Generations Gap

Generations Gap by Pope Torak

From their initial arrival at the Amargosa Observatory to the final destruction of the Enterprise-D, Picard and his crew seem to be sleepwalking through their duties. They demonstrate a complete lack of preparedness, organization, and downright competence, and it cost them their ship.

After responding to an attack on the Amargosa Observatory, discovering the Romulan involvement, and rescuing Dr. Soran, Picard should have held a briefing with the senior staff. You know the drill: everyone goes to the conference room and Picard asks for ideas. Data, Riker, and Geordi suggest some possibilities, Worf says something stupid, and they consider their options and make a plan. In this case, they probably would have looked up Soran's file, talked to Guinan, found out about the Nexus, and maybe theorized about the possibility of a trilithium weapon.

Instead, Picard retreats to his quarters to grieve over news of his brother's death, and just tells Riker to investigate and basically do whatever. Picard probably should have declared himself unfit for duty and officially handed command over to Riker, but instead he's just vague and so Riker doesn't really assert himself, nobody knows what's going on, and the investigation gets bungled.

Meanwhile, Data decides that this is a good time to try out an emotion chip he's always considered too dangerous to use. In theory I guess it's his right to try it, but he probably shouldn't have installed it in the middle of a mission. Suffice to say, it temporarily renders him nearly unfit for duty, and Geordi gets kidnapped because of his newfound cowardice.

This whole time the Enterprise is basically two steps behind Soran and the Duras Sisters, and the crew is caught completely off guard when the Klingon Bird-of-Prey de-cloaks. "What?" murmurs Picard in a stupor. If he'd held a meeting somebody might have suggested the possibility of a cloaked ship hanging around.

Then, as the Klingon Ship re-cloaks and the Amargosa Star explodes, Picard orders the Enterprise to flee at Warp 1. He goes to sort things out in Stellar Cartography instead of, you know, trying to find out if it might be possible to track the leaky old Bird-of-Prey.

So eventually, still two steps behind, they find out about the Nexus and catch up with Soran and the Klingons near Veridian III. They think the Bird-of-Prey is going to fire a probe to destroy the Veridian star, but haven't considered the possibility a rocket might launch from the planet. Somebody might have raised this as a possibility if they bothered to discuss it in a staff meeting.

Next, Picard agrees to trade himself for Geordi. Dr. Crusher removes some kind of nanoprobe from Geordi, but they both fail to check if maybe his VISOR had been hacked while he was a prisoner. Geordi in particular knew Soran had taken it off and possibly tampered with it.

Well, the Klingons shoot a couple torpedoes through the Enterprise's shields after seeing the shield frequency through Geordi's VISOR. Riker, Worf, and Data forget to rotate the shield frequency, and don't even try just shooting at the Klingons with everything they've got ("That is a Galaxy-class starship! We are no match for them!"). Instead, they try to devise a genius plan and end up crashing the flagship while Picard is still moping around on the surface.

I mean, this is just crazy incompetence from the "finest crew" in Starfleet.

LIST OF CHARGES AND SENTENCES

Picard: Dereliction of duty, failure to effectively manage senior staff, failure to maintain situational awareness. Sentence: formal censure and recommended retirement.

Riker: Gross negligence in a combat situation. Sentence: reduction in rank to Lt. and reassignment to desk duty.

Dr. Crusher: Gross negligence in failing to notice that Geordi's VISOR had been hacked. Sentence: note in service record, loss of security authorizations, medical license subject to review by Starfleet Medical.

Geordi: Negligence in failing to notice that his VISOR had been hacked. Sentence: note in service record and loss of security authorizations.

Data: Dereliction of duty, cowardice, negligence in a combat situation, conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline ("I just love scanning for lifeforms!"). Sentence: 5 years imprisonment in a Federation Penal colony.

Worf: Gross negligence in a combat situation. Sentence: reduction in rank to Lt.Jg and dishonorable discharge.

Counselor Troi: Negligence in failure to relieve Capt. Picard when he was psychologically and emotionally unfit for duty. Sentence: note in service record, bridge officer certification revoked, and counseling license subject to review by Starfleet Medical.

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