Duties and Responsibilities Overview

[John Saxon]

Duties and Responsibilities Overview

The Commanding Officer of the USS Amalthea, as sanctioned by the Admiralty Board of Star Fleet Command, is ultimately responsible for all aspects of operations within their authorised mandate. However, for all practical purposes, these functions are discharged down the chain of command to Senior (or 'Chief') Officers in their respective Departments. These Department Heads are, in turn, authorised to devolve these duties further by assigning tasks to those personnel under their supervision, but retaining overall responsibility and reporting back to the Commanding Officer, often through the First Officer.

Commanding Officer
First Officer
Chief Engineering Officer
Chief Medical Officer
Chief of Security
Chief Science Officer
Flight Control Officer
Operations Manager
Chief Tactical Officer
Senior Counsellor (see: Chief Medical Officer)
Chief Diplomatic Officer

[John Saxon]

Commanding Officer (CO)

As expressed above, the Commanding Officer (CO) is the ultimate authority for all decisions made on the USS Amalthea. However, in general terms, the Commanding Officer solemnly swears to discharge their responsibilities as follows:

• Maintain the operational readiness and effectiveness of my command, delegating to the Executive officer and subordinate officers as required.

• Manage high-level considerations and operations required to complete mission objectives, delegating to the Executive officer and subordinate officers as required.

• Manage relationships with non-Federation groups and powers that come into contact with my sphere of operational control, delegating to the Executive officer and subordinate officers as required.

• Operate my command in the best interests of the Federation, adhering to Starfleet protocols to the best of my ability and judgment, until consultation with Starfleet superiors becomes possible and practical.
  

• Secure the safety and liberty of Federation citizens and assets to the best of my ability, wherever such comes into the sphere of my operational command and control.

• Secure the safety and liberty of Starfleet personnel within my sphere of operational command and control, to the best of my ability and judgment, while adhering to mission objectives and Starfleet regulations.

• Secure the safety and liberty of sentient beings that come into contact with my sphere of operational command and control, to the best of my ability and judgment, while adhering to Starfleet regulations and considering Diplomatic complexities.

• Uphold Federation values and Starfleet regulations to the best of my ability and judgment.

• At all times, I am the final responsibility for all consequences and actions of the crew under my command.

[John Saxon]

Executive Officer (XO, or First Officer)

As the next ranking officer aboard the USS Amalthea, the Executive Officer (XO) serves as the aide or 'executive' to the Commanding Officer. As such, the XO - or First Officer - is the direct representative of the CO in maintaining the general efficiency of ship and station. These manifest in the following duties:

Effectiveness oversight
With the assistance of the heads of departments, the XO arranges and coordinates all ship's work, drills, exercises, personnel organization, and the policing and inspection of USS Amalthea.

Crew management
The XO investigates matters affecting the discipline and conduct of the crew and makes recommendations concerning these matters, to the Commanding Officer. The XO usually approves or disapproves shore leave and general leave requests. If the XO is unable to carry out the duties of the office, the next senior line officer assigned to USS Amalthea normally assumes the duties.

Alert Status Co-ordinator
When the crew reports that the ship is cleared for action, the XO inspects and receives readiness reports from the various department heads. After confirming the ship's readiness, the XO then reports to the Commanding Officer that the USS Amalthea is ready for action. After each engagement, the Executive Officer makes a detailed report to the CO, fed in by all Department Heads.

Command structure contingency
If the Commanding Officer is disabled, the XO is authorised by protocol to assume command as Acting CO until a permanent replacement Commanding Officer can be assigned.

[John Saxon]

Chief Engineering Officer (Chief Engineer, or CEngO)

Before any mission can commence, the USS Amalthea must have the functioning tools with which to operate. One of the most central, and indispensable, roles in a complement, the Chief Engineer oversees a large team responsible for the very infrastructure of the ship and station.

M/AM Reactor management
Primary power is, unless precise circumstances prohibit the installation or use, produced by the mighty Matter-Antimatter Reactor (also known as a Warp Core), that - even today - demands constant vigilance and respect. The titanic energies produced by the mutual annihilation of positive and negative matter states necessitate an equally titanic array of safety functions, which the Chief Engineer, and their team, are responsible for maintaining.

