Chapter 7
OK, So You’ve Screwed Up. BIG Time. Now What?
Franchise: The Next Generation
Season 7, Episode 15: “Lower Decks”
It isn’t often that a Trek episode is centered entirely around the lesser-known characters aboard the Enterprise, so this chapter/lesson is appealing on a couple of different levels.
First, we get a good look at life aboard a starship in places other than the bridge or the engine room – you may not know this, but the crew complement of a ship such as the Enterprise is over 1,000 members.
Also, as we’ll see, there are important decisions being made – life-changing decisions – by crewmembers other than the iconic senior officers like Captain Picard, First Officer William Riker, or Tactical/Security Officer Worf (the only Klingon to serve aboard a Federation starship, with quite a story of his own).
What Happens:
It’s Promotion Time.
First Officer Will Riker and his colleague and close friend, Ship’s Counselor Deanna Troi, are reviewing performance evaluations and considering promotion recommendations for all ship’s personnel. Their friendly banter speaks of a relationship that spans not only careers spent serving together, but a deep personal relationship.
It develops that two junior officers are up for promotion to the same job: Operations Officer, one of the senior bridge positions - a role which also comes with a rank upgrade from Ensign to Lieutenant.
The two officers in line are Ensign Sam Lavelle and Ensign Sito Jaxa. Lavelle is an eager young man originally from Canada, and Sito is …
… wait, you don’t REMEMBER Sito Jaxa??
Oh! Well, let me refresh your memory …
Bajoran-born Sito Jaxa (Trek Trivia Alert: In keeping with traditional Bajoran culture, she is addressed family name first, much as Chinese names are traditionally written today) was one of the members of Wesley Crusher’s Nova Squadron at the Academy.
Remember now? Yes, that’s right – she was implicated in the coverup surrounding the training accident and death of another cadet. Punished and humiliated, she also managed to survive and graduate, just like Wesley, and she is now posted on the Enterprise.
She has performed admirably in her duties aboard ship, but Captain Picard appears singularly unimpressed, and he says so in a private Ready Room conversation with Sito:
PICARD: How long have you served on board the Enterprise, Ensign?
SITO: Seven months, sir.
PICARD: I see. I understand that you've been recommended for the Ops position. Do you think you're up to it?
SITO: I do, sir.
PICARD: I'm not so sure. I'm concerned about your record.
SITO: Sir?
PICARD: The incident that you were involved in at the Academy.
SITO: With all due respect that was three years ago. My record since then –
PICARD: It doesn't matter how long ago it was, Ensign. Would you do something like that again?
SITO: I can assure you, sir, that I would never, never jeopardize lives by participating in –
PICARD: A daredevil stunt? I would certainly hope not. What concerns me is that you participated in a cover-up that impeded an official investigation into the death of a cadet.
SITO: Sir, I know I should have told the truth right from the start –
PICARD: Yes you should, but you didn't. Instead, you joined with the others to pretend that was simply an accident. Now, what do you think that tells me about your character?
SITO: Sir, if you had any idea what it was like after that incident. I didn't have any friends. I didn't have anyone to talk to. I had to take my flight test with the instructor because no one else would be my partner. In a lot of ways, it would have been easier to just walk away, but I didn't. I stuck with it. Doesn't that say something about my character, too?
PICARD: Well, I'm really very sorry you didn't enjoy your time at the Academy, Ensign. As far as I'm concerned, you should have been expelled for what you did. Quite frankly, I don't know how you made it on board this ship. You're dismissed.
So, Sito’s stained reputation has followed her to the flagship of the Fleet. What to do?
Well, it seems that Jaxa (we’re all friends now, aren’t we? First-name basis for sure!) already has her answer inside – at least, she’s reminded of the answer by Worf, her immediate commanding officer, who recommended her for the promotion in the first place.
Following one of his Klingon martial arts classes, Worf invites Sito to undergo the Gik’tal challenge, to determine whether she is ready for more advanced studies. As a preparation for the challenge, Worf blindfolds Sito and challenges her to “defend yourself!”
Of course, she is completely disadvantaged; after being tripped and thrown several times by Worf, she rips the blindfold off:
SITO: How am I supposed to defend myself when I can't see a thing?
WORF: Stop making excuses! Replace the blindfold!
SITO: No! It's not a fair test!
WORF: Very good, Ensign. You have passed the challenge.
SITO: What? By taking off the blindfold?
WORF: It takes courage to say the test is unfair.
SITO: One thing I don't understand. Doesn't gik'tal mean “to the death”?
WORF: You speak Klingon.
SITO: … Sir, is there really such a thing as a gik'tal challenge?
WORF: No, there is not.
But perhaps next time you are judged unfairly, it will not take so many bruises for you to protest.
Thus reminded, and encouraged, Sito requests a second audience and returns to the Captain’s Ready Room:
SITO: All I've ever wanted is to make a career for myself in Starfleet. I can't change what happened at the Academy. No one can. All I can do is work hard and try to earn the respect of the people I serve with. If you're not going to give me that chance, then I respectfully request that you transfer me to another ship.
PICARD: If you're looking for a more lenient commander, I don't think you'll find one.
SITO: Permission to speak freely, sir?
PICARD: Please do.
SITO: If you didn't want me on your ship, you should have said so when I was assigned to it. It's not your place to punish me for what I did at the Academy. I've worked hard here. My record is exemplary. If you're going to judge me, judge me for what I am now.
PICARD: Very well, Ensign. I will.
It took courage to come here and face me after what I said to you the other day. I didn't ask you here because I was assessing your qualifications for the Ops position.
SITO: I don't understand, sir.
PICARD: I was harsh with you because I wanted to assess you for a very important mission. A mission that could put you in a situation that would be far more unnerving than a dressing-down by your commanding officer.
SITO: Can I ask what that mission is, sir?
PICARD: Join the senior officers in the Observation Lounge at oh-nine-hundred hours (9:00 am to us non-military types). We'll discuss it then.
SITO: Yes, sir.
PICARD: And, Ensign, I do know why you ended up on the Enterprise.
I asked for you.
I wanted to make sure that you got a fair chance to redeem yourself.
SITO: Thank you, sir.
Lesson You Can Use:
Now, you and I may not have the good fortune to be led by someone so willing to give US another chance to redeem ourselves after we’ve screwed up … and trust me: you will screw up. More than once, I’ll wager.
But here’s what I do know: Ensign Sito was willing to stake her continuing service on the Enterprise, indeed her entire Starfleet career, on the quality of her work since the scandal that derailed her. She didn’t let the mistakes of the past keep her from giving 100% of her effort to the present.
And, finally, the right person noticed – and gave her another chance.
And you can bet she took advantage of that second chance.
Will you?
Are you willing to bet your job, your business, your future, on the quality of your work TODAY – even after a mistake that seemed so disastrous at the time, you thought you’d ruined everything?
Or will you give up?
Will you throw up your hands and say, “Oh, what’s the use? I’ve ruined everything - I’ve missed my chance!”
Will you choose – there’s that word again – to release the guilt of your past, and to rededicate yourself to excellence … in THIS moment? Which, after all, is the only thing you can control anyway?
By the way, the mission of which the Captain spoke was indeed an extremely dangerous one – and it was a mission that our friend young Sito Jaxa completed with distinction:
PICARD: To all Starfleet personnel, this is the Captain.
It is my sad duty to inform you that a member of the crew, Ensign Sito Jaxa, has been lost in the line of duty.
She was the finest example of a Starfleet officer, and a young woman of remarkable courage –- and strength of character.
Her loss will be deeply felt by all who know her.
Picard out.