What was Sulu doing for 3 years???

[Jack Bauer]

He was trying to get Paramount to make a Sulu/Excelsior tv series.

 

[Csalem]

I always like the way he starts the log by saying 'Hikaru Sulu, commanding.' Maybe he led a mutiny and seized control of the ship just at the end of the three year mission. If he was captain for three years surely he wouldn't start every log by saying that.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

I like the explanation inferred by the STVI novelization: that Excelsior was on a sham mission. We know that Beta Quadrant at least partially borders on Klingon space, with whom the Feds are locked in a cold war. In the middle of escalating hostilities and potential outbreak of full-on war, writing down the places of interesting clouds ain't a priority.

So, who do you send out on a mission to catalogue gaseous anomalies on the border of hostile space? Why, your largest, newest, most advanced ship, which is obstensibly capable of zipping into Klingon space (per "Flashback"), and of intercepting the first signs of any trouble, like Klingon fleets or subspace shockwaves. The novel considers that they wouldn't have sent a mere survey ship out to do this job in that environment. It was just an excuse to put a powerful starship where it might be useful if the cold war got hot.

Mark

 

[Basill]

^^^ Yeah, I always assumed Excelsior was a "presence" starship and cataloging was a nice excuse not to twiddle their thumbs in deep space. Gaseous anomalies might still be a useful side mission, especially if Starfleet and the Federation had plans on expanding out in that direction, but as far as the only reason, capital starships rarely have a single goal.

 

[Ronald Held]

Why couldn't the mapping be the primary mission, while survellance and border security be secondary?

 

[Nebusj]

jon1701 said:
Three years hanging around for something to do is bad enough, but three years cataloging Gaseous Anomalies????

They could have had a more substantial mission, but Sulu picked the wrong time to punch out the Admiral.

She is heading home under Full impulse power? I tell yer, it must be exciting on the Excelsior. It is K-K-K krazee.... Three years doing science stuff and then flying home at full impulse!!!

Well, there, Sulu's just padding his crew's per diem allowance. It's technically against regulations, but everyone winks at it because the crew likes thinking the Captain is cheating the payroll office on their behalf.

 

[DanTheGrey]

I always took that mission as "you're on a scientific survey, but if you happen to hear any interesting chatter and fly the flag near the Klingon border we'd like to know".

I mean Starfleet might actually be trying to give a mission a different label than what it actually is. I mean when you compare the old battle plan names like "Operation Overlord" (invasion of Normandy in WWII) to "Operation Iraqi Freedom" you realize we've gone from code names to brand names

 

[Sec31Mike]

Lots of valid points here. As a former Navy guy, it is almost always the case that a ship has more than one standing mission such as patrol, suveillance, etc. In Star Trek's case there seems to be an inexhaustable supply of gaseous, gravitational and temporal anomalies to explore.

 

[Joker]

Mark_Nguyen said:
I like the explanation inferred by the STVI novelization: that Excelsior was on a sham mission.

It's the most sensible explanation, given the storyline that followed.

 

[RookieBatman]

DanTheGrey said:
I mean Starfleet might actually be trying to give a mission a different label than what it actually is. I mean when you compare the old battle plan names like "Operation Overlord" (invasion of Normandy in WWII) to "Operation Iraqi Freedom" you realize we've gone from code names to brand names

This is an irrelevant tangent, but since you brought it up, that was always one of the few things that bothered me about Stan Lee's classic Marvel comics. Anytime the military did an "Operation," it was the most obvious name. Like, if they were rescuing Betty Ross from the Hulk, it was "Operation Rescue Betty." Moving in to capture the Supreme Hydra? "Operation Capture Supreme Hydra." And those are anecdotal; I wish I had some of the real ones to illustrate the point. But I remember thinking, "the real military doesn't do that," at least, not back then.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Mission names shouldn't be too obvious... Unfortunately, our current society and the Trekverse society prefers obvious names. I liked Operation Retrieve in TUC.

 

[Holytomato]

"Who's to say Excelsior is the most advanced starship? She was the prototype. Therefore, the oldest of her class. She probably had her nuts and bolts shaken up pretty badly with all the testing before sending her out as a full-fledged NCC. They probably wouldn't have given the most advanced ship to a new captain. By this time, there are probably a bunch of newer ships, and Excelsior is a tired, old lady."

Spock says it will be Kirk and the Enterprise extending peace.

Kirk asks, "Why can't it be Sulu, and the Excelsior!?"

Spock replies, "Only Nixon could go to China."

 

[Peach Wookiee]

If they sent Sulu, the Klingons would ask, "Who is this Sulu?"

 

[Therin of Andor]

Kang wouldn't (see "Flashback").

 

[Ronald Held]

He, Kolath, and Kor would be the exceptions.

 

[Walter Sochack]

Mark_Nguyen said:
I like the explanation inferred by the STVI novelization: that Excelsior was on a sham mission. We know that Beta Quadrant at least partially borders on Klingon space, with whom the Feds are locked in a cold war.

More than that, Excelsior was big, and more than just in a "big ship in a big fight" way. It would have had greater range capabilities than the previous generation of ships, making it the best platform for a long-term mission skirting the edges of Klingon and Romulan space and the intelligence value of that mission would be huge.

They could observe how far their empires had expanded and how much territory they were able to hold, giving Starfleet a better estimate of Klingon and Romulan fleet strength, resources and populations. They could make contact with other races fighting the same fight, finding potential allies and technologies, or conquered worlds that could provide aid to Starfleet from behind enemy lines if they just had some offworld support.

All of this would be conveniently chanced upon because of a gaseous anomaly that just happened to be in that direction. Exploration can be a very aggressive tactic.

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STAR TREK: RUST RED