Corporate Liaison

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ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

NanoTrasen Liaison

Access: The Representatives Office, the Bridge, and the Odin Shuttle. Qualifications: You've convinced NanoTrasen Central Command you're worth loaning the Odin Shuttle, and you are representing an Interest Group Employers: Not defined Supervisors: Station Command and your Interest Group Duties: Representing your factions interests, conducting interviews and AMAs', Being Less Creepy than the old IAA role Guides: Corporate Regulations, Station Directives, Guide to Law, Guide to Paperwork

NanoTrasen Liaisons (Reps) act as the link between an Interest Group and their assigned facility. Their primary concerns are to ensure that the group they're representing is treated more favorably or just ensuring they're treated equally, within Corporate Regulations, via interviews and reports to Command Staff about misconduct.

Secondary responsibilities of a Rep include increasing awareness of whatever factions or cause they represent. For more information on the goal of different kinds of Reps, see: Interest Groups

NanoTrasen Liaisons can be played by characters of any Species that can be a part of the represented faction, by players with a Head of Staff whitelist, it is not part of Station Command however.

Note that NanoTrasen Liaisons (Though, not the other types of Representatives) are one of three roles on the station that are Loyalty Implanted by default. This means that the implantee is almost always supposed to act in a way that they believe is in the best interests of NanoTrasen. This implant is part of the reason why Central Command trusts this Liaison to represent them, and it should not be voluntarily removed.

Interest Groups

All Non-NanoTrasen Interest Groups get access to an External Comms Link in their Fax machine which enables them to contact their superiors. While they do not get all of the benefits of working for NanoTrasen, they definitely do get other benefits.

NanoTrasen Liaison

• A remade combination of Central Command inspectors and Internal Affairs Agents with more liberties to facilitate roleplay. They are expected to advise Station Command with the company's benefit in mind and promote NanoTrasen interests. They are encouraged to talk to employees about concerns, aspirations, and their general experience. They are authorised to secure contract extensions and other fluff legal paperwork. They may also exercise pressure for regulations and Central Command orders to be followed and enforced by command.

Corporate Representative

• On station liaisons from other Megacorporations with contractors on Station. They are supposed to represent the interests of their parent company, as well as to ensure the well being and prosperity of their contractors. They can pressure Command Staff, make requests, or even do back-alley deals and bribes.

Tau Ceti Representative

• Tasked by the Biesel government to ensure that Tau Ceti Law is being followed, and that safety regulations are being followed. They are to promote Biesel sentiment, and reinforce the image of the bright beacon of democracy. They may also issue Tau Ceti citizenship and passports in certain circumstances.

Sol Consular Officer

• Dispatched by Solarian diplomatic missions in Mendell, their mission is to ensure the fair treatment and prosperity of Solarian citizens working on the Aurora. They are authorised to issue Alliance papers in certain circumstances.

PRA Consular Officer

• Dispatched from The Peoples Republic of Adhomai to ensure the well being and interests of Republican citizens who are living in this far away Tajaran enclave. They are to encourage proper Republican values and make sure that party lines are being upheld. The Republic has struggled to insert their representatives onto NanoTrasen Stations, and would not like to upset their host. Thus, the means of the Republican representative to enforce party policy are very limited and soft.

Embrace The Bureaucracy

So, your shoes are polished, your tie is on straight, your stamp is inked up and there’s a full cup of coffee on your desk - what now?

Typically, the broad duties of Liaisons can be sorted into three major categories:

1. Regulatory Compliance: It is the job of the Captain and the Heads of Staff to ensure that the station accomplishes its mission. It is an IAA's job to ensure that it does so in accordance with NanoTrasen's interests. Liaisons make sure that all Station Directives, Corporate Regulations, and other official policies are being followed and enforced to the best of the crew’s ability. It goes without saying that an Liaisons knowledge of these regulations and policies should be excellent.
2. Corporate Oversight: While Central Command may directly contact the Captain and crew with orders or other concerns, it is the job of NanoTrasen Liaisons to ensure that the station carries out Central's wishes. When Central Command issues the station a task, Liaisons are expected to communicate via the quantum-relay fax machine in their office with updates when necessary. In emergency scenarios, when station command is unable to do so, Liaisons may also request an Emergency Response Team via this fax machine.
3. Impartial Arbitration: When there are disputes between crew members that cannot be resolved by their appropriate supervisor(s), it is the job of NanoTrasen Liaisons to provide an objective and unbiased perspective for the crew and recommend appropriate resolutions to the conflict, either to the appropriate Heads of Staff, the Captain, or if necessary, directly to Central Command. An Liaison may also file an Incident Report (on the server’s forums) on behalf of a crew member, if they are unable to do so themselves.

