Disclaimer: I don't actually know the Halo universe *at all*.
Still, reading the wikipedia article on the Spartan II, they come across a little... oddly... as rank structure goes. Practically speaking, they're a named and numbered asset at the government scale. (We have X many of them. We'd like to have more, but they are *prohibitively* expensive/difficult/time-consuming to create. If we lose one, the Commander in Chief would want to know. If we lose ten, that's a noticeable blow to the overall effectiveness of the force.)
If this is Simply Not True in your universe (ie, the known worlds aren't under massive horrible assault, and they churn out a few hundred of these guys every year. We could have more of them if we wanted them, but the price tag just starts to rack up something fierce after a while) then see my previous post. Otherwise...
Otherwise, their technical rank is more of a formality than anything else. Their relationship to their captain, then, must be derived, rather than inferred.
Important questions. A number of these will influence one another:
- As before, how may of these guys does she have working for her? If it's in the one to three range, then they may well not report to anyone who isn't one of them on the way up to her, at least not in a meaningful way, and (in that case) would interact as respected and useful immediate subordinates. If it's more like twenty to thirty, then this is not so much the case, and there is likely to be (for example) at least one more officer in the chain between her and them, and probably two (Executive Officer, and Special Ops Officer. There may be a general Ops officer as well.)
- Is the captain one of them or something equivalent? (qualifying attributes would be things like being the best Foo in her generation for some applicable Foo, being a household name as a war hero, having served a significant role in their creation, and so forth. Essentially, is she replaceable? If she died of food poisoning, how difficult would it be for the navy to find someone of equivalent caliber to fill the slot? Simply put, Manticores and Spartans are not easily replaceable. If the Captain is, then they're worth more to the force than she is. That will have a dramatic effect on how they interact.)
- Does she lead them or just manage them? Obviously, she's running the ship they live on, she's debriefing them, and she has some degree of control over their lives, but there's a world of difference between the job descriptions of "Here are some Manticores. Their job is to do Foo. You job is to make sure they are happy, healthy, effective, and continually improving as they do Foo. For resources we give you a ship." and "Your job is to do Foo. For resources we give you some Manticores and a ship." even if the second has "Try to give them back in at least a good a shape as you found them, They're not easy to replace." tagged on to the end of it.
- How much power does she have over their lives and careers? (By default, the Captain of a vessel has a *tremendous* amount of power over the lives and careers of every member of the crew. Everyone answers to the Captain. The Captain answers to God.) If they decide they don't like her leadership style, would there be any strings they could pull to do something about it, or would they just be stuck with her?
Still, reading the wikipedia article on the Spartan II, they come across a little... oddly... as rank structure goes. Practically speaking, they're a named and numbered asset at the government scale. (We have X many of them. We'd like to have more, but they are *prohibitively* expensive/difficult/time-consuming to create. If we lose one, the Commander in Chief would want to know. If we lose ten, that's a noticeable blow to the overall effectiveness of the force.)
If this is Simply Not True in your universe (ie, the known worlds aren't under massive horrible assault, and they churn out a few hundred of these guys every year. We could have more of them if we wanted them, but the price tag just starts to rack up something fierce after a while) then see my previous post. Otherwise...
Otherwise, their technical rank is more of a formality than anything else. Their relationship to their captain, then, must be derived, rather than inferred.
Important questions. A number of these will influence one another:
- As before, how may of these guys does she have working for her? If it's in the one to three range, then they may well not report to anyone who isn't one of them on the way up to her, at least not in a meaningful way, and (in that case) would interact as respected and useful immediate subordinates. If it's more like twenty to thirty, then this is not so much the case, and there is likely to be (for example) at least one more officer in the chain between her and them, and probably two (Executive Officer, and Special Ops Officer. There may be a general Ops officer as well.)
- Is the captain one of them or something equivalent? (qualifying attributes would be things like being the best Foo in her generation for some applicable Foo, being a household name as a war hero, having served a significant role in their creation, and so forth. Essentially, is she replaceable? If she died of food poisoning, how difficult would it be for the navy to find someone of equivalent caliber to fill the slot? Simply put, Manticores and Spartans are not easily replaceable. If the Captain is, then they're worth more to the force than she is. That will have a dramatic effect on how they interact.)
- Does she lead them or just manage them? Obviously, she's running the ship they live on, she's debriefing them, and she has some degree of control over their lives, but there's a world of difference between the job descriptions of "Here are some Manticores. Their job is to do Foo. You job is to make sure they are happy, healthy, effective, and continually improving as they do Foo. For resources we give you a ship." and "Your job is to do Foo. For resources we give you some Manticores and a ship." even if the second has "Try to give them back in at least a good a shape as you found them, They're not easy to replace." tagged on to the end of it.
- How much power does she have over their lives and careers? (By default, the Captain of a vessel has a *tremendous* amount of power over the lives and careers of every member of the crew. Everyone answers to the Captain. The Captain answers to God.) If they decide they don't like her leadership style, would there be any strings they could pull to do something about it, or would they just be stuck with her?