>I think it was more of Gryphon's personal tradition rather than an
>institutional one on the part of the IPSF. And technically he WAS
>the first to take Valiant out of Drydock, remember that he was just
>about to take her through her acceptance trials when WPI blew up.

No, he was working on Challenger, not Valiant. The Defiant class didn't launch until...(search)...the third Symphony.

And yes, he does seem to run all the drive trials that he can - he was getting ready to give Defiant a test run in the second Symphony. That isn't Gryphon's tradition as head of the force, it's his tradition as a designer of the ship.

I think of it as the starship engineer's equivalent of the lightsaber test. If you designed the ship, and you aren't confident enough to be on board as it's taken to maximum warp, then it's back to the drawing board.

This does not cover the point that I was making. If the maiden voyage is counted as the drive trials, then it's irrelevant because this is clearly not a drive trial. If it's the first mission, then the fact that Valiant launched with Utena in the center chair and Gryphon on the dock makes the claim of "head of the force on the maiden voyage" false.

Peter Eng
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I'm only a Charter Member because of the DCForum upgrade, and because there's no rank below "Clueless F!wit."