Layers of friendship: Trip and Archer

[pdsldl]

I have been examining their friendship from several angles in my story and I've come to the realization that maybe the friendship suffered because the mentor/mentee relationship had to change. Trip had been under Archer not just as a subordinate but life experience wise and eventually had to develop an identity and grow as a human being on his own. That can be difficult especially when your friend has authority over you and you've spent so much time pursuing the same goals. Going into space where Trip's nature makes him more open to the experiences and makes it more likely they will have a lasting effect on him than Archer. Breaking free and becoming your own man, developing close ties to others around you and maybe becoming closer to these new friends than the old ones and then finding love (which required Trip to remain discreet) can all come between friends. At some point Archer had to see this (I'm sure he did when Trip asked to be reassigned to Columbia and wouldn't tell him why) and realize that they viewed their friendship differently or Trip wouldn't have kept so much from Archer. And the only way for that to change would be if Archer made an effort because by then Trip had T'Pol and Malcolm so would not have missed the closeness with Archer as much.

[Asso]

That's brilliant.

[Silverbullet]

At the end of part two, of Broken bow, I believe that Archer asks T-Pol to remain on board as Science Officer. She asks and recieves permission from the VHC to do so.

Think Cogninator and Observer Effect shwed the two aspects of the Archer/Trip relationship. In Observer effect Archer is Trip's very good friend. In cogniator he is Trip's superior Officer and has to be sharp with Trip. That must have been hard on the two of them.

Glad that the Writers did not have T-POl come between them

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

The big loser here is Archer. It's probably why he needed Porthos.

That's a great observation I've never considered. Might also explain Archer's boneheadedness in ANiS. While not something a proper commanding officer should do, Porthos was Archer's best friend.

[pdsldl]

I know they say man's best friend in relation to a dog but that's just sad. To think that Archer for whatever reason is so closed off that his dog is his best friend ...but it makes sense.

[Aquarius]

That's a very valid point, Silverbullet. Enterprise should have had a full crew complement, including a first officer. Not one poor guy trying to be both first officer and chief engineer.

Just a question--how is that different from Spock being Science Officer and First Officer? As head of Sciences, Spock or anybody else filling that position would have had a crap-ton of responsibilities aside from XO stuff, so I'm not sure I get why being Chief Engineer would preclude Trip from being considered for XO before T'Pol came along.

[Silverbullet]

T-Pol was Science Officer and XO, same as Spock. Guess Trip could have filled both Positions too.

[Lady Rainbow]

That's a very valid point, Silverbullet. Enterprise should have had a full crew complement, including a first officer. Not one poor guy trying to be both first officer and chief engineer.

Just a question--how is that different from Spock being Science Officer and First Officer? As head of Sciences, Spock or anybody else filling that position would have had a crap-ton of responsibilities aside from XO stuff, so I'm not sure I get why being Chief Engineer would preclude Trip from being considered for XO before T'Pol came along.

Yeah, I really didn't get that. Wasn't Gary Mitchell originally Kirk's XO, too, but he was also helmsman?

I don't think they really separated being an XO and a department head until TNG, because I think Riker was JUST an Exec and First Officer and not an additional department head. The XO deals with all the paperwork, etc. of a ship, as well as step in when the Captain is not on board. Either T'Pol and Spock both had amazing stamina (and pulled a LOT of long nights), or I really want their filing system!

[Aquarius]

Yeah, and that was always something that bugged me about Riker--he was always sitting there, doing nothing, waiting for the crisis of the week to happen. May be more "realistic" that he was not also the head of the department and having an actual purpose for being on the bridge, but as far as TV entertainment, it was a little distracting.

And besides, wasn't T'Pol also science officer in addition to being XO?

[Dinah]

The benefit of having T'Pol as XO was that her duty station was on the bridge. Most of Trip's time was spent in engineering.

