ENGINEERING LESSON 3: Tactical Systems Shipboard Phasers The lead defensive system maintained by Starfleet Command for sublight use for the last century is the phaser, the common term for a complicated energy release process developed to replace pure EM devices such as the laser, and particle beam accelerators. Phaser is somewhat of a hold-over acronym, Phased Energy Rectification, referring to the original process by which stored or supplied energy entering the phaser system was converted to another form for release toward a target. The ship's main phasers are rated as Type X, the largest emitters available for starship use. Individual emitter segments are capable of directing 5.1 megawatts. By comparison, the small personal phasers issued to Starfleet crew members are Type I and II, the latter being limited to 0.01MW. In their primary defensive application, the ship's phaser arrays land single or multiple beams upon a target in an attempt to damage the target structure, sometimes to complete destruction. Generally speaking, regardless of the actual beam type, pulse or continuous, or the specific Threat situation, the most effective tactic is to maintain CONTACT between the beam and the Threat shield or physical hull. Virtually all phaser-related scenarios deal with sublight starship velocities, and for good reason. Space vessels operating at warp are protected, to a large degree, simply by the limitations of lightspeed physics. Phaser energy dissipates quickly in the vicinity of moving warp fields, especially when those fields are accompanied by active deflectors. This remains true even if the targets are motionless relative to each other (in comparison, subspace emission devices such as tractor beams and transporters are less adversely affected). Personal Phasers The primary defensive arms carried by Starfleet crew members are two types of small phasers. Type I and Type II. Both are high-energy devices sized for personal use and can be stowed in or attached to one's uniform. Type III phaser rifles are also available for special situations, although these are rarely necessary on normal Starfleet away missions and are therefore not included in the ship's standard inventory. The power levels available to both the Type I and Type II phasers are designated 1 to 8. The Type II has an additional 8 levels, from 9 to 16, all involving high proportions of nuclear disruption energy. The following list describes the effects associated with each level: SETTING 01-----Light Stun. Temporary Central Nervous System (CNS) impairment. Subjects remain unconscious for up to five minutes. Damage index is 0. SETTING 02-----Medium Stun. Base-type humanoids are rendered unconscious for up to 15 minutes, resistant humanoids up to five minutes. Damage index is 0. SETTING 03-----Heavy Stun. Base humanoids remain in a sleep state for one hour, resistant bioforms for fifteen minutes. Damage index is 1. SETTING 04-----Thermal Effects. Base humanoids experience extensive CNS damage and epidermal EM trauma. Structural materials exhibit visible thermal shock. Damage index is 3.5. SETTING 05-----Thermal Effects. Humanoid tissue experiences severe burn effects but, due to water content, deep layers will not char. Simple personnel forcefields are penetrated after 5 seconds. Large away team forcefields will not be affected. The damage index is 7. SETTING 06-----Disruption Effects. Organic tissues and structural materials exhibit comparable penetration and molecular damage effects as higher energies cause matter to dissociate rapidly. Damage index is 15. SETTING 07-----Disruption Effects. Organic tissue damage causes immediate cessation of life processes, since disruption effects become widespread. Damage index is 50. SETTING 08-----Disruption Effects. Cascading disruption forces cause humanoid organisms to vaporize, as 50% of affected matter transitions out of the continuum. Damage index is 120. SETTING 09-----Disruption Effects. Damage index is 300. Medium alloy or ceramic structural materials over 100 cm thickness begin exhibiting energy rebound prior to vaporization. SETTING 10----Disruption Effects. Damage index is 450. Heavy alloy materials absorb or rebound energy. 0.55 sec delay before material vaporizes. SETTING 11----Explosive/Disruption Effects. Damage index is 670. Ultradense alloy structural materials absorb/rebound energy. 0.20 sec delay before material vaporizes. Light geological displacement. SETTING 12----Explosive/Disruption Effects. Damage index is 940. Ultradense alloy structural materials absorb/rebound energy. 