Before you sign on for that first shift, recognize a hard truth about Reps: you are not, strictly speaking, a necessary component of the station’s crew. By yourself, you cannot permit, prevent, or enforce just about anything. You are not a part of station command despite your access, fax machine and headset. While you ideally have an excellent knowledge of how people on the station should be working, you have no authoritative say in the day-to-day operations of the Aurora until Central Command explicitly empowers you to do something. They won't do that often.

Your ability to effectively do your job therefore relies on your ability to communicate with the station’s various departments, their leaders, and Central Command. Having good working relationships with the crew also makes it more likely that they will come to you with their problems, rather than leaving you to hunt for them, or to sit at your desk contemplating your coffee all shift.

In order to help build those working relationships, there are a few things IAAs should try to avoid doing:

1. Do Not Threaten: Because they (usually) have Central Command's trust, Liaisons have the potential to make an employee’s life difficult via reporting and review. Abusing the Representatives' office by threatening people with administrative action is one of the fastest ways to lose that trust. An Liaison who recklessly throws around Central Command's authority to try get their way is bound to have a short career.
2. Do Not Play Security: NanoTrasen Liaisons are not THE LAW, and should not take direct action against crew members or other threats who are in violation of regulations. Liaison can (and should) notify the appropriate party when they see those issues however, whether that is Security, a Head of Staff, the Captain, or Central Command.
3. Do Not Look For Trouble: While a critical eye is a welcome quality on Aurora, Liaisons should have legitimate reasons to lodge a complaint of a crew member’s behavior. Unduly harassing the crew is bad for both productivity and the department's reputation.
4. Do Not Play Favorites: Any decision an Liaison makes should be the result of facts, evidence, and policy. Actions and decisions that illustrate clear bias toward one side of a dispute have no credibility. Get every side of a story, and assume nothing.
5. Do Not Give Orders: Because you can’t, really. While you represent Central Command’s interests on the station, you exist largely outside the station Chain of Command, and the crew is not obligated to listen to you like they are a Head of Staff.

Interacting With The Crew

When working with the Aurora’s crew, you may be asked to perform certain tasks by employees, the Heads of Staff, or by Central Command. Generally, these are roleplaying tasks like receiving minor employee complaints, auditing departments for productivity, or monitoring security processing of detainees for compliance.

These things serve as good excuses to get out and see what’s going on around the station, and most of them do not have strict processes or universal methods. However as a general rule, it’s wise to get the approval of a supervising Head of Staff or the Captain before walking into a department and starting a review. No-one appreciates unexpected disruptions to their day, and having a department head who supports what you’re doing will make your life much easier in general. Having one who doesn't may get you kicked out into the corridor.

Liaisons may also issue injunctions to non-Command crew members if deemed absolutely necessary. Injunctions are effectively restrictions on crew behavior - use them to prohibit behavior that is disruptive but not necessarily covered by regulations, or to serve as a restraining order for crew members who are causing problems for one another. Once active, violating the terms of an injunctions is a violation of regulations and may be enforced by Security. However, remember that you are not Security, or a departmental Head of Staff. Always try to work with a crew member's direct superiors to resolve an issue before considering an injunction.

The Captain's orders may override your injunctions. Only the Captain, the rest of Command acting as a Captain by unanimous decision, or Central Command itself may issue injunctions to a Head of Staff.

Liaisons should take note of the following helpful forms when they decide to wander out of their office:

• NCF-0109 Complaint Form: A simple document summarizing an employee complaint.
• NCF-0110 Internal Affairs Audit: Used to summarize your findings when auditing a department on the station.
• NCF-0111 Internal Affairs Employee Review: Used to review an individual’s job performance, conduct, and records.
• NCF-0113 Station Directives: A list of the Station’s directives in paper format. Mainly useful for reminding the crew that they exist.
• NCF-0115 Incident Report: A form used to take down employee information and submit an official Incident Report to Central Command. More on these below.

