GENERAL ENGINEERING NOTES

Introduction

Welcome to the dark, misty cavern that we like to call Engineering, Do not take this job lightly; it's a very complex in depth post, which will require care and your full attention. Even if you aren't an engineer, these notes will prove both informative and helpful towards your duties as a Starfleet officer.

The Engines

Nearly 340 years ago, shortly after the third World War, a Scientist known as Zefram Cochrane began a project he endeavoured to be the "Warp Drive." Warp Drive was singlely the most important invention ever created for mankind. Shortly after its development, poverty, disease, famine, all of these things ceased to exist. Zefram's test ship was to be known as the Phoenix, whose test flight resulted in the First Contact of an alien race known as the Vulcans. Almost 100 years later, the Federation was established. Now a days, Warp Drive is the primary propulsion of most, Faster-than-Light (FTL) Federation spacecraft.

In the simplest of explanations, Matter and Anti-matter are both stored on opposing sides of each other, because of the explosive power they produce when collided. Anti-matter is most unstable, and as such it stored at the bottom with only a deck plate's distance in between for easy dumping. Antimatter: Matter whose electrical charge properties are the opposite of "normal" matter.

For example, a "normal" proton has a positive charge, but an antiproton has a negative charge. When a particle of antimatter is brought into contact with an equivalent particle of normal matter, both particles are annihilated, and a considerable amount of energy is released. Another example is the electron. A normal electron has a negative charge, but an anti-electron, called a positron, has a positive charge. Positrons have less energy potential and are harder to keep stable in the annihilation process. As such, Protons and Anti-protons are used to power Faster-than-light propulsion. A little history on anti-matter:

When the universe was first created, it contained 101 protons for every 100 anti-protons - which we believe may have caused the first big bang. Because of this, the majority of matter in the universe is in fact matter, and not anti-matter. The federation produces anti-matter in large concentrations utilizing quantum reversal devices, to complete the transition from matter to anti-matter, constructed in large Starfleet fueling facilities. Of course, in extreme cases of emergency, antimatter production on starships is possible, but never recommended ;)

Here, antiprotons and antineutrons are combined to form the nuclei of anti-heavy hydrogen. Warp cores then annihilate this with antiprotons to produce the immense power necessary for a starship's EPS, and propulsion. All of these anti-atoms are extremely difficult to keep stable. Huge electromagnetic fields are utilized to maintain the stability needed to house them. Unfortunately, anti-neutrons are nearly impossible to keep stable due to the fact that magnetic fields only work on objects that have an electric charge. Because of this, these subatomic particles rely upon the charge of the anti-matter nuclei to remain stable.

Anti-matter nuclei are shafted through magnetic tubes - not actually touching the tubes, magnetic confinement fields prevents such. Magnetic lock failures are therefore serious, you usually see Geordi running in the opposite direction, especially when it's the anti-matter tubes!

These nuclei then meet up in the Dilithium matter/anti-matter reaction chamber where they hit the Dilithium crystals. Since crystals are arranged in a "lattice" structure, this crystalline lattice makes it possible for the Dilithium to be the only thing "porous" to anti-matter, minus other cryogenic forms of elements.

For the Dilithium to create a controlled annihilation of matter and antimatter, the anti-heavy-hydrogen protons, and the normal protons are all threaded through the atom lattices of the crystals where they meet, and eventually collide. The Dilithium crystals, known more commonly by their scientific formula:

2<5>6 dilithium 2<:>1 diallosilicate 1:9:1 heptoferranide

can regulate the antimater density, and thus the matter-antimatter reaction rate, since the lattices of the crystals remain a fixed distance both from atoms of normal matter and one another (just keep metreon radiation far out of reach from it :) When these two matters annihilate they create a type of warp plasma [Plasma is ionized gas, typically hotter than the corona of a star, which is around 2million degrees celsius]. This also creates a spike in gamma radiation about 1 geV(Giga-electron volts), thus the warp ion trail of antiprotons and gamma radiation that we often track cloaked ships with.

One must also realize that for the controlled annihilation to become possible, one would have to have a reasonable amount of anti-matter nuclei for every amount of matter nuclei. The mistake that most cadets make at the academy is to believe that warp factor cochranes (units of subspace distortion) can be created on the premise of different annihilation ratios:

1:1

10:1

39:1

202:1

214:1

392:1

656:1

1024:1

1516:1

The only time the annihilation ratios (or intecjection ratios) are not constant is usually during low warp or engine startup (in which case you might see 10:1 or even 20:1) The most efficient utilization of the dilithium crystalline lattice is 1:1, however; Thus, the ratio used at high-warp (above warp 8) is 1 proton-neutron (matter nuclei) to every 1 antiproton-antineutron (nuclei). 1/1 1:1 what have you..

That doesn't necessarily mean, however, that only one matter nuclei and one anti-matter nuclei are annihilated at the same time. Each lattice thread can control the annihilation of a matter and anti-matter nuclei. The matter and anti-matter stream is articulated well enough with the Dilithium crystals to keep the injection ratios as efficiently as possible..

Since billions of nuclei are annihilated at once, often, you aren't really powering warp drive on one nuclei of anti-matter and one of matter. The formulae usually relate to individual lattice threads.. Different intermix formulae can best determine how much matter and anti-matter go into the drive at one time, but.. Your mileage may very.

The EPS

EPS Taps are those which divide the energy into 3 usable levels, all crucial to the operation of the ship. Taps for the Electro Plasma System [EPS] are available in three primary types.

Type 1. A capacity flow for high-energy systems. - Warp Nacelles, Defense systems, Field generators, etc

Type 2. A capacity flow for experimental devices. - Science, Engineering and Medical labs, Holodecks, etc.

Type 3. A capacity flow for low-power input applications. - Computer core and all subsystems, lights, PADDs, etc.

Do your health a favor and keep away from EPS type 1 Tap failures. Just dump the engine core immediately and pray the Warp Coils (shaped like squashed horseshoes, and paired together to form rings to makeup the Nacelles - composed primarily of verterium cortenide) won't overload and explode before it's complete.

Having mentioned that, I want to point out that a core shutdown ceases the juice to the EPS taps, yet everything doesn't shut down. Lights, computers and life support, right? That is because Impulse is a separate system, which, like the Dilithium (warp) system, dumps its raw plasma energy into the EPS. Both feed the EPS.

Impulse is created through fusion (and the matter supply) which is more stable and keeps the ship running - originally warp drive was fusion based, and gradually it became more common a use for Sublight Impulse. If both Impulse and Warp are down, that's when backup generators need to maintain all ship's power usage. If neither engines are repaired soon, the generators eventually run out of energy and the ship is lost. If repaired, the EPS circle around and promptly re-charge the backup generators. Without repair, escape pods and shuttles would be the only option.

Impulse

Impulse you ask? It explains itself..

Now you have to realize that hydrogen, though it's the most abundant thing in the galaxy, is hard to store as a solid. As such, Deuterium is used to counteract this element (If you'll excuse the pun ;-) Deuterium contains highly concentrated amounts of Hydrogen isotopes, and is stored as a cryogenic slosh. As such, it can be used as a type of fuel. Now, after the controlled fusion of hydrogen creates a more denser type of helium, this gas is propelled justly out of the engine, after meeting with the EPS and the vectored exhaust director, to prepell the ship at some STL speed (Its fastest rate varies depending on the vessel or craft, but is normally limited to half light speed due to the time drag it creates)

Warp/Subspace Fields.

If you don't understand the explanation below, don't worry - it isn't crucial to. The better you get in Engineering, the more it will make sense to you. So keep it handy and refer back to it.

A powerful, asymmetric subspace field is established around the ship by the warp nacelles. The field is composed of nested layers, each pushing against the one beyond it. This drives the ship forward at a super-luminal velocity.

A tuned plasma stream from the warp core Matter/Antimatter Reactor (M/AMR) powers the nacelles. Injectors feed the plasma into warp field coil segments at specific times causing pulses to run the length of the nacelle, front to back. This peristaltic flow causes the push of the nested warp fields, and moves the ship forward.

The warp field wraps around the ship in a two-lobed bubble (Similar to a torus), with the locus at Main Engineering (by design). The shape of the ship determines the efficiency of the field, and this explains why the Enterprise has such a sleek design. The force created by the warp field needed to push the ship at super-luminal velocities can best be represented in dynes (units of force). Most often you'll use the term "Teradyne" to express this.

Meanwhile, the subspace field reduces the inertial mass of the ship, aiding in maneuvering. In fact, a small subspace field is kept around the ship at Impulse speeds, so the Impulse drives have less mass to push around. However, this is only a side effect and is NOT the mechanism used to allow Faster-Than-Light (FTL) travel. You have to also understand that normal light protons are as light (Again, excuse the pun) as electrons, but contain a bit more mass - yes they have mass. These near mass-less particles are what make light travel possible in the electromagnetic universe.

