Hm. One argument against giving Medical orange undershirts is that they're kind of... eyewatering and not relaxing, at least for humans (though for all I know Vulcans find orange a soothing color, while green is subconsciously terrifying because it's the color of blood, while Andorians don't even see orange as a bright color because their eyes use different pigments, and so on)...
But then I realized that Medical has entirely different uniforms for when they're on duty (the white lab coats), which cover up those orange undershirts fairly well.
So I'd argue for navigation not being a separate branch at all, and folding it into command (or possibly folding command, tactical, and navigation together into a single division).
Command, Tactical, and Navigation all have the same sort of thing in common: they all relate to the art of operating a Starship as a unit in space... which would make you want to call them Operations..
.
Of course you could change Operations as it is currently thought of to "Administration" and turn Helm/Tactical/Command into "Starship Operations"
I've modified the division colours a bit from the movie era.
Command is still movie era white.
Science is now separate from communications and navigation, and is the traditional Blue.
Medical is now the teal we saw Bashir wear in DS9 and is kept separate from science. The reasoning being that knowing who is a medical doctor, and who is a doctor of neutron physics is important information to know quickly.
Engineering has kept it's movie era gold/ochre colour.
Tactical is now red, it has been separated from security based on the reasoning that the skill sets for operating starship grade weapons, and guarding the physical ship are quite different. Knowing who can do what should be important.
Security remains movie era green.
Operations is a sort of miscellaneous department that covers all the roles other divisions do not, mostly administrative and logistics, but including communications. It retains the grey colour comms did from the movie era.
Navigation includes starship helm, shuttle pilots, and flight crew. I've made it a separate division since it seems to me that knowing who is capable of those tasks should be important. They have the colour orange which is pretty much the last distinctive colour left.
Midshipmen, cadets on active starships, have been given the black colour that enlisted had in the movies. The reasoning being that Tactical has taken their red, and I don't think enlisted need a special colour when the already have different uniforms. And that enlisted also need to be readily identified by their division, not just officers.
The officers uniform can be worn sans Jacket, and only the coloured undershirt, which gives it a nice TOS style look.
There is also a light duty version of uniform, more likely to be worn a more informal office or administrative environment, or on shore assignments like a starbase. Medical personnel have a special scrubs-type version of this light duty uniform.
The cadets have both a class uniform worn typically on campus at the academy, and a utility jumpsuit for more active training environments.
Right- but in the TOS era, command, navigation, probably tactical, and operations insofar as it existed all wore gold, as far as I can tell.
The point being that there's a certain set of functions that are specialist "science" tasks, and a set that are specialist "engineering" tasks, which relate to operating specific technologies necessary to the ship's functionality and mission. There are "security" and "medical" branches that have specific duties related to keeping the crew safe.
But then there's a broad range of general functions necessary for the ship to function, things that are necessary prerequisites for someone to be truly qualified to command a ship in their own right. Tactics falls under this heading. Navigation and helmsmanship do. Much of what we call 'operations' in Star Trek does, too.
Subdividing this division is not necessarily a good idea. There's room for specialization within it- but there are good reasons to promote tactical and operations officers to run their own starships, while science and engineering officers get promoted to specialist branches when they're too senior to serve as subordinates aboard a ship.
My 'future uniform' request would be to see the 'Tellar Sciences Heavy Duty Suit' which I imagine to be something like a deep-sea hardsuit for hostile environment work. Of course, that kind of specialist gear wouldn't be part of the normal uniform lineup.
Command, Tactical, and Navigation all have the same sort of thing in common: they all relate to the art of operating a Starship as a unit in space... which would make you want to call them Operations..
.
Of course you could change Operations as it is currently thought of to "Administration" and turn Helm/Tactical/Command into "Starship Operations"
Honestly I'd just put it all, Operations included, under the heading of 'command,' for the specific purpose of coloring uniforms. Yes, it's a big category with a lot of sub-specializations. But then, so is engineering, and we don't come up with different shades of the rainbow for engineers working on warp cores, deflector dishes, sensors, and so on.
Right- but in the TOS era, command, navigation, probably tactical, and operations insofar as it existed all wore gold, as far as I can tell.
The point being that there's a certain set of functions that are specialist "science" tasks, and a set that are specialist "engineering" tasks, which relate to operating specific technologies necessary to the ship's functionality and mission. There are "security" and "medical" branches that have specific duties related to keeping the crew safe.
But then there's a broad range of general functions necessary for the ship to function, things that are necessary prerequisites for someone to be truly qualified to command a ship in their own right. Tactics falls under this heading. Navigation and helmsmanship do. Much of what we call 'operations' in Star Trek does, too.
