The Oddest Jobs in StarFleet III

Captain, first officer, chief of security, chief medical officer. These posts, and many more, are staples of every simming ship and installation. But what about the lesser known positions – the intelligence officers, diplomats, and nurses of the fleet? In this series, we’ll examine some of the less traditional posts and the characters and writers behind them.
Lieutenant Guy Perry Hunt, Strategic Operations Officer, Starbase 118 Operations
Since Worf debuted on Deep Space 9 in 1995, the strategic operations officer has been a part of the Star Trek universe. Bill, who writes for Lt. Hunt, remembers “always being fascinated with the role that Worf took on at DS9.” But what exactly does a strategic operations officer do, especially for a massive base like Starbase 118? Bill reveals that he took the “operations” part of the post to heart: “I have always liked playing the Chief of Operations because it is a duty station that touches into every department on the ship.  The Chief of Operations truly has a hand everything.  But I wanted more.” Together with his captain, the decision was made to assign Hunt to the strategic operations position. Hunt became “someone who can fill in at Operations if needed, work Intel and be a liaison on the station between other ships in the fleet to help funnel the really important information to  the C.O. and the X.O.”
Worf’s position on DS9 was often integral to the continuing story of the Dominion War, and he often commanded the Defiant; without either of those devices to fall back on, how does Bill integrate Guy Hunt’s character into the structure of 118 Ops? “StarBase 118 has its own Strategic Operations Tower, with many different officers working on different projects.” In addition, “Guy is a ‘keep busy’ kind of officer, so it is not uncommon for him to work outside of his department, mostly in Engineering or Security … he spends a lot of time looking over off-ship reports of all sorts … he spends time looking over Intel reports to try to see if there is anything that might affect the current mission the Victory is on, or the space around SB 118 … he is also a standard fixture on away missions.” Clearly, Bill knows how to spread Hunt around the station and use his position to interact with as many of his peers as possible. And, for “a fleet that is far away from home, on the borders of some very rough space, a Strategic Operations Officer is very important.”