Miracle of Ship Berth
"Alright, class, this is Commander Tabriec of Starfleet, who has come here to answer questions," the teacher, about your own age, explains to her class. "Commander Tabriec is the Starfleet equivalent to a Castellan of the Tower, and is the superintendent of an entire ship berth at Utopia Planitia, the largest shipyard in Federation space. She is back in Amarkian space as part of a delegation greeting the launch of the CAS Astoriec. Everyone, please greet the Commander respectfully."
The class, full of Amarkian schoolchildren midway through adolescence, rises from their desk and bow, with their right hands tucked across their chests. This is the third talk you've given today, but the oldest class so far. You aren't sure what sort of questions this group will have for you, but you're expecting something trickier than "what do you think is the cutest starship!?" Though to be fair, that question had been a noodle-baker.
"Hello, everyone," you say, taking over as you step forward. "Thanks for the introduction. As your teacher said, my name is Commander Calai Tabriec. To start with, let me tell you a bit about myself and my path through Starfleet.
"I joined Starfleet Academy for the adventure before ratification, graduated as an Ensign in 2306. I went through the Explorer Corps program to start with, but was assigned to Shipyard Operations due to a lack of opportunities at the time - the great waves of expansion Starfleet went through was only just getting underway. I was attached as a Superintendent's Aide to the San Francisco Fleet Yards explorer berth, and spent much of the next several years working on Excelsior-class ships.
"More recently, in 2319 I joined the Ambassador Project Team and coordinated the installation of the power systems. After they launched, I was given a berth of my own at Utopia Planitia to oversee, building a Kepler, and now a Comet. Right about now I'm angling to get my arrowheads and an explorer-berth of my own." You pause and then tap at your rank badge. "The Commander and Captain rank badges are similar, but the Captain's one has a pair of arrowhead looking devices at either end. Anyway, between what I've helped build, and what I've been seconded out to help repair, I've had my hands on basically every line ship class in the Starfleet Inventory." You take a moment and look over the schoolchildren, relieved to see interested faces.
This is part of the civilian facilities aboard Starbase 5, which like most major world starbases, but unlike Earth Spacedock, is only mostly a fleet facility, and still retains considerable civilian involvement. Of course in the event of a hostile incursion, these kids are gathered up and launched for the surface on drop ships post-haste.
"So, ask me anything about starships and shipbuilding that isn't classified!" you finish with all the enthusiasm you can muster.
A girl in the corner of the room puts up a hand. "I heard that we originally built starships on the ground, and then launched them into vacuum. Could we still do that if we had to?"
"It's true that the earliest generations of ships did that, such as the Amarkian Mintoor or the Starfleet Daedalus-class. In fact, Starfleet didn't start construction in space until the NX class, and a lot of those components were still built on the surface and boosted up. Now, we could do that again, if we lost access to all our orbital infrastructure, but it would take a lot of time to figure out new processes. Starships require their structural-integrity fields to hold themselves up under gravity, so we'd need to find a way to stop the frame from falling in on itself while we work."
Another student asks, "What ships have you worked on, either building them or doing repairs? Any famous ones?"
That's an easy answer for you. "Well, the most famous would probably be the USS Enterprise, I've done repair work for both the older Excelsior-class, and helped build the new Ambassador version.
"Is it true Starfleet builds self-destructs into its ships, or is that just a story?" asks a boy towards the back with a somewhat nervous cast.
"Every ship with a warp-core has a very straight-forward self-destruct system in place, but it is true that Starfleet makes the process a little more pre-planned that most," you say carefully. "Although an exploratory service first and foremost, and a martial one a distant second, Starfleet takes a very dim view of the idea of giving up the ship."
"Can't you just use replicators to build a ship?" asks the one kid you just know is the class smart-arse. "Do we even need shipyards any more when we can just make a really big replicator?"
"Replicators can make a very nutritious burger, and a lot of very useful tools very easily," you answer with the long, weary sigh of someone who has had to answer this question every time you go dirtside. "But when you get up to line starship materials, replicators cannot provide the fine-structure control to match what we need. Instead we have to use advanced forging techniques to create the atomic structures. We do make extensive use of replicators for a number of simple parts, of course, but a lot of things like shield emitters are still a long way away from being replicator-friendly."
You continue on, looking out over the rest of the class. "Part of the problem is that every time the replicators take a step forward, forging techniques do as well. And line starships live in that bleeding edge margin. If it takes extra work to come up with something that will take a Cardassian spiral disruptor a tiny bit more efficiently, well, those are lives and ship survival on the line."
"I want to design starships," says an earnest little girl near the front. "Would it help to try and work at a shipyard first?"
"If you ask the architects, probably not," you say with a little chuckle. "But I think it certainly helps to see the business end where we bend metal. If you can get part time work at the Arsenal here while you complete your studies, it would be a lot more worthwhile than any other way of spending your free time."
"How do you join Starfleet?" asks a boy sitting next to a big poster of Amarkian chivalric orders.
"You apply to take the entrance tests with your planet's recruitment office. If your school thinks you're sufficiently ahead on your studies, you can ask them to put their name to the recruitment office in advance. Once they have you on their sensors, they'll keep in touch and help with study materials. If you pass the entrance exam, then you can attend your first and second years at the local campus. However, your third and fourth years at the Academy are always on Sol III, the human homeworld."
A student towards the back asks their hand, a big frown on their face. "Why does it have to be on Humania?" they ask, using the word Amarkians initially used for Earth, which dropped out of favour as the human's own name entered the public consciousness.