Fusion plant management
Either as a supplementary power source, or a main core in locales where the environmental risk is too great to consider a M/AM Reactor, fusion power plants play an important role in command post activities, be it for impulse drives or emergency power during Alert Conditions. While the hazards are not nearly as great as for the Matter-Antimatter Core, the safety functions remain a critical responsibility for the Chief Engineering Officer.

Plasma distribution network hardware management
The energies generated by the M/AM, or fusion, reactors are stepped down several phases into plasma, which is channelled, through specific conduits, to be distributed by the Operations Manager to the rest of the USS Amalthea. Therefore, these conduits act as vital a network as a cardiovascular system, and the repercussions for hardware failure are as threatening as their biological counterparts.

Infrastructure maintenance
It is an inevitable fact that systems can fail, either through predicted lifetime wear, or through malfunction. Even the most innocuous failure could have significant, unseen, repercussions and so the Engineering Department, led by the Chief Engineer, routinely monitors all hardware outages aboard USS Amalthea and deploys Maintenance crews to assess the impact, repairing or replacement as circumstances permit.

Infrastructure upgrades
As technologies and understandings improve, as do the hardware designed to enact these developments. The Chief Engineer oversees and leads on any new advancements to physical systems, ensuring that the unique characteristics of the USS Amalthea are taken into consideration to ensure maximum integration with minimal disruption to functionality, working with the Operations Manager.

Damage control team response
During Alert Conditions, damage sustained during conflict could mean the difference between a collapsing shield or the successful protection of sentient life. Despite the hugely dangerous conditions, the Engineering Department, as directed by the Chief Engineer - who, in turn, is guided or advised by the Command Staff depending on mission critical functions - deploys Damage control parties to undertake immediate and urgent repairs to ensure the ongoing functionality of the USS Amalthea. For less urgent - or less mission-critical - repairs the Chief Engineer and Operations Manager may liaise to assess priorities and to allocate resources.

Fuel resupply supervision
Oversight of resupply of drive fuel - be it magnetically contained antimatter, or deuterium slush for the matter tanks - is a key responsibility of the Chief Engineer, and is the primary liaison with visiting fuel tankers.

Bespoke systems modification authority
Where circumstances require another Department to modify ship or station systems, for mission or experimental purposes, these modifications must first come through the Chief Engineer to review and, if appropriate, approve, before allocating Engineering teams to assist. On the occasions where these are declined, the two Departments will first work together on the proposals to ascertain how to achieve both objectives.

[John Saxon]

Chief Medical Officer (CMO)

The USS Amalthea is more than just the physical hardware, it also comprised - perhaps more importantly - of personnel. Whereas the Chief Engineer concentrates on the proverbial 'health' of the physical infrastructure, the Chief Medical Officer dedicates their duty to the actual wellbeing of the crew. This manifests in the following responsibilities:

Final authority on all medical issues
The Commanding Officer is widely recognised, and indeed backed through Regulations, by Starfleet as the final and unquestioned authority in all but one aspect of their command: that of medical decisions. While a thankfully rare occurrence, the Chief Medical Officer - and they alone - can over-rule a Commanding Officer's explicit instruction when it, in the opinion of the CMO, disproportionately risks the welfare of an individual (regardless of affiliation) or larger unit. However, in even more exceptional circumstances, the Commanding Officer can, in turn, insist on the continuation of the original instruction, over-ruling the CMO's own veto with the express understanding the incident will be noted in the command log for official review by Command and Medical senior management.

Crew safety & wellbeing
By far and wide the most critical role for the entire Medical Department is not the emergency treatment of crew, but rather the ongoing efforts to ensure they remain fit and healthy day to day. Every member of the USS Amalthea's personnel can have their own bespoke medical needs and thus are aided and assisted by the Medical Department, overseen by the Chief Medical Officer, ensuring these are mitigated as much as possible. These requirements need not be only physical, as mental health is as important as the former, which is managed through the dedicated Counselling team, led by a Senior Counsellor who reports only to the Chief Medical Officer.

