Engineering

Starship Chief Engineers have a large staff to help them keep a Starship together. These are some of the positions that could be filed by Player Characters and NPCs.

Chief Engineer

The Chief Engineer is responsible for the condition of all systems and equipment on board a Starfleet ship or facility. S/he oversees maintenance, repairs and upgrades of all equipment. S/he is also responsible for the many repairs teams during crisis situations.

Assistant Chief Engineer

The Assistant Chief Engineer assists the Chief Engineer in the daily work; in issues regarding mechanical, administrative matters and co-ordaining repairs with other departments. If so required the Asst. Chief Engineer must be able to take over as Chief Engineer, and thus must be versed in current information regarding the ship or facility.

Engineer

There are several non-specialized Engineers aboard of each vessel. The Chief Engineer assigns them to their duties and his Assistant, performing a number of different tasks as required (i.e. general maintenance and repair). Generally Engineers are assigned to a more specialized Engineering person to assist in there work as so requested by the specialized Engineer.

Communications Engineer

The Communications Officer is a specialized Engineer. Communication aboard a ship or facility takes two basic forms, voice and data. Both are handled by the onboard computer system and dedicated hardware. The vastness and complexity of this system requires a dedicated team to maintain the system. The Communications Engineer is the Officer in charge of this team, which is made up from NCO personnel, assigned to the team by the Asst. and Chief Engineer. The Communications Engineer reports to the Asst and Chief Engineer.

Matter/Energy Engineer

The Matter/Energy Engineer is a specialised Engineer. All aspect of matter energy transfers with the sole exception of the warp drive systems are handled by the Matter/Energy Engineer. Such areas involved are transporter and replicator systems. The Matter/Energy Engineer is the Officer in charge of a small team, which is made up from NCO personnel, assigned by the Asst. and Chief Engineer. The Matter/Energy Engineer reports to the Asst and Chief Engineer.

Warp Drive Engineer

The Warp Drive Engineer is a specialized Engineer. The complexity of the Warp Drive system and impulse systems of any starship if further complicated the different settings required for each ship. No two vessels have exactly the same system aboard, and all settings require careful maintenance and checks to ensure peek performance. On smaller vessels this task may be performed by the Chief Engineer, but larger vessel have a dedicated Officer whose role to ensure the Warp Drive system and impulse systems runs under any condition. A small team is assigned to the Warp Drive Engineer, which is made up from NCO personnel, assigned by the Asst. and Chief Engineer. The Warp Drive Engineer reports to the Asst and Chief Engineer.

Structural and Environmental Engineer

The Structural and Environmental Engineer is a specialized Engineer. From a small ship/facility to a large one, all requires constant monitoring. The hull, bulkheads, walls, Jeffrey's tubes, turbolifts, structural integrity field, internal dampening field, and environmental systems are all monitored and maintained by this officer and his/her team. The team assigned to the Structural and Environmental Engineer is made up from NCO personnel, assigned by the Asst. and Chief Engineer. The Structural and Environmental Engineer reports to the Asst and Chief Engineer.

Sensor Maintenance Engineer

The Sensor Maintenance Engineer is a specialized Engineer. Dedicated to the maintenance and operation of the navigation deflector, guidance, helm, reaction control systems and all other sensor systems. A small team is assigned to the Sensor Maintenance Engineer, which is made up from NCO personnel, assigned by the Asst. and Chief Engineer. The Sensor Maintenance Engineer reports to the Asst and Chief Engineer.

Shuttlecraft Maintenance

Shuttlecraft Maintenance is a specialized Engineer post. This Officer is assigned to the Shuttle Maintenance Deck (sometimes called the Flight Deck, but generally only if Fighter Pilot personnel are assigned), and is responsible for the service and repair of all small vessel assigned to the Starship or facility. The flight deck must maintain a set number for craft at all times for evacuation purposes in case of emergency. A team is assigned to the Engineer in charge of Shuttlecraft Maintenance, which is made up from NCO personnel, assigned by the Asst. and Chief Engineer. The Engineer in charge of Shuttlecraft Maintenance reports to the Asst and Chief Engineer. Should the vessel of facility have a dedicated Fighter Pilot Department assigned, then maintenance of these craft falls under the service of the Shuttlecraft Maintenance teams, Engineer in charge of Shuttlecraft Maintenance will report required information to the Wing Commander.

Computer Engineer

The Computer Engineer is a specialized Engineer. The new generations of Computer systems are highly developed. This system needs much maintenance and the Computer Engineer was introduced to relieve the science Officer, whose duty this was in the very early days. A small team is assigned to the Computer Engineer, which is made up from NCO personnel assigned by the Asst. and Chief Engineer. The Warp Drive Engineer reports to the Asst and Chief Engineer.

Engineer's Mate (NCO)

The Engineer's Mate trains and supervises Engineering crewmen in departmental operations, repairs, and protocols; maintains duty assignments for all Engineering personnel; and is qualified to temporarily act as Chief Engineer if so ordered. The Engineer's Mate reports to the Chief Engineer.

History and Additional Information

On any space starship, engineers are officers assigned to monitor and maintain the starship's functionality. They are designated with gold-trimmed uniforms and often do most of the "grunt work" that is involved in keeping a ship or space station up and running. Engineering officers are generally assigned tasks that include maintaining and/or improving the performance of the warp drive, ship’s database, computer processors and circuitry, holographic emitters, tractor beams, transporter components, observational equipment (such as sensors, probes, and satellites), weaponry systems, deflector array, hull plating, life support, shields and alternative defense systems, and many other crucial parts of a ship’s anatomy. They are expected to tackle all the problems that drain the ship’s resources or lower its efficiency.

On a Starfleet vessel of any kind, the chain of command in the engineering department tends to be simple with smaller teams broken apart from the whole. A chief engineer and an assisting officer lead the entire engineering team, often delegating tasks to smaller teams formed within the whole. Because the operations of a starship, starbase or space station are so complex, the engineering department runs routine maintenance on all ship systems. Tests are done regularly through main engineering, which is the hub of activity for the entire department. From main engineering, all ship functions can be monitored and checked for any abnormalities.

Major logistical tasks are addressed by the Starfleet Corps of Engineers.

The Starfleet Corps of Engineers (also known as Starfleet Engineering or Starfleet Engineering Corps) is a Starfleet division that deals with specialized engineering problems.

The Corps of Engineers was responsible for the construction of the underground laboratory complex on the Regula asteroid, where the second phase of the Genesis Project was conducted. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)

In an alternate reality experienced by Harry Kim in 2372, he worked at the Starfleet Engineering Corps. (VOY: "Non Sequitur")

In 2375, during the Dominion War, Klingon starships could be made immune to the Breen energy dampening weapon by adjusting the tritium intermix of their ships' warp cores. This "fix" would not work on Federation ships and Starfleet Chief Miles O'Brien forwarded his findings to Starfleet Engineering for more in-depth analyses. (DS9: "When It Rains...")

In 2377, Captain Kathryn Janeway lamented that they didn't have a Corps of Engineers to build a planet-wide system of atmospheric processors to decontaminate Brin's homeworld. (VOY: "Friendship One")