Bravo Fleet
Difference between pages "Starship and Space Station Positions" and "We Are the Borg Mission Briefings"

Difference between pages "Starship and Space Station Positions" and "We Are the Borg Mission Briefings"

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Starships and starbases have multiple positions for officers and crew. This article gives several of the most common positions, listed by department. The word 'unit' is used as short-hand to refer to either a starship or space station. While there are similarities across all units, individual commanding officers have wide latitude in developing a command structure that best suits their particular unit, so individual differences are common.
[[File:Borgcube1.png|thumb|Mission Briefings offer unique stories about encounters with the Borg]]
''This article is an Out of Character article relevant to Bravo Fleet's second 2023 Fleet Action, 'We Are the Borg.'''


== Command Division ==
The We Are the Borg Fleet Action includes a [[Campaign]], during which members of the fleet may write stories revolving around the events of the Borg Collective’s reawakening. As with any previous campaign, the main Mission Briefing explains the overall story, with indications of how members can write their own missions and be involved in contributing to the wider narrative. This includes ideas and suggestions of stories members can create themselves in order to participate.
[[File:R-blank.png|alt=The division color for command: red.|thumb|The division color for command: red.]]
The Command Division is denoted by the color red, and includes the unit-level departments of Command, Flight Control, and Strategic Operations. Other more specialized departments also included within this category and listed later in this article include the Judge-Advocate General's Corps and Diplomatic Services, but are far less common.


===Command Department===
We Are the Borg also offers an alternative, however: Mission Briefings. These are unique story concepts developed by the Intelligence Office, which identify specific scenarios and locations and outline what mission objectives need to be accomplished. In most cases, they don't specify how the mission should be accomplished or what the outcome needs to be - even if the mission needs to be successful - but often include some suggestions or considerations.
The Command Department includes both the senior-most officers of the unit, as well as administrative support personnel. On the largest units (such as starbases) there can be dozens of people in the command department, while on smaller units it may just be the senior officers and a yeoman or two. Smaller units also often combine command-related departments such as Strategic Operations, Intelligence or Diplomacy, if officers in those specialties are present.  
==Why Choose a Mission Briefing?==
The advantages of Mission Briefings are as follows:
*They do a lot of the initial work for you. Rather than starting with the generic prompt of ‘break a Romulan Star Navy blockade on a former member world’ (to draw an example from Sundered Wings), you get more information like what the world is and what the stakes are. There’s still plenty of room for you to add detail of your own, but you know where you stand from the beginning.
*They help the Intel Office convey tone and setting details of the FA’s scenario. Different missions will approach different story threads or factors in the scenario. By taking on a mission briefing, you’re helping the FA tell a specific, consistent story.
*A mystery story like We Are the Borg is difficult to write. There are mysteries that members do not have the answer to, and writing the Collective accurately is challenging. Outside of a mission briefing, the IO encourages restraint in how to depict the Borg. A mission briefing gives specific parameters on engagements with the Collective, allowing members to write higher-stakes encounters and storylines without breaching fleet canon.
*Mission briefings are usually about key, important events in the scenario. In Character, these are the big ones – the ones that turn tides or uncover new information. Many members can say their mission is hugely important to the FA. Those taking on a mission briefing have the Intel Office’s say-so that their story matters.
*This will also make it easier for the Intel Office to monitor story progression and incorporate it into any reports or releases that occur across the FA's three phases.
==WATB Briefings==
Compared to The Lost Fleet, WATB briefings are, on average, much more structured. TLF depicted starships engaged in a frontier war, where the stakes were very clear. Most mission briefings gave a scenario for striking back against the Dominion in some way. WATB, on the other hand, engages with themes of mystery and horror. Mission briefings are more likely to set up specific stories, often providing several plot beats that must be written to reach the main conceit of the mission. Usually, how to get there or how to resolve the situation is up to the member, but these missions are, on the whole, more proscriptive than in TLF. The advantage is that they let members get their hands dirty with the secrets of the Borg.