A solemn responsibility the CMO has to the crew is monitoring the mental competence of the Commanding Officer. In circumstances where the Chief Medical Officer deems the CO unfit to continue - whether an assessment is requested by the First Officer or by direct experience or observation of the CO's actions - StarFleet Regulations grant the CMO authority to rule the Commanding Officer mentally incompetent, relieving them of their command to protect the crew from continued irrational or dangerous behaviour. The CO stands relieved until such a time as the CMO revises their assessment or the matter can be reviewed by Starfleet Command.

Paramedical response
It is an unfortunate reality that exploration of the galaxy, or in defence of the Federation, can often result in injury, often serious, in the course of a crew's duty. Much as the Engineering Department is deployed to repair incurred damage to the USS Amalthea, the Medical Department is equally engaged to provide immediate medical treatment to those receiving wounds, however minor.

Medical Examiner
Sometimes, despite all heroic efforts by the Medical Department, an injury or condition is too serious to preserve life. An uncomfortable duty, chiefly enacted by the CMO but often delegated to a dedicated member of the Medical Department, is the examination as to the exact cause of death for the command log and report back such findings to StarFleet Medical and the Federation Coroner's Office, aided - if appropriate by circumstance - by the Chief of Security.

Xenobiological investigations
Periodically, the interaction with a new lifeform requires more than just an analysis of their speech or cultural uniqueness but also an assessment of the biological processes which could, in turn, open new avenues of positive interaction. In these circumstances, the Science and Medical Departments work hand in hand to ensure the widest possible understanding of these burgeoning situations.

Quarantine protocols
As an enclosed environment, the risk to the USS Amalthea's crew through viral, bacterial, or other detrimental biological, dangers can be very high, with vectors as wide-ranging as the visitation of new, or unscreened, lifeforms, or even hazards innocently carried back from Away Team missions. In these circumstances, the Chief Medical Officer has absolute authority to initiate strict quarantine protocols, be an individual mitigation or - in extreme conditions - across the entire command post itself. Such circumstances could result in resistance to such measures, and the CMO may seek the assistance of the Security Department, if possible, to enforce these necessary protocols.

[John Saxon]

Chief of Security (CSecO)

Regardless of the desired public image of peaceful exploration that Starfleet likes to present, there can be no question that the Fleet also maintains a military mandate alongside its more benign function in defence of the Federation. While the Chief Tactical Officer is responsible to respond to threats beyond the bulkheads of the USS Amalthea, the safety of the interior remains the jurisdiction of the Chief of Security.

Policing duties
Despite emphatic public declarations often to the contrary, Starfleet establishments are military postings, and with that comes the responsibility to ensure crew and assets are protected from unauthorised interdiction. Key locations, such as the Bridge or Operations Centre, are routinely guarded by a contingent of armed Security personnel to ensure these strategic points remain secured throughout all shifts, and regardless of Alert Status.  This also extends to securing Brig facilities.

In circumstances where there are notable visitors - such as diplomatic missions - the Security Department undertakes Honour Guard escort duties, as directed by the Commanding Officer, including oversight of assigned sectors or quarters.

These duties are often delegated by the Chief of Security to the local Master-at-Arms, a senior Enlisted Non-Commissioned Officer.

Intrusion countermeasures
In the event of hostile boarding actions, the Security Department, led by the Chief of Security, organises and delivers active internal defence responses. This duty also includes the safeguarding of any non-combatants, be they personnel or civilian, to minimise any friendly causalities. Where feasible, these responses are co-ordinated with the Chief Tactical Officer to properly focus repulse forces at key breach sites.

Proactive offsite operations
There are, few if possible, times where Starfleet must breach hostile establishments themselves, whether to disarm actions or ordnance that poses a real risk to life that cannot be resolved by external tactical options, or to retake wrested infrastructure held by Threat Forces.

Small arms calibration
Accounting for technological adaptations or improvements in Threat defences against Fleet firearms, it is the job of the Chief of Security, as the senior armoury officer, to update the operating frequencies of small arms to, in turn, counter these very developments, received and cascaded by the local Intelligence Officer.

