Weekends in Starfleet

[trekshark]

Geordi's visor had been hacked before, so it is kind of strange that they don't have some kind of high level diagnostic to do to it in the event of him being captured

but with all the enhancements made during fights with the borg it really didn't make any sense for them to not start rotating shield frequencies when the first shot penetrated.

 

[The Wormhole]

What did Picard do between losing the Enterprise D and getting the Enterprise E?

Board of inquiry regarding the Enterprise D's destruction?

But Picard wasn't on the ship when it was destroyed. Riker was the acting captain. So wouldn't it be Riker who faces the court-martial? (If they had one, that is)

Doesn't matter, Picard is still the ship's captain, its destruction is still his responsibility. Hell, where I work, managers can be reprimanded even fired for things their staffs do while they (as in the managers) are on vacation.

 

[T'Girl]

Board of inquiry

court-martial

Definately a Starfleet court of inquiry. The results of that would determine if there would then be a courts martial.

Picard was the captain, and it was his decision to leave Riker in command.

So wouldn't it be Riker who faces the court-martial?

Riker would likely face a a Starfleet court of inquiry of his own.

A major ship was lost in combat, there would be questions that official would have to be asked and answered. I don't think there would be any courts martials.

but I don't remember the Enterprise crew ever figuring out how the Klingons breached their shields

It's an interesting idea that they might never of figured it out, and whatever modification Soren made to the visor remained forever undetected. If Soren modified the existing equipment with subtlety, and didn't actually add anything it's possible.

Until Geordie eventually discarded the visor, he might have been "transmitting" the whole time!

Geordi's visor had been hacked before, so it is kind of strange that they don't have some kind of high level diagnostic to do to it in the event of him being captured

That assumes that the diagnostic would be able of detection Soren's modification.

but with all the enhancements made during fights with the borg it really didn't make any sense for them to not start rotating shield frequencies when the first shot penetrated.

While never mentioned on screen, it's possible that they were doing just that. Problem is with every rotate the visor would tell the Klingon what the new freq was. The rotation would only work until LaForge's field of vision swept pass the display with the new freq.

I remember at least some of the Klingon's fire impacting the shields, not penetrating.

 

[MacLeod]

I'm sure Geordi would have more important things to do than look at a display that was displaying the current shielf frequency. Remember Geordi had to look at a particular screen to gather that information initally.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Definately a Starfleet court of inquiry. The results of that would determine if there would then be a courts martial.

What's the diff?

 

[The Wormhole]

Definately a Starfleet court of inquiry. The results of that would determine if there would then be a courts martial.

What's the diff?

A board of inquiry investigates the matter to determine if criminal charges can be laid against anyone. A court-martial comes after criminal charges have been laid.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ But remember when TNG said that there is always a court-martial whenever a ship is lost. Surely that can't mean that Starfleet always suspects captains of criminal conduct when they lose a ship?

 

[Nerys Myk]

Definately a Starfleet court of inquiry. The results of that would determine if there would then be a courts martial.

What's the diff?

My guess is the court of inquiry would decide if the actions require a courts martial. I believe civilian courts also go through pretrial procedures.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^ But remember when TNG said that there is always a court-martial whenever a ship is lost. Surely that can't mean that Starfleet always suspects captains of criminal conduct when they lose a ship?

Maybe there are different types of court martial proceedings, just as there are different types of trials and courts (criminal court vs. civil court vs. family court, etc.). A court martial for something like the loss of a ship would be handled differently than a court martial for assaulting another officer, for instance.

--Sran

 

[T'Girl]

I'm sure Geordi would have more important things to do than look at a display that was displaying the current shielf frequency

He wouldn't have to look at it steady, simply turning his head pass it would be good enough for the Klingons monitoring the visor. Everything in his field of vision would be available to the Klingons.

 

[MacLeod]

Yes but the point is that if the shield was set to randomly change modulation say every thousandth of a second it wouldn't matter if he looked at it not. As it would be changing too fast for the Klingons to adjust their weapons frequency.

 

[T'Girl]

Yes but the point is that if the shield was set to randomly change modulation say every thousandth of a second ...

Fluctuating the setting of the shields that often might have the net effect of basically having no shields at all.

 

[The Wormhole]

^ But remember when TNG said that there is always a court-martial whenever a ship is lost. Surely that can't mean that Starfleet always suspects captains of criminal conduct when they lose a ship?