==== Standard Command Positions ====
Members participating in the We Are the Borg campaign have three options:
*'''Key Missions'''. These are as described above and are intended to have the scope to keep a writer busy across the FA’s six weeks. Take these on if you want to be a part of the briefing system, but still have the freedom to flesh out details and direction. These will be the most numerous and typical of what the IO offers.
*'''Special Assignments'''. These are ideal for writers expecting to write between 1 and 6 Stories over the 6-week FA. They’re like normal briefings, but the concept – while In Character important to the ongoing effort – is much briefer in scope. Take these on if you want to be involved and have your story make an impact, even if you can’t dedicate that much time or words.
*'''Priority Tasks'''. These are a little different - generic, repeatable story prompts that multiple members can choose to write independently. Unlike the short prompts in the main BFMS briefing, these give more guidance and better flesh out what missions in the FA storyline might look like. They also provide more guidance on the types of encounters a member’s ship might have with the Borg.
*Your own concept. Just like in the past, you can create your own story idea based off the briefing and develop it freely.
There are ''no Critical Operations'' in the We Are the Borg FA. The nature of the storyline means that clues and key information are scattered across various missions, which may, at the outset, not be obviously more essential than another. The intention is that most of these missions will provide some context to the wider situation.
===Mission List===


===== Commanding Officer =====
* [[We Are the Borg Priority Tasks]]
The Commanding Officer is the senior-most officer in charge of a unit. They have ultimate responsibility for the safety of their crew and for carrying out Starfleet's instructions. Aboard a starship, the commanding officer is always addressed as 'captain' even if they have a lower rank, but this custom does not apply to space stations. Starship commanding officers range in rank from lieutenant commander (for the smallest frigates and escorts) to fleet captain (for very senior captains aboard the largest ships), while for stations some of the smallest outposts (such as subspace relay stations) might be commanded by a lieutenant junior grade ranging to a full admiral commanding Starfleet's most important fleet yards.
* [[We Are the Borg Key Missions]]
* [[We Are the Borg Special Assignments]]


Starships are rarely commanded directly by flag officers more senior than commodores. For the flagships of more senior officers, it is very common for the ship to have its own captain, who handles the day-to-day running of the ship. Historically, this officer would be called a flag captain, but the use of this term varies based on officers' preferences. Typically, a flag captain is relatively junior in seniority, given that they are closely supervised by their flag officer.
==Applying for a Mission Briefing==
Soon after Mission Briefings are released, the Intel Office will make an online form available where members can apply for their chosen mission. Once a mission has been chosen on this form, it will be removed from the selection pool, and you should consider it yours to develop and plan for ahead of the FA beginning on October 27th!


The captain of a starship has significant powers deriving from the difficulty of real-time contact with Starfleet, including the power to negotiate treaties and trade agreements when out of touch with Command. They also have authority over lesser vessels (such as tankers, freighters, passenger ships, etc.) during emergency situations. Similarly, commanding officers of starbases are often the senior-most officer in their sector with corresponding authority over starships in that sector.
Unlike in The Lost Fleet, the complete briefings for Key Missions are unavailable to all members. In the articles, you will find the title, basic briefing, and a mission’s classification. From there, you can decide which Key Mission to apply for and request it on the form. Once assigned a mission, you will be sent a link to the complete briefing.
==Finishing Missions==
You may not reject a mission once you have received the full briefing. Mission briefings are in high demand and are often taken quite quickly; it would be disruptive for a briefing to be listed as unavailable only for it to be reopened a day later. The basic briefing is intended to be a sincere introduction to the topic and themes of the complete mission. If you receive a complete briefing and are dissatisfied in some way, discuss the matter with the Intelligence Officer. It should not be the norm to negotiate details, but the IO may help guide how to follow the briefing in a way that suits your interests. Members who apply for a mission briefing and then fail to write it - failing to complete a story by FA’s end, or deviating from the mission briefing such as their story becomes unrecognisable - will not be permitted to participate in the mission briefing system again.


