Chain of Command
Introduction to Command
Orders are to flow from on high down through the ranks. An order from a superior must always be obeyed, that their wisdom may be carried out without hesitation.
Orders are to observe the flow and not skip ranks. A superior may only give orders to his direct subordinates, and not to those beneath them. In this way harmony of intent and cohesion of thought is maintained.
Certain circumstances may change this, but under normal procedures, this is how the company is intended to operate.
Author's note: For the purposes of this guide, Site Manager, Captain, and Station Administrator are considered interchangeable terms depending where you work.
Heads of Staff
Also known as Command Staff, these are the men and women charged with the administration of the station. Each of them have access to the Bridge, the command radio channel (accessed with :c), and may call/recall the Escape Shuttle using a communications console. They are also prime targets for enemy operatives or rebel forces. They are the most important people aboard the station and should be well respected and protected.
| Job | Notes |
|---|---|
 Site Manager |
Authority over entire station. Can overrule any decision made by any head. Is not above the law, however, and can still be arrested if found committing a crime. Can fire and assign at will, and is the only person who can assign death warrants or authorize executions. |
 Head of Personnel |
Authority over management of station personnel and IDs, also de facto second in command. Please see Head of Personnel for a better explanation of their authority. It's too complicated to summarize well. |
 Head of Security |
Authority over the Security Department and all of its members, also responsible for station security. Equal with other Heads of Staff excluding the Site Manager. The HoS becomes acting Captain only during a crisis when the Captain and Head of Personnel are both dead or absent. The HoS may be denied access to the domains of other Heads. Below the Captain in command authority involving security matters. Expected to arrest anyone who is doing illegal things, even other Heads of Staff, or the aptain. |
 Chief Engineer |
Authority over the Engineering Department and all of its members, also responsible for station infrastructure.
Equal with other Heads of Staff excluding the Site Manager. Must be informed of any major construction projects to the station. |
 Research Director |
Authority over the Science Department and all of its members, also kind of holds authority over the Exploration Department, however this is sometimes disputed.
Equal with other Heads of Staff excluding the Site Manager. Must be informed of any substantial scientific findings, such as alien technology or major archeological finds. |
 Chief Medical Officer |
Authority over the Medical Department and all if its members, also responsible for the health of all crewmembers.
Equal with other Heads of Staff excluding the Site Manager. If a Head of Staff is acting medically unstable, it is the job of the CMO to disable and treat them till they are once again fit for duty. |
Other Management Roles
While the following jobs have management roles, they are not Heads of Staff and get none of the perks associated with being a Head of Staff. They are not usually a suitable substitution for their superiors in the event that their superiors are missing (for example, a Warden does not become acting HoS in the absence of the HoS). However, they may find themselves in de-facto command roles when all command structure is absent.
| Job | Notes |
|---|---|
 Quartermaster |
Subordinate to the Head of Personnel. Authority over the Cargo Department, including Cargo Technicians and Shaft Miners. |
 Warden |
Subordinate to the Head of Security. Authority over the distribution and inventory of weapons to security. Responsible for the well-being of any prisoners, which means authority over Security Officers working within the brig or anywhere prisoners are held. |
 Pathfinder |
Subordinate to the Site Manager. Authority over Explorers while on station. Off station, they also gain authority over any personnel (including heads of staff) who join them for an ongoing expedition. |
 Command Secretary |
Carries no inherent authority, but may be granted various authorities by a head of staff to help in their duties. The authority they are granted may not exceed that of the head of staff who is granting them the authority, nor may it exceed the equivalent of an Acting Site Manager. |
Chain of Succession
The installation does not require a Site Manager to function normally. However, the Head of Personnel may assume the role of Acting Site Manager during serious and non-serious scenarios that require one to be present. For example, disputes between heads of staff or administrative functions that would exceed a Head of Personnel's normal authority. Filling a vacant head of staff position is another situation wherein the Site Manager is normally required, but an Acting Site Manager may also promote someone to fill the role. This is especially important during understaffed (skeleton) shifts. The Head of Personnel will remain as Acting Site Manager until the matter is resolved, or an official Site Manager is present.
If the Site Manager and the Head of Personnel are both missing and a need arises, the Head of Security may assume the role of Acting Site Manager for the duration of the need, then resume their previous role.
If the Site Manager, Head of Personnel, and Head of security are all missing, then a simple majority vote among the remaining heads (RD, CE, CMO) to elect one of themselves as Acting Site Manager will decide. At this point however, if the situation is dire enough, it may be necessary to evacuate the installation. If there is no evacuation and the need is resolved, the Acting Site Manager returns to their previous role.
If any head of staff is missing, the Head of Personnel may temporarily fill in for them--excluding the Head of Security--until a new head of staff is chosen by the HoP or the Site Manager.
To summarize, the chain of succession during an emergency is: Site Manager -> Head of Personnel -> Head of Security -> RD/CE/CMO majority vote.
Acting Site Manager, and you
By default, this role falls on the Head of Personnel in the absence of a Site Manager. In the absence of a Head of Personnel, the other heads may determine who will take up the mantle by a simple vote of majority amongst themselves.
What is the Acting Site Manager? What are their expectations, their rights, and for that matter, their purpose? The Site Manager is a necessary role so that someone aboard the station has the final say in a matter should the need arise. As an Acting Site Manager, that role would fall to you. Day to day operations mainly include communicating and mediating between departments. There always needs to be someone the crew can know to turn to in the event that they need a Site Manager and that is why this policy exists. Without it, confusion and power grabbing might occur as a result, thus worsening existing problems.
