USS Andronicus Engineering Systems

Main Engineering

The life of a space faring vessel or any machine comes from its inner workings, and the inner most workings of the sovereign class starship occur in main engineering. Here one can find the warp core, coolant tanks, the central hub for isolinear processors, bioneural gel packs, and lots of other exciting things. From this location, the chief engineer can essentially manage the entire mechanical make up of the vessel—provided systems around the ship are in working order.

Unlike other designs, the Sovereign class's main engineering was built up rather than out. The room is tall and features multiple ladders and elevators that provide access to the various levels. As mandated by Starfleet tradition, the center piece of the room is the warp core, accentuated by the red and blue blazes of deuterium and antideuterium being injected into the reaction chamber. On either side of the core stand two pillars of plasma coolant that regulates the operating temperature of the warp core.

The Warp Core

Aside from its decorative neon blue and red blush, the warp core is the primary power generator aboard a Sovereign class starship. Energizing all the systems aboard a Federation starship is intensive enough, but climbing the warp scale is a whole different ball game. Harvesting the reaction between deuterium and antideuterium, the mark V warp core generates approximately 1.88e19 watts per second. The majority of its output is routed to the warp nacelles through the warp transfer conduits, but the rest is allocated for other shipboard systems.

By the time Sovereign class ships rolled around, Starfleet wised up and began to employ high capacity force fields around the warp core. This energy barrier acts as a protective shield in case of a core breach and could hold long enough for the engineering crew to execute an emergency core shut down.

Warp Plasma Coolant

In the trite words of the illustrious Ensign Harry Kim, "If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the warp core." It's true—the warp core is a toasty place, but it's nothing compared to what it would be without the tempering presence of plasma coolant. This key substance is a gaseous vapor that regulates the temperature of the core. Without it, the core is liable to destabilize. In case of such a disaster, it wouldn't where you were. . .you wouldn't be able to stand the heat.

Aboard a Sovereign class vessel, the coolant tanks run vertically and parallel to the warp core. They glow a constant, bright white. Not the greatest reading light, but it surely offsets the neon colors of the warp core. Since coolant is such an integral component of the warp system, routine checks and maintenance are required to ensure safe and proper operation.

Plasma coolant is integral, but also extremely dangerous. When loose, coolant reacts violently with organic material and will dissolve it within seconds. Strict emergency procedures, including the immediate evacuation and quarantining of main engineering, exist in case of such a problem. Fortunately, once main engineering is sealed air-tight, the unpunctured tank sufficiently moderates the warp core temperature long enough for the crew to vent the prodigal plasma coolant and render engineering safe once again.

Warp Nacelles

Sovereign class vessels feature two long, large warp nacelles. These structures house the bulky warp components so that when it's time to hit the old dusty trail, the delicate and precisely tuned engines are protected from inertia, temperature change, and other potential hazards.

Inside Sovereign class warp nacelles are all the necessary components to generate a warp field: three bussard collectors that gather hydrogen for fuel (which can then be routed to the warp core and reacted with antimatter to produce energy), a plasma injector—fed by the EPS grid—that energizes the twenty six sets of warp coils which, in turn, generate the warp field. At the rear of each nacelle, an off axis field control unit is installed to alter and fine tune the warp field to whatever specifications will most efficiently cart the ship along its merry way. A small control room is also built into each nacelle for quick and easy access to the hardware components.

Nacelles generate radiation. The larger the nacelle is, the more radiation escapes from its warp coils. Therefore, on large vessels like the Sovereign class, nacelles are extended on pylons away from the main hull to prevent any injurious effects on the crew.

The Warp Scale

Climbing the ladder to success takes a lot of diligence, talent, and dedication, but ascending along the warp scale takes billions of megawatts per second as well as one heck of a sleek, mean starship. At the start of the 24th century, the Federation adopted a new warp factor chart that started at warp one—roughly the speed of light, with a threshold requiring approximately 10,000 megawatts to cross and a fixed 120 megawatts to maintain—and concluding with infinite velocity at the theoretical infinite velocity of warp ten.

The USS Andronicus’s top speed of warp 9.99 equals to nearly 10,000 times the speed of light with a threshold requiring a daunting 10,000,000,000 megawatts to cross and a standing 130,000,000 megawatts to maintain. As a vessel gains momentum and surges into the higher end of the warp scale, both power consumption and speed slope steeply upward. As a result, the difference between warps 9.9 and 9.99 is equivalent to the difference between warps 1 and 3.5.

Electro-Plasma Distribution System (EPS)

Starting at the warp core and branching to every single system on board the ship, the electro-plasma distribution system (also called the plasma grid) is an "energy aqueduct" that supplies the entire vessel with power. There are four EPS grids aboard Starfleet vessel: The primary EPS grid, the primary backup, the secondary EPS grid, and the secondary backup.

The primary and primary backup grids both supply energy to the major shipboard systems—warp engines, main computer, life support, shields, weapons, deflector control, inertial stabilizers. In the event of a failure of some sort, the redundant grid can take over in the blink of an eye. Likewise, if additional power is needed at a particular location—the warp nacelles for instance—the backup grid can provide additional bandwidth to take that power there when it is needed most.

The secondary and secondary backup grids provide energy to all secondary systems—turbolifts, replicators, sonic showers, holodecks, etc. Since these systems are not technically vital and require less power, the secondary grids are smaller, indirect, and less conveniently accessed. Yet they branch throughout the entire ship like a web and various EPS Taps can be found in Jeffrey's Tubes, access panels and EPS power transfer conduits.

Other Schematic Charts