Commanding Officer

The CO is the most senior officer on the ship. Ultimately, everyone answers to him. He is in charge of the vessel and is thus the final arbiter in any disputes.  He is the only officer who can order weapons to be fired, or dispatch an away team. The CO can only be relieved on Medical Grounds, or if a majority of his senior officers, preferably including medical opinion and the first officer, believe him unfit to command.  It is an extremely difficult job, and carries a great deal of responsibility.

Executive Officer

Thankfully, the CO has some help - and his "Number One" assistant is the XO. He is second in command, and is in charge whenever the CO is absent. He helps guide the plot, and helps with OOC duties, too. He leads any away teams dispatched from the vessel and is charged with providing a counterpoint to the CO, presenting alternative points of view or recommendations as and when necessary. Ultimately, however, he must follow the CO's orders once issued, just like everyone else. He also advises the Captain during key situations and diplomacy.

In terms of Gameplay, the Executive Officer sets the tone for the other Player Characters through example.  This primarily consists of posts, on time, properly formatted, and contributing to the movement and accomplishment of the plotline.

Chief Flight Control Officer (Helm/Conn)

A very important post, since the ship cannot go anywhere without someone to fly it! The Captain, or whoever is in charge of the Bridge, will issue heading and speed orders to the helm, and give the order to engage. (BTW, do not engage a course until this order is given!) Be creative and have fun with this position - it is a hard one to play well, so creativity is a must. For those of you who recall The Original Series where Kirk said "Mr Spock, you have the conn!", this is an archaic reference to the days where Captains would steer their ships themselves. Nowawadays, it refers to the control of the conn, i.e., effectively, the command of the bridge.

Helm (FCTRL) is also responsible for  navigating around and through navigationals hazards. During an ion storm, the safety of the ship is in the hands of the Helmsman.  The Chief Flight Controller is responsible for ALL auxiliary craft aboard ship, and landings on the ship's shuttlebays.  He is in charge of the upkeep of all shuttles, workbees, and runabouts.  And for the launch and retrieval of these vessels.

Chief Operations Officer

Often misunderstood, this is a vital post linked to the ship's sensors. Because of some bad scripting in certain shows, the post is rather blurred in the minds of many. This is what Operations officially has to play with:

1. Declaring **ALL** planetary sensor readings. (If it's a planet, its yours)
2. Declaring in-ship sensor readings that would not be caught by ENGineering, such as a minor drop in sensor efficiency or electrical interference (including all reasons for interference during COMMunications between ships!)
3. Making sure the ship runs smoothly.
4. Declaring **ALL** ONBOARD damage during battle. (That is YOUR ship not the enemy!)
5. Declaring status of your ship and non-combat status of enemy ships
6. Non-combat long range sensors.

The Chief of Operations is the "Officer of the Deck" snd is responsible for running the Bridge.  He manages the various resources of the ship.  ENGineering generates the ship's power, OPS sends it to where Command (Captain/XO) command it.  OPS controls who has access to sensors and how long.

In addition, the OPS officer is also the Intelligence Officer.  He is command of the Intelligence Operations Center on Deck 5.  The Ops officer evaluates all the Intelligence gathered in the I.I.C. and makes that information available to the Captain.

Science Officer

Science deals primarily with the analysis of what's "out there" in deep space. Life Sciences, chiefly exobiology, is a science function shared with the Medical Department.  Like Ops, Science takes the data collected by the sensors and probes and analyzes it for use by Command. So SCI handles all detailed planetary scans, the examination of anomalies, and so forth. Often a very creative position.

Chief Engineer

The head honcho in the "Lower Decks", the CEO is responsible for keeping the ship in one piece during her missions. All repairs, upgrades, maintenance and so on are the CEO's domain, and he commands an extensive staff to accomplish these essential tasks. Engineering may be called upon for anything from repairing replicators to ejecting the warp core to prevent a breach. There are always problems cropping up on a vessel and Engineers must be good problem-solvers. A very exciting area of the ship, despite its distance from the bridge.

As an ancillary duty, the Chief Engineer is the chief of "Special Equipment."  And extention of the Special Equipment Section of Starfleet Intelligence Command, the Chief Engineer provides the Impossible Mission Teams (IMT's) with the various equipment they need to conduct field missions.  This ranges from the subvocalizer implants, to the spycorder portable spying devices, to the mnemonic clothing used to disguise appearance.

Chief Medical Officer

The CMO is responsible for the health of everyone onboard the ship, which involves not only ongoing medical care but also constant vigilance against various biohazards. He must approve beam-down sites on a medical basis and send medics down with away teams. He is also responsible for tending to the wounded during battles. He commands a large staff to take care of these many vital tasks. He is the only officer authorised to relieve the CO of command (on medical grounds only).

The CMO is the chief life sciences officer, and is invaluable in evaluating  new species.  He also is responsible for the cosmetic surgery used to disguise agents in the field, utilizing the Dedicated Surgical Suite to perform these procedures.

Ship's Counselor

The Counsellor and her staff are responsible for the psychiatric well-being of the crew, just as the Medics are responsible for their physical welfare. They conduct regular psychological evaluations and are available to give therapy to those who need it. The Chief Counselor also advises the Captain in key situations, and during diplomacy, and is often to be found on the bridge when not actively counseling individuals.

The ship's counselor is the primary diplomatic advisor to the Captain.  He is also invaluable in interrogating potential suspects and enemy agents.

Chief Tactical/Security Officer

The CTAC/SEC is tasked with the internal security of the vessel, just as the CTAC is tasked with the external safety of the ship. He organises his many assistants into regular patrols and makes sure key areas are properly guarded during alert conditions. He and his staff conduct criminal investigations where necessary and are responsible for protecting the rest of the crew - for instance, on away teams. The CTAC/SEC is the officer most tasked with maintaining the Captain's safety.

The CTAC/SEC is the person the CO relies on during battle to utilize defensive and offensive systems. They are responsible for using weapons, shields, and also for external communications. They must often work in close concert with the Helm and Ops. Their duties are:

1. TAC controls and fires all weapons and raises and lowers shields, but only does these when his CO orders him to.
2. TAC controls the cloaking device (if there is one) and coordinates with OPS in running the Tachyon beam to scan for other cloaked ships.  
3. ONLY TAC may detect ships in the vicinity. (ie. TAC has ship-to-ship sensors, not ship-to-shore sensors, which are at OPS)

Aboard the Guardian are Marines.  The entire internal security section is made up of Starfleet's finest combat forces, the Space Marines.  They are tasked with responding to the various threat the Guardian faces as an independent expeditionary force.

Ship's Crewmaster

The Crewmaster is in charge of the Habitat Department.  Habitat is in charge of all of the crew amenities.  As Quartermaster, the crewmaster is responsible for the ship's materiel and resources, e.g. assigning quarters to new crewmembers and visiting dignitaries. The Crewmaster is also responsible for the ship's lounges', gymnasium, rec deck, and library assigning staff to oversee them.

Chief Communications Officer

The Chief Communications Officer is the ears of the ship.  He is in charge of one of the most sophisticated and powerful systems every devised: the Internal and External Communications System.  

He manages opening hailing frequencies and informs the CO of incoming hails.  In addition, he is responsible for the encoding and decoding  of covert communications, codes and ciphers.  rewmaster When the ship disappears on patrol, the chief communications officer and the Communications staff are the only link to the outside galaxy.  The CCO is an expert in cryptography, the ship's ace codebreaker.  And an expert in collecting Signal Intelligence.  This position is vital and often overlooked in it's mission role.    It is a critical link to Security, Mission Ops, including thethe Intelligence Information Center.






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