Now, this isn't necessarily true for a starship. Since subspace contains significantly different properties than normal space, in essence, it allows the ship a kick in the boot for accelerations to beyond the speed of light. Something the subspace field does, which I'll talk about in a minute, not only reduces the mass of the ship, but it allows for the spatial drag factor (Created due to the physical nature of objects. In essence, objects that accelerate get "heavier" with speed, also dependent on the interstellar medium)

 Subspace Field

Ships in warp interact with things in normal space, one of the reasons for the navigational deflector. Things in warp require a subspace field to enter and stay in warp, and it takes an enormous amount of power to generate this. When the subspace field decays, a ship drops out of warp returning to some STL velocity, but not necessarily a dead speed.

A subspace field does reduce the inertial mass of an object within it, i.e. it appears lighter, but it does not lower the mass to zero, nor on its own would this effect allow FTL travel, as mass-less particles in our universe are still restricted to light speed. It turns out that this effect isn't even considered for warp travel, although it is used for impulse engines - less mass to push around.

Time Constraints

Ever look at one of those pretty chronological charts they keep in the command center of Ops on the Starbase? Pretty nifty, right? Well, do you ever understand it? Of course not! What's to understand other than what's being read to you on your chrono :-/ Stardates are in effect the result of FTL (Faster than light travel) If you ever understand something, understand this: When you're traveling at warp speed, your clock is actually ticking slower than, say, a clock on a relatively stationary starbase. This is due to the time constraints faster than light travel places on our chronos. As such, stardates were designed to adjust for this "time drag." So in all normal general relativity, you could leave from Earth Thursday, return on a Saturday, where on the ship it's actually a Friday

Static Warp Shell

In 2367, a phenomenon occurred in which a 3D symmetrical bubble of subspace trapped the starship Enterprise, NCC 1701-D, and encompassed the ship. This subspace phenomenon had an unusual link between consciousness and the physical universe. The field itself was non-propulsive, since warp propulsion requires a peristaltic asymmetric field, but had significantly different properties than that of regular subspace.

Also aboard that starship, some 4 years later, a Static Warp Shell was created to collapse an anti-time anomaly in the Devron system. This shell acted as an artificial subspace barrier that separated time from anti-time; ultimately, it collapsed the anomaly. This techniqure of encapsulating subspace can also be used for retrieval purposes, similar to that of a transporter.

Use of this technology is not recommended for commercial use, but holds interesting applications for Starfleet Scientists. :)

Warp Field Effect

Not so recently, it has been seen that the continued use of FTL travel, particularly that involving Subspace (Warp Drive), causes cumulative damage to the structure of the subspace continuum. As the exposure to warp field energy increases, so does the chance of having a subspace rupture.

This "warp field effect" becomes particularly severe when Warp 5 is exceeded. A noted scientist named Dr. Serova proved this effect to be true when, in 2370, Dr's Serova and Rabal littered an unstable subspace region, known as the Hekaras corridor, with Veteron mines.

Concentrations of veterons interact with warp coils in prevention of warp drive - thus knocking out the warp drives of passing Federation starships and gaining attention. When the Dr. purposely causes a warp core breach in the area, a subspace rupture was inevitably formed, proving her theory to be sound. For several years after that, Federation starships were limited in speed to warp 4.7 to prevent further irreparable damage to the Subspace continuum.

Variable Geometry Warp Nacelles

When Starfleet Scientists realized the need for a solution to "Warp Pollution", they began extensive research on Warp Field Geometries and subspace field mechanics. Some years after the incident at Hekaras II, Starfleet finally found a solution to its problems:

Variable geometry warp drive involves a folding wind-and-nacelle configuration that no longer has a negative impact on subspace. The first such starship to imploy this type of technology was the USS Intrepid. The Intrepid class starship solves this problem through the use of inclined nacelles - nacelles that incline themselves upward during warp travel - and the use of the elliptical forward frame of the warp field:

This type of technology is now more commonly employed in most modern-day confederation starships (as we see with the forward hull ellipse). Most non-variable geometrical starship designs now employ one or two types of variable geometry technology to ellipse their warp fields enough not to cause this type of irreparable damage to the Subspace continuum.

 Warp Factors

An easy concept to grasp should be compound inflation, right? If you put a dime into your bank account, it'll double, then triple, etc. You'll be a millionaire before you die. All from a dollar? Yes. Granted the interest would have to be fair, 6-9%. And you have to let it compound, no withdrawals. Its how the rich get richer. And that's one way I look at it for our subject, another way is to think about time. Imagine warp 1 being seconds, warp 2 being minutes, warp 3 being hours, warp 4 being days. Now, see the difference between warp 1 and 4? That is how the warp factors work. They are each compounded considerably.

Warp 1 is lightspeed, but Warp 2 isn't lightspeed x2. It is lightspeed x10 [approximately]. This information is as important to the Navigation's officer as the Engineers. Which is why the Helm represents Engineering in some matters.: ( SEE WARP CHART )

Warp Factor 1 = 1 cochrane (light speed)

Warp Factor 2 = 10 cochranes (light speed x 10)

Warp Factor 3 = 39 cochranes (light speed x 39)

Warp Factor 4 = 102 cochranes (light speed x 102)

Warp Factor 5 = 214 cochranes (light speed x 214)

Warp Factor 6 = 392 cochranes (light speed x 392)

Warp Factor 7 = 656 cochranes (light speed x 656)

Warp Factor 8 = 1024 cochranes (light speed x 1,024)

Warp Factor 9 = 1516 cochranes (light speed x 1,516)

Now something to put things in more perspective, less theory.

The actual values are dependant upon interstellar conditions. (e.g. gas density, electric and magnetic fields within different regions of the Milky Way galaxy, and fluctuations in the subspace domain.)

How this information is relevant to you is to understand the power drain. You cannot give your Tactical officer full shield and weaponry strength when you're in warp factor 9, look at the power drain. The warp coils have to be sustained with the massive amount of plasma, otherwise the field is lost and the ship drifts off course.

Notice the power usage while traveling above warp factor 9. Warp 9.9 requires a lot of energy to sustain a stable warp field. Because of this, some starships have an automatic engine shutdown after ten minutes of travel at Warp 9.9. Any more than that would damage the ship and also use so much power that the ship would lose all life support and other systems:

In Physics we learn that static energy is larger then kinetic. This was taught *long ago* by our friend Newton. It does take more energy to move an object, then to keep it in motion. The Warp speed/power graph shows this, with the + signs. View that graph again. After the burst of energy, there is a decrease in energy. So you'll understand, there is energy for other systems - just not 100%. The taps have to give almost all custody rights to the Warp engines, visitation privileges can be arranged though. :) You're the Engineer, they are your engines and they obey you. Quickly can they get in front of you though, so keep a step ahead. When you do something, you should already know the outcome and confirm it. Such as power levels per warp jump, magnetic field containment readings, fusion coils, etc. Monitor-monitor-monitor!

Very important to remember though, is that Warp travel is non-Newtonian. Without a constant influx of energy, the subspace field will decay, and the ship will drop out of warp. In other words, you *must* continue to provide energy to maintain your warp velocity. Impulse Power, however, is normal Action/Reaction based and is Newtonian.

Subspace Density and Gravitational Constant

Warp Travel and Warp Speeds differentiate depending upon where you are in the universe. Some vessels may travel faster at lower warp factors than others, and some vessels may travel slower at lower warp factors than others - and some might not be able to goto warp at all. This is all dependent upon the subspace field density and electromagnetic flux of an area. Within Solar Systems, or within gravity wells, warp may be significantly slower than in other areas.

On a good day, in a good area, one might expect the subspace field density to be around .03684678 and the electromagnetic flux to be in the vicinity of 1.79130171. These are all average values under ideal conditions - again, your mileage may very. There have been regions of space where warp travel can be significantly faster than other areas; these areas are known more commonly as "warp highways". Depending upon the Cochrane Values of an area, you could theoretically reach the edge of the galaxy where areas are rather intense.

A very significant warp highway was the one that existed between Nimbus III and the galactic bulge (core). In 2287 the Enterprise-A traveled this highway at Warp 7, covering the 22,000 light year distance to the core in just under 6.8 hours - an average speed of 3,235 light years per hour. This particular "warp highway" no longer exists, and most only do so for a finite amount of time.

More common to the universe is "Warp Shallows"

ABLATIVE ARMOUR

Ablative armour was originally developed for the USS Defiant; the Borg had proven their ability to penetrate Federation shields with ease during their encounter with the Enterprise at system J-25, and the Defiant designers wanted the ship to have a degree of protection even if the shields should be overcome in the expected future encounters.

The value of the armour was proven when the Defiant came up against Dominion forces. Like the Borg, the Dominion were able to penetrate Federation shielding systems relatively easily in the first years of hostility between the two powers, and the Defiant's ablative armour allowed the ship to withstand attacks that would have otherwise caused significant damage.

