Naval Mechanic

                                                       -> Specialist: Fighters(Basic) -> (Advanced)
 Trainee Mechanic -> Mechanic Apprentice -> Mechanic - -> Specialist: Fighters(Basic) -> (Advanced)
                                                       -> Specialist: Droids & Weapons(Basic) -> (Advanced)

Introduction

Every Pilot can fly. If you can't then being a pilot probably isn't the safest profession for you. A veteran pilot will know his or her machine like the back of their hand (If they still have them.) They'll know its strengths, weakness, kinks... but even the greatest of pilots have to rely on the mechanics to keep their precious fighter in the air.

Some Pilots take the time to learn the basic skills that will help keep their birds in the air, lessening the dependency of ground based mechanics

Starting Out - Trainee

In order to actually even enter this field, you must have completed at least four months of Vast Empire service and passed both your Aviator's and Senior Aviator's Exam. This is in the hopes that you've worked most the major kinks out of your writing and are able to write modestly with the skills given to you. Furthermore, this should place you around the position of PO1, so that's usually what will be looked for when handing these out. This can be changed per recruit, of course, should the commanding officer feel that a pilot is or is not ready for the skill in question.

As does anyone, the best way to start out is to see someone else do the job, especially when it involves the exchange of crucial parts within an engine housing. So, as a mechanic's assistant would be expected to do, your character's job is to assist an actual mechanic, reguardless of their specialization. Say your lead mechanic is a craft mechanic- if he or she ask for the hydro spanner- you'd best know what that looks like and how to hand it to them. Furthermore, it will be your job to explain what the mechanic is doing, despite the fact that your character might not understand it. Through explanations in your writing, you will judged according to understanding and ability. It would help if your 'lead mechanic' explains things to your character or has he or she do some of the simpler things themselves, slowly lending them more trust and understanding. Where you'll probably be able to do this best is after hours, in between missions, or perhaps just before missions where your fighter is being prepped. Your character would not be expected to diagnose anything overly serious in this part of the skills and studies for a mechanic- we'll settle for more obvious things... Like... "SIR! The Engines on fire!" Well... Maybe not that obvious- but you get the point. Furthermore, your character will be watched very closely, even if he or she is allowed to do more and more as time goes on: your character's mistakes could be costly in terms of both Naval equipment and personnel. You break it- you buy it. Or get the boot.

Pay Increase: 2000 IC additional monthly income for every mission in which mechanic skills are involved.

Appearance: Generally, your character would be on ship while learning, so they'd probably wear their usual pilot attire or flight suits while working on ships unless they're going to be helping out with a more in depth surgery of sorts. Then special equipment may be required that the lead mechanic would probably supply. However, should your character be momentarily assigned to a planet or space station where they are not a pilot, mechanics generally wear protective fabrics that, generally, cover the skin from extreme heat or toxic leeks from engine or craft excretions. Most importantly, regardless of whether or not your character is going to be a pilot and just stopping by or in the middle of an extensive engine's operation- they always wear a radiation key. The radiation key is a small device, usually water proof and innocuous to other chemicals, that is worn somewhere on the mechanic's body to warn them of harmful radiation in the area. If exposed, and this goes for most species, radiation can and probably will cause extreme damage to the soft tissues of that organism. These are critical, not only for the protection of the mechanic, but also to those around them- this lets others know there is a serious problem. Radiation is constantly emitted from sub-light engines, so it's as if these harmful rays are rare conditions of space technology, but the engine's are usually rendered harmless because they only radiate this dangerously high frequency of energy when in operation. Thus- don't forget your radiation key.

Schooling: The mechanic skills are really things that need to be learned first hand because things aren't always tightened just right or found in the same places, so- a good half year of book study where your character learns the general parts of most ships, fighters or simple craft on their off time will do. It's more important that your character know tools than the craft itself- the period of time that they are a Mechanic's assistant will help them to learn about diagnosing engine problems. At this stage, you aren't going to be asked to take an engine apart and put it back together again- that comes later. And note that in this stage we put a whole lot of emphasis on the engine and not other parts of the ship like solar panels, wing pylons, or transparisteel viewports. This is because the type of things your character will be encountering when in training will be tune-ups and simple diagnostics with the occasional freak incident. You're character is learning from mechanics who sustain craft- not build them. Though, it might be good to learn how to use a power washer...

