The Elissa's Crew Roster And Command Structure

Here's the preliminary design for how the Elissa's command structure is going to be set up. I invite comments and complaints, with the caveat that people remember this ship's origin, diverse crew, and the nature of its mission. This is a more lax setup than would be seen on a military vessel, but is in keeping with the sort of discipline of a Merchant or Scout craft, the two types of ship her Captain is more familiar with. It also reflects the available crew and skills, and the presence of PATER.

To change this system, I would need strong, obvious demonstration of severe weaknesses in this setup accompanied by a better alternative, if one exists. Thanks to Hans Rancke-Madsen, whose suggestions were utilized to some extent in building this system (sorry, dude, but we don't have a crew of 150 people or we would've used more of it).

Divisions

There are five Divisions of the crew: the Bridge, Engineering, Medical, Science, and Security. These Divisions are organized somewhat differently and carry different authorities and responsibilities than the Teams of the Alcyon mission had, so read on.

Every crew member has a specific posting to ONE of these divisions, and unless given specific permission by a superior officer for a given case, is expected to carry out his or her duties ONLY in that Division while on Duty Shift. There are no "crosspostings" per se, but Division Chiefs can request from PATER the names of people with relevant skills that they can call upon when needed. For example, a character may normally work for Science but may have a relevant skill to an Engineering problem that the Engineers aren't expert with. The Chief Engineer could ask PATER if there's anyone who's good at such things outside the Drive Deck, and PATER would crossreference the personnel files and produce the appropriate name. Another example would be a list of non-Security crewmen who are good with certain weapons in an emergency.

A sixth Division exists as a "phantom" for now; the Contact Team, actually a subset of the Science Division, will only be activated if the course of the mission leads to contact with alien life forms. If this occurs, all crewmen with a [Contact] flag next to their names will be shifted over to the Science Division, with exceptions dictated by the Captain based on the particular situation of the moment.

Giving And Taking Orders (when necessary)

Within each Division, the Division Head names duties, gives orders, and is ultimately responsible for the Division when reporting to Command. Each Division's structure is left to the Head to decide; as long as the work gets done efficiently and well, the Captain doesn't care how. The Captain is nominally the Head of the Bridge Division, although in practice this will often fall to the Execs.

Every member of the crew is responsible to the following people in terms of taking orders: in order, the Captain, the Execs, the Officer Of the Day (OOD), and his or her Division Head. If there is a further granularity needed within a Division, that's up to the Division Head to decide and carry out. Only Bridge Division officers are in the line of command should the Captain and Execs be killed or incapacitated.

Note that Division Heads do not normally have the authority to give orders to crew not in their divisions: the Chief Engineer cannot order a Security trooper around, for instance. An exception is the Chief of Security, whose orders must be obeyed during alert status (in such cases, his rank supersedes all Division Heads but not the Captain or Execs). When a crew member is allowed to work for another Division on a case by case basis, that crewman is expected to follow the Division Head's orders while on duty there.

Because this is a scientific expedition with a high percentage of Scouts aboard, it is expected that interactions between crew members will generally be in the form of requests rather than orders. Courtesy is highly recommended in day-to-day work; where Aslan officers are concerned, it is even more important (to one's health) to be polite.

Computer Authorities

PATER actually has a very finegrained access/authorization system; the authorization levels are simplified for use aboard the Elissa. Most crew members have an Epsilon clearance. This allows them to have access to all non-secured areas of PATER's memory, and to have private files and accounts that cannot be accessed by anyone else (unless they have sufficient clearance to countermand the locks).

Delta clearance is marginally higher than Epsilon, and is given to Division heads whose work does not directly affect the security and command structure of the Elissa or of Operation StarGate.

Gamma clearance is issued to the OOD and the Chief of Security, for extra power of recourse in command situations. A Gamma clearance is required to add any new account to PATER.

Beta clearance is given solely to the Executive Officers.

Alpha clearance is given solely to the Captain.

Duty Shifts And Ship Time

For convenience (the Aslan may need some time to get used to this), the Elissa runs on a 24-hour ship day synched to the Imperial Calendar. Each day is broken up into three shifts of eight hours each: A (0000-0800), B (0800-1600), and C (1600-2400). Unlike the Alcyon, though, there will no longer be an overall "ship's day and night" when most people are up and around; duty time will cycle continuously around the clock, and each crewman is free to set up a day/night rhythm that is comfortable for him or her, as long as it does not interfere with on-duty shifts as named by the Division Head. The length and timing of duty shifts are entirely up to the Division Heads; it's not necessary to go on or off duty at precisely 0800 or 1600 or whatever. But take note that you should be sure that whomever you're planning to talk to in a dialogue is actually awake. |->