Recently there has been a massive revolution in this technology with the appearance of the ablative armour generator. This device was given to the crew of the USS Voyager by a future version of Admiral Janeway, who travelled back in time to the ship in order to assist them in returning home from the Delta Quadrant. The generator involves a series of devices placed onto the hull of a vessel; when activated these replicate a layer of armour over the surface of the ship. The effectiveness of armour is considerable. The system Voyager employed was able to withstand a simultaneous attack by several Borg cubes. One of the most useful features of this system is that as it can be materialised and dematerialised as needed, even weapons systems can be covered over when they are not actually in use. This gives a much greater degree of coverage than any standard armour protection which must leave permanent apetures to operate such systems through.

At time of writing Starfleet had had relatively little time to asses this technology, but the ease with which it was adapted for use on Voyager without spacedock or any outside support indicates that it should be reasonably easy for the remainder of Starfleet's ships to create ablative armour generators for themselves. This should multiply the hull strength of the fleet massively at a single stroke.

CLOAKING DEVICES

The cloaking device was first developed by the Romulan Empire in the 2260s. Invisibility had long been possible - the selective bending of light around a vessel would render it invisible to whatever frequency range was selected. However, the power cost was so enormous that such a device was not considered to be practical.

In 2266 the Enterprise encountered a Romulan vessel which carried the first known practical cloaking device. The ship was able to cloak itself from sight at will, and although it is was still visible to motion sensors these were not accurate enough for more than a general location - certainly not accurate enough for a firing solution. Although the cloak was quite effective, it did have its drawbacks. The power drain was so great that the Romulan vessel was unable to use its own scanners effectively and could not fire any weapons. The vessel also had relatively limited range due to the high fuel consumption.

The Romulans apparently traded cloaking technology to the Klingons in exchange for warships. Certainly the Romulans began operating Klingon-designed vessels in the 2268, while the Klingons were known to employ cloaking technology at least as early as 2285. The Klingons made one major innovation in cloaking technology in 2293, when they produced a Bird of Prey capable of firing torpedoes whilst cloaked. The prototype vessel battled the USS Enterprise and USS Excelsior in orbit of Khittomer; despite emitting large amounts of neutron radiation the weapon was highly effective, but the Enterprise crew realized that the Bird of Prey could be tracked by following the plasma exhaust emitted by its engines and modified a photon torpedo to follow this trail. The development was so effective that the Klingon development was rendered next to useless, and was never again an effective combatant.

In 2311 the Federation signed the Treaty of Algeron, which reaffirmed the Romulan Neutral Zone and forbade the Federation from developing or deploying any cloaking technology.

Perhaps the most impressive example of cloaking technology was observed in 2364, when the supposedly mythical planet of Aldea was discovered by the Enterprise-D. The planet had been hidden for centuries behind a complicated light refracting mechanism which bent light around it in a similar manner to the Romulan cloaking device.

The Minosians were also known to employ cloaking technology as part of their Echo Papa 607 weapons system. The Enterprise-D was forced to battle a cloaked drone weapon in orbit of the planet; it overcame the cloaking device by luring the drone into the atmosphere where the turbulence made it visible.

Later in the same year the Romulan Warbird was encountered for the first time when the Enterprise-D encountered one at the Neutral Zone. It was initially believed that the Enterprise sensor systems could detect the Warbird through its cloak, but it quickly became apparent that the Romulans had in fact deliberately allowed themselves to be detected in order to determine the Federation's intentions towards them.

Subsequent encounters revealed that the improved cloaking device still suffered from limitations. The Romulan vessels remain unable to fire whilst cloaked, whilst advanced in Federation sensor technology have made its invisibility less than assured. Subspace listening posts and gravitic sensors are both a worry for Romulan commanders, and the Federation has deployed large numbers of these along its borders. Perhaps the most effective development was the Tachyon detection grid; created by Enterprise-D personnel in 2368, the system involves a network of vessels which send tachyon beams towards one another across a large area of space. Even a cloaked vessel will disturb one of these beams when crossing it, hence rendering it detectable.

In 2369 the Federation gained significant intelligence on the Warbird when a Starfleet officer masqueraded as a Romulan for a short time. She confirmed that the ship must keep a careful watch over its own electromagnetic emissions whilst cloaked, and that the radiative emissions of the warp engines must be precisely balanced by means of nullifier cores. Even a small misalignment in one of these cores creates a polarized magnetic disturbance whenever the ship is in motion, a disturbance which can be detected by a Federation vessel.

Ironically, perhaps the greatest single advance in cloaking technology was made by the Federation. In 2358 the Starship Pegasus was believed destroyed after a mutiny by the crew. However, in 2370 Starfleet discovered that the Pegasus was still largely intact. Admiral Pressman, Captain of the ship at the time of its loss, attempted to recover some technology from the vessel using the Enterprise-D. It transpired that certain Federation officers had been illegally developing a Phase Cloak, a device which could change the structure of matter in order render it both invisible and able to pass through normal matter. A vessel equipped with such a device could hide within a planet or a star, completely immune from conventional attack. The crew had been so fearful of what they considered to be a dangerous device that they had mutinied rather than continue to operate it.

In 2368 the Enterprise assisted a Romulan vessel in distress, and discovered that this vessel had also been attempting to test a phase cloak. The results had been disastrous, causing an accident that would have completely destroyed the ship if not for the assistance of the Starfleet vessel. There has since been little sign of progress with this technology.

In 2371 the Romulans agreed to allow Starfleet the use of a single cloaking device on board the USS Defiant in order to facilitate that ships missions against the Dominion, in return for all of Starfleet's information about the organization. Although the original agreement was to only use the cloak in the Gamma Quadrant, Captain Sisko subsequently violated this aspect of the agreement on many occasions.

COMPUTERS

DUOTRONIC

Created by Dr Richard Daystrom in 2243, the Duotronic circuit was a revolutionary advance in computer power and speed. Such was the increase in performance possible with this technology that they formed the basis of a computing revolution comparable to that caused by the silicon chip itself. Every Federation Starship computer for eighty years was based on duotronics, and elements of this technology was also used in sensor technology. Duotronics were eventually replaced by Isolinear optical chips in 2329.

ISOLINEAR

The isolinear chip replaced the duotronic circuit in 2329, and remains a major component of Federation computer systems over forty five years later. The major advance which came with isolinear chips was the combination of storage and processing power into a single totally integrated unit. Adding memory to a computer therefore automatically added more processing power, making upgrading a much easier task. Small numbers of isolinear storage units are used in both PADDs (see below) and tricorders, while large computer systems can mount hundreds or even thousands of chips, all running as parallel processor units, to give enormous storage and processing capacity.

The main computer system of the Galaxy class Starship, as launched in the early 2360's, comprised three redundant computer cores. Each core was a ten story structure which had 2,048 dedicated storage modules containing 144 isolinear chips - a total of 294,912 chips per core. At 2.15 kiloquads per chip this gave a total storage capacity of 634,060.8 kiloquads per core, making the system one of the most powerful mobile computers in service. The Library Computer Access and Retrieval System user interface is widely used in Starfleet, and allows the core memory to be accessed at 4,600 kiloquads per second. Accessing the entire memory of a core can therefore be done in under 2.5 minutes.

Other species also use isolinear technology - the Cardassians use rods rather than chips, but the operating principles are otherwise very similar to Starfleets technology. Starfleet has gained considerable experience in the use of Cardassian computer systems since taking over the running of Deep Space Nine.

One development common to several users of isolinear technology is the use of symmetrical (and therefore non propulsive) subspace field encasement. Jacketing a computer system in such a field allows the chips to run at faster than light speeds, greatly increasing processing speed. The original Galaxy class computer could speed up operations by up to 335% using this method.

BIONEURAL

Bioneural gel packs are a relatively new advance in Federation computing. The system is not a replacement for the isolinear computer system, but is rather an augmentation of it. By distributing gel packs throughout a Starships computer system information can be organized more efficiently, speeding up response time. Early use aboard the new Intrepid class starships proved reasonable successful, although the biological nature of the packs has led to problems such as infection. The packs are now being used as standard aboard all new Starship designs, as well as some support craft.

POSITRONIC

Developed by Dr. Noonian Soong, the positronic network is undoubtedly one of the most unique forms of computer ever fielded. The system uses the decay of positrons to form a sophisticated neural network. First suggested in the fictional works of Issac Asimov in the 20th century, the positronic brain was long thought to be impossible but was finally realized by Soong in the 24th century. As far as is known, Soong created only two fully working positronic nets for the androids Data and Lore. Lore was judged unsuccessful after developing undesirable personality traits and dismantled; he was later re-assembled by Starfleet personnel, but his unstable personality led him into various criminal endeavours and he was eventually disassembled again by Data.

Data remains the only successful example of an independent positronic network as yet, and one of the very few examples of sentient artificial life within the Federation. He has been operational since 2338; at this time his personality was almost a complete blank, and he has devoted considerable effort to the development of social skills in order to integrate into Federation society - with a considerable degree of success. Study of Data has revealed surprisingly few clues as to how Soong was able to create a working positronic network. It is known that Data's neural network has biological components, and this has allowed his behaviour to be affected by the Psi 2000 virus. In 2364 Commander Maddox of the Daystrom Technological Institute proposed dismantling Data in order to learn more about his functioning, including Soongs method of resolving the problem of electron resistance across the filaments in Data's brain. However, Data bjected to the procedure on the grounds that Maddox did not yet have sufficient knowledge to carry it out safely. As of 2364 Data had an ultimate storage capacity of 800 quadrillion bits and a processing speed of 60 trillion operations per second.

