Chain of Command

Heads of Staff

AKA Command Staff. These are the men and women charged with the administration of the station. Each of them have access to the Bridge, the command radio channel (accessed with :c) and may call/recall the Escape Shuttle using a communications console. They are also the targets during a Revolution.

Job	Notes
Captain	Authority over entire station. Can overrule any decision made by any head. Is not above the law, however, and can still be arrested if found committing a crime. Can fire and assign at will, and is the only person who can assign death warrants.
Head of Personnel	Equal with all other non-captain Heads of Staff. Becomes acting Captain if the original Captain is dead or AWOL. The only non-captain who can alter jobs & access. If a Security member tries to "demote" you, they are griefing. Can fire and reassign people with other head's consent. Can assign people freely. Direct authority over the Janitor, Chaplain, Chef, Botanist, Barman, Assistants, Quartermaster, Shaft Miners, and Cargo Technicians.
Head of Security	Equal with all other non-captain Heads of Staff. Becomes acting Captain only when the Captain and Head of Personnel are dead or missing. May be denied access to the domains of other Heads. Below the Captain in command authority involving security matters. Expected to arrest anyone who is doing illegal things, even Heads of Staff or the Captain. Command of Security Officers, the Warden & Detective.
Chief Engineer	Equal with all other non-captain Heads of Staff. Authority over Station Engineers and Atmospheric Technicians.
Research Director	Equal with all other non-captain Heads of Staff. Authority over Scientists. Joint authority with CMO over Geneticists and Chemists.
Chief Medical Officer	Equal with all other non-captain Heads of Staff. If a Head of Staff is acting medically unstable, it is the job of the CMO to disable and treat them till they are once again fit for duty. Authority over Virologists and Medical Doctors. Joint authority with RD over Geneticists and Chemists.
NanoTrasen Representative	Not equal with other Heads Of Staff, but can take over in the case ALL Heads Of Staff are absent, or if it is extremely important situation. Has authority over no-one.

Other Management Roles

While the following jobs have management roles, they are not Heads of Staff and get none of the perks associated with being a Head of Staff.

Job	Notes
File:Generic qm.png Quartermaster	Subordinate to the Head of Personnel. Authority over the supply sector, including Cargo Technicians and Shaft Miners.
Warden	Subordinate to the Head of Security. Authority over the Brig, takes over in case the Head Of Security is absent.

Chain of Succession

If the Captain is missing, authority falls to the next in the Chain of Succession, usually the Head of Personnel.

If the Captain and the Head of Personnel are missing, and it is suspected they were taken out of action by a hostile force, authority usually falls to the Head of Security, as missing the top two command positions is deemed as an emergency, and the Head of Security has authority in dealing with station wide emergencies.

If the situation stabilizes itself, a new Captain and a new HoP should be assigned ASAP. It is suggested that the HoS remains in his position to prevent wasting his military training and so the crew doesn't get ideas. (To spell it out, the crew isn't going to like a military putsch for whatever reason.)

If the Captain, HoP and HoS are all missing, then you're pretty screwed either way, and anarchy rules the station then it's a vote between the CE, RD and CMO as how to deal with it, either by assigning a new Captain, by one of them assuming the role, or calling an evacuation as things may be getting pretty bad by then.

So when things are going normal, but a few positions haven't been filled:

Captain -> Head of Personnel -> HoS/CE/RD/CMO (Voting is usually done at this stage).

And in the case of a security emergency:

Captain -> Head of Personnel -> Head of Security -> CE/RD/CMO (Voting is usually done at this stage).

Demoting a Head of Staff

Any head of staff can be demoted by the captain.

If there's no captain, or you wish to demote the captain himself, an unanimous vote of all other non-SSD heads of staff is necessary. If there are two or less heads of staff, there is no official procedure for demoting either of them.

Heads of Staff and Criminal Offence

A Head of Staff proven to have committed a crime can be arrested, but not demoted without going through Demoting a Head of Staff. Arresting the captain based on suspicions is not legal, solid evidence is required. A head of staff cannot be arrested just because your character does not agree with their actions or orders.

Summary

The Captain has absolute authority. No other non-captain Head of Staff can overrule the other, except in extreme cases (e.g. criminal activity, mental instability). In the event of missing Captain, authority follows Chain of Succession.