Sure he was pretty arrogant, (see the sceptor) but did he deserve to lose his command over Mr. Scott sabotaging his ships engines?
What happened to Captain Stiles of the Excelsior?
- Thread starter Slappy The Vulcan
- Start date
No, but he probably ticked off a few admirals...
Agreed he was a preening martinet, but his ship was sabotaged. His career probably continued, albeit in a capacity more suited to his temperament -- administration, training, an academy teaching position or something of that nature, someplace where his personality would fit better.
Sir Rhosis
Sir Rhosis
We don't know that Styles necessarily lost his command over the embarrassment of Excelsior's sabotage. In TSFS, the Excelsior was still a prototype. By the time of TUC (2293), 7-9 years had passed, depending on how you date the events of TWOK-TVH. It's entirely plausible that Styles was promoted or assigned to the next experimental ship once Excelsior was approved for regular service, at which time it would be appropriate to give command to someone better suited to that type of mission.
Of course, it would be very hard to live down that kind of embarrassment -- the renegade crew of a crapped-out wreck crippling the most advanced ship in the fleet by removing a few computer chips -- so maybe Starfleet encouraged Styles to take early retirement.
'Course not. With Stiles's reputation for bringing ships successfully through the frustrating last stages of construction and shakedown cruises he served his eight months whipping Excelsior into shape and then went on to the next ship, and the next one, and the next. You may fault him for being a martinet but if the crisis is on, would you rather be on the Excelsior that has to be sabotaged by the chief engineer to malfunction, or the Enterprise-A which was a disaster area and held together by toothpaste and determined acting?
The Construction Board is mighty lucky they had a Stiles.
Actually, in my proposed fiction trilogy, I killed him off during a test run with the Excelsior. The starship rammed directly into a lifeless planet at transwarp speed.
It was ... quite satisfying. (And yes, I DID actually write that chapter. It was the prologue for the first novel.) And it was written shortly after the release of TSFS.
--Ted
It was ... quite satisfying. (And yes, I DID actually write that chapter. It was the prologue for the first novel.) And it was written shortly after the release of TSFS.
--Ted
Well, it wouldn't. Since it's doubtful the Ex-B would have also been the same class ship, Sulu would have just gotten another ship instead.
BTW, I went back, dusted it off and took a look. I had rewritten a draft after TVH but just prior to TFF, so Styles had been in command for a bit longer before the transwarp incident.
--Ted
From Memory Alpha:
"Styles also made a brief appearance in the Pocket TOS novelization of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home by Vonda N. McIntyre. Here, still in command of Excelsior, he was ordered by Starfleet Command to intercept and destroy the whale probe before it reached Earth. However, he never even made it out of Spacedock before the probe's transmissions rendered his ship and the massive space station around it completely useless.
In the original comic by Marvel, Styles was humiliated by Kirk and Scott's sabotage. Around the Fleet he was given the nickname, "Drydock Styles." As such he sought to embarrass Kirk at any opportunity."
They also list Trek IV as being set a year later than III, so presumably, he was Captain of Excelsior for a while longer. If one likes apocrypha that is.
"Styles also made a brief appearance in the Pocket TOS novelization of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home by Vonda N. McIntyre. Here, still in command of Excelsior, he was ordered by Starfleet Command to intercept and destroy the whale probe before it reached Earth. However, he never even made it out of Spacedock before the probe's transmissions rendered his ship and the massive space station around it completely useless.
In the original comic by Marvel, Styles was humiliated by Kirk and Scott's sabotage. Around the Fleet he was given the nickname, "Drydock Styles." As such he sought to embarrass Kirk at any opportunity."
They also list Trek IV as being set a year later than III, so presumably, he was Captain of Excelsior for a while longer. If one likes apocrypha that is.
In Peter David's TOS novel The Captain's Daughter, he also gets the nickname "Styles Without Substance."
^Sounds like a yutz...
But at least his great-great-great-grandfather served with honor on Hill Street Blues.
--Ted
Re: What happened to Captain Styles of the Excelsior?
There wasn't any reference to that. All indications were that Styles was the real captain.
(And I thought it important to correct the spelling of his name in the thread title. I doubt Styles, the captain, was intended to be the same character as Lieutenant Stiles from "Balance of Terror". It's a common name.)
In any case, I doubt Styles lost his command over the incident. It wasn't his fault that the ship stalled, it was Scotty's.
Spoilers for the novel Forged in Fire:
There wasn't any reference to that. All indications were that Styles was the real captain.
(And I thought it important to correct the spelling of his name in the thread title. I doubt Styles, the captain, was intended to be the same character as Lieutenant Stiles from "Balance of Terror". It's a common name.)
In any case, I doubt Styles lost his command over the incident. It wasn't his fault that the ship stalled, it was Scotty's.
Spoilers for the novel Forged in Fire:
Captain Styles is killed when the Albino - the Klingon from DS9's "Blood Oath" - plants a bomb at a diplomatic conference. At the time he is still in command of Excelsior, with Sulu as his XO.
Re: What happened to Captain Styles of the Excelsior?
I always wanted to shove his riding crop up his tight ass since he's such an annoying twit.
I always wanted to shove his riding crop up his tight ass since he's such an annoying twit.
He got piles. They redesigned the Captain's chair, but all too late for Cptn. Stiles.
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