0.1 sec delay before material vaporizes. Medium geological displacement. SETTING 13----Explosive/Disruption Effects. Damage index is 1,100. Shielded matter exhibits minor vibrational heating effects. Medium geological displacement. SETTING 14----Explosive/Disruption Effects. Damage index is 1,430. Shielded matter exhibits medium vibrational heating effects. Heavy geological displacement. SETTING 15----Explosive/Disruption Effects. Damage index is 1,850. Shielded matter exhibits major vibrational heating effects. Heavy geological displacement. SETTING 16----Explosive/Disruption Effects. Damage index is 2,450. Shielded matter exhibits light mechanical fracturing damage. Heavy geological displacement. Photon Torpedoes The standard photon torpedo carried by Starfleet vessels is an elongated elliptical tube. Within the casing are installed deuterium, antideuterium holding tanks, central combiner tank, and their respective magnetic suspension components; target acquisition, guidance, and detonation assemblies; and warp sustainer engine. Photon torpedoes are directed against Threat force targets at distances from 15 to nearly 3,500,000 kilometers from the starship. 4.) Deflector Shields The tactical deflector system is the primary defensive system of any starship. It is a series of powerful deflector shields that protect both the spacecraft and its crew from both natural and artificial hazards. The deflector system utilizes graviton polarity source generators. Each generator consists of a cluster of twelve 32 MW graviton polarity sources. Shields prevent onboard sensors from working properly. Also, transporter systems are affected by shield operation. However, "windows" are created in the shields when they are rotating frequencies. It is possible to scan and in some cases transport while these "windows" are open. BACK LESSON 4: Addendum Operating Modes Normal flight and mission operations of a starship are conducted in accordance with a variety of operating rules, determined by the current operating mode of the vehicle. These operating modes are specified by the Commanding Officer, although in certain cases the computer can initiate Alert status upon detection of a potentially critical situation. In brief, the major operating modes are: * Cruise Mode. This refers to the normal operating condition of the spacecraft. * Yellow Alert Mode. This is a condition of increased readiness in which key systems are brought to greater operating capacity in anticipation of potential crisis. * Red Alert Mode. This condition is invoked during actual or immediately imminent emergency conditions. It is also invoked during battle situations. * External Support Mode. This is a state of reduced system operations typically invoked when the ship is docked at a starbase and is at least partially dependent on external power or environmental support systems. * Separated Flight Mode. This is a set of operating protocols used when the Saucer Module has separated from the Stardrive Section. Note that mant Red Alert operating rules apply, since such seperation is typically for combat situations. * Reduced Power Mode. These protocols may be activated when power availability or power usage is reduced to less than 26% of normal Cruise Mode load. Note that while each operating mode has a distinct set of operating rules and protocols, the Commanding Officer has a wide latitude in responding to specific situations. This is especially critical during Alert situations. Engineering Bridge Station The Engineering systems monitor duplicates in simplified form the Chief Engineer's primary status displays from the Main Engineering. These displays include the warp propulsion system, impulse propulsion system, and related subsystems. The purpose of this station is to permit the Chief Engineer to maintain supervision over engineering systems while on the bridge. This is particularly critical during Alert situations that may require the Chief Engineer's presence on the bridge while simultaneously requiring that officer to maintain a close watch over the status of key systems. Although this station is normally configured for passive systems status display, priority access by the Chief Engineer of senior staff can provide full control of virtually all engineering systems. The console is linked to the engineering system through the bridge's dedicated optical data network (ODN) trunks, but an additional measure of redundancy is provided by dedicated optical hardlines, which permit direct control of key systems in the event of major control systems failure. In such a case, the main computer cores would be assumed to be unavailable or unreliable, so manual control of systems would be enabled with suport from the bridge Engineering subprocessor. In Full Enable Mode, this station is capable of individually addressing each control and servo device (as well as Engineering command software) in all propulsion systems (subject to safety restrictions), giving the Chief Engineer enormous flexibility to reconfigure sysstem operations in response to unforseen situations. Training All Starfleet and attached personnel recieve initial basic instruction on the operation and use of a low-power variant of the Type I phaser (limited to Setting 3). All Starfleet officers recieve advanced training and are issued full-power Type I phasers as personal defensive arms. During alert Conditions aboard ship and during Away Missions, the Security Division will oversee the distribution of Type II units. Training for use of the Type III phaser rifle is available on starbases only. BACK