Crew combat proficiency upkeep
The Chief of Security, but often delegated down to the local Master-at-Arms, is responsible for the continued combat training of all Fleet personnel aboard the USS Amalthea, including updates to close quarter combat tactics and renewal of small arm proficiency ratings.

Away Team protection
During benign landing party operations, the Security Department, directed by the Chief of Security, provides close protection of officers and crew. However, unless specifically authorised by the Commanding Officer, or in exceptional circumstances the Chief of Security, the Primary Mission Lead remains the authority of these Away Teams to ensure mission parameters are not jeopardized.

Criminal investigative services
Instances of serious offences, such as homicide, arson, sabotage or brutality, where no obvious culprit is immediately obvious, it falls to the Chief of Security, or delegated Master-at-Arms to undertake investigations to locate and apprehend perpetrators, with the support of the Medical and Science Departments where appropriate.

[John Saxon]

Chief Science Officer (CSciO)

If ever there was a role that exemplifies the founding ideals of Starfleet, it would be the role of Science Officer. As established on the Bridge throughout the centuries as the history of the Fleet itself, the Chief Science Officer encapsulates the primary mission of the Federation's foremost exploratory arm. Overseeing the vast array of scientific intelligence, and being a key Bridge function under all circumstances and conditions, the following responsibilities are:

Analysis and interpretation of all science sensor data
Whether through active mission parameters, or general acquisition of data through passive sensor algorithms, the CSciO oversees all prepared reports of unusual or exotic phenomenon gathered by the Science Department, often with the aim of extending or modifying ongoing mission goals dependant on conclusions drawn.

Exosciences lead
In the event of a startling new discovery - be it strange new worlds, new civilisations, or a branch of physics never before encountered - the Chief Science Officer is called upon to be the first to assess these remarkable incidents, drawing upon their deep knowledge and experience to extrapolate and conject, reporting those findings to the Commanding Officer to better inform next steps.

Manipulating or Modifying Active Particle Emitters
When situations require the use of the high-yield active sensors for exotic particle ejection, such as those provided by the large primary navigational array, it falls to the Chief Science Officer - co-ordinating objective and efforts with the Chief Engineer and Operations Manager - to either initialise or modify these powerful, but delicate, emitters.

Mission science advisor
Regardless of the current mission statement, be it a tactical engagement, or a Sentienitarian rescue effort, the Chief Science Office's sought input could often mean the difference between success or failure, bringing new or improved solutions to challenges in the course of the mission, from suggesting a new - or merely more efficient -  particle streams, or modified shield harmonic. In addition, it falls to the Science Officer to recommend probe mission parameters for mission profiles, which the Operations Manager (Ops) then takes forward.

Xenolinguistics / Universal Translator management
As all Starfleet Scientists know, learning of a new lifeform is only the start of the long-held goal of exploration; the true aspiration being efficient and constructive exchange of dialogue, with the eventual aim opening up even greater wonders of the cosmos. Thus the Science Department, headed by the CSciO, takes on the important responsibility of discovering the means to converse with new species, if possible, and eventually develop novel linguistic matrices to add to the Universal Translator database to be shared across the Federation.

Cryptography
Sometimes, it becomes necessary to uncover and unpick communications between third parties that would otherwise prefer these to remain obscured.  In such circumstances, which could mean the difference between armed conflict or a lasting peace, in the event established countercrypto-methodologies are unable to succeed, the CSciO may be called upon to attack these puzzles using more esoteric notions.

[John Saxon]

Flight Control Officer (FCO or Conn)

The Flight Control console, often referred to as Conn, is responsible for the piloting and navigation of the USS Amalthea. Although heavily automated, their importance demands an officer to oversee operations at all times; therefore, the Flight Control Officer (FCO, also referred to as Conn) undertakes following areas of responsibility:

Navigational references/course plotting
Across vast distances, the location of the USS Amalthea is often the first fact a command needs to ascertain at all times. To this end, the Flight Control Officer is tasked with interpreting readings from the array of navigational sensors to ascertain current positional and course projections. Access of data feeds from secondary navigation and science sensors for verification of primary sensor data aids in a cross-checking function to ensure complete certainty.