An advancement in submicron matrix transfer technology in 2366 allowed Data to attempt to create a new positronic network, resulting in the android Lal. Lal's brain was in many ways superior to Data's, allowing her to experience emotions and overcome some of the program limitations imposed on Data by Soong. Unfortunately, Lal suffered system wide cascade failure and ceased operating after only two weeks.

By 2371 positronic technology had advanced to the stage where implants could replace some of the functions of a damaged organic brain, although there are considerable ethical difficulties inherent in this type of procedure. As yet, Data remains the sole example of a fully artificial positronic brain in existence.

PADDS

The Personal Access Display Device is one of the most widely used methods of accessing and manipulating information. Although the capabilities of the Padd are limited compared to the larger desktop units, their small size offers a convenience that larger units lack. Indeed, the effectiveness of the principle is shown by the fact that while they have been produced in a massive variety of sizes and shapes, virtually every major species has produced a design which shares the same basic features.

Padds are almost always handheld devices with a large surface area relative to their thickness. They include both memory and processing capacity, usually with some form of remote linkage to larger more capable systems. Almost all have a display screen which takes up 50% or more of the surface. This is usually touch sensitive, but is supplemented by a small number of physical controls.

Starfleet employs three standard model Padds; a 10.16 x 15.24 x 0.95 cm, a 20.32 x 25.41 x 0.95 cm, and a 22.86 x 30.48 x 1.27 cm model. Made from micromilled duranium, the units operate on sarium-krellide energy cells and have masses ranging from 113.39 to 340.19 grams. Dynamic resolution switching is employed by the nanopixel molecular matrix screen. Memory ranges from 15.3 kiloquads in the smallest to 97.5 kiloquads in the largest. All units contain a subspace transceiver assembly to allow connection with more powerful computers in order to send or receive data or share larger processing tasks.

Starfleet is currently evaluating Padds which will introduce bio-neural elements, speeding up response time in line with the performance gains in modern Starships.

FORCEFIELDS

Forcefield technology is one of the most massively useful technological advances ever made. Initially prophesied by science fiction in the early 20th century, this is one of those technologies which has developed along almost lines almost identical to those forecast by those early "imagineers". The first forcefield technologies were developed during the mid 20th century by the team working under Doctor Cochrane as part of the warp flight project. Since these early pioneering days, forcefield technology has diversified to the point where there are literally thousands of different types of field, each with properties carefully designed to fulfil a specific range of functions. Below is a listing of some of the more common types of forcefield currently in use.

The Inertial Damping field is one of several types of forcefield which makes space flight practical. Essentially, a modern inertial damping system is a network of variable symmetry force fields which serve to absorb the inertial forces involved in space flight;even interplanetary craft routinely accelerate at hundreds of gees, and without this protection a person within such a ship would experience an apparent weight equivalent to many tons.

Most damping systems operate under the direct control of the ships main computer systems, which allow it to anticipate the forces which will result from use of the engines. The degree of fine control which this allows is such that it is virtually impossible to tell from within that a vessel is accelerating at all, let alone to feel any discomfort.

However, when the forces on a vessel are generated by an external source - such as weapons fire for example - it is a slightly different story. In this case the system can only react rather than anticipate, and this leads to a small lag between the action and reaction. This is manifested by a certain leakage through the IDF field, resulting in a noticeable effect on the passengers. Ensuring that this effect remains within safe limits is one of the primary concerns of all Starship designers.

The structural integrity field (SIF) is another of the basic requirements for any modern spacecraft. This field is projected through the structure of a vessel,essentially turning the material into a cross between matter and forcefield. This increases the strength and rigidity by orders of magnitude, allowing the materials to withstand the stresses associated with both normal and combat operations.

The Structural Integrity Field of Starfleet vessels can also serve as a secondary backup to the ships main shielding system if required; when run at above normal capacity the system is capable of protecting a vessel from even multiple direct hits by heavy weapons. This makes the SIF a key component in the protection of a starship.

The shield system provides the modern Starship with its principle protection against both violent natural phenomena and enemy weapons fire. Most shield systems are composed of highly focused spatial distortions which contain an energetic graviton field. The shield itself is projected by a set of transmission networks located on the hull of the ship; when matter or energy strikes the shield, field energy is concentrated at that point to create an intense localized spatial distortion.

The shape of the field can be varied at the discretion of the tactical officer - the most common configuration is a set of curved fields which interlock to form a large bubble over vessel, although some users prefer to make the shields closely match the ships hull. In the former case shield burn-throughs are more likely, as the shield must enclose a somewhat greater volume. However, in the latter case those burn-throughs which do occur are much more damaging as they are directly adjacent to the hull. Most of the information on this subject is highly classified, but since even individual vessels are known to utilize both configurations, it appears that bubble shields are preferred under certain tactical situations, conformal shields under others.

Shields are carefully tuned to create windows which allow matter and energy to pass through under certain specific circumstances - for example, visible light below a certain intensity is allowed to pass through unhindered. This allows the crew of a vessel to see out whilst the shields are up - or more importantly, to use visible light sensor systems. This window renders the shields invisible to the naked eye under normal circumstances. Other windows exist to allow sensors and weapons to operate through the shields.

Impacts on the shield cause Cerenkov radiation to be released, often perceived as a flash of colour which "lights up" the shield, rendering it briefly visible. To an observer it appears that the intruding object bounces off the shields - in fact the spatial distortion becomes so great that the path of the object is radically altered, and to an zero dimensional observer on the incoming object it appears that it is the starship which has suddenly changed location while his/her course is unchanged.

For over a century after the invention of the shield it was impossible to use transporters to beam to or from a shielded location, but to an extent this limitation has now been circumvented. In general sensor and weapon windows are insufficient to allow beaming; whilst technically there is nothing to prevent a ship opening a window in its own shields of sufficient size to allow transport, in practice such windows are almost always large enough to be detected and exploited by enemy vessels and it is far simpler just to drop the shields briefly altogether. The more modern Starfleet shield designs have now reached a point at which transporters can be operated via a large wide frequency window which is briefly opened over the hull emitters. This gives greater flexibility in using the transporter during high threat situations, but it remains a somewhat risky proposition - should an enemy score even a near miss on such a window the effects on the ship would be considerable.

Beaming through an opponents shields is an altogether more difficult proposition, but this can be accomplished successfully if the transporter operator has a detailed knowledge of the shield configuration s/he is attempting to beam through. A notable example of this is the occasion when the USS Enterprise managed to beam a crew member on board the USS Phoenix whilst that vessel was engaged in unlawful operations within Cardassian space, or the Defiant's use of the transporter to board the Constitution class USS Enterprise whilst that ship was modulating its shields for sensor operation . Such operations remain the exception rather than the rule, however - and against the unknown shield configuration of an enemy vessel, beam through remains impossible.

The most recent advance in shielding systems is the Regenerative shield. This system is in use with the most modern generation of Starfleet vessels, and was employed by the Dominion in the planetary defence network around Chintaka. The regenerative shield allows a portion of the enemy fire to be diverted through the shield generator to reinforce the shield layer - the amount of damage that a weapon impact does is thus greatly reduced. The effectiveness of the reinforcement depends on the shield generator design, but typically the effectiveness of a shield will be increased several fold by the addition of regenerative capacity.

The Containment Field has become the standard method of confining objects and isolating them from their surroundings for a wide variety of purposes. Some of the main applications common on board the modern Starship are listed below :

Many medical applications of containment fields exist. Typically these are among the weakest in use, since the likes of virus samples cannot - usually - attempt to physically force their way out of a container. Medical fields are generally designed only to create a perfectly air-tight seal.

Engineering applications include the storage of material samples collected via transporter. This generally requires higher strengths, since the samples collected can include the likes of high temperature plasmas or highly radioactive materials.

A step up from these levels of field are those used in the shuttle or cargo bays of a starship in order to contain the atmosphere whilst allowing vehicles to pass through relatively unhindered. The atmospheric containment field of even a small cargo bay must hold against a force of over half a million Newtons, whilst the field used on the main hangar bay of a Galaxy class starship must withstand some two hundred and fifty times this.

Probably the biggest use of the containment field on board a starship is in the field of security. These are generally used to block corridors, keep prisoners contained within the brig whilst allowing visual checks on their condition to be made, or to restrict entry to vital areas of the ship.

Starships by their very nature must employ ultra strong fields in a few selected locations. Whilst these fields can be many times stronger than even the ships main shielding system, this is usually gained by generating the field over a very restricted volume and projecting it directly within the generator network itself. Such fields are used to contain the matter-antimatter reaction within the warp core and power transfer conduits which permeate a starship.

