Liam Shaw

Captain Liam Shaw was a Human Starfleet officer who served during the late 24th and the early 25th centuries as the commanding officer of the USS Titan-A.

Early life[]

Liam Shaw was born sometime in the mid-24th century in Chicago, Illinois on Earth. (PIC: "No Win Scenario")

Starfleet career[]

Early career[]

Early in his Starfleet career, Ensign Shaw served as an engineer – a "grease monkey" as he put it – aboard the USS Constance prior to, and during its involvement in the Battle of Wolf 359. He was the tenth among the ten lucky survivors to be ordered onto the last remaining life pod. Like some other survivors, Shaw pinned the blame for the tremendous loss of life at Wolf 359 on Jean-Luc Picard, who had been assimilated by the Borg and transformed into Locutus, calling him "the only Borg so deadly, they gave him a goddamn name". That resentment would linger for more than thirty years. (PIC: "No Win Scenario")

In 2367, Shaw was awarded the Federation Star for Distinguished Service. (PIC: "The Last Generation")

He eventually transferred to the command division and rose to the rank of captain. During this time, as a lieutenant, he was recognized with an award for exceptional performance of duty; later, as a commander, he was awarded the Grankite Order of Tactics, Class of Excellence, for "recognition of outstanding maneuvers in battle". (PIC: "The Last Generation")

In 2396, he was given command of the USS Titan-A and used the authorization code: "Shaw-12-11-bravo-delta". (PIC: "The Next Generation", "Seventeen Seconds")

Vadic, who had read Shaw's official Starfleet psychological profile, was glad that he remained "functional" considering his prior mental health challenges stemming from previous trauma. (PIC: "Disengage")

Shaw was well versed on the nature of Changelings. He also read about the USS Stargazer's encounter with the Borg and considered it "weird shit." (PIC: "No Win Scenario", "The Star Gazer", "Farewell")

Commanding the Titan-A[]

Shaw commanded the Titan-A over the course of five years, during which he and the Titan-A completed thirty-six missions.

Shaw was going over logs when now-Admiral Picard and Captain William T. Riker came aboard for an "inspection". (PIC: "The Next Generation")

Visit to the Ryton system[]

When Riker prepared Admiral Picard for his eventual meeting with Shaw, Picard admitted not knowing who Shaw was; Riker described him as "not a friendly face". Indeed, Shaw's opinion of Riker and Picard was low, considering them "boys", and referring to their careers as being filled with "wildly exciting and equally irresponsible adventures", after regarding their past instances of "blowing things up. Taking or engaging in fire. [And] crash landing, expectedly or unexpectedly." During their stay aboard the Titan-A, Shaw assigned Riker and Picard to the indignity of sharing a bunk bed. (PIC: "The Next Generation")

Following the unsanctioned trip to the Ryton system, Shaw was severely injured when the Shrike attacked the Titan-A in the Ryton Nebula. During the battle with the Shrike, Shaw transferred command of the Titan-A to Captain William Riker, pro tem, as Shaw was seriously injured. He was taken to sickbay where he learned he was suffering from internal bleeding. (PIC: "Seventeen Seconds")

He recovered significantly enough during the subsequent crisis that he was able to walk again but with the use of a cane and on an intoxicating dose of painkillers. Inside a holodeck recreation of 10 Forward Avenue, he came across Picard and Jack Crusher discussing the former's adventures with Jack R. Crusher, and was unable to resist recounting his own experience with Picard – or rather, his traumatic one with Locutus, including the survivor guilt resulting from him being picked to board the escape pod on the Constance at random. He only realized what he was doing when Picard left and the shocked crew stared at him. Later, he was brought back on duty to aid in the escape due to his engineering background. (PIC: "No Win Scenario")

Following the death of Vadic, Shaw retook control of his ship and allowed Seven of Nine to give the command to destroy the Shrike. (PIC: "Surrender")

Borg takeover[]

Picard informed Shaw that they needed to get to the Sol system to warn the fleet, to which he replied that the fleet would attack them like a knife on a dartboard. He, nevertheless, ordered the ship to the Earth, where it was first taken over by the fleet formation mode, then the younger crew members who were assimilated into the Collective.

As he and the older officers escaped the bridge aboard a turbolift they viewed a transmission from the Excelsior and realized it was broadcasted via a maintenance channel and knew to divert to the maintenance section, to escape via maintenance shuttle. On the maintenance deck, they fought off more assimilated crewman, as Shaw offered to stay behind to allow the shuttle to escape, before he suffered a fatal wound. As he died, Shaw passed command to Hansen, referring to her by her preferred name Seven of Nine. (PIC: "Võx")

Personal interests[]

One of his first actions upon taking command of the Titan-A was to purge the system of Captain Riker's jazz library, which he described as "bebop", as Shaw considered himself someone who liked "structure", "meter", and "keeping tempo and time."

