Janeway's promotion, something interesting.

[seanrobertson]

I don't have a problem with Janewad being promoted.

Yes, I hate her--pretty much always did. But to say
she shouldn't be promoted is to ignore what Starfleet
thinks she did.

She did, after all, score victories over the Borg on four occasions,
including:

incorporating Jeri Ryan into the VGR crew, which led
to the development of new shields and the Delta
Flyer (I know, big whoop);

stealing one functional transwarp coil, a potential insight
into superior FTL methods;

initiating a VERY small-scale, but measurable, "civil war" in
the Collective;

and destroying one of six transwarp hubs, killing a queen,
and blowing up the primary Unicomplex, which evidently serves
as the heart of the entire Collective.

For the last one alone I'd promote the bitch. Naturally SHE would
record her logs such that SHE was the big hero. Who could
Starfleet consult to hear otherwise? Her flunky Harry Dimwit?
He wouldn't have anything negative to say other than Janewad
didn't tuck him in at night. Former Maquis rebel Cacahaute? Former Maquis and known fuck-up Tom Paris? Former Maquis Torres?
Former Borg Seven of Nine, who probably regarded Janewad as a
kind of mother figure?

Starfleet probably wouldn't consider *anyone* else of that
bunch to be credible, even if said people happened to disagree with Janewad's account of Adventures in the Delta Quadrant. (Kim's
ideas would probably not be blown off as quickly as the others,
but then again, he IS only an ensign.) Only the Doctor's voice might carry some weight...if he wasn't a hologram. Given the attitudes w/ which Starfleet regarded Data on many occasions, a hologram's perspective would be considered something less than nothing.

To be sure, we all know Janewad was a royal turd. She murdered
Tuvix, yep. (I wouldn't condemn her for allying with the Borg,
though, my good Grand Admiral. Had she not assisted the
Borg, it's likely the Eights would've overrun the entire galaxy.
She saved the Federation in the process, and did again when
she commanded the "Faux Starfleet Command" foiling we
saw in "In the Flesh.") Her conduct in the Equinox two-parter
was equally reprehensible. Hell, I always thought
it was utterly reprehensible for her to violate her own precious
principles to strand her crew in blowing up the Caretaker array.
Fuck the Ocampa; their problem isn't yours, and you shouldn't
get involved! And that was the FIRST EPISODE!

But Starfleet wasn't present during all those events. They
only have a second-hand account of those incidents, and
it's unlikely anyone who might disagree with her would
be taken very seriously at all (see above). And she DID
score a very sound victory against the Borg, and DID eventually
get her crew home.

That's what they see. That's why she was promoted, in
addition to the admiralty legacy AND popular/public opinion.
That's not to forget that, indeed, maybe the smart people
in Starfleet realize she's better off behind a desk...

[Master of Ossus]

Patton got himself into trouble just for slapping a soldier. While he certainly didn't win any spectacular victories the way Janeway did, I hardly see that her promotion could be justified after she unrepentently murdered a crew member and violated the Prime Directive on numerous occasions.

[seanrobertson]

Patton got himself into trouble just for slapping a soldier. While he certainly didn't win any spectacular victories the way Janeway did, I hardly see that her promotion could be justified after she unrepentently murdered a crew member and violated the Prime Directive on numerous occasions.

I quite agree. In the United States Armed Forces, her actions
would probably be grounds for execution!

Still, as I said, Starfleet's understanding of Janeway's tales are a matter of dated second-hand information. Pretty much all Starfleet has to go by is her word. Where the crew disagrees with her actions (as no doubt Chakotay and Seven did), they could just as easily dismiss such objections with ad hominemizing; e.g., "Seven's a Borg, so what does she know?"

That's not too far-fetched...for a time, Picard was truly hated by
otherwise "rising stars" in Starfleet for his role in the Wolf massacre.
Sisko's tone in "Emissary" says it all.

I doubt Janewad would condemn herself in her own logs, so
when Starfleet looked over the VGR's journey, they saw a few
tiny blips on the negativity radar, mostly from her "unreliable"
Maquis/Borg subordinates. By and large the crew unilaterally
supported her, though, because they were so desperate to
go home. So SF says, okay, she's popular. She did get
them home and did forestall the inevitable (the Borg assimilating
the Federation), and did give us the means to become the
Big Dogs of the AQ if we weren't such touchy-feely pussies.
Let's promote her!

Based on the information they have it's not a really loathable
conclusion to make, IMO...it's all predicated in a massive
illicit appeal to authority, but Vulcans seem to be the only
people in SF who even talk about logic, let alone try to
apply it in the everyday world. And the last time I saw
a Vulcan admiral, he had some alien bug making him eat
grubs (j/k)

[Admiral_K]

I think it was a terrible travesty that she was promoted. How the hell she goes from being captain of a small explorer ship to Admiral is rediculous. If anyone should've been promoted it would be Picard.

[Keevan_Colton]

I think it was a terrible travesty that she was promoted. How the hell she goes from being captain of a small explorer ship to Admiral is rediculous. If anyone should've been promoted it would be Picard.

Picard was taking Kirks advice and telling them where to shove promotions so he could still have a ship.

Janeway.....well, a shoot on sight order seems better than a promotion....but what else would you expect of SF?

[Sea Skimmer]

Starfleet captains must get tenure or something for mission in excess of five years or something. After that they can't be court marshaled or fired, so the only choice is to promote them to get them off ships. Getting her away from any form of operational command, like a major star base probably required a three star rank.

[Keevan_Colton]

Starfleet captains must get tenure or something for mission in excess of five years or something. After that they can't be court marshaled or fired, so the only choice is to promote them to get them off ships. Getting her away from any form of operational command, like a major star base probably required a three star rank.

"Supreme Commander Operations : Milkfloats"?