Oh man, this is awesome! I'm glad you all had a fun time with it.
Whoops, I just took a look, and saw what you meant. That's my fault for keeping the character sheet in-fiction for one portion and then completely meta elsewhere.
To be clear: each player should get one of those items. In all honesty, they mean whatever you want them to mean. I think of them more as narrative prompts to help you play out a scene. That said, I love the ideas you came up with, especially the Expanse-style bumping helmets to communicate! That's some inspiring creativity with an unintended prompt.
Interesting idea with the special equipment/roles. I'll have to tinker and see what I can come up with.
Aw man, this totally made my day! Thanks homie!