Joy Class Androids

Science Guidelines


This note is the third in a series summarizing my understanding of my duties to my superior officers. Previous versions were written on transfer to Transporter Chief, and to Ops/Helm. As the Science Chief and Science Department must interact with many individuals, I am posting this version to the ship, and not just to my immediate superior.

I am aware that organics are less concerned with procedure, chain of command, and regulations than Mudd androids, and that the Science Department must of necessity expect innovation, intuition, and invention of it's people. Thus, while the following are personal goals that I shall strive for, the organics in the department are not expected to comply to procedures, regulation and chain of command with the same degree of accuracy and enthusiasm expected of a positronic device.

 

Department Goals.

While the manuals written by Starfleet's Science Command imply that the numbers above indicate priority, other documents providing guidelines to Command Staff and other departments seem to present a different emphasis. This unit is seeking clarification.

 

Chain of Command

Members of the department receive direction from the Command Staff (Alpha, Bravo, Taylor), the Officer of the Deck, the Away Team Lead (when on away assignment), the Science Chief (Joy Eleven), and the Science Executive (As'lan).

When the Science Chief is not available, the Science Executive has full authority to act in my place. On any occurrence of the string 'Science Chief' through this document, it should be understood that the Science Executive has identical authority should the Chief be unavailable.

When providing support and assistance to other departments, Science personnel are not to contest the staff or policy of any other department.

Should an inter-department conflict arise involving science, the Science Chief should be called promptly. Resolution should be attempted at the department chief level.

Inter-department conflicts involving science shall not arise.

 

Bridge Staffing

Minimum level of science staffing on the bridge should in general be as follows. Exceptions might be made for department meetings, away teams, during critical experiments, etc...

Docking Mode - No science support.

Cruise Mode - 1 scientist minimum.

Yellow Alert - 2 scientists minimum, including the Chief.

Red Alert - Up to 4 scientists, all who are not involved in crucial activity.

On detecting anomalies, or when entering an unknown system, full science staff shall be called to the bridge by the scientist on duty.

Intruder Alert - Science Staff is to arm and assume defensive positions. Scientists should comply with direction from Command Staff or any Security Officer. Scientists should not without direction initiate conflict.

On Yellow, Red, or Intruder alerts, all experiments which might become hazardous are to be rendered inert if possible.

In addition to normal scan, probe, and analyze duties, scientists on the bridge may be asked to relieve Tac, Helm, or Ops personnel. Should this relief be extended, or should the work load call for it, a scientist on bridge duty may call the Science Chief at any time for additional assistance.

 

Support to Ops

As the Hawking's science staff is extended, and Ops staff is not, some duties normally performed by Ops specialists on larger ships are being performed part time by Science personnel. These are...

Castrux - Stellar Cartographer
Joy Eleven - Computer SysOp
Hilfin - Environmental Manager

These roles are in support of operations in tuning the systems and enhancing performance. Engineering is to be called for major incidents requiring replication and replacement.

 

Away Team

The science department may designate a 'prime' scientist on missions with a significant scientific slant. This will be the specialist with most knowledge in the appropriate field, not the ranking or senior department member. The science prime should make the needs of the scientists known to the AT commander, without questioning the commander's ultimate authority and responsibility.

A 'recorder' will generally be assigned to science away teams. His responsibility is to generate a complete record of the investigation, as well as to support the prime. In an emergency, when the AT commander is still evaluating and stabilizing the situation, the recorder should also report AT status to the ship. This should continue until the commander has time to resume communications responsibility.

 

Configuration Support

The science staff will on request assist any department in optimizing equipment for any unusual task. Contact the Science Chief as required.

The Science Staff will in general not alter the configuration of any equipment without the knowledge and consent of the normal operators of the equipment. Should we observe a need for a configuration change, we will in general arrive with a new computer configuration file in hand, offering assistance in switchover.

 

Liaison

The Science Department's support on the bridge and away teams gives us a good perspective on the ships mission and the local environment. Other departments have better working knowledge of the ship's condition and internal occurrences. This unit is assigning representatives to the major departments to exchange information and problems. It is understood that the scientists are to conform to any protocols requested by the department chiefs while visiting other departments. Also, should a department request support from science, the person assigned will usually be their liaison. The assignments...

Engineering - As'lan
Security & Bridge - Castrux 
Medical - Hilfin

As Science Chief, this unit expects to interface with the Command Staff and the other Chiefs.


Hawking's Science Information Center Manual
Ops & Sci Manuals
Joy Homepage