It's less a five-year mission and more a five-year commission. We see that emphasized in Star Trek VI, where ENTERPRISE is putting back in to "decommission" and Kirk says that ENTERPRISE and her legacy will be the custody of another crew. But ENTERPRISE is not a modern CVN - she's an age of sail frigate, only in space. Especially in a time of peace, I suspect Starfleet may well allow crews to gel for a long time. Or, conversely, nobody else really wanted Chekov, Sulu or Uhura. Post 2283, that is a real possibility. Certainly, Kirk doesn't seem too vested in promoting their careers; he wants them, as much as possible, in the same positions they were in 2266/7/8. Note, there was no need to pull McCoy back for the Intruder incident - except Kirk's nostalgia.Darth,
This kind of ties in with another discussion I had about crew dynamics in the MikeyVerse - and that's that StarFleet seems to have no real problem keeping crews together as long as they want....and in this case, I believe that worked against Will Decker.
It seems to me - YMMV, of course - that if we were talking about a CVN being completely rebuilt over several years, the department heads would have eventually moved on to other assignments, no matter how good they were at what they did. But for some reason, StarFleet kept the department heads on Enterprise exactly where they were. I get keeping Scotty there; hell, he probably designed the overhaul. But everybody else was essentially disposable and could have - should have - been replaced by others.
According to canon, the Prime Crew were all fairly junior officers when they left on the five-year mission. Which means by the time they got back (and FWIW, TOS is year 1-3, TAS is year 4, and the amazing Star Trek Continues is Year 5) they either wanted as far away from Jim Kirk as possible....or they'd have followed him anywhere. Obviously we know what happened. They probably would have eventually warmed to Will Decker, though those who remembered Matt Decker's last hours aboard might have been a little wary. But all they would have done was respect the Skipper. They never would have felt the same way about him as they did about Kirk...which is human nature, unfair as it would have been. They would have second guessed just about every decision Will made in the Big Chair until he hauled their butts out of the fire a few times in suitably Kirkian fashion, but until then they would have been doing him wrong. Keep in mind too that they never really got a chance to bond with him - at the point TMP starts, they've been rebuilding Enterprise for at least three or four years, and at best Will's only been there for the last few months. Bonding with an elite crew in drydock might be possible, but it would be tough.
Mike
Now, Kirk seems to be a one ship guy, since he easily could have hoisted his flag in anything that moved as Chief of Operations, if only for an exercise. Similarly, with 30+ months of shore duty, he could easily have nabbed a CruRon if he needed to get out in space. Star Fleet does have plenty of commodores 2nd class (who don't have flag captains), such as Matt Decker and Bob Wesley, tossing CONSTITUTIONs about in space. He also could have easily nabbed a space station, getting a fleet or squadron command of smaller ships. That absolutely would have given him ample space time, and center seat time. He didn't. Nor did he really see that his hunger for The Big Chair could be fulfilled as an admiral, just not as directly. Logically, he was waiting for ENTERPRISE, and nobody else. Nor would he have been comfortable in her CIC.
While the refit was 18 months, Kirk had not been ENTERPRISE's captain for at least 30, if not more. So, Decker - or a different captain - did have considerable time to weld the crew together. You can kind of see some guilt in Sulu when he tells Kirk that Decker doesn't know. That's a lot of time to weld a crew together - especially since a refit ensures lots of work, and problems to bond the crew over.
But, personality wise, Decker may be too "chill" to lead. It's like somebody stabbed him with the diazepam injector. Yes, he's inflappable in danger, but you can see he can't really win a clash of wills with Kirk. I mean, his ex-girlfriend got vaporized right before his eyes and he barely raised his voice. Makes you wonder if Kirk picked Decker because he thought Decker would be pliable? His style is more consensus driven. He doesn't really exude authority as a ship's captain.
Unless, of course, that's a very conscious reaction to Dad. Matt Decker had sizeable mood swings and passions which, ultimately, killed him. Now, losing your ship and crew does wound a man, but you can't do your job right if you let your emotions get the best of you. You have to hold it together until the crisis is over. I'd say there was no question in anyone but Spock that they were wondering if Matt Decker would manifest in Will Decker.
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