===== Executive Officer / First Officer =====
Related to this, if a Key Mission or Special Assignment is not fully written by the end of the FA, the position of the Intelligence Office is that it was not completed In Character. This does not mean that the ship in question was destroyed or calamity befell the crew, and the Intel Office will not go to any lengths to explain why the mission was not completed. Simply, whatever a mission was trying to prevent, happened, or whatever a mission was trying to achieve or learn did not come to pass or was not uncovered.
The Executive Officer of a unit is second-in-command, responsible for assisting the commanding officer in carrying out their duties and taking command in their absence. Some of the XO's primary responsibilities are determining the duty schedule, performing crew evaluations, and ensuring that proper training has occurred for everyone aboard the ship. They are the interface between the CO and the crew, often serving as disciplinarian, career counselor, and supervisor to everyone on the ship or station. On a starship, the XO typically leads all away missions. XO's can range in rank from lieutenant to captain depending on the size of the unit. Whether they are called the Executive Officer or First Officer comes down to the CO's preference.  


On larger commands, this role is most often separate, but on smaller vessels (and historically in Starfleet) it is often a dual-role for one of the department heads. In this case, they wear the color of the department that they also head.
If a member was assigned a mission briefing in The Lost Fleet and failed to complete it within the 6 weeks of the FA or reasonably soon after (at the discretion of the IO but should be considered as ‘within a fortnight of the FA’s end’), they are banned from taking a mission briefing in WATB.


===== Second Officer =====
Priority Tasks are excluded from this - any member may sign up for a Priority Task, and failure to complete a Priority Task does not forbid a member from taking a mission briefing in the future. Nor does failing to complete a member-developed storyline forbid a member from taking a mission briefing in future. This ban is not intended as punitive; Key Missions and Special Assignments are finite, and members who have taken and not completed them have also denied them to other members.
The Second Officer of a unit is third-in-command after the Executive Officer. This role is almost always a secondary duty for a department head, and generally does not carry any administrative burden on its own, but rather is a title for the officer designated to take over, should the CO and XO both be absent. Traditionally, the second officer also accompanies away teams. Second officers wear the color of the department they head.


===== Yeoman =====
Members may always write campaigns as they have historically - developing their own concepts off the back of the central briefing. Key Missions and Special Assignments are a privilege, not a right, and have taken scores of hours of the BFSS’s time to develop, write, and streamline. The Intel Office expects and requires that time be respected. Members banned from taking a mission briefing in WATB may have their mission briefing privileges restored for future campaigns if they write and complete a Priority Task or member-developed storyline and at the discretion of the Intelligence Office.
A yeoman is an administrative aid to a senior officer, or more generally a gopher and support staff member who helps with minor tasks (such as retrieving objects, sending messages, updating records, etc.). This position can be held by an enlisted member of Starfleet (i.e. a proper yeoman) or by a junior officer, such as an ensign or junior lieutenant wanting to learn more about command. Their usage is up to the officer they serve under, and ranges from all the way from handling clerical tasks to being a confidante and sounding board. The smallest units might not have any yeomen at all, but the largest might have dozens. Yeomen can also be found in other departments, handling similar tasks. Yeomen wear operations gold, rather than command red, to signify their support role.
==Additional Points==
*Members without a Command should not apply for a mission, as they cannot yet participate directly in the FA. They should consult their TF Staff for guidance if they want to be involved. Likewise, members who have not earned more than 20 Service Ribbons should consider their choice heavily and perhaps try writing their own idea or a Special Assignment before they pick a Key Mission.


