@Nykara360 wrote:
I think what a lot fail to realize is the fact that the Pathfinder team arent actually under the Pathfinders orders per say. Its not an alliance military team its a civilian one. They are expected to assist the Pathfinder when asked but outside of that, they have their own asigned tasks to perform without having to run and ask permission to do it. They are supposed to just do it and then request back-up from the other team members when its needed.
Its a big difference to an alliance military ship and crew like the Normandy was. Even a big difference to the SR2 when all crew where specifically told to follow Shepards orders.
Each member of the Pathfinding team had a set job already assigned to them to just do when not required by the Pathfinder his/herself and there is the difference. Sara didn't have to contact her Dad to ask permission to scout once they landed on the planet she was just expected to do her job.
Believe it or not, Liam was just doing his job, forging relationships with species and between colonies and used his own judgment on how best to achieve that. He also wasn't wrong, his instincts about those people were correct. The pirates timing was just bad luck, one didn't have anything to do with the other he just thought it was possible, so went to his team for backup feeling it was needed at that point in time. In doing so he further cemented those alliances as well.
@Nykara360
As others pointed out, you still have a chain of command even in civilian organizations, and while he has some latitude to do his job and IF it was alien diplomacy, he was still going around behind Ryder and using Ryder without letting them know what is going on. Look at the difference in how Vetra and Liam handle misc odd side jobs of theirs.....Liam--Hey Ryder go scan this dude....dude starts to protest and maybe cause diplomatic issue....Liam says, Hey Ryder forget about it and come chill with me.....Sorry, I was just trying to steal info from them because I couldn't get them to show me, sorry, I don't think we are really in trouble..... Now Vetra, she says, Hey Ryder, I am going to um, "conduct some business with Drack's help...umm, NO, you don't really want to know but don't worry, it's "legal" on Kadara. bye.... Now what is the main differences in these?? One, Vetra gives Ryder a deniability that Liam doesn't, two, Vetra uses the skills of the team to finesse the situation, and three she still tells Ryder basically what she is going to do, not details but general idea.
Liam should have told Ryder WHY the scan was necessary and risks BEFORE the scan, and could have had Vetra see if she could swing a deal.
The other things is Liam has training in police work and crisis response......NOT DIPLOMACY, and his job is Security NOT building bridges between cultures. He has no listed training in doing what he was trying to do. IT WASN'T HIS JOB.....he just saw a "problem" and he wanted to "fix it" .........The PATHFINDER is the one responsible for first contact, and then after that, the NEXUS would take over diplomatic relations between the Angara and Nexus, not a fly by his pants ex-cop on an exploration team.......There are SO many things wrong with what he did, and the why he did it, that it's not even funny. Personally, if I had a choice he would be let off either on the Nexus or Kadara permanently for gross negligence and stupidity.