The Line

The Line is our term for relationships of a personal nature between officers and crew who may be called upon to directly command, or be commanded by, one another. In the past, Commodore Bridger and his Chief of Staff Lt. Cdr. Stirling were involved in a romantic relationship, which brought the question of the Line into play.

Another instance was the relationship between Captain James and the late Lt. Poirot, who was the father of her twins. At the time, James was XO of the Knight and Poirot was first Chief CONN Officer and then later Chief of Security.

Starfleet frowns upon such relationships, as it is thought to have a potentially serious effect on the ability of officers to make good judgement calls. An example of this was seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation when Captain Picard became involved with the Enterprise's head of stellar cartography Neela Daren. At one point, Picard chose Daren to lead a mission that caused her and other crew members to risk their lives in order to protect the population of a planet. Afterwards, Picard recognized that there might come a time when he would hesitate to order Daren into potentially dangerous duty because of their relationship, and so she requested a transfer off the ship.