Say Engineering wants to block off an area to do construction. However they need Security to enforce the barriers. Without a Site Manager, these two departments would argue endlessly without reaching a resolution. This is where the Site Manager comes in to decide if Engineering really needs that assistance.
Another example might be someone is upset with their head of staff regarding how they're being treated. Under normal circumstances, they'd turn to a Site Manager, but a Site Manager isn't aboard, or is otherwise predisposed or AWOL. The Acting Site Manager takes over and attempts to resolve the situation.
A third and also very common question is can the Head of Personnel promote people to heads of staff? No. However, an Acting Site Manager can and is in fact encouraged to do so if the shift is several hours in with missing heads of staff.
In the event of an emergency, the role of Acting Site Manager is much more obvious, such as the final say in whether or not the shuttle should be called, or changing an AI's laws to fit a situation.
However it is commonplace for acting Site Managers to make the mistake of throwing around their power too much, resulting in disrespect for their authority from the crew. This is to be avoided. If you're Acting Site Manager, then ask yourself this question: "Have I been asked to be involved, or do I see an impasse of opinions that only a Site Manager can break by choosing a side?" If the answer is yes, then you may intervene, and in fact, you should. If the answer is no, then you should probably stay out of it as a normal Site Manager would anyway.
There are some notable exceptions in which Acting Site Manager does not hold the authority of a true and properly chosen Site Manager. These examples include:
- Overseeing executions
- Signing weapon permits
- Death warrants
- Promoting other staff to full Site Manager (you can make someone else Acting Site Manager and give up the role, however)
Acting Site Managers may not give themselves all-access for no reason. Access should be assigned and removed only as required. For example, if you are a Head of Personnel who wanders into the armory, you will still be arrested unless you have a purpose for being there that normally requires a Site Manager.
General Guide to Command
While every command role you may fill will be vastly different in the actions you and your department will take, there are some general binding ideas that can be applied to each and every role that has some sort of commanding role to it. If you wish to be a good leader, following these basic ideas is a must.
1. Communicate
This guideline is the most important to follow, and it is the one most command staff fail at, hence why this is the first topic to be covered. As command staff, you are first an administrator. Your job is to delegate among your department, ensure tasks are completed, and make sure you subordinates are part of a well oiled machine for when it gets to be crunch time. Make sure you know where everyone is, have people check in, and if there is something the entire station needs to know, remember that each head of staff has a communication console in their office, that you can send an announcement that will be very visible. Not enough people tend to utilize this, and general comms tends to be so filled with clutter, especially in the start of an emergency, that you trying to convey information that way will fall half the time on deaf ears.
2. Be known
This point goes a bit in hand with Communication. If you do not have a presence in your department, when you try to take control of a situation, or some kind of panic in the department, your voice will be new, and some may not be trusting of this. At the start of a shift, or when you join, try communicating with your department, get a quick idea of who you have under you, and how to best use each of them. Give out orders, even if it is as little as "You know what you are doing, go do it." Making the initial connection with each member of your department can be key to making sure things have structure when you need it.
3. Use the Command Channel
Nothing is worse than being uninformed. Many times situations have more than one department involved. For one example, say there is someone who set off a bomb, someone was caught in there, and there was someone sighted with a gun at the site. You have 3 departments involved in this issue now. If the engineers and medics head in, and security has no information about that issue, then the other two departments have been metaphorically thrown in a fire. Coordinate with your fellow command staff, make things happen, and relay important information to your department as needed. As the saying goes, knowledge is power.
4. Know the jobs of the department
Nothing is worse than someone like a Chief Engineer not knowing how the Supermatter Engine is setup, to name an example. This kind of thing can be outright infuriating when those under your command tell you how to do the basic parts of your job. Not only does it not help with any time efforts of yourself are required in your department's dealings, but it will make those under you much less likely to listen, because they will more than likely lose their trust in your guidance if you don't even know what you are talking about. You do not need to know everything, but you should be able to perform tasks that your department does on a regular basis.
Promoting and Demoting Heads
Any head of staff, in fact, any crew member, can be promoted or demoted by the Site Manager at any time for any reason, up to and including a replacement Site Manager . If you suspect the reasons to be motivated by nepotism or discrimination, contact Central Command. Note that an 'acting Director' cannot promote other staff to be a full Site Manager, but they can give the position of Acting Site Manager to someone else if the situation requires it.
For a demotion of any head of staff while there is no Site Manager, or if you wish to demote the Site Manager himself, an unanimous vote of all current non-SSD heads of staff is necessary. If there are two or less heads of staff, there is no official procedure for demoting either of them, so contact Central Command.
An extra Head of Staff showed up but we just promoted one! Now what?
This happens on occasion late shift after there's been a missing head all shift, but after promoting someone to fill the empty slot, CentCom sends someone to the station not knowing the job has been filled.
It entirely is up to the Site Manager (or Acting Site Manager) who keeps their job. They can even decide to keep both in power, although this is not advised. CentCom recommends that unless the promotion was recent, the one who was promoted keep the job, and the new arrival be reassigned under the same department, or given a second-in-command type of role.
Heads of Staff and Criminal Offense
A Head of Staff proven to have committed a crime can be arrested, but not demoted without going through the proper procedure of demoting a head of staff. Arresting the Site Manager based on suspicions is not legal, solid evidence is required. A head of staff cannot be arrested just because you do not agree with their actions or orders.
Summary
NanoTrasen has absolute authority. CentCom has higher authority than anyone on the station. The Site Manager has higher authority than everyone else on the station. No Head of Staff (excluding Site Manager) can overrule another, except in extreme cases (e.g. criminal activity, mental instability). In the event of missing ranks, authority follows the chain of command, and the chain of succession; the Chain that Binds.