==== Additional Command Positions ====
*Briefings should not be significantly altered without the permission of the IO, but they may be expanded, with the addition of new plot elements or factions as complications or sub-plots. This might entail introducing the Borg Collective directly to a mission briefing that does not engage with them. It is not in breach of the mission briefing system to introduce any of these elements to a briefing that does not mention them - but a criminal underworld mission briefing should not end up as a story about a Borg Cube.


===== Records Officer =====
*Almost all missions are written with the assumption of being undertaken by only one ship/crew. Squadrons may participate together in a mission briefing, but members should be mindful of a briefing’s theme/genre - a horror-survival story about surviving against the odds is inherently changed if it is three ships against a threat rather than one. Members with a squadron who take up such a mission briefing should consider using only one ship, writing an additional (Priority Task or member-developed) mission for the other ship(s), or consider how to expand a mission to occupy multiple ships.
A unit's records officer is responsible for the accuracy of all logs, reports, and mission materials, and as such generally must have clearance nearly as high as the commanding officer's. They must ensure that everything that goes into the ship's log matches with other logs, and that the proper personnel and offices receive any reports filed. This was once a position found on all starships, but thanks to advancement in automation it is now often omitted. Due to the sensitivity of the information they deal with, this role is sometimes combined with that of the intelligence officer, should one be present.
 
===== Officer of the Watch =====
It is standard practice to have bridge-qualified department heads take the conn (i.e. command the bridge or operations center) when the captain, first officer, or second officer are otherwise occupied. Some starships have additional command department personnel who routinely stand watch on the bridge; most often this is a dedicated night-shift officer of the watch, but the largest ships might have up to six or seven officers between the rank of lieutenant junior grade and commander who are assigned to specific watches. This is more common aboard stations. 
 
===== Command Master Chief =====
The Command Master Chief is the senior-most enlisted member of a unit, and might have additional responsibilities related to meeting the needs of the unit's enlisted population. This responsibility overlaps with the executive officer's responsibility for crew readiness and the counselor's responsibility to help address crew needs, and so it is rarely used in Starfleet, but some commanding officers employ it. As suggested by the name, this is generally a master chief petty officer, but lower enlisted grades could hold a modified title (Command Senior Chief, Command Chief, etc.) if necessary.
 
=== Flight Control ===
The Flight Control department combines the duties of piloting a starship, navigation, and/or handling docking procedures, as is appropriate to a particular unit. Large starships with shuttle bays will have all three of these duties represented, while space stations will only have to deal with docking procedures. This department is considered adjacent to command, and many officers move from this department into command just by virtue of their inherently greater experience with bridge operations than those in other departments. The vast majorities of roles in this department are positions that can only be filled by officers.
 
==== Standard Flight Control Positions ====
 
===== Chief Flight Control Officer =====
The Chief Flight Control Officer is responsible for the safe navigation and piloting of a starship, and/or coordinating the flight paths and docking needs of other vessels in the vicinity of a station or starship. The CFCO is a department head and generally has the helm personally for at least one shift per day, being the senior-most pilot aboard. The CFCO is also responsible for working with the ship's computer, stellar cartography section, and/or navigation section to ensure that courses are plotted efficiently and safely.
 
===== Assistant Chief Flight Control Officer =====
The Assistant Chief Flight Control Officer is the second-most-senior pilot or flight controller in a particular unit. As assistant department head, they help their department head determine a duty roster in coordination with the unit's executive officer. Otherwise, they have the same responsibilities of other flight control officers to take the helm for a shift on the bridge each day.
 
===== Flight Control Officer =====
Flight Control Officers are those officers who have a regular shift on the bridge or in station operations handling flight control duties. They can also be assigned to pilot small craft as necessary.
 
===== Relief Flight Control Officer =====
Relief Flight Control Officers are the most junior members of the flight control department qualified to pilot the ship or handle docking duties on a station. They are on-call for a particular shift, usually waiting in a room adjacent to the bridge or station operations, where they can quickly take over for a more senior officer at their station, should that officer be called away for some reason. They may occasionally also be given the helm for an entire shift, such as the night shift, and this is considered a training role, where they can accumulate enough hours of flight time to be considered fully-qualified.
 