GUARDIAN OF FOREVER

More than a hundred years after its discovery, the Guardian of Forever remains an almost total mystery. Discovered by Captain Kirk in 2267, the Guardian was located on an uninhabited planet. It was roughly ring-shaped, approximately three metres in diameter. Sentient and apparently highly intelligent, the Guardian spoke in fairly ambiguous terms, claiming that its answers were being tailored to the level of Human understanding. It claimed to simultaneously be both a device and a life form and said it was "its own beginning", possibly indicating that it had somehow evolved by itself rather than having been constructed by others. Although it was located the middle of ruins which dated back one million years, the Guardian claimed that it had been awaiting a question since "before your sun burned hot in space", a span of some five billion years. It therefore seems that the city was built around the Guardian rather than vice versa.

The Guardian could show images of distant times and places, and was apparently designed to act as a portal which allowed travel to those locations. Several Enterprise crew members used the Guardian to travel to 1930s Earth and return safely.

Many questions remain concerning the Guardian, not least that of who might have built it. If its claim as to how long it had awaited a question is correct, it would pre-date even the Progenitors by at least a billion years, and may in fact be the oldest entity in our universe. Given its tendency to talk in riddles it seems unlikely that the Guardian will be more forthcoming about itself in the future.

HOLO-DECKS

Since the first primitive "virtual reality" systems were created in the 1990's, Humans have advanced hugely in their ability to recreate the sights and sounds of a real environments within an artificial setting. The early VR environments could by no means be called realistic, but by the mid twenty first century computers had advanced to the point where VR systems had gone into common use both in entertainment and many other more serious applications. VR technology was virtually abandoned in the aftermath of World War III, and no serious efforts to pursue simulated environments was made again until near the end of the twenty first century.

The major stumbling block to Virtual Reality as it existed at this time was physical - no matter how good the computer became at projecting images, sounds, and suchlike to the user, he or she was not actually in a real environment. Although body suits capable of simulating tactile impressions had come into use by 2120, these where never considered a serious substitute for actually handling real physical objects.

What was needed was a way to physically recreate an environment which the user could then interact with freely. This did not become possible until the invention of the replicator unit in 2315; based on transporter technology, the replicator allowed actual objects to be created in an instant and deleted as needed.

The first "holochambers" emerged in 2328; they used a small room equipped with a set of holographic projectors which could generate a realistic image of an outdoors scene onto the walls and ceiling. A replicator would then materialize objects within the room to go with the image - plants and trees, for example. The users where then free to pick up and use the objects without having to wear any kind of projection equipment themselves.

Early holochambers suffered from several limitations; a careless user could easily walk into a wall, for example, and if several users where in one chamber then they could only be as far away from each other as the size of the chamber allowed. The major limitation was in the creation of characters within the holochamber; although reasonably realistic images of people and animals could be projected, users could not physically touch these characters in any way.

More recent models have largely overcome these problems; a modern holochamber projects a forcefield across the floor of the chamber, and should a user walk towards the wall this field begins to act as a 'treadmill' to keep the person stationary; the computer automatically moves the replicated objects within the holochamber and adjusts the holographic projections to simulate the movement the user should experience. Replicated objects reaching the wall are dematerialized, while images of objects reaching the space within the chamber are replicated for real.

The second hurdle was overcome by 'internal partitioning' of the chamber. Should two people enter a holochamber and walk in directly opposite directions, they would previously only be able to go so far before reaching the walls. While the 'treadmill' effect can convince a user that the environment is passing them, it cannot make the users continue to move further away from each other and so the illusion would be broken.

In modern holochambers, the computer would sense that this was about to happen and throw up an internal divide; halfway across the holochamber the computer would throw up a hologram showing each user an image of the other, continuing to move further away - essentially this process creates two miniature holochambers within one. Should the users head back towards each other the computer would reverse the process, merging the two into one again. A modern holochamber is capable of sub-dividing into many separate environments, allowing groups of people to wander around independently of each other.

Perhaps the most impressive advance in holochamber technology has been the advent of 'holomatter'. This is solid matter created within the holochamber energy grid and manipulated by highly articulated computer driven tractor beams; although early efforts where crude, modern holochambers can use holomatter to create and animate totally realistic characters within the chamber.

The basic mechanism behind the holochamber is the omni-directional holo-diode (OHD). The OHD is a small unit (several hundred million per square metre in modern holochambers) which is capable of projecting both full colour stereoscopic images and three dimensional forcefields. The OHD's are circuit printed onto large sheets, which are then subdivided into tiles of 0.61 square metres. A typical starfleet Holodeck wall consists of twelve sub processing layers totalling 3.5 mm thickness, diffusion bonded to a lightweight cooling tile. The panel is controlled by an optical data network similar to that used for standard panel displays. Dedicated subsections of the main computer system drive the holodeck, and it is the memory and speed of these computers which determines the number and complexity of the holodeck programmes available.

Although modern holochambers are often touted as being just as good as the real thing, in practice there are still limitations. Even the best holochamber can only subdivide into a maximum of twelve separate environments, and many holochamber programmes are not complex enough to make full use of the holochambers technical capabilities. Perhaps the biggest limitation is in the holomatter itself; this is only stable within the energy grid, and looses cohesion almost instantly if removed from the holochamber.

Holochambers come in various sizes and types; the federation is reputed to have the best models, with Earth boasting some of the largest known holochambers. Starfleet 'Holodecks' are probably the most technically sophisticated, while the Ferengi are known for having some of the most advanced and creative entertainment software.

ICONIAN GATEWAY

Until 2365, within the Federation it was widely believed that the Iconians were a myth. They were widely known in archaeological circles as ancient 'demons of air and darkness' who were able to appear at will anywhere, travelling without benefit of spacecraft. On Stardate 42597.17 Captain Donald Varley of the Galaxy class USS Yamato was given an artefact thought to be Iconian when visiting an archaeological site. He was able to translate symbols on the artefact and after correcting for 200,000 years of stellar drift he was able to determine that the location of Iconia itself was in the Romulan Neutral Zone, close to Romulan space.

Varley proceeded into the Zone and encountered an active piece of Iconian technology around Stardate 42607.95. The device scanned his ship, whereupon the Yamato began to suffer various computer malfunctions. Immobilized, Varley called Captain Picard for assistance. Unfortunately, shortly after Picard arrived the Yamato began an emergency dump of its antimatter stocks. The dump was then halted and the containment fields dropped while sufficient antimatter was still present to cause a catastrophic explosion.

The Enterprise itself then began to experience similar computer malfunctions. It was determined that the Yamato had contracted a form of computer virus from the Iconian probe, which had communicated itself to the Enterprise via the communications system when the ship had transmitted its log entries. The Enterprise was able to destroy another probe before it could cause further contamination.

On Iconia itself Picard discovered the source of many of the legends concerning the Iconians; the Iconian gateway. The gate appeared as an oblong panel in the air with various destinations displayed in it. To reach a destination one simply stepped through at the proper time, crossing light years in a moment.

Picard was able to use the gateway to escape the planet after setting the generator equipment to self destruct so as to prevent it from falling into Romulan hands. The ship was able to clear out the Iconian program by conducting a complete shutdown and reboot of all computer systems and escaped from the area without further incident.

A second Iconian gateway was discovered in the Gamma Quadrant by a force of rebel Jem'Hadar, who planned to use it to break away from the Founders and overthrow the Dominion. A joint Federation / Dominion assault force raided the location of the gate, which was protected by neutronium armour impenetrable to conventional weapons and a dampening field which rendered phasers inoperable. They joint force were able to fight their way to the gate and plant explosives to destroy it.

To date no further trace of functional Iconian technology has been discovered.

IMPULSE ENGINES

The basics of Impulse Engine design as employed by the United Federation of Planets, and most other major powers, have remained more or less static for almost a century now. In general, Impulse engines consist of four main components :

The fuel tank contains the reactants used within the engine. Starfleet uses simple Deuterium fuel - less efficient than a Deuterium/Tritium mix, but Deuterium is far easier to produce and handle than Tritium, while using only one type of fuel eliminates the necessity for two independent sets of fuel storage and handling systems within the ship.

Once the fuel has left the tanks, it is reduced in temperature to form pellets of solid Deuterium ice of variable diameter. These are fired into the reactor where a set of fusion initiators are used to ignite the pellet whilst a magnetic field holds them in place. The Deuterium atoms are fused together in part according to the equation :

Which gives the conversion of mass to energy a theoretical maximum efficiency of 0.08533% -in practice other reactions and engine design produces different efficiencies. The standard Impulse fusion reactor as used in the Galaxy class Starship is a sphere six metres in diameter, constructed of dispersion-strengthened hafnium excelinide. The reactors can be networked together, with each one passing its plasma output to another in a cascade fashion. Each of the eight Impulse engines on a Galaxy class starship has three fusion reactors connected together in this manner.