Supervision of automatic flight operations
The FCO is required to monitor the effects of Impulse-to-near-lightspeed relativity as well as the status of the USS Amalthea's inertial damping system. In addition, the monitoring of the USS Amalthea's warp field geometry in parallel with the Engineering department is paramount to ensure structural integrity during transluminal velocities. Coupled with these duties, oversight of long-range sensor data is necessary to make considered course corrections to adjust for variations in the changeable density of the interstellar medium.

Supervision of manual flight operations.
When circumstances require more intuitive and reactionary responses, the FCO may exercise manual flight over all helm and navigational functions of the USS Amalthea under quasi-mechanical control, which may just require manually firing RCS thrusters to override automated systems that fail to anticipate immediate dangers.

Auxiliary Craft Oversight
The FCO acts as the primary choice officer of embarked auxiliary craft operations.

Bridge liaison to Engineering department
Due to the close ties between flight control and flight engines, the FCO acts as Bridge liaison to the Engineering department for monitoring propulsion system status and providing system reports to the Commanding Officer in the absence of an specific Engineering Officer's presence on the Bridge.

[John Saxon]

Operations Manager (Ops)

As the complexity of automation increases, there is an equally increasing need for a centric role designed to manage and oversee all general functions aboard a starship or starbase. As one of the newest roles developed in StarFleet, the Operations Manager (Ops Manager, or simply Ops) only came into being in the late 2350 when it was determined a command would be better served with a single point of contact for all aspects of functionality not easily assigned elsewhere. The Operations Manager, a challenging hybrid of general Engineering, Communication and Science roles, stands astride many key areas, and at time replacing - or merely supplementing - the more traditional duties that Bridge Officers once solely fulfilled.

Power distribution management
While the Chief Engineer's Department is responsible for the generation of on-board power, it is the responsibility of the Operations Manager to determine how that tremendous potential is allocated. Using powerful software, and keen judgement, Ops is the officer often most key during missions, ensuring that critical functions are adequately supplied with the necessary energies - often changing as often an emerging situation does - while ensuring secondary goals are sufficiently considered.

Communications
Once the realm of a dedicated communications officer, the Operations Manager, in lieu of such, is often tasked with managing the communications of the USS Amalthea- be it ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore or intraship, the latter more routinely down to the maintenance of the communications network. During Away Team missions, it is the Operations Manager, or assigned duty Ops, to manage communications - covert or otherwise - between home base and the landing party.

Systems Connectivity
While Engineering, under the supervision and direction of the Chief Engineering Officer, has the sole authority to physically inspect, remove and replace all physical components of a command post, be it  the USS Amalthea, there is a reliance on those systems successfully communicating their intended function to the ship's systems, through the stewardship of the Operations Manager, who oversees the powerful firewalls that prevents unauthorised devices from interacting with the main computer. This is especially important during damage control activities, where the Operations Department may need to assist the Engineering teams in the replacement and integration of critical components under pressure, or undertaking minor infrastructure repairs, such as damaged command consoles, permitting a more focused response by Engineering teams elsewhere.

Tractor beam operations
The operation of the USS Amalthea's tractor beams, unless under Alert Conditions - where this falls to the Tactical Department unless deferred - is the remit of the Operations Manager, who often works in tandem with Flight Control to ensure the optimal angle for the graviton snare, and any consideration for onward motion. Additional issues, such as adequate stress points, are also part of the challenge of an otherwise routine action.

Transporter operations
While transporter rooms have their own operators, they report to the Operations Manager as their Department Head, who may also enact such operations from the command centre. Targeting scanners, annular confinement beam modifications, and intra-transport weapon removal are all within the roles this function requires. Oversight, however, of the biofilters remains solely with the Chief Medical Officer and their Department.

Sensor tasking
As one of the most important aspects of the USS Amalthea, sensors are the tangible symbol of Starfleet's exploratory mandate. The Chief Science Officer's role relies significantly on the Operation Manager's ability to prioritise sensor clusters based on mission needs.

