What's the likelihood that Starfleet would have civilian Federation investigators (ala the NCIS Agent Afloat program) aboard Starbases and larger Explorer and Cruiser vessels to supplement the Security Response Teams in case of major crimes?
Creating a realistic crew manifest for a Starship. Ideas & comments?
- Thread starter NervousEnergy
- Start date
There's another whole thread about that. See "Star Trek: SCIS - fanfiction story idea and characters".
Larger ships should have one "agent afloat", as would base stations (e.g., K-7). Starbases, being the HQ for each regional fleet, would probably have a full 5-7 man team. It wouldn't be unreasonable to have a smaller ship dedicated as a transport / support ship for such a team.
Larger ships should have one "agent afloat", as would base stations (e.g., K-7). Starbases, being the HQ for each regional fleet, would probably have a full 5-7 man team. It wouldn't be unreasonable to have a smaller ship dedicated as a transport / support ship for such a team.
Whenever I start something new that will go beyond a story or two I create a spreadsheet with columns for: name, rank, department, position, shift, species, sex, notes.
That way I can keep track of which crewmembers I've named, also little details I might have mentioned, so I can bring them back again to feature later. It just helps turn the ship into more of a community if you are introduced to Petty Officer Jenny Carr, the curvy, platinum-blonde corpsman who helps out the CMO in one story, then find out two stories later that she's the ship's best poker player, the story after that her wife and son live on DS7, a few more down the line that she has been accepted for additional training to become an officer, then the story after that is killed in a struggle on a moon by Breen troopers. It helps the crew come alive in a way that just makes the universe feel more lived in and real.
Outside of rare to very rare criminal investigations, what sort of duties would they have? Intelligence/Diplomatic briefings to the Captain? Presumably they wouldn't be involved in the training of the actual security troops (apart from any seconded to work with them directly?).
IIRC, Agents Afloat tend to wear practical civilian clothing and be a Special Agent of some description, usually moderately experienced (so no a "Probie" (roughly equivalent to an Ensign)) unless part of 2+ person team being transported as "passengers", possibly as part of Sector Major Case Team?)
Yeah, killing off characters, even ones you love to work with as a writer is never easy, but sometimes its a tough choice you have to make. Even when I create a character, knowing they'll be dead by the end, I never like doing it.
RE: Agents ... NCIS agents wear civilian clothes because they are civilians. Air Force OSI agents are active-duty military and thus might wear uniforms (but no rank insignia) or might wear civilian suit and tie, depending on the situation.
As to their duties, part of their job now is counter-terrorism, so they would have to stay up on threat assessments.
As to their duties, part of their job now is counter-terrorism, so they would have to stay up on threat assessments.
Well, four out of five's not bad.
Never heard of it. Please elaborate, or post a link. Thanks!!
It's a classic WWII movie about an ambulance travelling across the North African desert: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053935/
Just replace ambulance with shuttle, nazis with klingons etc.
Necroing this a bit. (Well, last post was less than month ago, so I hope it is okay.)
I think Roddenberry's idea of everyone being an officer makes sense if you think Starfleet less as a navy and more as NASA. Everyone aboard is a highly trained astronaut. However, no-enlisted got already contradicted in TOS, so that's bygones. Then again, I think it is mistake to assume that Starfleet operates completely like modern militaries, it is combined military-scientific-diplomatic service and is not directly analogous to any modern organisation.
I think it is clear that in SF enlisted play lesser role than in modern forces and there are probably proportionally less of them. Based on screen evidence, I'd say that at least third of the personnel are officers. I also really doubt that progression in ranks works even remotely like in modern armed forces, I think the analogy to police forces was more accurate. They really don't seem to have up-or-out policy. It is not uncommon to see people occupy relatively low ranks given their apparent age. In 'Tapestry' alternative Picard was a junior lieutenant with over forty years of service history. Sure, you could argue that alt-Picard's career progression was unusually slow, but in any case it goes to show that SF is completely willing to keep a competent person in the same rank and position for decades. Not everyone can or wants to be a captain. If you're a competent anthropologist or warp-field theorist, it doesn't mean that you'd make a good first officer or a captain, or that you'd even have desire to be one. It doesn't even necessarily mean you'd make a good department head, as that requires a different skill set as well.
I think Roddenberry's idea of everyone being an officer makes sense if you think Starfleet less as a navy and more as NASA. Everyone aboard is a highly trained astronaut. However, no-enlisted got already contradicted in TOS, so that's bygones. Then again, I think it is mistake to assume that Starfleet operates completely like modern militaries, it is combined military-scientific-diplomatic service and is not directly analogous to any modern organisation.
