Steadfast-A Small Craft Assignment

USS Steadfast-A
INACTIVE STATUS
Current Crew Roster Crew History Promotion History NPC Listing Mission Archive Steadfast-A Deck-by-Deck Layout Steadfast-A Small Craft Assignment Steadfast-A Dedication Plaque Previous ships called Steadfast Marine NPCs Zeta Fleet Galaxy class NCC-31999-A Edit this nav

Shuttlecraft Operations

The Steadfast-A is equipped with auxiliary shuttlecraft to support mission objectives.

Standard complement of shuttlecraft includes ten standard personnel shuttles, then cargo shuttles, and five special-purpose craft. Additional special-purpose shuttles can be provided to a starship as necessary. The Steadfast-A also carries twelve two-person shuttlepods for extravehicluar and short-range use.

Operating rules require that at least eleven shuttle vehicles be maintained at operational status at all times. Cruise Mode operating rules require one standard shuttlecraft and one shuttlepod to be at urgent stand-by at all times, available for launch at five minutes' notice. Four additional shuttlecraft are always available on immediate stand-by (thirty minutes to launch), and an additional six vehicles are maintained for launch with twelve hours' notice. Red Alert Mode operating rules require two additional shuttles to be brought to urgent stand-by, and all nine remaining operational vehicles to be maintained at immediate stand-by.

Shuttlebays

The Galaxy class USS Steadfast-A has three major facilities intended for the support of auxiliary shuttlecraft operations from the ship.

The Main Shuttlebay, located in the center and aft sections of Deck 4 in the Primary Hull, includes launch support, recovery, and maintenance facilities for shuttle operations.

Two additional secondary shuttlebays are located in the center and aft sections (both port and starboard) of Deck 13 in the dorsal area of the Secondary Hull.

Shuttlebay exterior space doors are triple-layered compressible extruded duranium. Inner doors are composed of lightweight neofoam sheeting in an expanded tritanium framework. During active shuttlebay operations, atmospheric integrity is maintained by means of an annular forcefield, which permits both doors to remain open for vehicluar ingress and egress without depressurizing the bay.

Shuttlebay Two also includes a dedicated maintenance bay for servicing sensor array pallets. Two shuttlepods are provided for extravehicular removal and replacement of these pallets. Additionally, two adjacent maintenance bays provide work facilities for preparation and servicing of mission-specific sensor instrumentation.

Shuttlebay Three includes hardware for short-term conversion to Class H, K, or L environmental conditions, intended for use in emergency evacuation situations.

Each shuttlebay has its own operations control booth, which is supervised by an on-duty Flight Deck Officer. Each Flight Deck Officer is responsible for operations within that particular shuttlebay, but must report to the main shuttlebay officer for launch and landing clearance. In turn, the main shuttlebay officer must seek clearance from the Operations Manager on the Main Bridge.

Launch maneuvers and landing approach piloting is managed by a number of precision short-range tractor beam emitters located in each shuttlebay and on the ship's exterior, just outside each set of space doors. These tractor beams are computer controlled under the direction of the Flight Deck Officer, permitting the safe maneuvering of shuttle vehicles within the bays and in the 350-meter approach zone.

Maintenance facilities include replacement parts sufficient for twelve months of normal starship operations. These normally include two complete replacement spaceframes, which can be used for refurbishment of severely damaged ships.

Note that replicator usage can allow fabrication of nearly any critical missing parts, but large-scale replication is not considered energy-efficient except in emergency situations. However, in such situations, power usage is usually strictly limited, so it is unwise to depend upon the availability of replicated spare parts. This is another reason that the ship must maintain a significant stock of spare parts in inventory at all times.

Shuttlecraft

The seven shuttle vehicles most often carried in the USS Steadfast-A inventory are represented in the views and specifications below. Single major uprated variants are included. As combinations of interchangeable components, such as cargo pallets, engines, and unique mission housings, will affect vehicle dimensions and performance figures, only base values are given.

Shuttlepod Type 15

• Production Base: Starbase 134 Integration Facility, Rigel VI
• Type: Light short-range sublight shuttle
• Accommodation: Two; pilot and systems manager
• Power Plant: Two 500 millicochrane impulse driver engines, eight DeFl 657 hot gas RCS thrusters. Three sarium krellide storage cells.
• Dimensions: Length, 3.6 m; beam, 2.4 m; height, 1.6 m.
• Mass: 0.86 metric tonnes.
• Performance: Maximum delta-v, 12,800 m/sec.
• Armament: Two Type IV phaser emitters.

Shuttlepod Type 15A

• Production Base: Starbase 134 Integration Facility, Rigel VI
• Type: Light short-range sublight shuttle
• Accommodation: Two; pilot and systems manager
• Power Plant: Two 500 millicochrane impulse driver engines, eight DeFl 657 hot gas RCS thrusters. Three sarium krellide storage cells.
• Dimensions: Length, 3.6 m; beam, 2.4 m; height, 1.6 m.
• Mass: 0.97 metric tonnes.
• Performance: Maximum delta-v, 13,200 m/sec.
• Armament: Two Type IV phaser emitters.

Shuttlepod Type 16

• Production Base: Starbase 134 Integration Facility, Rigel VI
• Type: Medium short-range sublight shuttle
• Accommodation: Two; pilot and systems manager
• Power Plant: Two 750 millicochrane impulse driver engines, eight DeFl 635 hot gas RCS thrusters. Four sarium krellide storage cells.
• Dimensions: Length, 4.8 m; beam, 2.4 m; height, 1.6 m.
• Mass: 1.25 metric tonnes.
• Performance: Maximum delta-v, 12,250 m/sec.
• Armament: Two Type IV phaser emitters.

