Here we have a spec from our very own tribble. I'd ask that everyone reviewing for nitpicky treknological detail give a little bit more explanation than they normally would as this is Russ' first spec and he's getting the hang of the process.

The Eddings Class Heavy Observer shall be open for review until 7th February 2010.

Fleet Captain Andrew "Wolfe" Robinson
Engineering Director
24th January 2010

EDDINGS-CLASS
CATEGORY: Observer
VARIANT: Heavy
DESIGNER: Russell Watt
Mark I
Draft 1
DATE: 17 January 2010

HISTORY AND MISSION OVERVIEW
'An epic ... should start ... in the middle of the story ... with a bang'

Following the conclusion of the Dominion War, the Federation decided on a return to their process of peaceful first contact with new civilisations and to explore new and unusual phenomena and planets throughout the Alpha and Beta quadrants. The Federation Science Council had been clamouring for years for a new ship design that would better meet their needs, and it was decided to put out a call for tender for a small, dedicated science vessel that could meet these requirements. It was decided that the vessel had to be able to:

* Planetary investigation and survey;
* Observation team deployment in preparation for first contact;
* First contact with new civilisations;
* Researching new phenomena and anomalies;
* Research centre;
* Expanding the frontiers of scientific knowledge and the Federation;
* Exploring systems and sectors.

Kooralbyn Corp, a small ship design company took on the challenge of designing such a vessel. In 2377 they submitted their tender for the Eddings-Class ship, a small science vessel with plenty of science labs and support systems that was designed for the purposes identified in the briefing statement. After discussions and improvements, the class ship, the USS Eddings rolled off the production line in 2379. The shakedown cruise proved successful and once the few problems identified in the design were attended to, more Eddings-Class ships were ordered in following years.

STRUCTURE AND CONSTRUCTION

'Now, let's answer all the critics who proudly announce that they find our work derivative. What else is new? Chaucer was derivative. So was Shakespeare. The literary value of any story is in its presentation.'

The Eddings-Class Starship is a relatively small ship, at only eight decks in height and a mere 125 meters long on decks four and five. The warp nacelles, which connect to the ship on deck four, add an extra five metres to the length of the vessel. Like most ships of Starfleet, the Eddings-Class has two sections, the saucer section and the engineering hull. Decks one to three are solely in the saucer section, decks four and five run the length of the ship and decks six to eight are contained solely in the engineering hull.

Looking down on the ship from above, the saucer section is egg-shaped, with the nacelles/engineering hull looking like a rectangle behind the egg-shaped hull. The top of the ship is convexly curved, and the decks progressively get larger as they move towards the join between the engineering hull and the saucer section. At this point, the size of the decks is smaller, with decks six, seven and eight measuring approximately sixty-five meters in length. The Eddings' only shuttlebay is located to the fore of the ship on decks four and five.

As is the case with most Federation vessels that use a saucer section and engineering hull configuration, the Eddings' hull is composed of a composite tritanium/duranium truss hull. Transporter welding was used to construct the class ship at the Fleet Six shipyards near Starbase 277, on part of the shipyards hired by Kooralbyn Corp.

Swappable mission modules are not supported with the Eddings-Class design; however the extensive range of Science Labs can be reconfigured to meet the specific needs of future missions while the ship is between missions at a starbase or similar facility between missions. The Eddings-Class is not capable of planetary landings.

SCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS

'I planted more mythic fishhooks in the first couple of books of the Belgariad than you'll find in any sporting goods store.'

Sensor Systems

The sensor systems on the Eddings-Class enables it to perform a range of scientific scans to assist it in its missions of investigating planets, civilisations and interesting astronomical phenomena. As a science vessel, good sensors are a must, and the Eddings-Class has been equipped with a type VIII sensor array. This array has long range, low resolution scans reaching 12.3 light years and short range, high resolution scans reaching 3.8 light years.

As well as the standard scans available to all vessels, the Eddings-Class has a number of scans that are non-standard to most vessels of the combat or exploration type. These scans are designed to give further details on the planet, civilisation or astronomical phenomena under investigation. These unique scans, together with the scientific probes available for use, provide a great deal of information to be analysed by the scientists in the science labs, especially when it comes to previously unknown phenomena and civilisations.

Computer Systems

The ship has two isolinear chip-based computer cores, used primarily for data storage. The main computer core runs from deck four to deck five, while the sickbay/backup computer core reaches from deck three to deck four. A computer core access room on deck four provides access to authorised personnel to both computer cores.