Once the Deuterium has fused successfully, the plasma stream created is passed through the next major component - the space-time driver coil. Under the Einsteinian physics which holds true for objects at sub-warp velocities it is virtually impossible for a simple fusion rocket to deliver sufficient energy to accelerate a spacecraft to near light speed - the fuel requirements rapidly increase to the point where the large majority of the vessel would be dedicated to fuel tankage.The coil avoids this situation by generating a sub-warp cochrane field around the vessel, reducing its effective mass in order to boost the acceleration.

Actual Impulse flight performance is therefore dependant not only on the specifications of the fusion reactors, but also on the capabilities of the driver coils. One of the fastest ships ever fielded in terms of Impulse performance was the refit Constitution class. This ship was capable of reaching 'Full Impulse' (25% c) in a matter of seconds. At the other end of the scale the much later Ambassador class was designed to achieve a far more lowly acceleration of 10,000 ms-2, sufficient to reach Full Impulse in 125 minutes.

Once the plasma stream has passed through the driver coil assembly, it reaches the exhaust port and passes into space. If the coil itself is not engaged, the Impulse Engine reverts to behaving like a simple Newtonian fusion rocket with a performance thousands of times less than its normal capabilities. Under these circumstances the exhaust system is designed to vector the thrust of the engine in order to correct for unusual mass distributions or provide off-axis thrust for enhanced agility.

At velocities which are an appreciable fraction of that of light, time dilation becomes a factor for Starship crews. When a ship travels very near to the velocity of light, this effect can become very significant. For example, at the 92% c which is the maximum velocity of the Galaxy class Starship over 2.5 days would pass for a stationary observer for each day which passed for the crew. In order to keep these effects below a 3.5% time differential, the Federation has long imposed a ban on Impulse flight above velocities of 0.25 c - so called "Full Impulse" - on all normal missions. While this restriction is not applicable during combat operations, the effects of time dilation can have extremely adverse effects on a vessel in these conditions - a crew can find themselves in a position where their reaction time will be greatly reduced compared to an enemy because of the difference in velocities between them. High relativistic speeds are therefore generally avoided altogether by Starships.

Early space vessels had to mount so called "retro-rockets" in order to slow themselves down as they approached their destination, or else turn their craft backwards and use the main engines to slow down. One further advantage of utilizing the driver coil in an Impulse engine is that this rather cumbersome requirement is removed. The driver coil essentially allows the ship to reduce its mass in order to allow a - relatively - small amount of kinetic energy to create a great deal of velocity. Once the coil is discharged, the ship returns rapidly to its normal mass. The kinetic energy remains constant, so the velocity is vastly reduced without any need to use the engines thrust.

In theory, the coil alone could be used to drive the ship by simply adjusting the mass so that the velocity reaches the desired level. In practice, however, it is not that simple. The coil cannot be simply turned up and down as required, but is rather discharged and then recharged by the flow of plasma through it - essentially, by the normal operation of the impulse engine. It is thus not possible to 'tune' a ships mass up and down as required. Overcoming this limitation has been the holy grail of Impulse engine designers for well over a century, but as yet no progress has been made.

NAVIGATIONAL DEFLECTORS

While by most standards space qualifies as 'empty', in fact there is a significant amount of material of one sort or another within the interplanetary and interstellar medium. Most of this material is of atomic size, but a small fraction is comprised of micrometeorites and other such debris. All of this represents a potential danger to the unprotected vessel travelling at high relativistic or any warp speed; the kinetic energy of even a one gram object at 0.25 c is   in excess of 2.8 TeraJoules, sufficient to vaporise over a cubic metre of tritanium.

The navigational deflector is designed to protect a ship from this hazard. An offshoot of tractor beam technology, the navigational deflector uses graviton polarity source generator to feed a subspace field distortion amplifier in order to project a 'force beam' ahead of the ship. This is sufficient to deflect most material out of the path of the vessel well before impact would occur.

The navigation deflector is usually one of the largest components of a vessel, most especially so as it is usually combined with a large sensor cluster. On Federation starships the deflector is usually a large flat or concave area located to give it a clear line of sight ahead of the vessel - usually at the front of the engineering section. The deflectors are typically steerable to some 7^o from the normal line of sight.

Subspace field coils are used to split the deflector output into two components. First, a series of five nested parabolic shields extend nearly 2 km ahead of the ship. Very low power, these shields are sufficient to deflect stray hydrogen atoms of the interstellar medium as well as any sub-micron particles than may have escaped the deflector beam. While the vessel is at warp speed any particles hitting these fields will travel rapidly across the surface of the shields, passing through the ships warp field. This causes them to fluoresce, creating a 'rainbow streak' effect as they pass the ship. These streaks are bright enough that the uninformed often mistake them for passing stars!

The navigation shields also posses another intriguing property; they are immune to attack from laser weaponry. This is due to the trans-static flux effect which occurs as a by-product of the deflection process; when laser light impinges on a deflector field, the effect creates a small portal into subspace, causing the laser beam to pass harmlessly into this domain. As the beam is not subspace encased, it will re-emerge into normal space within a few milliseconds, putting it several hundred light seconds away. Since the beam never actually impacts on either the deflector shield or hull the power of the attack is irrelevant to the effect. This process is not regarded as a serious defensive measure, since laser weapons are considered obsolete by most major powers.

The second part of the navigational deflector system is a powerful tractor / deflector beam that sweeps thousands of kilometres ahead of the ship. This pushes aside larger objects that may present a collision hazard

PROBES

Class I Sensor Probe

Range: 2 X 10^5 km; delta-v limit: .5c; Power Plant: Vectored-deuterium microfusion propulsion; Sensors: Full EM/Subspace and interstellar chemistry pallet for in-space applications; Telemetry: 12,500 channels @ 12 MW.

Class II Sensor Probe

Range: 4 X 10^5 km; delta-v limit: .65c; Power Plant: Vectored-deuterium microfusion propulsion, extended deuterium fuel supply; Sensors: Full EM/Subspace and interstellar chemistry pallet for in-space applications, enhanced long-range particle and field detectors and imaging system; Telemetry: 15,650 channels @ 20 MW.

Class III Planetary Probe

Range: 1.2 X 10^6 km; delta-v limit: .65c; Power Plant: Vectored-deuterium microfusion propulsion; Sensors: Terrestrial and gas giant sensor pallet with material sample and return capability and on-board chemical analysis submodule; Telemetry: 13,250 channels @ ~15 MW; Additional Data: Limited SIF hull reinforcement, full range of terrestrial soft landing to sub-surfact penetrator missions, gas giant atmosphere missions survivable to 450 bar pressure, limited terrestrial loiter time.

Class IV Stellar Encounter Probe

Range: 3.5 X 10^6 km; delta-v limit: .60c; Power Plant: Vectored-deuterium microfusion propulsion supplemented with continuum driver coil, extended manoeuvring deuterium supply; Sensors: Triply redundant stellar fields and particle detectors, stellar atmosphere analysis suite; Telemetry: 9,780 channels @ 65 MW; Additional Data: 6 Ejectable/Survivable radiation flux sub-probes deployable for non-stellar energy phenomena.

Class V Medium Range Recon Probe

Range: 4.3 X 10^10 km; delta-v limit: Warp 2; Power Plant: Dual-Mode matter/antimatter engine, extended duration

Class VI ComRelay/Emergency

Beacon Probe - Range: 4.3 X 10^10 km; delta-v limit: .8c; Power Plant: Microfusion engine with high output MHD power tap; Sensors: Standard pallet; Telemetry/Com: 9,270 channel RF and subspace transciever operating at 350 MW peak radiated power, 360° Omni-antenna coverage .0001 arc-second high-gain antenna-pointing resolution; Additional Data: Extended deuterium supply for transceiver power generation and planetary orbit plane changes.

Class VII Remote Culture Study Probe

Range: 4.5 X 10^8 km; delta-v limit: Warp 1.5; Power Plant: Dual mode matter/antimatter engine; Sensors: Passive data gathering system plus subspace transciever; Telemetry: 1,050 channels @ .5 MW; Additional Data: Applicable to civilizations up to technology level 3, low-observability coatings and hull materials, maximum loiter time of 3.5 months, low impact molecular destruct package tied to anti-tamper detectors.

Class VIII Medium Range Multi-Mission Warp Probe

Range: 1.2 X 10^2 LY; delta-v limit: Warp 9; Power Plant: Matter/antimatter warp field sustainer engine, duration 6.5 hrs. @ Warp 9, MHD power supply tap for sensors and subspace transciever; Sensors: Standard pallet plus mission specific modules; Telemetry: 4,550 channels @ 350 MW; Additional Data: Applications vary from galactic particles and field research to early-warning/recon missions.

Class IX Long Range Multi-Mission Warp Probe

Range: 7.6 X 10^2 LY; delta-v limit: Warp 9; Power Plant: Matter/antimatter warp field sustainer engine, duration 12 hrs. @ Warp 9, 14 days @ Warp 8; Sensors: Standard pallet plus mission specific modules; Telemetry: 6,500 channels @ 230 MW; Additional Data: Limited payload capacity, isolinear memory storage of 3,400 kiloquads, 50 channel transponder echo, Typical application: emergency log/message capsule on homing trajectory to nearest Starbase or known Starfleet vessel positon.