Interacting With Central Command

When it comes to Central Command, IAAs have a number of significant tasks that they may perform.

Note that using the quantum relay fax machine sends messages to a number of staff members both in and out of the game, and should not be abused. Use the staffwho command to see if there are any Central Command Internal Affairs (CCIA) staff members online when sending a fax. These are the people who will usually review and reply to them. If no-one is present, it may take longer than usual to receive a response.

Sending Updates to Central Command

When central transmits orders to the station, it trusts Liaisons to give accurate, comprehensive, and timely updates on the station’s progress in carrying out those orders. Central also commonly expects updates when a code red alert or evacuation is declared without any explanation. Sending (or failing to send) these updates may affect the flow of a round as CentComm reacts to them.

Liaisons sending updates generally do so via forms NCF-1002 General Fax for standard communications, and NCF-0108 Situation Report for urgent or emergency communications. The Odin takes its paperwork very seriously; using the wrong form or an unformatted sheet of paper for your message may cause it to be mis-routed or discarded.

Your ID should also allow you to access the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) on the bridge command console, if necessary.

Requesting an Emergency Response Team

While normally unable to do so, in specific circumstances, Liaison can use their fax machine to request an Emergency Response Team directly from CentComm. This is not guaranteed to be successful, however, and the decision to send a team may depend on how detailed the Liaison report is. Liaisons should only attempt to do this when the Heads of Staff are no longer capable of using their Keycard Authentication Devices to request a team normally. Your own ID will not work in these devices.

Any request for ERT sent by fax must explain the emergency situation, the status of the Aurora and its crew, and why command staff are no longer capable of following the normal process. Without all of this information, the request may not be considered, or a response may be significantly delayed.

Submitting an Incident Report

When there is a serious behavioral or procedural issue with an employee or group that cannot be resolved by security or the station’s chain of command, Internal Affairs may process an Incident Report for CCIA to review. These reports are IC complaints that server staff investigate after the round. Incident Report investigations can take several days to weeks, as staff members track down the characters involved, and the outcomes of these investigations can have lasting effects on a character’s employment or records. Because of this, Incident Reports should not be submitted lightly.

In addition to making sure you understand the rules for submitting an Incident Report, keep in mind:

• Faxed reports are generally meant for players without forum accounts. Liaisons should only fax Incident Reports that the crew have asked them to help process. If a Liaison wants to submit a report with themselves as the reporting party, they should make a forum post after the round instead.
• If a report is faxed and no CCIA team members are available, it is important that you ahelp and alert someone that the report needs documenting. While the reports are normally added to the correct subforum after the end of the round, if no-one is available to process one when it is faxed, it may get lost when the round ends. In all cases, it is more reliable to submit the report via the forums. It may be wise to take screenshots of the report beforehand, if you are concerned someone will not see it.
• If you process someone’s Incident Report as an NanoTrasen Liaison, your character will be expected to make themselves available for an IC interview with CCIA team members as part of the investigation. This may be necessary to clarify information in the original report, or to discuss new information.
• As Internal Affairs, it is part of your job description to help resolve issues like these before they require Central Command involvement. Be sure that the crew member you are helping has tried to resolve their problems within the station’s chain of command before they submit a report. Participate in that process, if you can help them!

Traitoring

This scenario is unlikely as a Liaison, as the loyalty implant all NanoTrasen Liaisons are required to have prevents you from betraying NanoTrasen, and most game modes will not automatically select you as a traitor. However, if you're repping a different group, and find yourself selected for traitor, congratulations! You are an antagonist trusted implicitly by your Interest Group, who will likely be thrilled to help you. Wield your bureaucracy against the company you've signed up to act within! The morphic clerical kit may be of use to a traitorous Rep, as the stamps it provides allow you to forge command staff approval of just about anything. If anyone questions what you're doing, remind them that you have the best interests of your people at heart.

Command
Heads of staff	Captain - Executive Officer - Head of Security - Chief Engineer - Research Director - Chief Medical Officer - Operations Manager
Administrative/Other	NanoTrasen Liaison
Useful guides	Guide to Command - Corporate Regulations - Guide to Paperwork - Guide to Station Procedure - Job Accessibility Requirements