The Crew of the MIII

One of countless freelance cargo transport crews, the listings for the Minerva III's transport services advertise the crew as follows:

"When you hire the Minerva III for your cargo shipping needs, you are also hiring a top-notch crew with a wide array of skills and a surplus of expertise. Where most cargo crews consist of a few garden variety spacers and maybe a logistics specialist if you're lucky, here at the MIII, your cargo will be in the hands of the following professionals:


CAPTAIN: Lauren Dekara
With damn near a lifetime of spacing experience beneath her belt, and years spent navigating the tangles of the Belt, Captain Dekara is sure to handle any trouble that comes our way with ease and a level head.


PILOT: Flight Lieutenant Jules "Snip" Stratisvinsky
Former RAF fighter pilot and member of GATE's Needles of Ganymede, Snip's flight experience is second to none. You need not worry about a clumsy amateur pilot clipping the hangar bay doors and sending your precious cargo up in flames.


QUARTERMASTER: Executive Officer Akash Shaw
We're lucky enough to have the one person who LIKES being trapped in a tin can for extended periods of time as our quartermaster; having spent years serving the submariner crews exploring Europa's depths, Shaw keeps us supplied and organized.


LOGISTICS: Rei Cameron
Having worked transport logistics on Ceres 8-Kappa for years, and with numerous years of cargo running experience under his belt, Rei keeps our operations running smoother than industrial grade lubricant. You cargo will not get lost or misplaced--you can count on that.


ENGINEERING: Staff Sergeant (NACMEC) Norri Myn, Garrett Hsu-Jiang, C.T. Ferrum & Kagiso Batabe
With a NACMEC veteran and computer engineer, 2 former vultures of the CIV Longshot, and a wartime mechanic turned mechanical engineer on board, we're well equipped to handle any and all mechanical hiccups that may come up while handling your cargo--be they onboard or off.


NAVIGATION: Carlos "El Loro" Saldarriaga
If Carlos has gotten lost yet, we've certainly not seen it. The man's a human compass, with years of navigation experience under his belt.


LIFE SUPPORT: Lance Padovano
Any old idiot can operate and maintain a life support system, but how many can grow a crew their own food? With our dear botanist on board, we can all breathe easy knowing both our oxygen and vegetable supplies will be well-maintained.


ADVISOR: Dr. Zachary Suhail Changezi
Every crew can benefit from having someone on board who is intimately familiar with the oddities and dangers of space--we're just lucky enough that ours happens to have a PhD in planetary science.


SECURITY: C.T. Ferrum
What can we say? Ferrum is a woman of many talents, and she's as good with a rifle as a precision plasma torch.


We hope you will consider booking the Minerva III for your next cargo job, and joining this ragtag group of professionals. We promise superior handling in transit!"


At the bottom of the most recent listing, the following addendum is posted, with far less flair and polish:


"*Due to unforseen circumstances, XO Akash Shaw has been promoted to Acting Captain for the time being, and will be serving in Cpt Dekara's stead. Additionally, we are proud to announce the appointment of a new crew member: Galatéa Koros, long-time paramedic and SAR technician, as our new shipboard medic."

Structure

The crew has three main executive positions: Captain, Quartermaster and Head Engineer. The Captain is responsible for the crew's overall missions, with whatever challenges and responsibilities that may entail. The Quartermaster is responsible for managing the crew at a human level, and working with the logistics specialist to ensure the operation is properly supplied and rations properly distributed. The Head Engineer is responsible for the maintenance and operation of the ship on a mechanical level, and directly oversees and assigns tasks to the rest of the engineering department. Beyond that, crew members are assumed to be subject matter experts, and executive members are expected to defer to them except in matters where they have greater expertise or where it is necessary for the overall good of the operation.

Culture

The MIII has, especially by the standards of GATE-contracted crews, an unusually relaxed workplace culture. Perhaps it is merely the personality of it's captain, or perhaps it is a product of employing people who know their jobs so well that they require very little supervisions, or perhaps it is merely the strong thread of mutual trust running through the crew, but the Minerva III operates with very little top-down guidance or authority, and its few protegees have all said that it was unusually permissive.

Public Agenda

Provide cargo transport, especially to GATE and its affiliates.

History

The Minerva III was a decommissioned militia frigate bound for the scrappers when it was purchased by couple Lauren Dekara and Flt Lt Julia Stratisvinsky, who having both lived rather eventful lives and done their fair share of spacing, had grown tired of the quiet life they'd been living in Glasgow. The two sold almost everything they owned to pay to renovate and retrofit the MIII as a cargo transport vessel, and once the process was complete, they managed to scrape together a crew from old friends and contacts from their spacing days. They operated with moderate success for a few years before Stratisvinsky was able to secure a contract with GATE, which would ultimately lead them to many of their permanent crew members, and help them establish some repute as an unusually resilient and adaptable cargo crew. Having been in business for 8 years now, the MIII proudly boasts that it has never lost or majorly damaged a single package in transit.

Superior Handling in Transit! (S.H.I.T.)

Type

Civilian, Crew

Training Level

Semi-professional

Veterancy Level

Experienced

Leader

Lauren Dekara

Parent Organization

GATE

Notable Members

• Julia "Jules" Stratisvinsky
• Lauren Dekara