Ranking officer A ranking officer ( also known as a superior officer ) is a relative leadership position within a chain of command that one person may hold over one person or a group of people within a situational context . Starfleet utilized this system , entrusting a ranking officer with the command decisions for various circumstances , including departments aboard a starship and leads on away mission s . The ranking officer normally for a military unit like a starship is usually referred to as the commanding officer . The ranking officer for a duty shift on the bridge of a starship is known as a duty officer . Also , the term is sometimes used by Starfleet personnel to refer specifically to officers of a high rank . ( ) Determinants for a ranking officer in Starfleet are similar to the chain of command , which include ( in no particular order ) : rank , seniority , Starfleet division , direct orders from a flag officer or Starfleet Command , and Starfleet regulations . Other culture s may also refer to the term as more directly related to rank . In 2375 , Kashyk ' s status as a ranking officer enabled him to take command of Devore inspection teams . ( ) Examples of ranking officers . In 2151 , T ' Pol assumed command of the while Captain Jonathan Archer was incapacitated , citing that she was the highest ranking officer available to Archer . ( ) Lieutenant Malcolm Reed was the ranking officer of the " Enterprise " while Archer , T ' Pol , and Commander Charles Tucker III were incapacitated . ( ) Ensign Travis Mayweather was next in the chain of command after Lt . Reed , and ahead of Ensign Hoshi Sato . ( ) T ' Pol continued to be the ranking officer aboard the " Enterprise " after Archer in 2154 . ( ) In 2267 , Commodore Matt Decker , the highest ranked officer aboard the at the time , chose to enact Starfleet Order 104 and became the commanding officer before he was relieved by Spock . ( ) Later in 2267 , Commodore Stocker , despite his lack of field experience , was the ranking officer aboard the " Enterprise " and took command after the crew was infected by a radiation disease . ( ) Temporarily - ranked Ensign Mendon was Wesley Crusher ' s ranking officer when the Benzite was aboard the in 2365 . ( ) In 2370 , Captain Jean - Luc Picard was looking for an explanation to Cadet Crusher ' s defiance of orders from the ranking officer of the away team . ( ) Later in the same year , Kira Nerys was the ranking officer aboard the with Jadzia Dax . ( ) In 2371 , after Captain Kathryn Janeway disappeared during an away mission , The Doctor wished to speak with the highest ranking officer aboard the who was not missing in regards to personnel changes aboard the vessel without his prior knowledge . ( ) Later in the same year , Captain Janeway was concerned about making B ' Elanna Torres the chief engineer aboard " Voyager " as the Starfleet engineering officers may have difficulty accepting a Maquis as their superior officer . ( ) In 2374 , Tom Paris reminded Torres that he outranked her when she tried to evacuate personnel from main engineering . ( ) In 2376 , Captain Janeway cited Regulation 191 , Article 14 to pull rank on Captain Rudolph Ransom . ( ) Later in the same year , Paris referred to Torres as the superior officer to crewman Mortimer Harren . ( ) Memorable quotes . " " On your feet , that ' s an order ! " " " " You can ' t give me orders , we ' re the same rank . " " " " I ' m a bridge officer , and I have seniority . " " " " Yeah , by about two days ! " " " " I want you to take Seven . Since she has no rank , you clearly outrank her . " " " " I assumed I ' d be in charge during your absence , commander . " " " " Excuse me ? " " " " An Emergency Command Hologram programmed with over two million tactical subroutines outranks an ensign . " " " " A few words to the computer and this ensign can delete those subroutines . " "