QUANTUM SLIPSTREAM DRIVE

In mid 2374 Voyager received an encoded message from Starfleet via an alien communications system. The crew were unable to decode the message, and so it was eventually filed and more or less forgotten about.

At the end of the year Voyager encountered Arturis, an alien with an exceptional gift for languages who decoded the message for Janeway. The crew was directed to a set of co-ordinates, at which they discovered a Starfleet vessel named the USS Dauntless, NX 01-A. The message told them that the Dauntless had been launched on Stardate 51472, covering the 60,000 light year distance to Voyager in less than three months - an average speed of 240,000 times that of light. The ship was unmanned, and more than large enough to accommodate Voyagers entire crew.

On boarding the ship Voyagers crew found that it was powered by a "quantum slipstream drive" rather than a matter / antimatter reactor. The drive core was much more compact than a typical Starships power core. It directed energy into both the two nacelles and the main deflector dish, with the latter system creating the slipstreaming effect. The slipstream is somewhat similar to the transwarp drive conduits used by the Borg, but can be generated by any Starfleet vessel with the appropriate modifications to its navigational deflector. Unfortunately, the quantum stresses on the hull are such that a normal vessel such as Voyager cannot survive in a slipstream for more than an hour or so.

It transpired that the Dauntless itself was actually a fake created by Arturis. His species had been assimilated by the Borg shortly after Janeway ended their war with Species 8472 and he blamed her and her crew for assisting the Borg during that conflict. He had created the Dauntless using particle synthesis, an advanced technology which appeared to function in a manner related to holodeck imagery. His plan was to lure the crew onto the ship and then send it into Borg space on autopilot so that the Borg would assimilate them all. Although Voyagers crew became suspicious of Arturis, he managed to abduct Janeway and Seven of Nine and escape into slipstream. Voyager followed and recovered its crew members, leaving Arturis to continue on to Borg space alone. Voyager managed to get 300 light years closer to home before its slipstream collapsed.

Voyagers crew continued to work on the slipstream concept, and several months later managed to come up with a modified version of the technology. The new slipstream drive used a quantum matrix combined with benamite crystals and Borg technology to achieve far higher speeds than the Dauntless had managed, well in excess of a billion times the speed of light. Unfortunately, before the flight Lieutenant Paris discovered a previously unnoticed 0.42 phase variance in the slipstream threshold. Such a variance was more than enough to cause a catastrophic failure in the slipstream, leading to the destruction of the ship.

Captain Janeway nevertheless attempted the flight, sending the Delta Flyer ahead of the ship to map the slipstreams phase variations and send corrections back to the ship. The approach did not work, and Voyager was indeed thrown out of the slipstream after travelling only 10,000 light years closer to home, albeit without major damage. It was subsequently discovered that the phase corrections sent to the ship had in fact originated in an alternate timeline in which the ship had been destroyed during the flight. Surviving members of the crew had sent the information from decades in the future in order to rewrite history and save Voyager from destruction.

The benamite crystals used in the drive were highly unstable, and once they had been used up the flight could not be repeated. Voyagers crew continue to work on this impressive technology in the hope that further progress can be made.

REPLICATORS

Replicators are essentially an outgrowth of transporter technology. The Molecular Matrix Matter Replicator, to give it its full name, is capable of dematerialising a quantity of stored matter in much the same way as a transporter system does; however, there are no imaging scanners to analyse the structure of the material. Instead, a quantum geometry transformational matrix is used to modify the matter stream. The computer which oversees the process can use any available stored pattern within this matrix; once the pattern has been impressed onto the matter stream, it is dematerialised into an almost perfect copy of the original patterned object.

Replicators are available in small stand alone units, and these must be supplied with power and periodically re-stocked with raw material to keep them running. However, most replicator systems consist of little more than a dematerialising unit and a computer subprocessor / interface panel. Many thousands of these units can be connected to a large central dematerializer and transformational matrix system, controlled by a computer holding many thousands of stored patterns and stocked with many tons of raw material. When a user wants to replicate something he or she inputs the request to the terminal, which requests the item from the central system. Once the dematerialization and patterning processes are complete, the matter stream is routed through a network of wave guides to the terminal which originated the request and dematerialized there. This system saves having to keep thousands of individual replicators constantly stocked with raw materials.

In theory any object can be made from any basic raw material, but in practice significant energy saving can be made by using certain materials; for replication of food items an organic particulate suspension is used; a combination of long chain molecules , this substance has been specially designed, statistically speaking, to require the minimum number of molecular transformations to achieve the maximum variety of foodstuffs. Equivalent stocks are available for replication of non foodstuffs, with the control computer making the choice automatically.

Replicators which also have a dematerialization system installed can also serve as waste receptacles; waste placed into these can be dematerialized and returned to the central stock, ready to be replicated again. Until recently it was far more efficient to simply collect and recycle the waste by conventional methods, and using replicator terminals in this way was rare. However, recent advances in replicator technology have made such systems a viable proposition and this form of recycling is gradually becoming more commonplace.

Larger scale industrial replicators are available for the creation of a very wide variety of items which previously required dedicated factories to manufacture them. However, these replicator systems are limited in their abilities - the main such limit being the size of the object produced. For larger manufactured items, it is necessary to replicate smaller components and assemble them via traditional methods. Unfortunately the dream of the replicated skyscraper or starship remains a log way off!

All present day replicator systems share one basic limitation; they operate at the molecular resolution. As such, significant numbers of single bit errors will occur at the quantum level during any replication. Many claim that this gives replicated foodstuffs a distinctly inferior flavour to the 'real thing', although this may be more a question of bias against the technology rather than any discernible difference.However, the errors are more than sufficient to prevent replication of the precise energy states involved in neural and bioelectric patterns. These patterns, which are reproduced exactly during the operation of the transporter, are necessary to materialise a living being; this limitation therefore prevents the replication of any living thing via standard methods.

TRACTOR BEAMS

One requirement for all Starfleet vessels is the ability to manipulate objects in space. Typically this will involve towing other vessels or holding sensor probes in place, but modifying the course of asteroids or space debris is also an option.

To accomplish this, Starfleet vessels are equipped with one or more tractor beam emitters. These employ superimposed subspace/graviton force beams which focuses interference patterns on a remote object. This results in significant spatial stress being imposed on the object; by controlling the focal point and interference patterns of the beam it is possible to use this stress pattern to place either a repelling or attracting force on the object.

Power for the tractor beam emitters is provided by variable phase graviton polarity sources feeding sub-cochrane subspace field amplifiers. Phase accuracy of less than 2.7 arc-seconds per millisecond is required for precise control of a tractor beam. Use of a tractor beam can involve placing significant stress on both emitter and target, and vessels with low structural strength can be damaged by a tractor beam. Because of the potential damage to a vessel using a tractor beam, all Starfleet tractor emitters are attached directly to the skeletal frame, and are protected by the structural integrity field system of the craft.

All Starfleet vessels are equipped with at least one tractor beam emitter, generally placed so it can tow an object which is situated behind and below. Vessels of Runabout size or above are fitted with more than one emitter - large starships having enough to ensure all-round coverage.

TRANSPORTERS

The transporter is probably the single greatest revolution in the movement of people and goods in recorded history; invented in 2205, this device cut trans-planetary transport times to near zero at a stroke.

The basic operating principles of the transporter are relatively simple. It makes a detailed scan of the subject, breaks down its molecular structure, then transmits this beam to another location. The information gained from the scan is then used to reassemble the subject exactly as before.

Like many simple ideas, the actual engineering required to construct a working transporter are quite more complex. A standard transporter unit consists of ten major components :

The Transport Chamber is the area in which the subject is placed for transport. The transport chamber can be of almost any size or shape, though larger chambers have far greater energy requirements and are correspondingly less efficient for general use. Most transport chambers are capable of holding approximately six persons.

The Operators Console is the control unit of the whole system; these consoles are typically manned by a single operator who oversees the transport process and is responsible for reacting to emergency situations, as well as conducting routine maintenance of the transporter systems.

The Transporter Controller is a dedicated computer system which controls the minutiae of the transport process itself.

The Primary Energizing Coils are located directly above the transport chamber. These coils generate the annular confinement beam, creating a space-time matrix within which the dematerializing process occurs. The primary energizing coils also generate a containment field around the subject in order to prevent any possible breach of the annular confinement beam during the transport process. This is important as such disruption can result in a sizeable energy discharge.

The Phase Transition Coils are located in the floor of the transport chamber. It is the phase transition coils that cause the actual dematerialisation/materialisation process. They do this be decoupling the binding energy between the subatomic particles of the subject, causing the atoms themselves to disintegrate.

Molecular Imaging Scanners are located in the roof of the transport chamber. These devices scan the subject to be transported at quantum resolution, determining the location and momentum of every particle within the subject. Bulk cargo can be scanned at the molecular resolution, as it is not generally vital to recreate the object exactly. Living matter requires that exact information be obtained, a process which violates the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. This is made possible by the Heisenberg Compensator system, a component of the molecular imaging scanners of all personnel transport systems. All transporters are built with four redundant sets of scanners, allowing any three to override a fourth should it make an error. Should two scanners produce the same error the transport process would be aborted automatically by the transport controller system.

