Starship Capt./Starbase Capt.

This is an argument that myself and my RPG comrades have been having as of late. My brother, who plays a Veteran Captain of a starship with many many years of experience says that he is the ranking official where Captain ranks are concerned. However, I tend to disagree when it comes to Starbases. As we have seen in First Contact, in the battle against the Borg...The Admirals ship had been destroyed. Picard, I assume, being the Captain of the Federation flagship had full authority to take command of the fleet. However, that being said, if there was a fleet of ships near DS9 commanded by a Captain and not an Admiral, id have to say that even though Captain Sisko holds the same rank, being a station commander gives him authority over any ships in his "area" so to speak.

what are your thoughts on this subject?

-Brian

My take on it has always been this: Fleet Operations and Starbase Operations are separate -- individual Starbases can serve as headquarters of fleets and wings, but when they are not assigned as such, they are separate resources. Deep Space 9 would occasionally serve as an ad hoc staging ground, but was not the assigned base of any fleet. Therefore, it was separate. Individuals of sufficient rank and authorization could force Sisko's compliance with their fleet operations, but you saw that in at least one ep, when Sisko though Necheyev was jerking him around, he was *remarkably* free to give her his opinions on the subject, more so than a subordinate officer would normally give.

So my ruling, as a gm-writer, has always been that when the base in question is not formally assigned to the support of that specific fleet or wing, and the fleet or wing is more like an ad hoc task grouping, the captain of the ship best able to deal with the reason for the task force's existence becomes the ranking officer of the fleet (a la the rule about battleworthiness, as cited by Janeway to Ransom), and *requests* but cannot *demand* the compliance of the starbase commander. That starbase commander would normally not refuse, of course, but would not be a puppet, either.

In short, make it so that the players *can*, when your story demands it, take over the situation. But also make it so that there are roadblocks when they cannot. I can vouch for how well this works. The PC CO in our 3-year-long biweekly campaign (Episode 70 soon forthcoming) has had to deal numerous times with recalcitrant starbase commanders and colonial administrators, *except when I feel it detracts from the plot*.

Let the story always be your guide. To do anything else is to wargame rather than RP. And while I think most of us have nothing against wargaming, we like to keep it separate from our stories. :)


BJ

The rule of thumb in the United States Navy is that seniority in rank breaks ties of this sort. But it gets more complicated.

In this situation, ideally, the captains would know, based on the situation, which of them was better suited to the task -- and that one would assume the responsibilities. For example, a Captain who came up through the ranks administratively (perhaps a JAG officer) would *never* assume command of a line operation unless all the better qualified captains were dead or incapacitated. He hasn't got the skills, because his career was spent in different ways, acquiring different skills. The guys who spend their careers on the sharp end are usually much better qualified than the guys who are administrators -- for tactical situations.

Sisko is a little bit of a special case, because he came to starbase command from a line officer's job, and when the Defiant was assigned to DS9, he assumed captaincy of it (in reality, such a ship would normally have its own command staff, who would probably report to Sisko).

It would also likely depend on exactly *where* the starbase is: a starbase on a border with a hostile power would likely have a different sort of commander than a base that's well inside friendly borders, and is chiefly a resupply base.

If you can find it, watch "The Deadly Years", an episode of the Original Series that deals with this, specifically. Commodore Stocker, who technically outranks Kirk, is forced (he thinks) to assume command of the Enterprise, and it becomes clear that he's woefully unqualified for the job.

Usually a Comodore or Admiral that was in command of all Starfleet activity on a secor would ba assigned to a Starbase, but would not command the Starbase himself, there would be a more jumior officer who was in command of the installation itself.

In the US military whoever has the seniority takes command... however, there is also a caveat/ tradition: in combat if no-one actually steps up to take command due to confusion or lack of inititive from the person who SHOULD step up then SOMEONE, even a private, who actually takes that inititive and starts giving orders gets his orders followed even by higher ranking soldiers until the situation calms down and can be sorted out. Better to have a junior giving orders when the lead is flying than have people arguing over who is in charge in the middle of a firefight. The person who should have stepped up just has to swallow his pride... he (she) should have acted more decisively. I've actually seen it happen in firefights in Iraq, and I suspect that's what happened with Picard during the Second Battle for Sector 001.

off topic.

Just out of curiousity how long have you been in the "sandbox"?

"Picard, I assume, being the Captain of the Federation flagship had full authority to take command of the fleet."

Actually, Picard had no such authority. Infact, his very presence at the battle was a direct violation of his orders.

According to the Voyager Episode Equinox, Starfleet Regulation blah, blah, blah - you name it - says that the if two officers have the same rank in an emergency situation the one with the tactical superior vessel gets command ( here meaning Janeway would order Ransom around ).
If taken into that situation I'd assume most starbases are superior to a starship ( if only due to the way much more hull points they have ), but e.g. the CO of a relay station ( like in one TNG episode, Geordi investigating a murder, with the dog being an aline, yadda, yadda, yadda ) would most certainly not certify for this.
But besides the fact that he was violating orders, Picard had every right to take command since he had the tactically most superior ship.