Weapons Officer and Years

[El Payaso Malo]

I have a few problems.

In Klingon for the Galactic Traveler, on page 53, in seems to imply (to me) that nuHpIn ("weapons officer") and ya ("tactical officer") are two different jobs. The thing is, on Star Trek, "weapons officer" is just the Klingons' preferred term for "tactical officer." In short, they are identical. So my question is: Would it be seen as confusing or improper if I used them as synonyms, and would other Klingon speakers know they mean the same thing?

My other problem is with years. I hesitate to use Earth years in my Klingon fiction unless the context would call for it. Memory Alpha estimates a year on Kronos as being about 567 Earth days, assuming the calendar starts with the death of Kahless. Have any of you used this system or found another way around this problem? How have you presented time from a Klingon point of view?

[qoSagh]

As for years, check out my thread on the Klingon Calendar, which is a long unfinished project of mine. However it has much raw data.

I do not see tactical officer and weapons officer as the same job, but I do not know of a reliable enough source either way. To my way of thinking, the tactical officer is more of a thinking job, he may also have a role away from the bridge, in that he may actually design battle plans and forms of attack/defense. While I see the weapons officer as in charge of the weapons system, fire control plus a bit of engineering. He may oversee other fire control and weapons related tasks, but is probably working on orders from the Captain and maybe following a plan devised by the tactical officer.

[El Payaso Malo]

I was just going by what I've seen on Star Trek. The Klingons always refer to tactical officers as "weapons officers." Memory Alpha also notes this in its article for "tactical officer" (http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Tactical_officer). I really like your interpretation, though.

Could I use -'a' to indicate a department head? For example, QeDpIn'a' for "Chief Science Officer?" I wasn't sure if the word indicated a general officer in that department or the leader of the department, because it features pIn ("boss," which I know is slang for an expert).

[El Payaso Malo]

I think I'll use stardates.