From what I've been able to discover, the basic command struction for a Navy ship today is
CO
XO
Department heads: navigation, engineering, operations, supply and weapons/combat systems

The XO is acting CO when the captain is disabled or off the ship. He coordinates all ship's work and training. He's responsible for policing and inspecting the ship as well as discipline, conduct and all personnel issues. He also receives readiness reports from dept. heads when the ship is cleared for action, then informs the captain when all departments are ready.

Trip was responsible for overseeing and maintaining ship integrity and all ship's systems, with the possible exception of the armory. When Hoshi had a problem, she called Trip; communications didn't take care of the problem themselves.

[pdsldl]

I always assumed they needed an XO that had no other responsibilities in later shows because the crew was four to five times larger than on Enterprise. They were just starting out and didn't really know what the demands would be and the position evolved as the size of the ship increased and they knew what they were up against. The XO evolved into an administrative position taking care of the crew concerns and paperwork to free up the captain, unless the captain was off the ship.

[honeybee]

Early in the show, Trip and Archer are very much close "work friends" - Archer seems to know his family, they did training together in Alice Springs and we know from First Flight - the relationship goes back a few years. But there's definitely a hero worship angle from Trip's side - and I think that would be a little bit of a confidence booster to Archer. It's good to have a subordinate that's also somewhat of a friend that has your back/has confidence in you. I think Archer earned that confidence. They certainly seem to hang out together.

But that's hard to maintain when someone is in direct command of you - I'm not sure what the command structure was - but I doubt Trip reported directly to Archer until they were both assigned to Enterprise. So, that probably made it easier to be friends given the difference in ranks. (This is probably why Trip and Malcolm could be friends too, separate departments. In a pinch, Trip's in command but that probably doesn't come up in day to day goings on.)

But gradually the friendship cooled over the course of the show - not just from Cogenitor - but from The Expanse, where Archer seemed to have no one in his life except maybe T'Pol and she had her own problems. Porthos really became his only friend. As people have said, Trip developed close relationships with Malcolm and T'Pol, the latter becoming romantic but it did start as friendship.

I think Similitude is a telling episode because Archer never seems to be worried about Trip as a friend - just as a chief engineer. But I think that speaks more of Archer's headspace in the Expanse than it does about his feelings for Trip.

I think there's hints in the fourth season that Trip has evolved away from the hero worship but still respects Archer. He just has come into his own - and is even becoming capable of being Captain himself. So, it's less of a mentor/protege thing that two people who have known each other a long time and been through a lot together.

[Dinah]

Honeybee, I think you're right about Trip growing up during the show's four seasons and becoming a capable commanding officer in his own right. It always bothered me a little that Trip, while in command of Enterprise, basically prevented two wars between the Vulcans and Andorians and never received any acknowledgement for what he'd done. If Starfleet had to go to war with the Romulans, I find it hard to believe that Trip and T'Pol would have both stayed on Enterprise for the duration of the war. Starfleet would need command officers and they both have too much experience to be ignored.

I'm going to have to disagree with you, however, about Similitude. I think Archer was just blowing smoke when he said he just needed Trip for his engineering skills. That, of course, did enter into it, but I also think that just by his mere presence, Trip provided a stablizing influence for Archer. Archer always knew that Trip has his back. After Archer stole the warp coil, he was beating himself up about, and Trip was right there telling him he'd done the right thing. No matter what he was forced to do to stop the weapon, he knew that Trip wouldn't judge him. If all Archer was interested in was Trip's engineering skills, he might have been willing to allow Sim to try to find a way to extend his life. But he made it clear that Sim was only a poor substitute for his friend.

[honeybee]

I always thought that Archer's refusal to help Sim was based on that it was risky, rather than the surer bet of Trip's surgery.

That said, upon further thought, I think I might agree that there's more friendship than I originally thought. I would say that its subtle, but Archer's alarm at Sim claiming to be Trip could be in defense of his friend's life/turf, rather than just a reaction to Sim asserting himself.

[Dinah]

Sometimes I almost get the feeling during season three that a little bell sometimes goes off in Archer's head warning him that if something happens to Trip, he's all alone out there.