Early TNG always screwed things up. Presumably they meant to say inquiry instead of court-martial. Either that or Starfleet is really strict with its captains when they lose a ship.

 

[J.T.B.]

Early TNG always screwed things up. Presumably they meant to say inquiry instead of court-martial. Either that or Starfleet is really strict with its captains when they lose a ship.

Well, aside from large loss of life, losing a ship is about the most serious thing that can happen to a captain, so it's no surprise that it would be handled strictly. As for a court-martial, if you think of it as an official fact-finding body composed of military personnel, it doesn't seem too odd a way to handle a very serious matter. Just as there are different kinds of civilian courts, the court-martial doesn't only have to be a criminal court. The Royal Navy handled peacetime loss of ships with an automatic court-martial up until WW2. And Starfleet may actually find it works better for the captains, too: Once acquitted by a full court-martial, it would be pretty hard for someone else to question the officer's actions in the case, and they can be reassigned with a clean record.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I hope they found a quicker way to handle things during, say, the Dominion War. When ships are being blown up every day, having a court-martial for every one of them (if there are any surviving crew, that is) would take ages...

 

[Timo]

They might simply have watered down the definition of court martial for this very purpose. Although Court Martial Lite still seems problematic, as both Kirk and Data faced a shortage of qualified personnel in getting their respective cases processed.

Going into this thread, I felt pretty sure Star Trek canon lacked references to the very existence of weekends altogether. They still have these seven names for the days of the week, but they don't refer to Saturday or Sunday as components of a "weekend", nor threat them differently from the other named days. And that's not a Starfleet thing, it's a Star Trek universe thing, for anything beyond the early 21st century.

Then I dug up two references to weekends existing. "Ensign Ro" shows Admiral Kennelly still believes in them, and "Drive" has the Voyager heroes observe them. Nothing associates them with Saturday or Sunday, but there they are.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[robau]

But do they believe in a weekend at Bernie's ?

 

[urbandefault]

Early TNG always screwed things up. Presumably they meant to say inquiry instead of court-martial. Either that or Starfleet is really strict with its captains when they lose a ship.

Well, aside from large loss of life, losing a ship is about the most serious thing that can happen to a captain, so it's no surprise that it would be handled strictly. As for a court-martial, if you think of it as an official fact-finding body composed of military personnel, it doesn't seem too odd a way to handle a very serious matter. Just as there are different kinds of civilian courts, the court-martial doesn't only have to be a criminal court. The Royal Navy handled peacetime loss of ships with an automatic court-martial up until WW2. And Starfleet may actually find it works better for the captains, too: Once acquitted by a full court-martial, it would be pretty hard for someone else to question the officer's actions in the case, and they can be reassigned with a clean record.

I hope they found a quicker way to handle things during, say, the Dominion War. When ships are being blown up every day, having a court-martial for every one of them (if there are any surviving crew, that is) would take ages...

I think that losing a ship in wartime wouldn't necessarily call for a court martial unless there was a question of the captain's ability to command.

The procedure they probably should have used in peacetime is first an official inquiry, like a modern day grand jury, to look at the evidence and determine if charges should be brought. If there is enough evidence, then charges could be filed and a court martial held to determine guilt.

 

[GreenBlood]

To be at their best, I'm sure the crew was scheduled some specific time off, however, the entire crew had to be on a perpetual 'stand-by' in case of red alerts. We know Ryker and his peers had poker night from time to time, so there were some occasions when senior personell had down-time simultaneously. They probably scheduled their poker nights for when they could sleep late the next day...or do some overtime incase they lost big the night before.

 

[Timo]

Picard's loss of the Stargazer does raise a few eyebrows, and might eventually have warranted a court martial. Perhaps the prosecutor's reference to this procedure being standard was a slip of the tongue only, and only the initial step is always taken?

Yet if we want to take Philippa Louvois literally, we might take her over-literally. When she says "A court martial is standard procedure when a ship is lost!", emphasis added, she might be saying that such a procedure is necessary when a Captain misplaces an entire starship, i.e. her whereabouts become unknown.

That's what Picard essentially did: he left a wounded but not destroyed starship behind and flew to safety in a shuttlecraft. Supposedly, Starfleet would later have returned to recover the vessel, but apparently they found nothing because the Ferengi had already towed away the derelict. At that point, Starfleet would step up the inquiry and blame Picard for failing to secure or scuttle the abandoned vessel.

Timo Saloniemi