What is a 3 star doing in command of a Starship? With a Commander as her first officer. Where is the Captain? Shouldn't she have a fleet of ships?
VADM Janeway
- Thread starter ThatsMrCaptaintoyou
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She probably took command for the sake of the mission, ala: Kirk in TMP.
No idea why there isn't a Capt. on such a massive ship.
Either that or Janeway has been in charge of the Dauntless project and was already aboard for testing.
Has the Dauntless even used the slipstrem yet?
No idea why there isn't a Capt. on such a massive ship.
Either that or Janeway has been in charge of the Dauntless project and was already aboard for testing.
Has the Dauntless even used the slipstrem yet?
Not that we have seen, but they must have used slipstream at some point to get to Tars Lamora (and after that to the region of space near the Denaki depot).
Apparently Starfleet is really stretched thin as far as personnel goes in this era, which is also the supposed explanation for Frex being alone on his relay station. But admirals having direct command is also in the great tradition of Kirk
Production related reason, this is one of those things where how it's done in real life is ignored for the sake of narrative expediency. Having a Captain on the Dauntless who Janeway would issue commands to who would then in turn issue those command to the crew would slow the story down. Makes for a smoother narrative if Janeway has direct command over the Dauntless.
In universe? I dunno, Dauntless is a special ship which warrants a higher ranked officer to be in command? Because of the personal stakes she has in finding the Protostar, Janeway arranged to have direct command of the ship, at least until the Protostar is found and/or Chakotay is rescued? Truth be told, Starfleet never has been particularly realistic about officers of appropriate rank commanding ships. We almost always see O6 Captains commanding ships, even smaller ships which should be commanded by officers of lower rank. Voyager itself should have been commanded by a Commander, yet Janeway was Captain by rank. Smaller ships like the Oberth or Nova class should be commanded by a Lt Commander, not a Captain.
Though I guess this is the point where someone declares "Starfleet is not a military! Blrgh! Argh! Gene's Vision! Gene's Vision!! Gene's Motherfucking Vision!!!"
In universe? I dunno, Dauntless is a special ship which warrants a higher ranked officer to be in command? Because of the personal stakes she has in finding the Protostar, Janeway arranged to have direct command of the ship, at least until the Protostar is found and/or Chakotay is rescued? Truth be told, Starfleet never has been particularly realistic about officers of appropriate rank commanding ships. We almost always see O6 Captains commanding ships, even smaller ships which should be commanded by officers of lower rank. Voyager itself should have been commanded by a Commander, yet Janeway was Captain by rank. Smaller ships like the Oberth or Nova class should be commanded by a Lt Commander, not a Captain.
Though I guess this is the point where someone declares "Starfleet is not a military! Blrgh! Argh! Gene's Vision! Gene's Vision!! Gene's Motherfucking Vision!!!"
Voyager did have a LCDR as the original first officer and the Prometheus from DS9 did have a LCDR as a Captain
Which only reinforces the fact the ship should have been commanded by a Commander.
Which is itself problematic given that was a Nebula class ship. The Nebula class has a crew of 900, a crew that size should be commanded by an O6 Captain. Granted, the writer of the episode thought they would use a smaller ship for the Prometheus, or didn't realize how large the Nebula class was supposed to be.
Kirk as an Admiral took command of the Enterprise and sat in the seat. If it’s a special mission, there’s no reason a Vice Admiral couldn’t ask for a special dispensation to command it.
It's not really problematic given what we know of Seyetik. The guy was basically a celebrity and he would have had many contacts in the upper eschelons of Starfleet and possibly the Federation Council itself and would have use one of them to get the Prometheus.
Only at Spock's (the ship's Captain) request.
How do we know this didn’t happen before the Dauntless launched? The captain could be on shore leave, or perhaps since it’s a new ship a captain hadn’t been assigned yet.
In TWOK. In TMP he took the ship and Decker be damned.
Mission commander using admiral's privilege. See also Admiral Riker, Admiral Kirk, Admiral Picard.
And demoted himself to Captain to do so. He did not take command as an Admiral.
Well, canonically we don't know Picard commanded a ship as an Admiral. Yes, the tie-ins say he commanded the USS Verity, but there's nothing onscreen to support that. Indeed, onscreen, he was willing to take a demotion to Captain when he was trying to secure a ship from Admiral Clancy, and in season 2 rather than take command of the Stargazer in the finale, he used his authority to make Seven the Captain.
Well, he was no longer a line officer.
Wasn't it established in canon that an admiral can pick their own command?
In such an instance, maybe there just isn't any need for a captain onboard a starship if an admiral chooses it as their own... and for the purpose of this mission (finding the Protostar and Chakotay), Janeway would have been a prime candidate as the main CO of the Dauntless (the very starship one of her own crew was a project lead for - plus it wouldn't surprise me that Janeway initially spearheaded the R&D into technologies that VOY brought home which lead to the creation of both the Protostar and the Dauntless with faster than Warp propulsion).
Plus, the Dauntless was heading to the DQ (where Chakotay and Protostar were originally headed). Since Janeway already has experience with this part of the galaxy, her knowledge would have been of great help.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but the USS Prometheus (the Nebula class as seen on DS9) didn't have a captain either. It had a lead scientist (that SF gave the use of the ship for) and a commander too.
Its also possible that the Dauntless will eventually be assigned a captain once Janeway's mission is over.
In such an instance, maybe there just isn't any need for a captain onboard a starship if an admiral chooses it as their own... and for the purpose of this mission (finding the Protostar and Chakotay), Janeway would have been a prime candidate as the main CO of the Dauntless (the very starship one of her own crew was a project lead for - plus it wouldn't surprise me that Janeway initially spearheaded the R&D into technologies that VOY brought home which lead to the creation of both the Protostar and the Dauntless with faster than Warp propulsion).
Plus, the Dauntless was heading to the DQ (where Chakotay and Protostar were originally headed). Since Janeway already has experience with this part of the galaxy, her knowledge would have been of great help.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but the USS Prometheus (the Nebula class as seen on DS9) didn't have a captain either. It had a lead scientist (that SF gave the use of the ship for) and a commander too.
Its also possible that the Dauntless will eventually be assigned a captain once Janeway's mission is over.
An Admiral can choose which ship out of the particular ships they have jurisdiction over they want to be their flagship, but they do not simply choose their assignment on a whim.
According to the writer of that episode, Lt. Piersall was meant to be the Captain of the Prometheus, but a combination of vague wording in the script and miscommunications when filming result in that not being clear at all.
If that were the case, why didn't Janeway demote herself to Captain just like Kirk did in TMP?
She realized it wasn't necessary. Maybe Admiral Nogura let Kirk believe he had to take the demotion and thought Kirk wouldn't go for it.