Superiors: The Lead mechanic and/or other advisers in the area. These men generally do not have a rank that is a part of the usual Naval Fighter Corps, like LCRW or Captain. However, they do have rank that you'll hear, such as Crewman, Common Man, Strong Man and Chief. These are names that award your character a certain level of trust and ability amongst an entire crew. The usual crew carries about ten to fifteen strong men with about another two to three common men in training. This small family of mechanics is probably headed by a chief or a master chief at best. In turn, that entire crew is a single unit of a much larger group of crews known as the "Deck Crew." This will be headed by a long-time mechanic with serious experience and leadership skills known as the 'Deck Mechanic.' Not only does he or she manage, but they are very capable of performing very advanced mechanical techniques in multiple fields. So- you suck up to pretty much everyone who looks at you. Your character, before actually becoming a Mechanic's assistant, would probably be at the mechanic rank of crewman; once your character becomes the mechanic's assistant, he or she will probably still be a crewman until they begin to reach that point of Mechanical Tech- that's when they jump up to 'Common Man.'

Note: It is always at your discretion that you involve characters of any kind- you always have the ability to create new ranks, clothing, plot-lines- whatever have you. Those given here are simply guidelines that can be used to help keep your character in order so that you don't have to devise a system yourself.

Advanced Learning - Apprentice

Just beyond the assistant stage is the Mechanical Tech. These men and women have gone through enough training with a lead mechanic to become capable of doing simple tune-ups, solving simple problems involving most ships or craft, and can work "safely." This means they have become more independent and will continue to learn as an independent- only experience can improve you without moving into a specialty. In short, these mechanics, if meant to stay in this stage, are people that are probably still pilots, and work on every day problems. However, these people should be highly efficient and knowledgeable in most emergency regards- very quick at fixing common problems, basically. The indicator lights inside the cabin aren't working? Ah- fuse panel burnt out: you replace it. Things that aren't necessarily obvious but don't take a lot of deduction but a whole lot of quick handwork is the bag of choice here.

Pay Increase: 4000 IC additional monthly income for every mission in which mechanic skills are involved.

Appearance: Again, these folks will always wear the radiation key and probably stay in their casual flight suits. Since these folks work on their own, they determine if they need special equipment and get it themselves from an inventory on board the ship or an office with the equipment in question.

Schooling: Roughly, your character would go through a good six months of Mechanic's assistant to reach this point. He or she would have to be introduced to a number of situations, evaluated by the lead mechanic, given more and more responsibility on the deck, and tested before they can be trusted to work on their own. If you accomplish this through your story posting, only at that time and the approval of your commanding officers can you acquire this status.

Superiors: Your superiors will remain the same, but they will only serve as teachers on the side from now on. Your character will now be capable of doing quite a bit of work on their own, but there's always the chance of something going wrong and needing a more influential hand, so keep those superiors close.

On your own two feet - Mechanic<h4> <h4>Getting Specific - Specialties

As your character becomes more and more experienced in all of the fields, he or she is going to begin to form opinions of each of those mechanical divisions. While that may not be true for all people, and those people will probably remain at the Mechanical Tech level, it true of some in search of more. Even if your character doesn't want to be all that they can be, they may just hate one section of that job enough to get another one. This is where people begin to split mechanics into three primary groups: starfighters, craft, and ships. The starfighter mechanic is not only capable of tune-ups, but can replace entire sections of a fighter, remodel it, fix weapon placement problems, diagnose more complex failures, and deal more heavily with the ship as a whole. Craft mechanics can work on most landcraft or other forms of planetary transportation, excluding fighters. Ship mechanics actually split up into even more specific groups, but as a whole they are best known for fixing parts as opposed to an entire ship. These 'ships' usually refer to cruisers or larger and can encompass, engines, shields, weapons and other life-sustaining properties of that battleship. It is up to your character to decide what it is they wish to do. Just remember that even though some might seem more entertaining or nice to have as a character, perhaps it's best to think in terms of convenience. Will being able to fix your starfighter be more important that knowing how to knock out a powergrid on a ship? Or perhaps it's even more important than knowing how to hotwire that speeder...