Scientific Probes

The Eddings-Class carries fifty probes in order to carry out its scientific mission.

Holographic Support Systems
An EMH Mark IV is equipped with the Eddings-Class ship. Holoemitters in sickbay and the adjoining medical science lab enable it to access these locations in addition to the holosuites on deck four. It is unable to go to any other location on the ship.

WARP PROPULSION SYSTEM

'SF writers are technology freaks who blithely ignore that footnote in Einstein's theory of relativity which clearly states that when an object approaches the speed of light, its mass becomes infinite. (So much for warp-drive.)'

The Eddings-Class vessel has a single pair of fixed-wing nacelles transporter welded to the aft of decks four and five of the starship. The nacelles are powered by the warp core that extends from deck five to deck seven. Antimatter storage is on deck eight as is the warp core emergency ejection system.

IMPULSE PROPULSION SYSTEM

'If old Buck Rogers hits the gas-pedal a little too hard, he'll suddenly become the universe.'

The impulse engine on the Eddings-Class is located on deck seven of the ship. This Eddings-Class is able to fly at 0.30 C. It takes fifteen seconds for the ship to reach this speed from a standing start, and twenty seconds for it to return to rest from a subwarp speed of 0.30 C.

TACTICAL SYSTEMS

'Fantasists are magic and shining armor freaks who posit equally absurd notions with incantations.'

The Eddings-Class is not built for combat, but rather to locate and analyse planets, worlds and phenomena. If faced with a threat, the first action of the Eddings-Class should be to 'fly away'.

Defensive Shielding

In order to better withstand a barrage of shots from an enemy, Kooralbyn Corp used the best possible defensive shields available to a science vessel of the Eddings-Class size. The Type-8 shields installed provide this Class with a max graviton load of 1344 MW and a maximum dissipation rate of 3.7x10^5 kW.

Metaphasic Shielding

In order to help protect the ship and crew from radiation from astronomical phenomena, the Eddings-Class was designed with Metaphasic Shields standard. This shielding enables the ship to study such phenomena closer than would otherwise be the case, as well giving it another option to evade conflict with a superior threat.

Phaser Systems

There are three phaser strips on the Eddings-Class and they are intended to be used only in defensive situations. Two are located on the nacelles while the third is located to the fore of deck six. Each array has 100 type VI emitters. Each emitter has a maximum output of 0.6 Mw, with a range of 35,000km.

Torpedo Systems

The single torpedo launcher on the Eddings-Class is located below the lower level of the cargo bay on deck five and is used mostly for the launching of scientific probes, as well as torpedoes. Of the 75 torpedo casings carried, 50 are Mark IV and 25 are Mark V.

COMMAND AND SUPPORT SYSTEMS

'They (SF Writers) want to build a better screwdriver, and we (Fantasists) want to come up with a better incantation.'

Bridge

The Bridge on the Eddings-Class is egg-shaped in its design and is located on deck one. The viewscreen is on the larger and smoother end of the bridge. Moving aft from the viewscreen, there is a single conn position, on the line of symmetry between the port and starboard of the bridge. Directly behind this station, and slightly elevated is the captain's chair. To the starboard of this position is the XOs chair, and to the portside is a chair for the Counsellor, CSO, CMO or a dignitary to the vessel.

Further aft of the command chairs is series of seven stations running along a single work bench. Directly behind the central chair is the Security Station. Directly behind the XO chair is the first of two Science stations, and directly aft of the 3rd command chair is the Mission Ops station. Starboard of science one is the engineering station. Between science one and security is science two, between Security and Mission Ops is an auxiliary station which can be reconfigured to whatever use is needed at the time. The ops station is to the port of mission ops.

All bridge stations on the Eddings-Class face the viewscreen, and the command positions as well as the conn are sitting. The row of seven positions behind the command positions are standing to enable them to have uninterrupted vision of the viewscreen.

There are three doors off the bridge, two on the port side and one on the starboard side. The door closest to the viewscreen on the port side is in line with the set of seven consoles and provides access to the captain's ready room. Aft of this door is another that takes the crew and visitors to the turbolift. The door on the starboard side of the bridge is in line with the seven stations and leads to the conference room.

Security Office

A security office is located on deck four of the ship and provides space for the security officers to complete their work while on duty. A replicator is provided for the use of the security staff. The Chief of Security's Office is located within the outer office.

Brig

A two cell brig is located on deck four. Each cell can hold up to three prisoners. Surrounding this brig is the ship's security office, which consists of work stations for security personnel and an office for the COS.