The Pattern Buffer is a large super conducting tokamak device, usually situated directly underneath the transporter unit itself. Once the subject has been dematerialized they are passed into the pattern buffer and held in suspension while the system compensates for relative motion between itself and the target location. Pattern buffers can be shared by several different transport systems, although only one transporter can use a given buffer at a time. Should an emergency arise during transport a pattern can be held suspended in a transport buffer without being either sent or dematerialized; however, after a few minutes such a pattern will begin to degrade to the point at which the subject will be unrecoverable.

The Biofilter is an image processing device which analyses the data from the molecular imaging scanner in order to locate any potentially damaging organisms which may have infected the subject. The biofilter is not generally a part of civilian transporter systems, though it is mandatory on all Starfleet transporters.

The Emitter Pad Array is mounted on the exterior of the transport system itself - in the case of a spacecraft, on the hull of the ship. The array transmits the actual matter stream to or from the destination. Components of the emitter array include the phase transition matrix and primary energizing coils. Some transporter systems also contain clusters of long range molecular imaging scanners within the emitter pad; this allows the system to lock onto targets at long range to beam them from remote locations without outside assistance. Most transporter systems do not include long range molecular scanners; such transporters can only beam to and from other other systems.

Targeting Scanners are a set of redundant sensors which are responsible for determining the exact location of the destination in relation to the transporter unit. Targeting scanners also determine the environmental conditions at the target site. Although dedicated targeting scanners should ideally be a component of any transport process, in practice any sensor device of sufficient range and accuracy can provide the required information so long as it is compatible with the transporter controller information protocols. In addition, if transport is being conducted between systems with a fixed relative position - planetary transporter units, for example - targeting information can be disregarded.

The precise operation of a transporter naturally depends on the level of system specifications. Starfleet transporters are generally reckoned to be the most advanced in the Federation, since they are required to perform a wider range of tasks over much more variable conditions than civilian models. A typical operations for Starfleet transporters include the following :

Beam up involves using the emitter array as the primary energizing coil in order to beam a subject from a remote location which does not have a transporter system.

Site-to-site transport involves following the conventional beam up process until the subject is in the pattern buffer; the subject is then shunted to a second pattern buffer and on to another emitter array before being beamed out to a new location. This process essentially merges two transport processes in order to allow a subject to be beamed from one location to another without having to rematerialise on board ship first. This process is avoided if possible since it requires double the energy expenditure and system resources to accomplish each transport.

Hold in pattern buffer. As described, the pattern buffer can be used to hold a subject essentially is stasis. Normally these patterns will degrade after just a few minutes at most, though on one occasion a specially modified transporter held a subject intact for seventy five years.

Dispersal. Although transporter systems are designed to beam a subject to or from a destination intact, it is possible to override the safety systems on a standard Starfleet transporter and cause it to deliberately disperse the subject over a wide area. This is done by disengaging the annular confinement beam during rematerialization, depriving the subject of a proper reference matrix to form against. Such a measure may be used in order to neutralize a dangerous payload such as a bomb or other weapon; the measure is frequently complemented by materializing the subject in space.

Near warp transport is achieved by careful shifting of the ACB frequency. This can be an uncomfortable experience for those who go through it, and on occasion can even be dangerous.

Warp transport can be achieved by the same method as near warp transport; this is only effective if the origin and destination are moving at the same warp speed. Transport between locations moving with different warp speeds result in a catastrophic loss of pattern integrity - this is fatal to living organisms.

TRANSWARP DRIVE

INTRODUCTION

Basic warp propulsion systems have been in use with the major alpha quadrant powers now for over three centuries. Warp technology has been tremendously successful, and there remains much potential for development in warp drive systems. Nevertheless, as early as 2275 scientists working at the Daystrom Institute proposed that standard warp physics was in fact only a small part of a much larger puzzle. This technology, dubbed "transwarp", quickly attracted the attention of Starfleet. A huge engineering project was begun with the aim of developing a starship capable of transwarp speeds. This new 'Excelsior' class was also to incorporate the very latest computers, sensors, and weapons systems - it would, quite simply, be by far the most sophisticated vessel in known space.

Unfortunately, while the Excelsior's non propulsion systems where a success, the transwarp project itself proved to be over-ambitious. Launched in 2285, it was only a deliberate act of sabotage by the Chief Engineer which prevented a catastrophic nacelle implosion on the first flight. Despite years of further work on the engines, the Excelsior was branded a failure - never made a successful test flight, and never having broke the transwarp barrier. Starfleet abandoned the Excelsior transwarp project altogether in 2287 and refitted the ship with a standard warp drive.

This was not the end for Federation transwarp technology, however. In 2372 the crew of the USS Voyager succeeded in conducting two brief shuttlecraft flights at warp 10 - actually straddling the warp barrier itself, and achieving infinite speed! However, several significant problems remain with this approach; Voyager crew members who conducted the flight experienced severe health problems, including genetic abnormalities. Voyager relayed some details of this flight back to Starfleet in 2373 via an alien subspace communications array; experts analysing the technology have indicated that the difficulties experienced by Voyager are in fact only the tip of the iceberg. As well as the guaranteed genetic damage, the subspace fields associated with this form of transwarp drive results in an 85% chance of fatality per flight. Significant problems also remain with navigating a vessel using this form of drive system, and as a result even unmanned probes have proved to be unusable.

ALIEN TECHNOLOGY

Although many regarded transwarp drive as an impossibility, recent experience has shown that transwarp is indeed possible. In 2364 the USS Enterprise made several short transwarp flights with the assistance of an alien being known as "The Traveller". In 2369 the Borg invaded Federation space for the third time, under the command of the android Lore. This time the Borg used a transwarp vessel capable of generating conduits within which an object could travel at incredible speeds - the USS Enterprise accessed one of these conduits and made a short trip at an average of some 236,000,000 times light speed. This vessel, which is thought to have been an advanced prototype, was later destroyed by the Enterprise.

The crew of the USS Voyager, who had tested their own transwarp drive in 2372, encountered a transwarp-capable species known as the Voth while journeying in the Delta Quadrant. A typical Voth ship was capable of some 200,000 times light speed using their transwarp drives. Voyager has subsequently encountered the Borg, and has confirmed that standard Borg cubes are capable of using a form of the transwarp conduit used by the experimental vessel under Lore's control. This drive is apparently much slower than Lore's vessel, a technology which the Borg seem to have abandoned after the loss of the prototype.

THEORY

When Professor Terrance and Doctor Neltorr proposed their "TNG scale", they had shown that a graph of the power required to propel any object at warp speeds would show certain minima which matched integer warp factors. On the TNG scale the velocity of an object - under ideal conditions - would be given by raising the warp factor it was travelling at to the power of 10/3, up to warp factor nine. Beyond warp nine the exponent increased gradually, then sharply as warp 10 was neared. At warp 10 itself the exponent became infinite - an object reaching warp 10 would thus achieve infinite speed, passing through every point in the universe simultaneously. Standard warp drives required infinite power to achieve warp 10 - naturally this seemed an impossible task. Scientists of the day where quite confident in proclaiming Warp 10 as the ultimate impassable barrier.

In 2269, scientists working for the Daystrom Institute took the theoretical models of subspace created by Terrance and Neltorr one step further. It was realized that the mathematics allowed for a second subspace region stretching from the warp 10 barrier up to another, similar barrier at warp 20 - a region which a public relations officer in the Daystrom Institute press office dubbed the "transwarp domain", a name which has stuck despite its inaccuracy.

In 2270 it was realized that even this theoretical transwarp domain was only part of the whole structure. The theory allowed for an infinite number of such domains, each separated by a warp barrier. Throughout the early 2270's there was a huge effort to discover whether these transwarp domains where just theoretical constructs, or where actually real. In 2273 the Starfleet science vessel USS Wanderer conducted a subspace particle dissipation experiment which proved conclusively that not only did transwarp domains actually exist, but that under certain circumstances it was possible for matter to circumvent the warp barrier and pass into the transwarp domain.

Theoretical and practical studies quickly established that at a point infinitesimally past Warp 10, the warp factor exponent fell from infinity to zero and then began to gradually rise again. By Warp 11 the exponent reached 13/3, after which it mirrors the behaviour of the normal warp curve. A Warp 19 the exponent begins to climb, again reaching infinity at warp 20 to form the next warp barrier. The whole process is repeated again in the second transwarp domain, and again in the third, and so on. In each domain the 'steady' central value of the exponent increases linearly - from 10/3 in the warp domain to 13/3 in the first transwarp domain, 16/3 in the second, then 19/3, 22/3, and so on.

WARP CHART

Compiled and completed by MFM Killian and Copywrited ©2001  - If you want a copy  please E-mail Me and I will send you a Copy as long as credit is given.

Joshua.killian@ukonline.co.uk