Engineering & Systems Department Responsibilities

Engineering & Systems crew members are in general responsible for the repair and maintenance of all ship or station systems.

This includes:
- Scheduled Maintenance
- System Upgrades
- Repairing Malfunctioning Systems
- Repairing Damaged Systems
- Sensor Control
- Power Flow
- Ship/Station Administration
- Transporter Control
- Communications
- Damage Control

The normal functioning of a starship requires maintenance of countless circuits and systems. It is the responsibility of the engineering & systems crew members to maintain these systems. This makes the engineering & systems department the most demanding to work for.

Normal communication with all other departments to know about any malfunctioning systems is critical. Generally the Chief of Engineering & Systems will work as a director, giving out tasks to teams of crew members to get tasks taken care of, though will be more hands on to tasks that are more immediate or critical to a mission.

Scheduled maintenance of all ship systems includes, but is not limited to, warp core maintenance (dilithium crystallization, matter/antimatter flow, etc), power systems (ODN lines and connections), weapons systems, sensor arrays, secondary power systems, transporter systems, replicators, warp nacelle stability, and holographic system controls.

System upgrades can be completed on any system on board and can come at any time there is a notable improvement in a piece of technology.

Repairing malfunctioning systems and repairing damaged systems differ only in the cause of the break. Whether the damage is from a faulty circuit or from battle damage it is the engineer’s responsibility to repair or replace any component that is not working at or above specifications in a timely and efficient manner. Controlling the sensors includes continual scans for ships, both friendly and hostile, as well as any cosmological inconsistencies. These inconsistencies could be spacial rifts, subspace eddies, planetary bodies, or anything else unexpected. In addition to the normal scans they are also in charge of running scans during scientific discoveries or combat situations for whatever is requested of them.

Power flow is maintained by the engineering & systems department. A ship has basic power levels by their warp core that must be directed to different areas of the ship for day to day function. When a particular area needs more than its normal power level, it is the engineering & systems department that redirects power to that area. This is particularly necessary in emergency or combat situations where engines, shields or weapons could need the extra power directed to them continually back and forth.

Ship or Station administration includes such things as maintaining cargo manifests and assigning crew quarters.

The department is also in charge of the day to day function of the transporter systems. They are also generally called upon for advanced transporter functions as they are usually the most versed in the systems unless there is a specific need for another department to handle it.

Communications are controlled through this department as well. This includes basic bridge communication with other ships, planets and stations; internal comms systems; away team communication; and also communication for crew and passengers to friends, family, etc.