Year Zero: Administrator Background
Titan as a colony was run by an Administrative Director appointed by the Director-General of the UN Initiative for Space Exploration (UNISE). That meant a significant degree of power being present in what was essentially an executive role, counterbalanced to some extent by expert departmental heads for what were deemed to be critical areas of responsibility. The Director, post-Fall, is now beholden to and supplied from the UNISE Directorate on Venus and no other, without much in the way of assets to reinforce her on Titan. That means the careful selection of subordinates is vital, for the deep well of expertise and personnel that was Earth is no longer available.
The current Administrative Director of the Titan colony is Doctor Basira Khouri, and on her shoulders is the weight of humanity. From Titan comes the bulk of titanium and aluminium for the colonists on Venus. A significant chunk of Venus' hydrocarbon supply is drawn from the ethane oceans of Titan. Titan refuel the mining ships and the outposts of the Belt from its patchwork of orbital facilities and the few small freighters that hang in orbit above the world. And the endless procession of Belt freighters come to Titan from Ganymede and Venus, to take back the spoils of the outer system while bringing finished goods in return.
Without Titan, Venus would choke. Without Venus, Titan would break down completely. For all that the Titan colony is a tiny thirty thousand and under domes, it is every bit as significant as the million-strong population living on the Venerian aerostats. The Director's expertise is critical to the running of this habitat, and critical in maintaining the stability not just of Titan's habitation but also of its personnel. For from one comes the other, here on the icy edges of human space.
Pick a background for Dr. Khouri:
[] Bioscience: The Administrator was a capable biologist in her youth, with her thesis focusing on recent advancements in genetic engineering and zero-g agriculture. This makes her an excellent choice for running the life support sections on Titan that are focused on food production and waste management, but less of a good choice for the ship repair, supply and metals refining that Titan does for Venus.
Can give personal attention to life-support related projects. Bonus to actions regarding hydroponics, life support and waste management.
[] Chemical Engineering: The Administrator was a chemical engineer, and a damned good one. The call of something more than just polymer-chem jobs on Earth made her come to the stars, and she rose rapidly in the ranks. Her expertise deals with the refining processes in zero-g that made Earth experience a minor economic boom until the Fall happened, and makes her quite suited to supplying Venus.
Can give personal attention to actions dealing with refining and Venerian supply. Minor bonus to relations with Venus. Bonus to refining, refueling and extraction actions.
[] Electrical Engineering: Basira Khouri is one of the electrical engineers who ran a large chunk of the habitat's technical systems. Ranging from the 3D printing setups for spare part manufacturing to the tiny chip-manufacturing setups on Titan for replacement of electronics, the electrical engineers make a massive amount things work smoothly in the background. And now one of them is in the driving seat, fully aware of how fragile all those systems are.
Can give personal attention to maintenance and repair of electrical related systems. Bonus to such actions.
[] Psychology and Public Policy: One of the few non-scientists to rise in the ranks of the UN Initiative for Space Exploration, Dr. Khouri did so by being an expert in what few of the scientists and engineers are: Personnel management. She knows how to make the people related systems work, while the engineering staff can handle making the rest of the systems work. It isn't something that many valued very highly until it's poorly done, but personnel management is invaluable.
Can give personal attention to personnel management, bonus to such actions.
However, Dr. Khouri is under extreme stress – and has been for some time. Managing Titan is not an easy task under the best of times with a steady supply chain from Earth – the sheer tenuousness of the Titan habitats' existence and the anxiety surrounding them leads to burnout and hypertension among the best of the administrators. In the best of times. It leads to issues in managing personnel, who are often affected by similar emotions. It can lead to issues in project management, with everything demanding attention at the same time.
These, sadly, are not the best of times.
The good doctor will have to lean on the same attributes made her rise in the ranks so rapidly, and rise to the occasion. What earlier occasion showcased them best?
Pick one:
[] The Beagle Incident: Basira Khouri is renowned for her ability to act under extreme stress and lead under conditions of adversity, as was evidenced in the affair of the UNS
Beagle. The
Beagle was a freighter bearing 3D printers and parts to Titan and taking back a large amount of titanium and aluminium, but her supplies ran near dry when a misaligned burn made for a suboptimal course. Dr. Khouri was the supercargo on the
Beagle and trained for piloting, and she was the one that calculated a new trajectory, guided in the
Beagle to Titan, and supervised the food and oxygen rationing for the crew until a resupply shuttle could mate with the ship.
Dr. Khouri is cool-headed but severe, taking on less stress and able to act more decisively in times of crisis but also strict in her dealings with subordinates.
[] The Affair of Extraction Dome 3D: The outpost domes on Titan where hydrocarbon pumps filled tanks for the starships and the colony are some of the most isolated places on the planet, and some of the most dangerous. They aren't built to the same standard as the main domes due to their temporary nature – they're packed up and evacuated when the methane monsoon moves in – and there have thus been two collapses of domes in recent history. The partial collapse of Dome 3D after a leak and a structural failure led to the extraction team led by Dr. Khouri experiencing severe cold and exposure to the suffocating atmosphere – only mitigated by her rallying the panicking team to repair a ruptured bulkhead, shut off air circulation to most of the dome and shelter in a tiny subdivision of the dome until evac came through.
Dr. Khouri is charismatic, able to convince, persuade and argue far better than most. She is also wounded by her experiences and has suffered psychological trauma from the Dome incident.
Due to the significance of this character, I will allow a limited write in for her background above and beyond this. It will be for flavor and will not affect the above choices, and is subject to my veto if I feel it is not what I want to write. Tomorrow we do staff choices once this is done.
[] Character Flavor: Write In Further Background