It is possible that your character is still a pilot during this time though it is also viable that they begin to take on their studies full time.

Fighter Apprentice: Your character works directly with trained staff on more difficult problems involving the starfighter as a whole. Furthermore, greater studies will be required of your character and they will either take another half-year to year-long course on their own or on ship. Fighter apprentices can usually do some fairly difficult things on their own, so it's likely that they'll be allowed to work on their own and taught things by the more experienced fighter mechanic when something new is introduced. For instance, figuring out that a dysfunction in the power transformer that usually redirects energy between the engines, shields and weapons is responsible for the loss of power in other peripheral systems. Then learning how to fix it. OF course- these are going to be of your own creation for the most part and sticking to what materials we have will be tough, but that's what makes this study so special: your creativity and ability to interpret it so that it is understandable to others will dictate the interest your stories hold.

If you have stories or articles including these skills, please edit the following page to include them, or simply message a member of the VENA-S: ftmechappage

Craft Apprentice: The same rules apply to the Fighter Apprentice apply here, only your character will have to have a greater knowledge of land-based ships. This isn't really referring to things that dwell within the atmosphere of a planet, but not used for military purposes. So, in short, very little tanks or army equipment types of things, but a whole lot of small transports, carriers, speeders and others of the like.

If you have stories or articles including these skills, please edit the following page to include them, or simply message a member of the VENA-S: crmechappage

Ship Apprentice: Lastly, we have a very broad term. 'Ship Apprentice' doesn't refer to a single person being trained to repair the entire ship, because- could you? Unlikely. It would take a lifetime, if not longer, to fix the majority of problems for every single room on an entire ship. Thus, it's not even asked you be able to fix all types of problems- if you can cut them down to something a little more specific: shield generator mechanic, energy distribution chief, life-support systems analyzer... The galaxy is yours to choose from. The main point is that you are somehow operating or repairing a part of a large ship that will be able to consistently demand your character's time. That means that 'java repair man' isn't exactly a good option to choose from: how often does the java machine break down? Unless of course you can offer a good reason why someone would be needed to do that- "There's fifteen thousand of them on this ship- three of them are breaking down every minute of the day..." Then you might have a case.

If you have stories or articles including these skills, please edit the following page to include them, or simply message a member of the VENA-S: shmechappage

If you have stories including these skills, please edit the following page to include them, or simply message a member of the VENA-S: crmechappage

Pay Increase: 7000 IC additional income for every mission in which mechanic skills are involved.

Appearance: Depending on your environment, these will continue to change. It is now up to you to decide what your character does and does not need. Chances are that the radiation key will continue to be a necessity though, even if you are not working around fighter craft all the time.

Mastering Your Trade

Now that you've had someone holding your hand in this new 'specialty' or skill, you've decided that you want to go off on your own. This is totally fine, but you'll need to completely understand your trade because there is really no one else to go to besides you and you alone. By this time your character may have been developed to such a point that they have other things that are constantly on their mind- family, a business they've been thinking about breaking off and doing, health problems... That's totally up to you. But this position, if not for completion, is really a position of freedom, just like the Mechanical Assistant had been, you are free to do as you wish, only with greater ability and specialization.

Pay Increase: An additional monthly income of 10,000 ICs is usually the beginning salary for folks up in this range, but this can always be discussed with superiors.

Schooling: If you've reached this level, it means that you've gone though all of the preceding training and then another half year of writing. Who knows how long this period of time is for your character though- he or she could have been working for five years as a mechanical assistant before even starting to specialize. Again- these things are up to you. The purpose of these pages is describe the most basic reasoning behind these ranks and elevations of skill- not to create your story for you.

Whether you decide to become the best starfighter mechanic this side of the galaxy, or just wanna play it safe and keep things simple, we hope these pages have been useful to you. If you have any further questions, the VENA-Staff is on hand and can be contacted in concern to any of these materials. As always, your character's progress will be watched by superiors, but if you feel that they have been doing inadequately, you may let them know.