[Boffo97]

The First Officer dating an Ensign under his command would be weird, not to mention

she's also his Captain's daughter

.

The former may also be an ethical violation. It would likely be considered one in the present day at least.

Mod Edit [Boffo97]: Split off from the Lower Decks Draft Thread as it was a tangent.

[Faithful Reader]

The former may also be an ethical violation.

Any more than a First officer dating the Ships Counselor? Or the Doctor dating the Station Psychologist? Remember that Mariner was busted in rank, so it's not like she has too much youthful niavate. She's shown that she knows her way around the universe.

[Boffo97]

The former may also be an ethical violation.

Any more than a First officer dating the Ships Counselor? Or the Doctor dating the Station Psychologist? Remember that Mariner was busted in rank, so it's not like she has too much youthful niavate. She's shown that she knows her way around the universe.

I would argue the closeness in rank makes those situations better than Ransom/Mariner, but point taken.

Then again, one situation is far worse than Ransom/Mariner... Bashir/Sarina. Even though they handwaved it by claiming he wasn't her doctor anymore, he did just perform a medical miracle for her so her judgment in entering a relationship with would have to be considered compromised. If some time had passed, it would be different. So that points to the ethics of these sort of things being very different in the Star Trek future.

And that's not even mentioning how nowadays, even thinking about dating someone you work with is becoming a worse and worse idea.

[AllenGould]

The former may also be an ethical violation.

Any more than a First officer dating the Ships Counselor? Or the Doctor dating the Station Psychologist? Remember that Mariner was busted in rank, so it's not like she has too much youthful niavate. She's shown that she knows her way around the universe.

My understanding is the rule is "you can't have a relationship with someone in your chain of command". So assuming that Troi reports to Picard and not Riker, that's OK. Ditto for Dax/Worf or Dax/Bashir - neither reports to the other.

Bashir/Sarina is super creepy, though.

[Boffo97]

It would make sense that a Counselor/Psychologist would report to the Chief Medical Officer, but we've never seen either Troi report to Crusher/Pulaski or Ezri report to Bashir.

[nobthehobbit]

Weren't Ezri Dax and Julian Bashir the same rank, though? Or was Bashir a full Lieutenant while Dax was a j.g.?

Jadzia Dax and Worf were both Lieutenant Commanders.

Riker and Troi were (eventually) both full Commanders, and by the time Riker got (and accepted) his own command they were married.

[Boffo97]

Ezri was an Ensign when she had to accept the Dax symbiont, and then got promoted to Lt. jg upon transferring to DS9. Memory Alpha doesn't show her being promoted above that before DS9 ended. Bashir was a Lieutenant. So not TOO far apart in rank (though hard to believe he never even made Lt. Commander, even with the whole genetic enhancement controversy.)

But I wouldn't think it was just rank in question. To name one example, between the end of Star Trek IV and Star Trek VI, Kirk, Spock and Scotty all had the rank of Captain. Still, Spock and Scotty were definitely under Kirk's command.

[nobthehobbit]

I think Bashir was a j.g. at the start of DS9, not sure when he got promoted.

And let's face it, by STVI, the Enterprise-A and her crew were basically the guys Starfleet sent out to show the flag and trade on the respect they'd earned. Spock and Scotty at least should long since have had their own commands.

[The Guardian]

Sorry for being late to the discussion.

I never got the impression in Star Trek that people weren't expected to check their personal feelings at the door. They let Worf and Jadzia go on a mission together when married, expecting them to be able to prioritize the mission over each other. When Worf didn't, it was an issue. We live in a world now where that seems impossible. When someone says they put their personal feelings aside, we doubt it, regardless of whether it's true. But we trust Picard when he says he does.

And as far as people having the same rank, in the military, the first person that attained that rank still has seniority. And I believe you can have someone of higher rank in your chain of command. Rare, but possible. You're expected to be professional. The idea being that some higher-ranking officer put the junior officer in that position and you are really respecting the high-ranking officer's judgement.