Commander

• Access: Everywhere except Captain's Quarters, HoS Office, Armory
• Additional Access: N/A
• Difficulty: Very Hard
• Supervisors: The Captain, Space Law and Corporate Officials
• Duties: Be responsible for the ship without the Captain's fancy toys, manage your Heads of Staff when the Captain is busy, keep the crew alive, advise the Captain and Heads of Staff, do most of the Captain's work without most of the Captain's cool stuff.
• Special Equipment: Commander ID, Energy Gun, Pinpointer, Command Door Remote.

You are the Commander, second in the Chain of Command. Your job is basically to do the Captain's job when he is unavailable, absent, asleep, etc., including ensuring the stability and productivity of the ship and carrying out any directives from CorpComm. You are most likely going to be on the Bridge, keeping an eye on the Bridge Officers.

You should have some experience with all Heads of Staff jobs, as you may need to command them from time to time. Just remember that the Heads of Staff are there for a reason; don't personally command every crewmember. The Captain is the only one who can override your decisions, but he can also remove you from your post if you get too uppity and mutinous.

While not quite as fancy as the Captain, the Commander has decent quarters; some might say the lack of extra clutter is an improvement. In addition to an office, personal quarters and lavatory, the Commander has a cabinet for his personal possessions. He also has a command door remote and an energy gun for when he needs to handle problems more directly.

Your job is to handle all of the responsibilities of being Captain when he isn't around (or feels like delegating problems to you to sort out.) The Captain is your only superior, and the only one who can override your decisions. Aside from a few Captain-exclusive privileges, you can do almost anything - but in practice, your responsibility is to handle things in the Captain's stead, particularly when the Captain is handling other business or not on duty. You will spend most of your time on the Bridge when the Captain isn't there (and sometimes when he is), ensuring the ship is always managed with authority. A few guidelines:

• Ideally, at least one commanding officer is on the Bridge at all times - that means either the Captain, you, or the Executive Officer. The Bridge Officers are in command of the ship when nobody in command is around, but Command is held liable for any incidents that occur.
• The Captain is your boss. If he is manning the Bridge, he is in his rights to order you to oversee things personally elsewhere on the ship. This doesn't mean you have to personally handle everything that goes wrong with the ship, but you may be asked to check up on the Heads of Staff, especially Research, if the public comms have been quiet for a while, and give orders directly to get things back on track if necessary.
• While you can directly pop into a department and give orders, work through the Heads when possible; they should be responsible for what goes on in their departments.
• As a member of Command, you are a target for anyone seeking to disrupt the smooth flow of the ship's daily routine, and are one of the three people expected to be managing the ship at any given moment. So pay attention, especially on duty. You may have to replace incompetent or absent Heads of Staff, deal with traitors and criminals among your crew, fight off hostile lifeforms attempting to take your ship apart, and generally coordinate repairs and defenses in a crisis – and make sure the ship remains profitable above it all.

You are technically within your right to modify the AI computer system when necessary. However, as a general rule, the Captain should be the one taking responsibility for this, and only when it needs to be done. AIs are particularly sensitive to adjustment, not least because a well-placed law can make them a danger to the ship and the crew. It never hurts to ask the AI what its current lawset is – but if the AI has gone rogue or been made rogue by others, it may not tell you.

NovusCorp will be watching the activities of your research vessel as you travel throughout the cosmos - and may have specific requests to make of you, typically through the Bridge's Communications Console. As Commander, you are one of the Command officers and as such are responsible for ensuring these requests are carried out. This may include heading to particular destinations, providing specific research data, or even direct military action against enemies of the corporation. You may even find yourself dealing with Inspectors or other Corporate Officials. Keep your higher-ups happy, as they can remove you from your position if they feel you aren't doing your job properly.

As a member of Command, you are responsible for maintaining the safety and functionality of your ship and its crew, regardless of the situation. This means that you may have to call for an evacuation if things have gone truly bad (the Captain is dead, the Bridge is missing, one of the FTL engines is floating off into space, and most of the rest of the ship is on fire, for example), or request assistance from NovusCorp to recover from massive damage. It will often fall to you to decide which is needed, and when to declare the ship irreparably damaged and focus on salvaging what you can.

• The Commander has almost all of the responsibility of Captain, and almost none of the special toys. However, you have access to get most anything you need, if you truly need it. You also have the right to get someone else to handle the problems you might otherwise need fancy equipment for. Delegate when possible.
• One thing you do begin with is the RAD Pinpointer, which locates the Root Access Disk at any moment, which is handy, especially since it's a prime target for thieves.

Playing as a Traitor Commander is actually quite difficult, as you have the Captain and Executive Officer as the other agents of your triumvirate, and the Captain outranks you. However, if you can remove the Captain from duty, the ship and the power are all yours.

Keep an eye on your Captain and an eye on your crew, and an eye on the Bridge. You're capable of messing things up almost as badly as the Captain, whether you're a loyal crewmember or not.