Main Engineering

Crewmembers would be excused for thinking that main engineering has been taken from a Galaxy-Class ship and shrunk. That is because this facility, dominating decks seven and eight of the vessel has the same basic layout of main engineering on the Galaxy-class, it is just considerably smaller. The throbbing warp core is in the centre of main engineering and there are engineering support stations on the upper and lower decks. The Chief Engineer's Office is on the upper level of main engineering. Outside of this office there is an open plan area in front of a wall mounted display. Here, the Chief Engineer can talk to the Engineers and plan their work in support of the rest of the ship.

Science Labs

As a specialised science vessel, the Eddings-Class has twelve science labs distributed across decks three to seven. These include both specialist and generalist Labs.

Deck three holds a science lab adjacent to the ship's modest sickbay which specialises in any medical science research required. It is jointly run and sponsored by the CMO and CSO of the vessel.

On deck four, there are three generalist science labs. The third of these labs is provided to any scientists who are travelling with the ship who are not part of the crew. If these visiting scientists require further lab space, this can be negotiated with the ship's CSO. The CSO's office is located adjacent to Science lab one.

Deck five is home to a further three science labs. These labs are dedicated to planetary studies and include sociology, geography, history, linguistics, archaeology, and other fields that deal with planets and civilisations. Rounding out these labs is the upper level of the Stellar Cartography Lab.

The lower level of Stellar Cartography is on deck six along with a further three labs. These labs specialise in the astronomical sciences and support the work of the stellar cartography department.

A final generalist multipurpose science lab is found on deck 7. As well as being used to perform general science work, it is also used by Engineering on occasions.

UTILITY SYSTEMS

'They want to go into the future, and we want to go into the past. We write better stories than they do, though.'

Cargo Bays

The Eddings-Class has one cargo bay on deck six which stores mission specific supplies for the mission being undertaken at any time. This cargo bay gets restocked at starbases between missions as needed. An electronic check out system is used to keep track of supplies on hand and when items are checked out in order to free crew of performing this task. This also enables for the effective monitoring of the location of all available resources. Two cargo transporters are located within the cargo bay for the movement of heavy objects.

Tractor Beam

The primary tractor beam emitter of the Eddings-Class is located on the exterior of the ship, below deck eight. A secondary tractor beam emitter was placed at the fore of deck three.

Transporter Rooms

The Eddings-Class of starship has a single pair of transporter rooms located on deck three. These are the standard transporters with six pads and a range of 40,000 kilometres. A transporter buffer that is shared by these transporter rooms is located beneath them on deck four. There are no emergency transporters on board the Eddings-Class.

Turbolifts

Turbolifts connect the various decks together. One of these turbolifts connects the bridge directly to main engineering, with no stops on the way. Another turbolift also runs the entire height of the ship, although this one stops at each deck. Other turbolifts connect different parts of the ship, and are for a variety of lengths.

CREW SUPPORT SYSTEMS

'They get bogged down in telling you how the watch works; we just tell you what time it is and go on with the story.'

Sickbay

The Eddings-Class has a single sickbay, located on deck three. This sickbay has three biobeds in a single ward, one of which can be isolated if needed. Integrated into the sickbay is the CMO's office and a door from sickbay connects to the ship's medical sciences lab.

On the opposite side of the sickbay to the medical sciences lab is the Counsellor's office. The office contains a desk, chair, replicator, console and a couch as standard equipment. The Counsellor can choose whether they want dead plants, leather furniture or aged bookshelves to decorate their office on the Eddings-Class ship.

Replicators

Replicators are located at key points in the ship including the senior staff lounge, the crew mess hall, conference rooms, and the offices and work areas of the different departments and divisions on board. Due to space constraints on the Eddings-Class of ship, quarters are not fitted out with replicators. Instead, crew, officers, VIPs and visiting scientists meet in either the crew mess or officer's lounge for meal and socialisation requirements.

Holosuites

Space constraints on the eight-deck Eddings-Class meant that holodecks were passed over in favour of the smaller holosuites. Two holosuites are located on deck four, and are used for recreational, training and investigative purposes.