I think it is clear that in SF enlisted play lesser role than in modern forces and there are probably proportionally less of them. Based on screen evidence, I'd say that at least third of the personnel are officers. I also really doubt that progression in ranks works even remotely like in modern armed forces, I think the analogy to police forces was more accurate. They really don't seem to have up-or-out policy. It is not uncommon to see people occupy relatively low ranks given their apparent age. In 'Tapestry' alternative Picard was a junior lieutenant with over forty years of service history. Sure, you could argue that alt-Picard's career progression was unusually slow, but in any case it goes to show that SF is completely willing to keep a competent person in the same rank and position for decades. Not everyone can or wants to be a captain. If you're a competent anthropologist or warp-field theorist, it doesn't mean that you'd make a good first officer or a captain, or that you'd even have desire to be one. It doesn't even necessarily mean you'd make a good department head, as that requires a different skill set as well.
I often think that there is probably more of a "developing yourself policy", I think Starfleet - due to having no real limits on size of fleet and amount of personnel, insist that a Fleeter is "competent at their role, and improving their skills if needed to reach their highest "point of competency". So Tapestry!Picard who is a competent analyst but lacks the confidence and drive need for command can stay at the lower ranks (Barclay for the most part would be similar), but by contrast officers like LaForge, Crusher, Troi and Pulaski can advance Chief of Department and stop there, and Captain (even potentially "Skipper", holding more junior rank) can be held for years or decades for those who want to be at the "frontlines" because for the most part new ships/slots are made available fast enough that no-one is "held back" even if someone doesn't progress.
I was actually thinking the crew composition of a Nova class ship today. It is supposed to have a crew of 80, and that's not a lot.
Four people on the bridge (the captain's chair, conn, ops, tactical.)
Two overseeing the warp core.
One overseeing the impulse engine.
One person overseeing the sickbay.
So if we assume that there are five people rotating on every essential post: 8x5=40.
So that's already half of the crew there. Am I missing any essential positions that should always be manned? And this is a science vessel, but there wasn't a single science department person there yet...
Four people on the bridge (the captain's chair, conn, ops, tactical.)
Two overseeing the warp core.
One overseeing the impulse engine.
One person overseeing the sickbay.
So if we assume that there are five people rotating on every essential post: 8x5=40.
So that's already half of the crew there. Am I missing any essential positions that should always be manned? And this is a science vessel, but there wasn't a single science department person there yet...
For a Nova-Class ship, I would have (per shift):
Bridge: Watch Officer, Flight Controller, Operations Officer, Tactical Officer
Engineering: Diagnostics Specialist, Environmental Specialist, Impulse Specialist, Warp Specialist, Engineer, Engineer
Operations: Deck Specialist (cargo/hangar/transporters), Systems Specialist (comm/computer/sensors), Systems Technician, Systems Technician
Medical: Corpsman
Science: Science Officer, Science Officer, Science Specialist, Science Specialist, Science Specialist, Science Specialist, Science Specialist, Science Specialist, Science Specialist
Security: Security Guard, Security Guard
Which would give a crew complement of 78, so there are still a couple of open posts to fill as needed (such as the Captain and First Officer on the same shift together, or the addition of a Counsellor). The ship's Doctor would man a shift on their own in sickbay (with only 80 crew an an EMH installed then I doubt they would need a large medical staff).
Bridge: Watch Officer, Flight Controller, Operations Officer, Tactical Officer
Engineering: Diagnostics Specialist, Environmental Specialist, Impulse Specialist, Warp Specialist, Engineer, Engineer
Operations: Deck Specialist (cargo/hangar/transporters), Systems Specialist (comm/computer/sensors), Systems Technician, Systems Technician
Medical: Corpsman
Science: Science Officer, Science Officer, Science Specialist, Science Specialist, Science Specialist, Science Specialist, Science Specialist, Science Specialist, Science Specialist
Security: Security Guard, Security Guard
Which would give a crew complement of 78, so there are still a couple of open posts to fill as needed (such as the Captain and First Officer on the same shift together, or the addition of a Counsellor). The ship's Doctor would man a shift on their own in sickbay (with only 80 crew an an EMH installed then I doubt they would need a large medical staff).
But that's with three shifts. It was pointed out earlier in this thread that this is not feasible on the long run. You need at least four people for each 'slot', preferably five. With four the positions you suggested leads to crew of 104, with five to 130!
Trek canon has a three shift rotation, though there are a few that have four (DS9, Cairo, and the E-D briefly).
Yes, they have three or four shifts, but that doesn't mean three or four people. They will have to have days off too. With four people filling a post each will end up with 42 hours a week, with five 34 hours; with only three each ends up with 56 hours a week. And there's probably always filing reports, training and other stuff what you cannot do while doing your main job, so you need to add few hours for that sort of stuff. Normal work week today is around 40 hours, I really don't see them pulling much more than that in the enlightened hippy future of Star Trek.
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Oh, that would certainly be the first place to cut the excess personnel.
