Imagine a small space ship, a pirate vessel if you will, with room for a crew of thirty but running with a crew of only about eight. I've created the primary ensemble of officers from the ship's captain on down to tactical systems officer or gunner but then -- what? I need two or three more characters. And, to confound matters, each crew member should have both a primary assignment and one or more secondary ones. Like say, the gunner also repairs the plumbing and so on.
Does anyone have any serious ideas?
Ever been in the navy? No? Neither have I. But look. You take a boat out on the ocean (with or without a pony), and you have a problem. Pick one or more: The waves don't stop, the wind changes direction, the enemy is relentless, there are reefs without light houses...etc. So you need a large (and capable) enough crew to work the boat giving time for others to eat, wash, sleep, etc. In the Navy, with a large enough crew that's usually on the order of 8 hours on, 16 hours off. Sometimes, it's 12/12. At any rate, there are duty watches and off-duty watches.
Now take a small space ship (with or without an alien) out into the middle of the Galaxy, traveling at 3x light speed and you have some very similar problems. Make up your own list. They don't get to drop anchor and wait till the crew is refreshed by a good night's sleep and has had their morning latte.
You have a crew of eight. Fine. At least one (according to your list) is the commanding officer. He/she gets to sleep 1/3 of the time. So out of every day, there is no "boss" on the bridge. Who's in charge then? When the tactical officer is in bed, who's manning the weaponry? The deck swab? Think about any of the Star Trek shows. It's hard to recall any episode where there is a 2nd string or 3rd string crew manning the Enterprise while Picard, Riker, Geordi, (Kirk, Sulu, Spock) sleep. Or who's on the bridge running the joint when Picard and Riker are trapped in a 20th century gumshoe drama on the holodeck?
Having a small crew may be nice for your story but consider how they run the ship 24/7.
Here's how I'd do it, I think:
Captain: In charge of everything. Can pilot, navigate, man guns, repair hull punctures, etc., but usually delegates those tasks to others.
Executive officer (vice captain, lieutenant, etc): 2nd in command. A copy of the captain as regards abilities.
Navigators: Two. One on duty, one off duty.
Pilots: Two. One on duty, one off duty.
Engineers: Two. One on duty, one off duty. One can be expert, but the other must be very capable.
Tactician: One. This guy/gal aims the weapons, sets the fuses, keeps the armament working.
Cook: One. He is the brunt of humor by the rest of the crew. Fun character, but again, we're out of people. So everyone cooks, and some are better, some worse.
Whups. I just identified ten characters. Your story takes place on a ship designed for a crew of 30--so my 10 is reasonable to work three rotating shifts--and demands it be operated by only eight crew members. No problem: just double up. Maybe navigation is automatic. Maybe the captain pilots the boat. Maybe everyone cooks (some good, some not so good--great device for humor).
Hope this helps.
Peter