Alternative environments

Four of the passenger quarters and four of the crew quarters are designed to support class-H and class-K environments. Each of the VIP quarters is also capable of supporting class-H and class-K environments. In the case of crew quarters, these quarters are two of the pairs of quarters sharing a washroom, and the class H or K environment extends to this facility as well. Outside of these areas, individuals from a different environment need to wear appropriate equipment to survive in a Class-M environment.
Crew Quarters

The twenty-four crew quarters on the Eddings-Class of starship can be found on decks five and six and are space efficient by design. Each of these quarters house two crewmembers of ranks below Ensign, and two of these quarters share a common washroom consisting of a sonic shower, two water closets and a Jacuzzi unit. These quarters consist of two single beds, two work stations on desks and storage space.

Junior Officer Quarters

Junior officer quarters on this ship are approximately the same size as crew quarters and are located on Deck four. Unlike the crew who are billeted in pairs, only one junior officer is housed in each room. As with the crew quarters, two of these officers share a common washroom set up similarly to those of the crewmembers. These quarters consist of one single bed, one work station on desk and storage space. There are thirty such quarters on the ship.

Senior and Command Staff Quarters

The senior staff members on board the Eddings-Class are accommodated on deck two. These quarters are 15% bigger than the quarters provided for the Junior Officers and have access to their own washroom. In addition to the private washroom, these quarters have a sitting/study area and a sleeping area. In the study area, there is a console built into the bench, enabling these officers to track projects, analyse reports and study research in their offices if needed. There are six such quarters on the Eddings-Class.

The CO and XO also have their quarters on deck two. Their quarters are 20% larger than crew quarters and as with the senior staff quarters feature a private washroom and separate sitting/study and sleeping areas.

Passenger and VIP Quarters

Passengers and VIPs who travel on the Eddings-Class are accommodated on decks two, three and four. For the most part, these are scientists either from Federation worlds or from allied or neutral powers. However, occasionally, leaders of newly discovered species may travel on board the Eddings-Class. If these passengers are used to the spacious surrounds of other vessels, they would be surprised by the lack of space on board the Eddings-Class and the lack of personal replicators in their assigned quarters. Standard passenger quarters are equivalent to those on offer to Junior Officers on board the Eddings-Class in terms of both facilities and size. VIP quarters are equivalent in size and available facilities to those of the CO and XO. There are five VIP quarters and fifty-five passenger quarters on the Eddings-Class.

Crew Lounge

Deck five holds the crew lounge, the place where the crew and junior officers are able to socialise, relax, eat and drink while off duty. Visiting Scientists are also able to use this lounge. It contains seating for up to thirty people, as well as a small stage area. A set of four replicators in this lounge provide food and beverage for the crew.

Senior Staff Lounge

Located on deck two, this fifteen seat lounge is for the use of senior staff and VIPS on the Eddings-Class starship. It has three replicators.

Lifepods

Should it be necessary to abandon ship, sufficient lifepods are located on Decks two, three, six and seven to enable all crew and visitors to escape the ship if necessary.

Conference Room

Off the bridge there is an oval shaped room with dominated by a table with twelve chairs around it. In here, the Captain can issue orders to department heads, receive advice and suggestions from visiting personnel and listen as missions are provided. There is a viewing screen in the room as well as individual consoles for each member.

Ready Room

Across the bridge from the conference room door, there is another door that leads to the Captain's Ready Room. Equipped with a desk, console, chair, visitor's chairs and replicator, the CO is able to conduct business from in here. The CO is able to customise the room with personal effects, allowing them to show off their personality and interests. The captain can use this room to receive private communiqués from Starfleet or home, reprimand crewmembers in private, share a private word with their XO or express outrage at the person who is leading the ship on a wild goose chase.

XO's Office

The XO's office is on deck two and includes a desk, console, chairs and replicator. The XO can come here to escape the unreasonable demands of the CO, conduct crew reviews or catch up on the latest news from home.

Swing Positions

Due to the nature of the ship, and its focus on Science, the roles of CTO and CAG do not exist on the Eddings-Class. The ship has the facilities for a Counsellor. Specialist Science Positions, both Starfleet and civilian are possible and encouraged on the ship. Apart from family members travelling with visiting personnel, non Starfleet family members of crew will not be found on the Eddings-Class.

AUXILIARY SPACECRAFT SYSTEMS

'Teenager is a linguistic abomination devised by the advertising agencies and the social worker industry to obscure an unpleasant reality. The proper term is 'adolescent', and the only good thing about it is that everybody gets over it - eventually. (Or most of them, anyway.)'

The Eddings-Class is equipped with a single shuttlebay on decks four and five. The compliment of auxiliary craft on board is dependant on the mission, but can hold up to two shuttlecraft, four shuttle pods or one shuttlecraft and two shuttle pods. Limited facilities to repair these support craft exist on the Eddings-Class, due to size and

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

'Contemporary fantasists ... (have) evolved a tacitly agreed upon a list of the elements that make for a good fantasy.'

