but the name "Jem'Hadar" was derived by DS9's writers from the Indian rank jemadar, a junior officer. So it kinda does mean "soldier."

 

[David Mack]

Christopher said:
Hey, I didn't realize there were annotations.

I guess this thread from last month didn't give it away.

...the name "Jem'Hadar" was derived by DS9's writers from the Indian rank jemadar, a junior officer. So it kinda does mean "soldier."

In an Earth language, sure. Who knows what it really means in Jem'Hadar-ese?