10 Star Trek Captains Who Broke The Rules

10. Eric Pressman

Yes, yes, we may know our friend Eric slightly better by his admiral's rank, yet he was a mere captain once. He commanded the USS Pegasus which, among other interesting accolades, boasted the honour of being William T. Riker's first posting after graduating from Starfleet Academy. 

Eric was an affable, thoroughly personable man. He inspired an upbeat atmosphere around him, even as the years passed and his neck was weighed down with extra pips. But as the audience discovered, in his past, he had broken a fairly major rule in the Starfleet handbook - one that got a lot of people killed. 

Aboard the Pegasus, Pressman had been experimenting with a secret interphasic cloaking device, an action that was directly in opposition to the Treaty of Algeron. This treaty was drawn up to end hostilities, at least at that point in history, between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire. Without it, the wars that would surely have broken out could have been devastating to the landscapes of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. 

Now, we understand wanting to make a quick, quiet exit sometimes - this writer is Irish, we MASTERED the goodbye - but there was simply too much at stake here. Eric. that's detention for you sir.