Mind you, there seems to be options to transition out of the specialist branches to the general command track. Primarily it seems to go through the Tactical Officer and Operations Officer positions, where security officers and junior engineers or science officers sometimes go to transition to more general starship operations.
I've modified the division colours a bit from the movie era.
Command is still movie era white.
Science is now separate from communications and navigation, and is the traditional Blue.
Medical is now the teal we saw Bashir wear in DS9 and is kept separate from science. The reasoning being that knowing who is a medical doctor, and who is a doctor of neutron physics is important information to know quickly.
Engineering has kept it's movie era gold/ochre colour.
Tactical is now red, it has been separated from security based on the reasoning that the skill sets for operating starship grade weapons, and guarding the physical ship are quite different. Knowing who can do what should be important.
Security remains movie era green.
Operations is a sort of miscellaneous department that covers all the roles other divisions do not, mostly administrative and logistics, but including communications. It retains the grey colour comms did from the movie era.
Navigation includes starship helm, shuttle pilots, and flight crew. I've made it a separate division since it seems to me that knowing who is capable of those tasks should be important. They have the colour orange which is pretty much the last distinctive colour left.
Midshipmen, cadets on active starships, have been given the black colour that enlisted had in the movies. The reasoning being that Tactical has taken their red, and I don't think enlisted need a special colour when the already have different uniforms. And that enlisted also need to be readily identified by their division, not just officers.
The officers uniform can be worn sans Jacket, and only the coloured undershirt, which gives it a nice TOS style look.
There is also a light duty version of uniform, more likely to be worn a more informal office or administrative environment, or on shore assignments like a starbase. Medical personnel have a special scrubs-type version of this light duty uniform.
The cadets have both a class uniform worn typically on campus at the academy, and a utility jumpsuit for more active training environments.
Mind you, there seems to be options to transition out of the specialist branches to the general command track. Primarily it seems to go through the Tactical Officer and Operations Officer positions, where security officers and junior engineers or science officers sometimes go to transition to more general starship operations.
Sure- but that's kind of the point, that officers who aspire to starship command have to pass through the specializations that handle a basket of skills we might loosely term "ship-handling." Navigation, tactics, helmsmanship, and operations.
They don't have to start out in that room, but they have to pass through it on the way to the captain's chair. That, or receive special certification which I would assume to be rigorous to ensure they have qualification for ship command (e.g. Troi in the seventh season of TNG).
Post-TNG it looks like that Navigation/Conn would wear red -- Think Tom Paris, Geordi when he had Conn, this guy. Meanwhile Ops seems to be gold. As near as I can tell the diff between TNG and TOS department colors isn't entirely just a simple swap -- some TOS command roles, like tactical/weapons/ops, seem to stay Gold.
Meanwhile in movie era, after doing some research, it's... complex, but they seem to do what TNG does as well. It's made confusing as well by the fact, as Memory Alpha notes, Operations seems to be covered by Yellow and Grey. Examples [big image warning]:
In short: certainly at this point in time where there's not the Big Three department colors, Navigator/Conn appears to be Operations Grey, or maybe Yellow. In TNG era however, they seem to go back to being Command, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're in the 'command track,' as Geordi goes from Red to Gold (and also becomes Senior staff, even more confusingly).
There is one notable exception, however:
EDIT, ON REVIEW OF GENERATIONS: Demora is wearing yellow and is noted as being the helmsman.
EDIT: Meanwhile, in WoK, Sulu wears gold and appears to be handling weapons systems and also helm. Valeris is in red but sits where Chekov normally would. Christ, I knew this was going to be one of Those Things that just make me want to Drink
Call it rumors, but I hear from a reliable source that the white bits on the shoulders are clasps for one Orson Krennick style in the dress uniform, at least.
I don't actually mind the black... cut outs? Idk what the fashion term is, but the black parts on @Ato 's jackets. Otherwise, looks good. Weirdly I feel like you could replace the white trim with actual golden trim and it would be a decent flag officer variant.
Based on the separation between the shirt and the pants, I'm guessing Starfleet officers are going to show off their toned stomachs now? Also will make literal navel-gazing easier.
We on the CW now folks, it's time to show off them abs
Captain's Log, USS Odyssey, Stardate 24990.4 - Captain Langa Mbeki
The faith that has been shown in me to give me this second opportunity is humbling. When I watched the engineering hull of Miracht explode, I thought my career in space was sure to go with it. But I've been cleared by the board of inquiry, been given a vote of faith by the Old Lady of the Fleet and the Explorer Corps as a whole.
[Commander, Starfleet NB: Vote of faith by the what now??]
[Chief of Staff NB: It's a colloquialism.]
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Personal Log, Captain Langa Mbeki, Stardate 24990.5
Another five year mission! I don't think I've felt this much relief since the final of the inter-academies, when I thought I was out plumb LBW only for it to be given as a no-ball.
