Starfleet Auxiliary
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Starfleet Auxiliary is a component of Starfleet that operates passenger liners, tankers, freighters, transports, and some research vessels in support of the starships and capital starships in mainline Starfleet service, equivalent to a Merchant Marine. The personnel in this service are drawn from several Starfleet Auxiliary academies and training programs, and transfers between Starfleet and the Starfleet Auxiliary are possible but relatively rare.
Organization
Somewhat ironically, the Commander, Starfleet Auxiliary is not actually a member of the Starfleet Auxiliary, but is a commissioned Starfleet officer reporting to the Chief of Starfleet Operations and holding the rank of admiral. Indeed, there are no members of the Starfleet Auxiliary with ranks higher than captain; officers wishing to advance beyond this stage must go through additional training such as Command School and then be commissioned in Starfleet, instead.
Each type of vessel has its own commander under this level. For example, the Commander, Passenger Liners and the Commander, Surveyors are each Rear or Vice Admirals overseeing all of the vessels of those two designations. These type commanders assign vessels either to specific sectors, where they fall under the jurisdiction of that sector's commander, or to various Starfleet offices and bureaus, where they fall under the jurisdiction of that office's director.
For example, a Sydney-class passenger liner might be assigned to regular service between Starbase 4 and a smaller station in the same sector, thus falling under the jurisdiction of Starbase 4's commanding officer, the flag officer in command of Sector 4. As another example, an Aerie-class surveyor might be specially equipped to transport botanical samples, and so would be assigned to the Bureau of Xenobotany under Starfleet Science, and would be under the jurisdiction of the Director of the Bureau of Xenobotany.
The effect of this allows the Starfleet Auxiliary to operate without a parallel chain of command to Starfleet itself.
Personnel
One of the original branches of Starfleet, the Starfleet Auxiliary has been in operation since the founding of the Federation in 2161. The personnel in this branch are highly trained in starship navigation and operations but don't have the exploratory and tactical training that is given to members of Starfleet itself. These personnel are commissioned through a number of different means, including several academies, training centers, and direct commissioning programs that take into account life experience and aptitude tests.
Officers and other personnel of the Starfleet Auxiliary wear variants of the standard Starfleet uniforms with different insignia; generally speaking the day-to-day uniform of a member of this service varies greatly based on their assignments. The crews of freighters and tankers will spend a lot of time in coveralls, while the crews of passenger liners will often wear white uniforms to set themselves apart from their passengers, who are often Starfleet officers themselves.
The rank structure in the Starfleet Auxiliary is simplified from Starfleet itself, based on merchant traditions that informed such services as the Earth Cargo Service. There are, however, type designations that members must acquire to be certified for particular command assignments. For example, the requirements to command a passenger liner (which might have up to 2,000 souls aboard) are more extensive than to command a supply vessel (which might have a crew of just a dozen).
Vessels
Starfleet Auxiliary operates a wide variety of vessels, including some classes that either currently or formerly see service in Starfleet itself. A good example of this is the Olympic-class utility cruiser, which is operated exclusively by Starfleet in its science configuration, exclusively by the Starfleet Auxiliary in its passenger liner configuration, and by both services in the hospital ship configuration.
- Aerie-class surveyor & transport
- Olympic-class liner and hospital ship
- Sydney-class liner
- Antares-class freighter
- Miranda-class surveyor & transport
- Constellation-class transport