===== Shuttle Bay Manager =====
The Shuttle Bay Manager is responsible for operations within the shuttle bay, specializing in moving small craft for storage and refueling, operating the landing tractor beams, and other tasks related to getting shuttles and shuttle pods ready to fly. On most ships, maintenance tasks are performed by crew from the Engineering department and landing control itself is performed by an on-duty flight control officer, or by a dedicated Landing Signals Officer, while the SBM is responsible for things like moving shuttles within the bay, and coordinating refueling. On starships with multiple bays, there are multiple shuttle bay managers. This position might also be found within the Operations department rather than the Flight Control department, and in either case wears operations gold.
 
==== Additional Flight Control Positions ====
 
===== Navigation Officer =====
Navigation officers are found on many but not all starships, and are specialists in plotting courses for starships, especially in situations that require complex calculations and careful auditing of the main computer's suggestions. These officers must have training in astrophysics and stellar cartography, and generally report to one of those departments when not needed to plot a course. Collectively with any navigation specialists, they form the Navigation Section. On ships with more than one navigation officer, they may follow the structure of Chief, Assistant Chief, etc. They wear sciences blue.
 
===== Navigation Specialist =====
Navigation specialists are enlisted navigators who assist navigation officers, with extensive training in the calculations necessary to navigate a starship.
 
===== Landing Signals Officer =====
Landing Signals Officers are specialist flight control officers who operate a starship or space station's hanger control rooms, guiding small craft in for a landing, either by remote control, tractor beam, or instructions over the comm. They are generally also assigned occasionally to operate the helm on the bridge, but their duty station during an alert status is in their shuttle bay's control room. There may be multiple LSOs on large ships or stations, generally one per shuttle bay.
 
===== Flight Deck Specialist =====
Flight deck specialists are enlisted specialists who assist the shuttle bay manager in getting small craft ready to fly, when it comes to positioning, refueling, and scheduling, not in terms of maintenance or piloting. On smaller ships, there may be no dedicated flight deck specialists, with enlisted members of the engineering or operations departments pulling double duty.
 
===== Small Craft Pilot / Fighter Pilot =====
Larger starships and most stations have dedicated small craft pilots, especially when there are more shuttles aboard than there are generalist flight control officers, which allows them all to be used at once. On some ships, they are assigned to a particular shuttle or runabout, but most of the time they're assigned to flight tasks based on mission needs and availability. Fighter pilots also fall into this category, on ships that carry them. Sometimes they are organized like a department of their own.
 
===== Navigator's Mate =====
The navigator's mate is the senior enlisted member of any flight control department, either coming from the navigation specialist track or the flight deck specialist track. They assist the CFCO in developing a roster, and help mentor other enlisted members of their department. This role is not present on smaller units, especially in departments with small or no enlisted contingents.
 
=== Strategic Operations Department ===
The Strategic Operations Department is found on most starbases but only on large starships with sector-wide command responsibilities. The purpose of this department is to help the officers in the Command Department remain aware of the position of other assets in relation to their unit, such as other starships in the sector, both allied and enemy, to help make strategic decisions. On starships, this department may only have one officer in it, but on major starbases, it could have a staff of dozens. This department is often found aboard flag officers' flagships, but reports to the flag officer and not to the ship's captain.
 
==== Standard Strategic Operations Positions ====
 
===== Chief Strategic Operations Officer =====
The Chief Strategic Operations Officer is the senior strategic operations officer, and is responsible for collating reports from within their unit's area of influence, making recommendations to the commanding officer or flag officer on how to best accomplish their mission with the strategic resources available to them.  
 