Probe package configuration
During some mission goals, there is a need to deploy a remote sensor platform to forge ahead without risking either the command platform or the Prime Directive. While the requirements of such a deployment falls to the Chief Science Officer to advise, and the Chief Tactical Officer to prepare the casing for functionality, it is the Operations Manager's role to select the most appropriate package to install in the modular head of the probe.

Damage control co-ordination
At times of Alert Status, it may become necessary for the Operations Manager to advise the Engineering Department of the critical priorities for damage control parties, to ensure that mission goals are as unimpeded as practically possible. However, while Ops may advise on possible concentration areas, the ultimate decision lies with the Chief Engineer or Commanding Officer.

Ship supply supervision
One of the less glamorous, but relatively speaking most important, duties with Operations is the oversight of replacement of USS Amalthea supplies, be it equipment (sans armoury), non-replicable foodstuffs or personnel, to ensure the command has all the appropriate provisions ahead of a mission. Fuel resupply, however, lies with the Engineering Department.

LCARS software maintenance
Despite computer complexity nearing almost sentient levels, functions aboard the USS Amalthea still fall to manual panel input to maintain a tactile connection between the organic and synthetic. To this end, the LCARS (Library Computer Access & Retrieval System) interface has been a staple of Federation design for over a century and as part of the ever-involving nature of interactive interfaces, the Operations Manager oversees the periodic updates to command & control software.

[John Saxon]

Chief Tactical Officer (CTacO)

Regardless of the efforts made by Starfleet throughout its history to mitigate hostile action through dialogue, inevitably there will be times where the ship must vigorously defend itself, or innocent life, from external threats using the large and potent array of defensive armaments at its disposal. These weapons are used sparingly, and with all due consideration to either possible fatalities or diplomatic fallout, but with the unflinching objective of ensuring the safety of all life under their protection.

For these unfortunate occasions, the Chief Tactical Officer is responsible for the following actions, and only- due to the repercussions such actions create - when authorised to do so by the CO or XO:

Strategic Authority
While Commanding Officers are expected to have experience in ship-to-ship combat, it often falls to the Chief Tactical Officer to develop and enact strategies for engagement, freeing the Commanding and First Officers to oversee the myriad other duties that such hostile actions generate.

These strategies, where applicable, also encompass the incorporation of additional defence options as the CTacO deems appropriate for the developing situation. While individual leads are responsible for the management of their specific post, they report to the Chief Tactical Officer as their temporary Department Head until such time as to the Alert Condition is stepped down.

Where the potential risk is identified, the CTecO co-ordinates with the Chief of Security on repulse strategies in the event of hostile boarding action to ensure external and internal cohesion.

Tactical Authority
The Chief Tactical Officer is one of just three officers (the other two being the Commanding, and First, Officers) fully sanctioned for the active and passive defences of USS Amalthea and its surrounding environment, including instructing and deploying all other tactical assets within the combat sphere during Alert Status conditions. However, at times where the situation requires flexibility, the task may be delegated to a junior member of the Tactical Department to enable focus of other immediate tactical tasks.

During Alert Conditions, and unless superseded by senior officer instruction, the Chief Tactical Officer has priority on the Operation Manager's budgetary energy allocation to defence systems ensuring that regardless of the current mission parameters, the ship has the sufficient power with which to undertake its dire duty.

Also during Alert Conditions, and unless superseded by senior officer instruction, the Chief Tactical Officer may request a variety of immediate modifications to tactical subsystems, from novel shield nutation solutions to overcharged nadion compression, above general protocols, in order to effect a more bespoke and efficient success against variable threats.

Ordnance supervision
Torpedo warheads, even with the many safety functions built into the arming systems, remain weapons of mass destruction that require due care and attention in their handling. It is the Chief Tactical Officer's role, often delegated to the Tactical Department teams but reporting to the CTacO, to ensure these projectile weapons are properly stored in the secure magazines, and that every warhead and propulsion casing is accounted for against the inventory log. Any issues are brought to the attention of the Chief Engineer.

