Starfleet -
Positions
Commanding Officer (CO) / Game Master
(GM):
The Captain of the Starship (CO) is the final
authority on board. All Department Chiefs report and answer to him/her. Charged
with the lives and safety of the ship and crew, all decisions made by the CO are
passed down to his command staff, who in turn execute his/her orders or delegate
to their staff to have them carried out. Because of the importance of this
position, the CO of a Starship rarely will lead an away team on exploration
missions where there is the possibility of danger.
First Officer: The Executive Officer (XO) is the Commanding
officer's 'right hand' person. (S)he is responsible for seeing that the CO's
orders are carried out. The Executive, or First Officer, as the post is
sometimes refereed to, reports directly to the CO. (S)he is granted with full
command authority. All Department Chiefs follow the XO's commands as if the
Captain had given them. The XO is also in command of all away teams (AT),
usually leading these assignments personally.
Second Officer:
The
Second Officer (SO) assumes the ship board responsibilities of the XO when (s)he
is not capable of doing so, because of an Away Team mission, or other special
assignments made by the CO. This officer is refereed to as the CO's 'left hand'
person. This job usually serves as a stepping stone to the XO position. It is by
nature a 'part time' assignment. The crewman that holds the position as Second
Officer always holds another office in one of the other Starship
departments.
Security:
Security is
responsible for the internal security of the Starship and it's crew. Security
entails providing oversight of basic crew safety, providing special security
during cultural and diplomatic missions, providing security for ambassadors and
aides, protecting other ship visitors, as well as providing high-level
counterintelligence measures designed to prevent terrorist penetration and
sabotage. The Chief of Security supervises a staff of Security
officers.
The Chief of Security is required to
manage a current roster for each member of the Security staff, design a fluid
patrol manifest and keep up to date a profile for all members of the crew and
visiting persons. In event of a Red Alert situation the Chief should recon with
all the Security personnel and assign them to their respective duty stations.
The Chief of Security also works in tandem with the Marine CO and the Chief
Tactical Officer to advise the Commanding Officer on possible threats to the
ship and it's crew. The Junior Security Officer answers to the Chief of Security
and his/her assistant. The Junior Officer should follow orders to the letter and
is often asked to put their life in danger. The Junior Officer will occasionally
be asked to join forces with either Tactical, or Marine personnel to help
strengthen one or the other teams.
Counseling:
The
Counseling Department is responsible for maintaining the ship's mental and
emotional health. One Counselor also serves as a personal advisor to the
Commanding Officer, assisting him/her in evaluating new and unusual individuals
or situations. The Chief Counsellor's position is always filled by someone with
extensive knowledge of psychology, and is sometimes (but certainly not always)
held by a telepath.
The Chief Counselor is responsible
for managing the ship/station's school, counseling office, and working in part
with the medical staff with patient recovery. This position also includes
advising the Commanding Officer in certain situations. All junior Counseling
officers report to the Chief Counselor. The Chief Counselor has the ability to,
if required, remove any crew member, including the Captain, from active duty if
s/he finds his/her mental state to be unstable. (To remove the Captain,
s/he must have the support of the Chief Medical Officer). Counsellors,
like Medical staff, are bound by an oath of confidentiality.
Engineering:
Engineering coordinates power allocation to all ship systems, and is
responsible for the maintenance of the ship's warp and impulse engines. Although
Main Engineering is located in the lower decks of the ship, there is an
Engineering station on the bridge that allows the Chief Engineer or other ship
engineers to monitor and adjust engineering systems directly from the bridge.
This is especially useful during crisis situations, when rapid re-allocation of
power may be necessary. The Starship's warp drive, which provides the majority
of power for the rest of the ship's systems, is powered by a
matter/anti-matter reaction assembly. The Chief Engineer oversees a staff of
several other Engineers.
The
Chief Engineer is responsible for all the ship's systems. Engineering handles
nearly all mechanical and technical aspects of the ship, but first and foremost
are the warp and impulse engines. The Chief is also responsible for maintaining
and monitoring the power requirements of the ship. The Assistant / Division
Heads report to the Chief Engineer and work as go-betweens and delegates within
the Engineering department. The Assistant Chief runs Engineering in the absence
of the Chief. Junior Engineers do nearly all the diagnostics and maintenance of
the ships systems. All engineering personnel report to the Chief Engineer. Many
Junior Engineers are members of one of the following divisions, Power
Generation, Warp Propulsion, Impulse Propulsion, Transporters, Environmental,
Matter/Antimatter Conversion, Shipfitting and Damage Control. The latter being very dangerous.
Medical:
The Medical
Department aboard the Starship provides health care to the ship's crew and
visitors, and provides medical solutions to a wide variety of problems
encountered during missions. The Department consists of several intensive care
wards, a laboratory, the Chief Medical Officer's office, surgery suites, therapy
facilities, biobeds, a surgical support frame. The Chief Medical officer aboard
oversees the entire Medical Department and coordinates a staff of several
medical assistants. The Chief Medical Officer has the ability to, if required,
remove any crew member, including the Captain, from active duty if s/he finds
his/her physical state to be unstable. (To remove the Captain, s/he must have
the support of the Chief Counselor).
Operations
Management (Ops):
Operations Management (OPS)
coordinates all ship systems to ensure optimal overall performance. Many
shipboard operations require scheduling appropriate resources, hardware, and
power. Such scheduling and allocations often have ramifications for several
departments. The OPS manager is provided with continuous updates of all relevant
ship operations and power/resource allocation, and is responsible for resolving
any and all conflicts that may arise. OPS is capable of interfacing with
Tactical and Engineering during crisis situations in order to optimize power
allocation to systems that require it. Furthermore, OPS is responsible for
coordinating all away team missions and providing them with specific mission
objective information and resources. Finally, OPS is responsible for ensuring
maintenance of all life support systems. In addition to the fore OPS station,
the OPS manager also has access to Environment and Mission OPS stations located
at the rear of the bridge.
Flight
Control/Helm (Conn):
Conn is responsible for
manoeuvring the Starship at all times. Although most manoeuvring systems are
automated, an officer is still required to provide minor course adjustments,
input destinations and plot courses, provide manual override and tactical
manoeuvres during threat situations, verify position, and provide supervision of
automatic operations. During impulse powered flight, Helm is responsible for
monitoring relativistic and inertial dampening effects.
Science
Officer:
The Science Department coordinates all aspects
of the Starship's data-gathering systems. The Department is coordinated by the
Chief Science Officer and his/her assistants on the Main Bridge through the use
of the Science I and Science II aft stations. Science provides access to sensors
and other software for mission and command intelligence requirements, and is
able to reconfigure and recalibrate sensors for specific mission requirements.
It acts as a command post for coordination of various science laboratories
located throughout the ship.
Tactical:
The Tactical Department is responsible for managing all
aspects of the Starship's defensive and offensive systems and capabilities. The
ship's Chief Tactical Officer is charged with performance of operations in a
variety of difficult circumstances, from dealing with strange celestial objects
that pose a threat to the ship, to providing strategic defence during
ship-to-ship combat. Tactical defence responsibilities include coordination of
phasers and photon torpedoes, tractor beam devices, and ship-to-ship
communications. Tactical is also capable of interfacing with Helm and OPS to
provide optimal manoeuvring and power allocation during Threat
situations.
Starfleet
Marine:
Marines are separate in the ranking structure as a whole. They work
with the regular Starfleet crew to ensure that the ship remains secure. To find
out more about Starfleet Marines, click here.
