Was there ever a direct order?

[aadarshinah]

For some reason (and there's nothing canonical to back this up - just my opinion), I saw T'Pol as doing the paperwork of the XO job while Trip handled the personnel interaction stuff. A problem comes up, T'Pol figures out the problem and how it needs to be fixed, and Trip talks to the person who needs to be talked to.

I'm betting, though, it's one of those things that just happened. Neither of them probably ever talk about it, at least not seriously, and would probably become uncomfortable if it was pointed out to them - T'Pol, because it's a part of her job she's not doing to peak efficiency or whatnot, and Trip because, well, it's just something that he'd have done anyway.

[Alelou]

Rigil's point is a good one. So was the person's earlier who quoted from "Civilization." Yes, he at least disobeyed at least two orders from her. One was done sneakily and I suppose if you want to parse semantics you could say he disregarded a 'suggestion'; the other was right in front of the whole bridge crew and it was definitely an order he attempted to disobey. No pollen involved.

[honeybee]

Although, a similar issue to this came up in a recent conversation about TnT as parents, and while I'm sure on routine day-to-day issues Trip would be more emotionally intelligent and easier to deal with for the human crew, if someone screwed up badly - T'Pol wouldn't yell or get emotional. She'd logic her way to a solution. Whether your a kid or an underling, that approach has merit.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

The fact that they use the term "United Earth" rather than just "Earth" makes me wonder if the UE isn't just a super successful and glorified type of UN, or EU. As in, the countries are still nominally independant and have various domestic things they bother themselves with, but, on the whole, they operate with one goverment, military, fiscal and extraplantary policy, etc... Like states to the US, only a little moreso. Essentially, the original Federation.

Yeah, something like that has always been my take on both United Earth and the Federation. Something like the EU and/or the US. The member states/planets rule themselves for the most part, but have a common external defence. There's just no way I can picture a functioning unitary state on these levels.

Well it doesn't seem so. Earth has a centralized government in ST universe. There is no president of the US there is a Prime Minister of earth.

We don't know that. There might very well be a US with its own president, and there also might be an "Earth" prime minister. They never dealt with the details in canon. We only saw some Federation presidents, and that doesn't rule out a separate Earth government, or separate governments for the countries on Earth.

BTW, there have been talks about a joined European army considering the European Union, but that's seen as a brigde too far.

Well, they do have some "battlegroups" (reinforced battalion level) as some quick response units. But they have never used them. The Nordic Battlegroup, led by Sweden, will be operational for six months starting next year. It consists of units from different countries, mostly Nordic (as the name says).

See, I always kind of envisioned them as splitting the duties of XO since while technically T'Pol outranks Trip by position, it's hard to buy that she otherwise outranks him (equivalent grades, no data on how long either of them have served in their respective grades, etc.) For some reason (and there's nothing canonical to back this up - just my opinion), I saw T'Pol as doing the paperwork of the XO job while Trip handled the personnel interaction stuff. A problem comes up, T'Pol figures out the problem and how it needs to be fixed, and Trip talks to the person who needs to be talked to.

Hey, that makes a lot of sense. I always thought T'Pol, being an emotionally distant Vulcan and all, would probably suck at the personnel interaction stuff normally required by an XO.

[Rigil Kent]

See, I always kind of envisioned them as splitting the duties of XO since while technically T'Pol outranks Trip by position, it's hard to buy that she otherwise outranks him (equivalent grades, no data on how long either of them have served in their respective grades, etc.) For some reason (and there's nothing canonical to back this up - just my opinion), I saw T'Pol as doing the paperwork of the XO job while Trip handled the personnel interaction stuff. A problem comes up, T'Pol figures out the problem and how it needs to be fixed, and Trip talks to the person who needs to be talked to.

Hey, that makes a lot of sense. I always thought T'Pol, being an emotionally distant Vulcan and all, would probably suck at the personnel interaction stuff normally required by an XO.

Exactly. I figured that T'Pol's way of doing things (e.g. the Vulcan way) might end up causing even more problems with some personnel than it solves (although the inverse is also true - for example, I'd prefer a purely emotionless analysis of my work and how it could improve instead of an emotional diatribe), so having them share the workload is just ... logical.

Of course, it wouldn't be until around mid-season 1 that they really find their equilibrium and start cooperating instead of competing. By season 2, they'd definitely be in full "share the workload" mode, I think (as indicated by little things like the glance they share at the end of ANIS or how Trip sends T'Pol to force Archer to talk in "First Flight" since he (Tucker) knows that Jon isn't going to talk to him.)

But that's JMHO...

[Silverbullet]

In strange new world T'Pol gives some indicatin how she would handle things. When Cutler wants to play friendly T'Pol is cold and distant. She tells cutler that she is on the away mission to work. No response to cutlers overture of friendlness. If that is so T'Pol might have difficulty with the crew. It would be beter if Tucker did the personal touch items.

[panyasan]

Exactly. I figured that T'Pol's way of doing things (e.g. the Vulcan way) might end up causing even more problems with some personnel than it solves (although the inverse is also true - for example, I'd prefer a purely emotionless analysis of my work and how it could improve instead of an emotional diatribe), so having them share the workload is just ... logical.

Of course, it wouldn't be until around mid-season 1 that they really find their equilibrium and start cooperating instead of competing. By season 2, they'd definitely be in full "share the workload" mode, I think (as indicated by little things like the glance they share at the end of ANIS or how Trip sends T'Pol to force Archer to talk in "First Flight" since he (Tucker) knows that Jon isn't going to talk to him.)

I like the idea of TnT sharing the work load, because it means they both learn: T'Pol to have a better understanding of human and how to interact with them (by asking Trip for advice) and Trip... well, I don't think he has a lot to learn about logical in work related areas, but maybe he could use the Vulcan view on things from time to time. At least he got to know T'Pol better.