With regards to his alcohol of choice, he described himself as "much more of a Malbec man", after being gifted a bottle of Chateau Picard. (PIC: "The Next Generation")

Relationships[]

Seven of Nine[]

Shaw was openly disdainful of Seven of Nine, referring to her (as well as Picard) as an "ex-Borg" and refusing to allow her to use her Borg designation, preferring that she use her Human name, Annika Hansen, for which Captain Riker chastised him. (PIC: "The Next Generation")

When Shaw found out that Hansen had diverted the Titan-A to the Ryton system and helped Picard and Riker steal the shuttle Saavik without him knowing about it, he told her that she had loyaltied her way to the end of a career. (PIC: "The Next Generation")

The discord between Hansen and Shaw continued when the former tried to convince Shaw to help Picard and Riker, but he had her dismissed. (PIC: "Disengage") However, their relationship improved after the Titan-A was retaken from Vadic's forces, with Shaw allowing Seven to give the command to destroy the Shrike. (PIC: "Surrender")

Before dying, Shaw handed over command of the ship over to Seven, addressing her as Seven of Nine for the first time rather than as Commander Hansen. (PIC: "Võx")

Following the destruction of the Borg, Tuvok revealed that Shaw had sent Seven's officer review to Command before setting course for the Ryton system. In the review, Shaw called Seven reckless, unrelenting and stated that she doesn't care about protocol or procedure. However, Shaw called Seven brave and loyal continuing that "the book that she writes is gonna be great. And the rules that she breaks... maybe they were broken to begin with." As Seven watched with tears in her organic eye, Shaw recommended that Seven be promoted to Captain upon their return to port. Following Shaw's recommendation, Tuvok promoted Seven to Captain of the rechristened Enterprise-G. (PIC: "The Last Generation")

Awards and honors[]

Grankite Order of Tactics (Class of Excellence)

Federation Star for Distinguished Service

Key dates[]

• 2367: Serves on the USS Constance during the Battle of Wolf 359
• Between 2367 and 2396:
  • Promoted to Lieutenant
  • Promoted to Commander
  • Promoted to Captain
• 2396: Appointed captain of the USS Titan-A
• 2401:
  • Temporarily transfers command of the Titan-A to Captain William Riker
  • Stardate 78186.03: Command of the Titan-A is transferred back from Riker to Shaw.
  • Killed in action on Frontier Day.

Memorable quotes[]

"No."

- Liam Shaw, to Captain Riker and Admiral Picard (Retired) (PIC: ''The Next Generation'')

"Why—why me? I'm just some dipshit from Chicago."

- Liam Shaw, on why he was chosen to live (PIC: "No Win Scenario")

"Forgive me. At some point, asshоlе became a substitute for charm."

- Liam Shaw, to some of the Titan-A's crew in the holodeck. (PIC: "No Win Scenario")

"That leads me to First Officer Hansen. More accurately, Seven of Nine. Hell, I'm a relic of an older time. By the book. By God, the book is boring. Hansen is reckless. She's unrelenting, doesn't give a damn about protocol or procedure. However... she is brave and loyal and... the book that she writes is gonna be great. And the rules that she breaks... maybe they were broken to begin with. So, in light of that, I have a recommendation: promotion to Captain when we return to port."

- Liam Shaw, in his officer review of Seven of Nine (PIC: "The Last Generation")

Appendices[]

Appearances[]

Background information[]

Liam Shaw was portrayed by Todd Stashwick. His first name was first revealed in an okudagram in the series end credits, and first used onscreen by Vadic in "Disengage". In the aftershow for "No Win Scenario", Stashwick stated that he was named for English actor Robert Shaw, who had played Quint in the 1975 film Jaws, and that Liam Shaw's recollection of Wolf 359 was inspired by Quint's speech about the USS Indianapolis in that film.

According to the Star Trek: Picard Logs, Shaw took command of the Titan-A when the ship was launched in 2402. [3] However according to Terry Matalas, this was an error and the vessel was actually launched in 2401. [4]

Shaw's five-year command of the Titan also covered the period where he oversaw the refit of the ship. [5]

According to the crew roster posted by Bill Krause, Shaw was assigned to alpha shift. [6]

Apocrypha[]

Shaw appears in the 20th issue of IDW Publishing's ongoing Star Trek series where he's a commander in charge of Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards.

An alternate timeline version of Shaw appears in the comic miniseries Star Trek: Sons of Star Trek where he's an engineer aboard the USS Avery.

External link[]

• Liam Shaw at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works