Personnel Shuttle Type 6

• Production Base: ASDB Integration Facility, Utopia Planitia, Mars
• Type: Light short-range warp shuttle
• Accommodation: Two flight crew. Passenger configurations: six (STD); two (diplomatic).
• Power Plant: Two 1,250 millicochrane warp engines, twelve DeFl 3234 microfusion RCS thrusters (STD); two 2,100 millicochrane warp engines (UPRTD).
• Dimensions: Length, 6.0 m; beam, 4.4 m; height, 2.7 m.
• Mass: 3.38 metric tonnes.
• Performance: Warp 1.2 for 48 hours (STD); Warp 2 for 36 hours (UPRTD).
• Armament: None (STD); Two Type IV phaser emitters (special operations).

Personnel Shuttle Type 7

• Production Base: ASDB Integration Facility, Utopia Planitia, Mars
• Type: Medium short-range warp shuttle
• Accommodation: Two flight crew. Passenger configurations: six (STD); two (diplomatic).
• Power Plant: Two 1,250 millicochrane warp engines, twelve DeFl 3234 microfusion RCS thrusters (STD); two 2,100 millicochrane warp engines (UPRTD).
• Dimensions: Length, 8.5 m; beam, 3.6 m; height, 2.7 m.
• Mass: 3.96 metric tonnes.
• Performance: Warp 1.75 for 48 hours (STD); Warp 2 for 36 hours (UPRTD).
• Armament: None (STD); Two Type V phaser emitters (special operations).

Cargo Shuttle Type 9A

• Production Base: Starfleet Plant #24, Utopia Planitia, Mars
• Type: Heavy long-range warp shuttle
• Accommodation: Two flight crew, one cargo specialist.
• Power Plant: Two 2,150 millicochrane warp engines, twelve DeFl 2142 microfusion RCS thrusters (STD); two 2,175 millicochrane warp engines (UPRTD).
• Dimensions: Length, 10.5 m; beam, 4.2 m; height, 3.6 m.
• Mass: 4.5 metric tonnes (empty). Maximum payload, 6.6 metric tonnes (STD); 8.9 metric tonnes (UPRTD).
• Performance: Warp 2 for 36 hours (STD); Warp 2.2 for 32 hours (UPRTD).
• Armament: None (STD); Two Type V phaser emitters (special operations).

Sphinx Workpod Type M1 (base Module/Sled Attachments)

• Production Base: Starfleet Plant #2, Utopia Planitia, Mars
• Type: Light industrial manipulator (Sphinx M1A), medium industrial manipulator (Sphinx M2A), and medium tug (Sphinx MT3D).
• Accommodation: Pilot (M1A, M2A); pilot and cargo specialist (MT3D).
• Power Plant: Two 4,600 Newton-second I(sp) microfusion primary thrusters, sixteen DeBe 3453 hot gas RCS thrusters. Four alfinium krellide power storage cells.
• Dimensions: Length, 6.2 m; beam, 2.6 m; height, 2.5 m.
• Mass: 1.2 metric tonnes.
• Performance: Maximum delta-v, 2,000 m/sec. Maximum manipulator mass, 2.3 metric tonnes. Maximum sled mass, 4.5 metric tonnes.
• Armament: None.

Captain's Yacht

One of the specialized auxiliary spacecraft carried by the Steadfast-A is the captain's yacht. This spacecraft is characterized as multipurpose, though it normally functions to convey diplomatic personnel on special missions not normally accomplished by shipboard transporters.

The general planform is a flattened elliptical solid, designed for the space environment and extended atmospheric flight. It measures 10m along the minor axis and 18m in the major axis, and 8m in height. The total loaded mass is rated at 95 metric tonnes. The structural framing comprises gamma-welded tritanium and duranium members measuring an average 18.6 x 9.2 cm in cross section. Hull skinning is composed of eight alternating layers of keiyurium borocarbide and cortenium molybdenite, with major tiling sections averaging 6.02 cm thick.

The interior habitat volume is subdivided to form the flight deck, two modest staterooms, flight crew bunks, galley, and Engineering access. Surrounding the habitat are the imbedded impulse engine system, cryogenic reactant tanks, lenticular aerodyne atmosphere flight motors, and related subsystems. The spacecraft is normally piloted by a crew of two, supplemented by a service representative to assist diplomatic guests.

The yacht is capable of sustained sublight velocities approaching 0.65c. The impulse propulsion system (IPS) consists of six sequential beam-fusion reaction chambers feeding a central toroidal driver coil. Each chamber measures 1.3m in diameter and is similar to its larger IPS cousins on the Steadfast-A. The reaction exhaust is vented through the driver coil and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) accelerator for impulse travel. The MHD tap provides power to the navigational deflector grid for removal of interstellar dust and gas from the vehicle flight path. For atmosphere flight the exhaust is redirected after it exits the MHD tunnel and sent through the aerodyne engines around the ellipse equator. The normal atmosphere cruising velocity is Mach 6; maximum safe waverider velocity is Mach 20. Magnetic turbulence contour equalizers, variants of the navigational deflector, provide momentum conditioning at Mach transitions.

The Steadfast-A is designed to operate safely without the yacht in place, since its structural integrity field and inertial damping fields produce slightly modified fields in those areas to compensate for the concavity of the yacht docking structure. Yacht operational rules in the vicinity of the starship are generally the same as those for other auxiliary spacecraft, with the difference being that the yacht, during emergency undocking, may be safely deployed at velocities as high as Warp 7. The yacht's systems are designed to afford the craft a smooth falloff of warp field, though the decaying field energy cannot be sustained for any appreciable time.