"Because they want to ensure all cadets have a common experience to fall back on. When you're out in space, you know everyone else in fleet red is someone who passed the tests you did and faced many of the same lecturers. It helps build a bond."
"But why is so much of Starfleet based around the humans?" they ask again.
"Well, that goes back to the founding of the Federation, and of Starfleet," you explain. "You see, the Andorians and Vulcans were as hostile to each other as, well, the Order of the Red Lance and the Order of the Green Sword were once upon a time. But the humans were new, and despite their early ties with the Vulcans, became trusted by the Andorians thanks to the actions of the USS Enterprise of the time.
"So when it came time to make a common fleet, the humans donated effectively their whole fleet and infrastructure. Much of the human influence on Starfleet is because way back then, they gave up their fleet at the time to make the glue that tied the early Federation together. So even though humans are a minority of the Federation, they still hold a big influence in the fleet. Now, we could move some things, but that start to open up debates on who should get them instead, and what the benefit would be. And no one wants to have that argument except the Tellarites, and only then just as a hobby."
A new voice pipes up. "What's the trickiest part of putting a ship together?" they ask. "Like, the easiest part to make a mess of?"
"Well, I'll set aside individual components, since those tend to be made in separate facilities, though I will say the margins involved in warp cores and nacelles are extremely exacting." You take a long moment to consider your answer after that, and then say, "It would have to be the EPS system. Long arterial routes that go in early, and then you have to build around them, and are very finicky. Until the full surrounding frame is in place, plasma conduits can be very easy to bend out of shape."
The teacher herself asks, "What's it like to walk on the outside of a starship?"
"Depends on the stage of completion. When it's still a skeletal frame it doesn't feel like much, but when you're on a nearly complete ship... when I walked on the Enterprise-C a week before launch it felt like I was on sacred ground. An amazing experience. I felt the same when I was given a walk-on tour of the Astoriec at the arsenal."
"Since you mentioned the Astoriec," asks a nervous mouse of a girl in the front. "Wh-what are the differences between Confed Navy ships and Starfleet ships?"
"The Confederacy of Amarkia Navy does build a few Starfleet-designed ships - the Kundaia-class is ninety-nine-point-nine-nine a Starfleet Centaur-class frigate, with just a few localisations. I spent a little time seconded out to help Leas Akaam build them in the early 10's. However, when you want to compare general CAS and Starfleet ships, the general principles are pretty similar. However, a Riala is a battlecruiser first, and an explorer second. An Excelsior or Ambassador is an explorer first, and calling it a battlecruiser is one of the few ways spacers around the quadrant have of goading Starfleet ratings into a brawl."
You look out over the class and see expectant faces. "Okay, I see I need to give some more details. Starfleet obviously has the distinctive saucer-and-secondary construction. Ship shapes tend to be determined by a mix of function, size, and - most importantly - the configuration that goes into your structural integrity, warp, and navigational deflector fields. The first one has the biggest impact on the actual shape of the ship.
"Now, Chang-zh'Lomin Field Theory is a very specialised topic, but read up on it if you want to know more. Gist of it is that the structural fields Starfleet uses operates in a broad 'disc' shape at first, and when you push it past certain sizes and strengths, it warps, and creates an inversion of itself. In three dimensions it looks like an off-set figure-8, but in six dimensions I'm told it is quite the elegant shape. Of course, you have to be Indorian to visualise it easily. So Starfleet creates the primary hull in the disc-shaped field, and the secondary in the other, and then use wave-guides to snap it into place along the hull. The Order of the Tower, however, uses field settings that create a stubby teardrop shape, which is part of what gives the Riala its distinctive features.
"The Order of the Tower builds the bridge into the core of the ship, typically in the same protective vault as the warp core. Starfleet Bridges are placed atop the saucer section - a lot of species think this is indefensible and a sign that Starfleet really aren't serious, but they don't understand the field theory. The two 'poles' of the disc-shaped field make the bridge and sensor dome extremely difficult to puncture.
"By the same token, Starfleet will tend to build its warp cores in the neck of ships. Again, there isn't much starship hull around it, though they are typically built into a protective vault of bulkheads, but that 'twist' of field strength actually makes the neck harder to get through than any other place on the ship. By a similar token, the Amarkian Navy places key components in line with field poles in order to provide additional protection. Does that answer your question?"
"Y-y-yes," stammers the girl. She pauses and adds. "I think...? I'll have to review the recording."
"Did you work on the Comet?" asks another kid in the middle of the room.
"I didn't work on the original Comet," you reply. "But my berth is working on the NCC-5115, part of the new wave of mass-production Comet-class frigates. Very interesting ship; the design influences of Intazzi are very noticeable."
A student lounging in his chair near the back half-heartedly raises a hand. "So who has the coolest ships in the Federation?"
"That seems like a pretty subjective thing from person to person," you reply. "But I think personally the Riala-class will always hold a special soft-spot for me. Stepping away from Starfleet and the CAN, the Sunrise-class is an amazing bit of tactical architecture, the Little Queenships have a great aesthetic, the Basilicas of the Starkin have to be seen up close to be believed, and ... to be honest, Gaeni Tech-Cruisers fascinate me. Figuring out how only one of them has self-detonated over the last decade is an ongoing puzzle for me. Outside of the Federation, I think the modern warbirds of the Romulans are a great look."
"I'm afraid that's all we have time for today, class. Let's give a heartfelt thank-you to Commander Tabriec for donating her time today."
"Thank you for hosting me, kids, I hope you enjoyed the session," you say, returning the bow of the students with a broad smile on your face.