Well, I'm the sort to always take full advantage of a second opportunity. Here we go...
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Captain's Log, USS Sarek, Stardate 24991.6 - Captain Straak
While taking a detour to avoid an ion storm, an Amarkian freighter passed through the outskirts of the Palondis System and detected artificial radio waves. Starfleet is unaware of any installations that should be in this system, so we have been tasked with investigating these details.
I have been given command of the mightiest collection of Federation ships to be assembled since the Battle of Kadesh. My first task is to rally them together, as they have been scattered somewhat by the recent high alert. I'm arriving from Starbase 7, catching a relay with the USS Lightning on its way redeploying from Andor to Amarkia, then transferring to the Salnas as it travels to the Cardassian Border, and finally onto the USS Winterwind. I must say, it is good to see more of the Centaurs, I have always had a soft spot for them.
In addition, it is good to meet more of the up and coming Starfleet officers, such as Captain Taggart on the Winterwind. We have travelled to Delzarr, at which Outpost I will be deploying my command staff. The Apiata have tasked a dedicated attack team, which is a Little Queenship and two Stingers, to protect the outpost, and in a few months it will also become the focal point of the new Apinae Sector Fleet. The USS Saratoga will be arriving shortly with Commodore Rivers, who will command my fist, along with Commodore Suarez, who will command my Auxiliary. Commodore Revak, who will lead my escort detail, will arrive with the USS Korolev.
Seeing multiple Constitution-Bs in formation certainly gives me some warm and fuzzy flashbacks. Would probably give the Klingons of my vintage conniptions, for that matter.
[Fleet assembling at Delzarr]
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Captain's Log, USS Odyssey, Stardate 24992.9
Our first assignment is exploring tailwards of Rigel. We had only barely passed the edge of Federation space when we detected a distress signal with very ambiguous wording.
Responding to ambiguous distress calls in unexplored space without paying attention is a good way to end up with a lot fewer crew, of course. As a result, we will be dropping to impulse at red alert, a good ten AU short of the signal.
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Captain's Log, USS Stargazer, Stardate 24993.5 - Captain Maryam Ajam
The Fleet has crossed into the Gabriel Expanse. With the current state of forces from several groups looking to compete for resources here, we are making as quick a passage as possible. Karen Sarjan and her staff want to leave the current political situation behind and gain some clear space, and limit our exposure to the Cardassians.
[Kadeshi Fleet on the move as quick as possible]
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Captain's Log, USS Thirishar, Stardate 24993.8 - Captain Norkair ch'Gharist
A star near Shrantet is issuing unusual emanations, so we have headed over to examine the cause. After careful examination, it appears that a comet that contained a number of exotic particles was pulled out of its orbit, into the star, which is converting a quantity of the star into strangelets, making drastic changes to the character of the stellar wind. My chief engineer and chief science officer are working together to experiment in how interactions with the modified stellar wind and other exotic materials may improve refining processes.
[Gain +10 sr]
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Sector Commander's Log, Gabriel BZ, Stardate 24994.2
My counterpart among the Apiata has advised me that they are encountering some delays in deploying forces into the GBZ due to the earlier high alert. They are reforming at Alrizzine and will be joining us next month.
[Apinae Fleet Unit GBZ Access set to Green Light]
[Apinae Auxiliary Unit GBZ Access set to Green Light]
Rather than the most likely scenario of the radio waves being the sign of an illegal Syndicate operation, it appears that a pre-warp civilisation has just begun to experiment with radio waves. After determining that their ability to locate us in orbit is negligible, we have begun observing this culture.
[Gain +10rp, pre-warp civilisation near 15 Themis]
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Captain's Log, USS Odyssey, Stardate 24994.8
The Distress Call was set up recently by a Licori scientist who had managed to create ... uh, well, a space monster, really.
A vacuum-based crystalline macro-lifeform is locked away inside the crust of one of the moons around a Class J gas giant. This creature has eaten the entire Licori research team and is very slowly making its way out towards the surface. After determining that it is, in fact, not sapient, but a mindless eating machine, we have used a burst of polaron radiation to break down the crystalline-bonds of the creature, using the local geology to reflect the radiation back and forth through the monster's cradle.
From what we have recovered from the research material, the Licori were not looking to create a bioweapon. They were just trying something different.
[Gain +10rp, +10sr]
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Station Commander, Tipperary Outpost, Stardate 24995.1
We have had to forego a potential diplomatic mission to a minor Caldonian colony due to a lack of available ships. It doesn't look like it's had any negative effects.
[Event missed]
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===================
Kadeshi Fleet Status
Pride of Kadesh
4 Motherships
6 Heavy Cruisers
15 Frigates
4 Sensor Ships
