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From: mnw@trwrba.UUCP (Michael N. Washington)
Newsgroups: net.startrek
Subject: Re: Commodores, admirals, et. al.
Message-ID: <1625@trwrba.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 11-Oct-85 11:01:55 EDT
Article-I.D.: trwrba.1625
Posted: Fri Oct 11 11:01:55 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 15-Oct-85 10:29:32 EDT
References: <1619@druil.UUCP> <543@riccb.UUCP> <837@cvl.UUCP> <111@ucdavis.UUCP> <116@ucdavis.UUCP> <275@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Reply-To: mnw@trwrba.UUCP (Michael N. Washington)
Distribution: net
Organization: TRW EDS, Redondo Beach, CA
Lines: 45

In article <275@ssc-vax.UUCP> adolph@ssc-vax.UUCP (Mark Adolph) writes:
>*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE ***
>
>
>Now that we have all of this naval expertise floating around the net,
>perhaps someone could finally explain to me that "personal authority as 
>Captain of the Big E" nonsense that Kirk pulled on Commodore Decker in
>"Doomsday Machine".  I never understood how that could hold any water
>whatsoever.  Sure, he was right, as usual, but was he really within his
>rights?
>-- 
>
>					-- Mark A.
>					...{uw-beaver|fluke}!ssc-vax!adolph
>
>	"1 + 1 = 1, for sufficiently small values of 1..."

Well, first, Captain Kirk should not have been off the bridge of his  ship
in the first place.  Second, even though he is not physically on the ship,
he is still responsible for whatever happens on his ship.   He  can  leave
any of his senior officers in charge of  the  Big  E.   Second,  Commodore
Decker did not follow procedure when boarding the Enterprise.   He  should
have been taken directly to Sick Bay for checkout.  He was aboard  a  ship
that was heavily damaged and could be suffering from radiation  poisoning,
or a multitude of other things.  Third, Decker definitely  endangered  the
Big E. and could have been  brought  up  on  charges  (provided  they  all
survived to levy any charges).  The Captain had  every  right  to  relieve
Decker aboard his ship.  He was  not   rationally  trying  to  combat  the
doomsday machine.  He  knew  that  phasers  were   not  effective  against
its hull.  He should have coordinated both starships in an effort to fight
the doomsday machine.

I am sure that there were other courses that could have been taken.   But,
then again, we would not have had a story.  The  same  thing  happened  in
ST II: TWOK!  Kirk should have immediately raised shields when Reliant did
not respond to the Big E!  Anyone could have stolen a starship and used it
for his/her gain!!!

"Live Long and Prosper!"

Michael N. Washington
TRW E&DS  Redondo Beach, Ca.  90278

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