Dimensions & Structure:
* Length: 125 meters
* Beam (Width): 60 meters
* Height: 38.4 meters
* Decks: 8

Crew Complement:
* Officers and Crew: 80
** Command: 2
** Engineering: 15 (including ops and transporter room operators)
** Medical: 8 (including Counsellor)
** Science: 40
** Security: 15 (including flight control/conn)
* Visiting Personnel: 60
* Maximum Evacuation Limit: 200

Computer Systems:
* Core: Isolinear data core x2
* Software: Starfleet Library Computer Access and Retrieval System (LCARS)

Warp Systems:
* Power Plant: One 1450 Cochrane MARA core feeding two nacelles
* Cruising Velocity: Warp 5.0
* Max. Sustainable Velocity: Warp 6.5
* Max. Velocity: Warp 8.9 (12 hours)

Impulse Systems:
* Full Impulse: 0.30c
* Zero-0.30c: 15 seconds
* 0.30c-Zero: 20 seconds

Defensive Systems:
* Shield Maximum Graviton Load (Continuous): 1344 MegaWatts
* Shield Maximum Energy Dissipation Rate: 3.7x10^5 kiloWatts

Offensive Systems:
* Torpedo tubes (x1)
** Standard payload: 25 photon torpedoes, 50 probes
* Phaser systems
** 2 Type-VI phaser strips

DECK LAYOUT
'Papa Tolkien once wrote, "I wisely started with a map."'

Deck 1
* Bridge
* Conference Room
* Captain's Ready Room

Deck 2
* CO's Quarters
* XO's Quarters
* VIP Quarters
* Senior Staff Quarters
* XO's Office
* Senior Staff Lounge
* Lifepods

Deck 3
* Sickbay and CMO's Office
* Medical Science Lab
* Counsellor's Office
* Junior Officer's Quarters
* Passenger Quarters
* Sickbay/Backup Computer Core
* Transporter Rooms 1 & 2
* Lifepods

Deck 4
* Science Labs 1 - 3
* Crew Quarters
* Passenger Quarters
* Holosuites 1 & 2
* Brig and security Office
* Pattern Buffer for Transporter Rooms 1 & 2
* Computer Core
* Sickbay/Backup Computer Core
* Computer Core Access Room
* Shuttle Bay (Upper)

Deck 5
* Science Labs 4 - 6
* Stellar Cartography (Upper)
* Crew Quarters
* Crew Lounge
* Warp Core Engine
* Computer Core
* Shuttle Bay (Lower)
* Torpedo Tube (Below Shuttle Bay)

Deck 6
* Science Labs 7 - 9
* Stellar Cartography (Lower)
* Cargo Bay
* Warp Core Engine
* Lifepods

Deck 7
* Science Lab 10
* Impulse Engine
* Deuterium tank
* Main Engineering Upper level
* Warp Core Engine
* Lifepods

Deck 8
* Waste recycling
* Bulk Consumables Storage
* Antimatter Storage
* Main Engineering Lower
* Warp Core Emergency Ejection

SHIPS OF CLASS
'I've learnt not to argue with the lady who runs the kitchen - unless I want boiled dog-food for supper.'

The Eddings-Class is named for Fantasy authors from Earth's 20th Centuries. These authors pushed back the boundaries of thought and imagination in much the same way as our Starships push back the boundaries of known space. All the quotes were from "The Rivan Codex" by David and Leigh Eddings.

* USS Eddings 125370 (Class Ship)
* USS Tolkien 125371
* USS Feist 125372
* USS Goodkind 125373
* USS Brooks 125374
* USS Pratchett 125375
* USS Jordan 125376
* USS Whyte 125377
* USS Weis 125378
* USS Hickman 125379
* USS Wurts 125380
* USS Kirkpatrick 125381
* USS Lewis 125382
* USS Le Guin 125383
* USS Cooper 125384
* USS Donaldson 125385

CONCLUSION
'I think I managed to present a story that suggested that there are some differences between boys and girls, and that most people find that sort of thing interesting.'

The Eddings-Class is a small, fast well equipped science vessel well suited for pushing back the boundaries of Federation scientific knowledge. With its numerous science labs, scientific probes and scanning processes, this observer is able to analyse and catalogue new worlds, new species and new phenomena.

SUBMITTED 17 January 2009
Russell Watt