chain of command?

[sans_thought]

So, I was wondering about the chain of command. I'm writing a fic wherein Kirk does something naughty, and the higher ups at Starfleet are none to happy with him. I want him to plead his case to Pike, because of the prior relationship. Is that accurate? I've read fics that mentioned Pike dealing with Kirk because he was the only one that knew how.

Comments

[sans_thought]

Hmmm...that might put a wrench in my plans. lol

Thanks for the help!

[sans_thought]

That's awesome! I was trying to find that page on memory-alpha, but for some reason using the word rank never occurred to me. lol

Thanks for the help!

[mijan]

It depends on what he did, and in what context. Is he still a cadet? Is he now "Captain" Kirk? How severe of a naughty? It is a minor offense or something major? Is this a reprimand situation, or a courts martial, or a discharge-worthy offense? You'll have to give me a lot more information before I can give you a reasonably accurate idea of the person to whom he would have to report. It REALLY depends on the situation. And oh yeah - it depends on Pike's position at the time, too. So, tell me what Kirk did, what Kirk's rank is, and what Pike's position is, and I can give you a better idea. Otherwise, there's no way to tell you. (Just for reference, I used to be a military officer.)

Also, in Starfleet, here's the rank order, from lowest to highest:
Ensign
Lieutenant Junior Grade
Lieutenant
Lieutenant Commander
Commander
Captain
Commodore
Admiral

[sans_thought]

I'm looking at post-movie, so Kirk is Captain and Pike is Admiral. My fic plan involves trafficking. Kirk and the crew accidentally come across a child someone "bought." He threatens a member of the new species they're meeting until he brings them to the child, and then he orders a planetwide search for more children, just in case.

I'll admit I have absolutely no idea what the realistic outcome would be, if there would be one at all. In my head, I see Pike calling him up (so to speak) and basically saying he understands why he did it, but he overstepped his bounds a bit. More of a slap on the wrist than anything?

Thanks so much for your help! I totally lucked out with this comm.

[mijan]

Oh damn, this is stuff that would deal with the Prime Directive. I think Kirk would CONTACT Admiral Pike first, but it would end up going to a full hearing with other Starfleet leadership and Admirals. Dang, that's heavy stuff. Because while morally, what Kirk does makes sense to a human, it's still messing with another planet's culture, and that's a HUGE no-no in Starfleet.

Yeah, I'd say Kirk would TALK to Pike, try to explain himself, and Pike would TRY to intervene for Kirk, but it would go to a full hearing. Serious shit there.

[sans_thought]

Damn! lol. That certainly complicates things. I had thought since the kid was human it would be defendable, but I guess I was way off, lol.
Hope you don't mind the continuous questions, but I got one more for you. I had planned on using the accidental discovery to lead to taking down a ring of traffickers across all species. If this situation leads to that, is it realistic to think they might go easy on him?

[4thofeleven]

Just a quick note on Commodore - it's a bit of an odd rank; most real navies don't have it as a permanent rank. It's tended to be more of a temporary rank used when the navy wants to have a captain commanding a bunch of ships for a single mission, but don't want to promote the captain to admiral.

And the few Commodores seen in Trek seem to be the same sort of thing - more "Senior Captain" than flag officers. I doubt Kirk would be reporting to one full time.

(Confusing matters further, TOS had Captain Pike promoted to "Fleet Captain" after he left the Enterprise, which isn't a title that exists in any real navy... probably best ignored entirely.)

[sans_thought]

Wow, this universe in infinitely more complicated than I ever thought possible, lol. I did think it commodore was odd, since it seemed when they promoted Pike in the movie, they skipped a rank. Your explanation helps muchly!!

[maireadinish]

Probably not useful at all, but to be nitpicky, there are also crewmen and chiefs (and possibly something in between) who have a lesser rank than ensigns. Although chiefs can have more responsibilities than ensigns. I assume that these are people who joined SF, but didn't go the academy.

[sans_thought]

Oh, man. Did they try and make this complicated on purpose? lol

I'm assuming crewmen would be responsible for the sort of non-mission type activities, like handling laundry and food and stuff? Everything that's completely essential but might get overlooked?

[maireadinish]

Well, there is that, but some enlisted personnel do become non-commissioned officers. Take Chief O'Brien on DS9 for example. He comments once that he has to call Nog (freshly graduated from the academy), Sir. But he's the chief engineer of the space station, so obviously there are some nuances there. I assume that all crew members get some training in basic combat, basic survival, etc as well so that they can step in to another role in a time of crisis as well.

[sans_thought]

Hmmm...Okay, awesome! Thanks for your help!