Picard's Career

I think it's somewhat difficult to understand how Picard would become CO of the federation flagship given what we know of his history; we can deduce his career moved extremely fast after graduating, he'd made Lt Cmdr within 6 years, he took command of USS Stargazer during a battle situation, having possibly served as XO and held the command for 22 years, promotion to captains rank is unknown though. He was well connected even before that time as JP Hanson mentioned he made it his business to get to know him as a cadet.

What happened in the 9 years between loss of the Stargazer and launch of the Enterprise had to have groomed him enough for Starfleet to give him a much larger command, not much of this is known it's enough time for him to take up another command though it's never mentioned on screen.

I don't think you can really relate practices of the Androrian high command in the 22nd century to those of Starfleet in the 24th century though.

There's no real canon details as to what happened during the interim from the time he abandoned the Stargazer to when he got command of the Enterprise-D, but here is my theory that helps me suspend disbelief. This is based on a few facts: One, that Picard is a rather savvy diplomat, which means he is also a political animal, and Two, it was Admiral Nora Satie (played by Jean Simmons in The Drumhead) who gave Picard the Enterprise, and Three, the Enterprise-D is the "Flagship of the Federation."

Normally, abandoning ship when there was a chance to save it is a major crime in any navy, and we know Picard was court-martialed for it. I don't know how Starfleet JAG considers prosecutions, but in the regular US and UK militaries (upon which Starfleet is based off of) if the JAG hasn't got at least some solid evidence that the ship could've been saved, they can't file charges and can't bring a case to a court-martial because accusing an officer of a crime without proof usually means that the JAG officers in question will be facing prison time too. So, I'm leaning on the side that they had some sort of evidence, enough to bring to a court. Probably eye-witness testimony and perhaps some physical records taken by some officers when they abandoned ship.

But, Picard was found Not Guilty, and wasn't found guilty of Conduct Unbecoming an Officer (which is the catch-all; if JAG can't get you on the big stuff, they'll get you on this). We don't know what happened during the trial, but I'm sure Picard gave a spirited and eloquent defense of himself on the stand, saying that he felt he had no choice but to abandon ship for whatever reason.

Getting court-martialed, even if you're found Not Guilty, is a black mark on your record. So that meant that he was not going to get another ship immediately. He knew that, so I imagine he got posted close to the Admiralty, to be in a position to put himself into the running for a new command. He had to know that the Enterprise-D was going to be the "Flagship of the Federation," and that meant not only that it would be a prestigious assignment, but it would be a major political one as well, with a lot of public light on her.

If he was going to get command of the Enterprise, he had to show the Admiralty that he was just the right man for the job, by showing them that he thinks as they do. That he's not a maverick like James T. Kirk, a man who stole the famous Enterprise out from Spacedock and had Scotty sabotage the Excelsior (which is something that would be remembered by admirals for decades after the fact). All military services, even ones that don't think of themselves as a military, are filled with cliques, and if you're not in the right clique for what you want, you're not going to get much. Especially at the level of Admirals and Generals, who have all the power in the world to grant command postings however they like, they have a lot of people to sift through to consider. By placing himself in such a position close to them, being helpful, and always comporting himself as an able officer, giving speeches here and there on the sanctity of the Prime Directive, about exploration and such, he will be first and foremost in the minds of the likes of Nora Satie when it comes time to select a commanding officer for the new Enterprise.

Occasionally, my mind wanders into some sordid gutters on just what he specifically did with Admiral Satie, but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt here and suggest nothing unbecoming an officer happened here. No sleeping his way to the top, so to speak.

It explains Picard's frosty attitude in the first couple of seasons of the show. Once he got command of the Enterprise, now he had to prove to the admiralty that they made the right choice. He didn't like the idea of having kids aboard, but he kept his comments mainly to himself and his senior staff. It's interesting to note that he also had carte blanche to select his senior staff, including his XO. That must've taken some doing, and while I've been very critical of Picard's leadership, I've never been too critical about his performance as a politician. Again, I don't want to suggest he did something unseemly, but, wow, that is something that no commanding officer in any military is able to get out of the blue.

However, when he would see the Stargazer again, he should've soiled himself. Because when the court-martial probably didn't prove to the satisfaction of the jury that he could've saved the Stargazer, here was the proof. And in the real military, you can be retried for the same crime if new evidence comes up.

It is important to note that by this point, Picard probably didn't have to doctor the records aboard the Stargazer. Indeed, if he did, and it was discovered that the Stargazer's computer was tampered with, he could just as easily blame Damon Bok. Bok, if he wanted to ruin Picard, could've just taken the Stargazer to a Starbase, untouched, if he understood how huuuumaaans did things. Even so, the question is would the Admiralty bother to relieve Picard? Even with new evidence pointing to cowardice and incompetence?

Given what I've seen from the franchise, the answer is probably no. Why? Because that would cast some embarrassing light on the Admirals themselves for posting a man they knew abandoned that ship. If the media in the Federation is at all free, and I don't think it is, those questions could cost those admirals their rank and careers. Why bring up something like that if it doesn't have to be? After all, the Enterprise-D is going to do mainly diplomatic missions, showing the flag, and some explorations, but nothing too important. No need to report on something until there's a problem, eh?

So that's how I think he got command of the Enterprise. I don't think he got there on merit.

Shagging the admiral's wife? 

I think the obvious answer is, and this is really keeping with kayfabe, is that this is a huge plothole with the series and that the writers and producers don't have any real knowledge on how the military works. Remember, this is a show where nearly every episode stands alone with the exception of 2 parters and some references in future episodes regarding things that happened in the past(Yar popping up after her death, Data's portrait of Yar, Picard's run ins with the Borg, Worf's issues with the Klingon High Command, etc) but it's a kind of show that you can pick it up wherever and not miss much of a beat but I digress. In a TV series, you run into problems like this. Frasier is wrought with plot holes and inconsistencies between the Frasier Frasier and the Cheers Frasier. The producers of that show do poke fun at these inconsistencies though. As for Picard and the Stargazer, you can also throw in the "Captain goes down with the ship" mantra as well.