Assistant Chief Strategic Operations Officer
 
Strategic Operations Officer

Revision as of 16:16, 14 October 2023

Mission Briefings offer unique stories about encounters with the Borg

This article is an Out of Character article relevant to Bravo Fleet's second 2023 Fleet Action, 'We Are the Borg.'

The We Are the Borg Fleet Action includes a Campaign, during which members of the fleet may write stories revolving around the events of the Borg Collective’s reawakening. As with any previous campaign, the main Mission Briefing explains the overall story, with indications of how members can write their own missions and be involved in contributing to the wider narrative. This includes ideas and suggestions of stories members can create themselves in order to participate.

We Are the Borg also offers an alternative, however: Mission Briefings. These are unique story concepts developed by the Intelligence Office, which identify specific scenarios and locations and outline what mission objectives need to be accomplished. In most cases, they don't specify how the mission should be accomplished or what the outcome needs to be - even if the mission needs to be successful - but often include some suggestions or considerations.

Why Choose a Mission Briefing?

The advantages of Mission Briefings are as follows:

  • They do a lot of the initial work for you. Rather than starting with the generic prompt of ‘break a Romulan Star Navy blockade on a former member world’ (to draw an example from Sundered Wings), you get more information like what the world is and what the stakes are. There’s still plenty of room for you to add detail of your own, but you know where you stand from the beginning.
  • They help the Intel Office convey tone and setting details of the FA’s scenario. Different missions will approach different story threads or factors in the scenario. By taking on a mission briefing, you’re helping the FA tell a specific, consistent story.
  • A mystery story like We Are the Borg is difficult to write. There are mysteries that members do not have the answer to, and writing the Collective accurately is challenging. Outside of a mission briefing, the IO encourages restraint in how to depict the Borg. A mission briefing gives specific parameters on engagements with the Collective, allowing members to write higher-stakes encounters and storylines without breaching fleet canon.
  • Mission briefings are usually about key, important events in the scenario. In Character, these are the big ones – the ones that turn tides or uncover new information. Many members can say their mission is hugely important to the FA. Those taking on a mission briefing have the Intel Office’s say-so that their story matters.
  • This will also make it easier for the Intel Office to monitor story progression and incorporate it into any reports or releases that occur across the FA's three phases.

WATB Briefings

Compared to The Lost Fleet, WATB briefings are, on average, much more structured. TLF depicted starships engaged in a frontier war, where the stakes were very clear. Most mission briefings gave a scenario for striking back against the Dominion in some way. WATB, on the other hand, engages with themes of mystery and horror. Mission briefings are more likely to set up specific stories, often providing several plot beats that must be written to reach the main conceit of the mission. Usually, how to get there or how to resolve the situation is up to the member, but these missions are, on the whole, more proscriptive than in TLF. The advantage is that they let members get their hands dirty with the secrets of the Borg.

Members participating in the We Are the Borg campaign have three options:

  • Key Missions. These are as described above and are intended to have the scope to keep a writer busy across the FA’s six weeks. Take these on if you want to be a part of the briefing system, but still have the freedom to flesh out details and direction. These will be the most numerous and typical of what the IO offers.
  • Special Assignments. These are ideal for writers expecting to write between 1 and 6 Stories over the 6-week FA. They’re like normal briefings, but the concept – while In Character important to the ongoing effort – is much briefer in scope. Take these on if you want to be involved and have your story make an impact, even if you can’t dedicate that much time or words.
  • Priority Tasks. These are a little different - generic, repeatable story prompts that multiple members can choose to write independently. Unlike the short prompts in the main BFMS briefing, these give more guidance and better flesh out what missions in the FA storyline might look like. They also provide more guidance on the types of encounters a member’s ship might have with the Borg.
  • Your own concept. Just like in the past, you can create your own story idea based off the briefing and develop it freely.

There are no Critical Operations in the We Are the Borg FA. The nature of the storyline means that clues and key information are scattered across various missions, which may, at the outset, not be obviously more essential than another. The intention is that most of these missions will provide some context to the wider situation.