Threat Assessment
When Threat Forces are encountered, it is the role of the Chief Tactical Officer to assess these threats and advise the Commanding Officer of their risk to infrastructure or personnel. Powerful analytical software, drawing upon a vast, routinely updated, library of tactical specifications can aid the CTacO in these assessments, but it is expected that at times of high activity, systems failure, or confronting the unknown that some measure of usable advice can be provided through experience or study.

Impounding of vessels
There are many reasons why a vessel must be expropriated, from enforcing a quarantine, curbing or investigating extra-legal activity, to preventing threatened hostile action upon local traffic. While the detainment and mitigation of disembarked crew are the responsibility of the Security Department, the Tactical Department - led by the Chief Tactical Officer - is equally responsible for securing spaceflight hardware until such time the specific circumstances surrounding the seizure can be resolved; this is achieved by either physical docking clamps or tractor beam emitters.

In instances where a physical search of an impounded vessel is necessary to ascertain factors - such as evidence or further confiscation - the Security Department has the authority to board and undertake said searches, but must be accompanied by a member of the Tactical Department to ensure lag-free updates to the Chief Tactical Officer.

[John Saxon]

StarFleet Diplomatic Corps Officer (Chief Diplomatic Officer or CDO)

It is often said that while brave exploration is the backbone of StarFleet's mission, it is diplomacy that is the true reward of pushing further into the frontier. For while a starship may make First Contact with new life, and new civilisations, true meaningful exploration can only be achieved through mutual dialogue.

The StarFleet Diplomatic Corps is an arm of the more comprehensive Federation Diplomatic Corps, their members assigned to starships or stations to better facilitate the formulation of understanding after First Contact scenarios or to manage inter-political relationships with already established governments not under the UFP umbrella.

Starfleet Diplomatic Corps officers, led by a Chief Diplomatic Officer - in addition to the prerequisite training for all Starfleet Officer personnel (such as basic leadership, fundamental technological understanding, first aid and armed, and unarmed, self-defence) - undertake specific training allowing them to perform diplomatic negotiations at times and locations when a full Federation Ambassador is neither necessary nor available. Authorised by the Federation Diplomatic Corps to undertake such discussions in their absence, they yet remain a member of Starfleet and as such are still answerable to the post's chain of command. Given the changeable nature of some assignments, personnel are often delegated through recognised and perceived requirements, and affirmed by serving officers at pre-existing posts who are identified by the FDS to have the necessary diplomatic or command training to act on their behalf.

For a member of StarFleet's arm, the Commanding Officer has the recognised authority to instruct and direct the Diplomatic Officer to achieve a particular goal, but said instructions are subject to subsequent review and oversight by the Federation Diplomatic Corps if contrary to the Diplomatic Officer's concerns.

Federation Representative
Ordinarily, a Commanding Officer is the operational face of the Federation, performing functions of a quasi-diplomat in the course of their duties. However, a Commanding Officer's authority to agree to - for example - variations in treaty, or the formation of those thereof, are limited in scope and require the delegation of such discussions to a member of the Diplomatic Corps to take forward.

In addition, a Diplomatic Officer functions as a primary point of representation between a command post and an external counterpart. This may aid in establishing dialogue between two senior officials at Government level, or an audience between a senior leader and a Commanding Officer.

Conflict Resolution
As the past can attest, it is harder to achieve peace than it is to avoid conflict. In the course of a command, every effort must be made to avert hostilities with the Federation's stellar neighbours. Commanding Officers are trained for such reasoned debate, but the presence of a dedicated Diplomatic Officer can increase the chances for such positive resolution if both parties seek the same outcome.

Third Party Arbitration
There are times where StarFleet act - either through direct request or overriding moral responsibility - to intervene in a time-sensitive situation where two or more parties are unable to discuss a resolution without  bias.  Under these circumstances, and it is clear the Prime Directive does not prohibit involvement, a Commanding Officer may task, if available, a Diplomatic Officer to undertake arbitration if a sanguine outcome is critical to life or welfare.