As an example, most humans will split their day into three shifts: eight hours on duty, eight hours off duty, eight hours asleep. There will usually be an unbroken sleep cycle, followed by an hour or two of off-duty time to get ready in the morning, followed by eight hours on duty, followed by six or seven hours of off-duty time for relaxation, working with other Divisions where appropriate, exercise, study, eating, or getting a tan (the Elissa's going to have a huge salt-water pool for Doejin, complete with a shower area, diving board, and a beach. I am NOT kidding). On the other hand, the Aslan will go to a 4-shift day that is more natural to them when possible (it won't always be), and 'Vouf, being a Vargr, won't have an unbroken sleep cycle but rather a series of short naps around the clock. (Handy in a CO.|-> )

In terms of game play, we're not going to be strict about this; it's likely that a character can arrange to be awake when fun stuff is happening. But the Refs will be looking for people who NEVER seem to sleep, so people should police themselves.

The Divisions:

1. Bridge

The Bridge is the section of the crew that is responsible for control and guidance of the ship, as well as the nominal posting for the Command personnel. It has the following people, with jobs listed:

The Captain's position and duties are self-explanatory. He has an Alpha clearance for PATER, and can only be removed from this position by the concurrent orders of three Gamma clearances or four Delta clearances on the Bridge or in the PATER-pit.

The Elissa has two Executive Officers, as a gesture to the Aslan and their preferred means of working. The division between the areas of responsibility that are 'male' and 'female' are not always clear to non-Aslan, but as long as both Akhouw and Aiwi are respected, there should be no problems among the crew. (Due to the nature of the beast, it's highly doubtful that they would ever issue contrary orders.) Both Execs have Beta clearance. Oh, by the way, the terms "Commander" and "Crew Chief" are neologisms coined from the Trokh equivalents; they have no particular meaning other than to differentiate the two Execs from one another ("Get on this fast. Exec's orders." "Which one, the one with the huge gazongas?" "No, the one with the gorgeous pecs." |-> ).

The Bridge is always manned by at least three people: the Helmsman, the Officer Of the Deck, and the Communications Officer. The OOD acts as a commander for routine orders and situations not requiring the Captain's attention or that of the Execs. While on duty, the OOD has Gamma clearance. The two Helms for each duty shift (Ger and Akhouw, Talon and de Mer, van der Merwe and Goughzar) take turns as OOD and Helm, alternating each day. The Commo officer serves as such every shift, coordinating the communications traffic and data flow to and from PATER and around the Elissa. The Navigators are primarily busy on the Bridge during Jumps, but at least one of them (Neriika) will be kept busy reviewing stellar databases and looking over performance reports from Engineering as a means of constant quality control.

A special note on the Computer Officer: this position does not reflect the best knowledge of computers per se (Abuko has that honor), but rather takes note of the unique relationship between Bishop and PATER.

2. Engineering

The Engineering Division makes the Elissa go. And for fixing it when it is broke. (sorry, went Pachlid there for a minute)

PATER's monitoring systems allow the huge Jump and Maneuver Drives and Power Plant to be watched by a very small crew, but even so the day-to-day little component failures and tunings that any large ship requires will keep everyone busy. The Division includes:

The Chief Engineer has a Delta clearance.

There are no ranks or specific duties assigned at this time in this Division. The Engineers are also responsible for the ship's vehicles aboard the Elissa, and on occasion for the rider starships as well. The position of Loadmaster/ Quartermaster is a special one, involving the distribution and loading of cargo for efficient loading of the inertial dampers and the safety and easy access of cargo. Since the Elissa doesn't have the Alcyon's automated storage bin system, this position is vital.

Doejin's talent for working with new and unusual technologies has placed him in this Division, but he does not necessarily stand watches in the Drive Room, and may be working with the Science people much of the time.

3. MEDICAL

Sickbay's duties and responsibilities include not only trauma care but regular checkups on crew members and monitoring of crew exercise and recreation regimens for safety: everything from approval of ear protectors on the shooting range (we're going to have one of those, too) to monitoring the water quality of Doejin's tank. The Medical personnel are:

The CMO has a Delta clearance for most purposes, but is counted as a Gamma clearance in decisions to revoke a Command officer's computer privileges. No further rank divisions are in place as of now.

4. SCIENCE

The Science Division is responsible for the gathering and analysis of all data for the mission. The Scientists include:

The Science Chief has a Delta clearance.

There are no ranks or subdivisions of duty in the Science Division at this time.

5. SECURITY

The Security Division (which probably has all sorts of other complimentary nicknames) is responsible for the security of the Elissa and the safety of her crew. Unlike the Alcyon's Security Team, which was chosen for military muscle, this group's strengths lie in investigation, ship's security measures, forensics, infiltration and intelligence-gathering. The current squad consists of:

The Security Chief has a Gamma clearance.

As of now, there are no subdivisions of rank in the Security Division, but this is likely to change as Farouk establishes a chain of command and reviews the strengths and weaknesses of his people.

Copyright © 1997, 1998