Starfleet - Different Species in Starfleet

Different Species in Starfleet

Although Humans are the most often seen crewmembers onscreen, Starfleet is shown to be composed of individuals from over 150 races, with Vulcans perhaps being the most common aliens seen.

Already in TOS the USS Enterprise and other ships have a mixed-species crew, although this does not appear to be an absolute rule; the USS Intrepid is shown with an all-Vulcan crew in the episode "The Immunity Syndrome". In later series this is confirmed with another all-Vulcan crew, from the USS T'Kumbra, featured on the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Take Me Out to the Holosuite".

In keeping with this idea, for its first two seasons Star Trek: Enterprise was the only show to have an entirely Human crew owing to its being set before the formation of the Federation, though the vessel did carry Phlox, a Denobulan serving in a medical exchange program, and T'Pol, then serving as an observer from the Vulcan High Command.

Star Trek: The Next Generation saw the introduction of Starfleet's first Klingon officer, and other races such as Bolians, Betazoids, and Trill were seen and given more central roles in later series; some of these, notably Klingons, had been shown as enemies in earlier episodes.

Various episodes show that Earth citizenship was not a necessary pre-condition to joining Starfleet. T'Pol of Vulcan is shown as the first non-human Starfleet officer, having received a commission as a Commander following the Xindi mission and her resignation from the Vulcan High Command. Even after the formation of the Federation, citizenship is still not a requirement, as several officers are from planets that are not part of the Federation. For example, Star Trek: TNG's Ensign Ro Laren, a Bajoran aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise D, and Bajoran Colonel Kira Nerys was field commissioned as a Starfleet Commander so that she could aid the Cardassian resistance during the Dominion War without jeopardizing Bajor's non-aggression pact with the Dominion. Also, Quinn and Icheb from Star Trek: Voyager both spoke of joining Starfleet.

An example of the process imagined by the writers is given when the character Nog, the first Ferengi to do so, attempts to apply to the Academy. In this case he is told that since he is from a non-member world (Ferenginar), he requires a letter of recommendation from a command-level officer before his application can be considered, with the implication that this is the standard procedure for all non-Federation applicants to Starfleet.

In the Star Trek Expanded Universe, an example of what typically becomes of a new Federation member world's military is depicted when the Bajoran Militia is integrated into Starfleet upon Bajor's entry into the Federation.