Mission List

Applying for a Mission Briefing

Soon after Mission Briefings are released, the Intel Office will make an online form available where members can apply for their chosen mission. Once a mission has been chosen on this form, it will be removed from the selection pool, and you should consider it yours to develop and plan for ahead of the FA beginning on October 27th!

Unlike in The Lost Fleet, the complete briefings for Key Missions are unavailable to all members. In the articles, you will find the title, basic briefing, and a mission’s classification. From there, you can decide which Key Mission to apply for and request it on the form. Once assigned a mission, you will be sent a link to the complete briefing.

Finishing Missions

You may not reject a mission once you have received the full briefing. Mission briefings are in high demand and are often taken quite quickly; it would be disruptive for a briefing to be listed as unavailable only for it to be reopened a day later. The basic briefing is intended to be a sincere introduction to the topic and themes of the complete mission. If you receive a complete briefing and are dissatisfied in some way, discuss the matter with the Intelligence Officer. It should not be the norm to negotiate details, but the IO may help guide how to follow the briefing in a way that suits your interests. Members who apply for a mission briefing and then fail to write it - failing to complete a story by FA’s end, or deviating from the mission briefing such as their story becomes unrecognisable - will not be permitted to participate in the mission briefing system again.

Related to this, if a Key Mission or Special Assignment is not fully written by the end of the FA, the position of the Intelligence Office is that it was not completed In Character. This does not mean that the ship in question was destroyed or calamity befell the crew, and the Intel Office will not go to any lengths to explain why the mission was not completed. Simply, whatever a mission was trying to prevent, happened, or whatever a mission was trying to achieve or learn did not come to pass or was not uncovered.

If a member was assigned a mission briefing in The Lost Fleet and failed to complete it within the 6 weeks of the FA or reasonably soon after (at the discretion of the IO but should be considered as ‘within a fortnight of the FA’s end’), they are banned from taking a mission briefing in WATB.

Priority Tasks are excluded from this - any member may sign up for a Priority Task, and failure to complete a Priority Task does not forbid a member from taking a mission briefing in the future. Nor does failing to complete a member-developed storyline forbid a member from taking a mission briefing in future. This ban is not intended as punitive; Key Missions and Special Assignments are finite, and members who have taken and not completed them have also denied them to other members.

Members may always write campaigns as they have historically - developing their own concepts off the back of the central briefing. Key Missions and Special Assignments are a privilege, not a right, and have taken scores of hours of the BFSS’s time to develop, write, and streamline. The Intel Office expects and requires that time be respected. Members banned from taking a mission briefing in WATB may have their mission briefing privileges restored for future campaigns if they write and complete a Priority Task or member-developed storyline and at the discretion of the Intelligence Office.

Additional Points

  • Members without a Command should not apply for a mission, as they cannot yet participate directly in the FA. They should consult their TF Staff for guidance if they want to be involved. Likewise, members who have not earned more than 20 Service Ribbons should consider their choice heavily and perhaps try writing their own idea or a Special Assignment before they pick a Key Mission.
  • Briefings should not be significantly altered without the permission of the IO, but they may be expanded, with the addition of new plot elements or factions as complications or sub-plots. This might entail introducing the Borg Collective directly to a mission briefing that does not engage with them. It is not in breach of the mission briefing system to introduce any of these elements to a briefing that does not mention them - but a criminal underworld mission briefing should not end up as a story about a Borg Cube.
  • Almost all missions are written with the assumption of being undertaken by only one ship/crew. Squadrons may participate together in a mission briefing, but members should be mindful of a briefing’s theme/genre - a horror-survival story about surviving against the odds is inherently changed if it is three ships against a threat rather than one. Members with a squadron who take up such a mission briefing should consider using only one ship, writing an additional (Priority Task or member-developed) mission for the other ship(s), or consider how to expand a mission to occupy multiple ships.
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