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Black Rock is an OOC ship. It's former name was Starbase 277, but it has been renamed to "Black Rock" officially on the 9th of February 2013 by FCom Julia K., who also created these specs in cooperation with Robert Archer and Terry Calvin, and the visual. STF regulations say: "An OOC Ship is a starship, starbase, or other similar division that is present in a Fleet or an Executive Department but not staffed by a crew or the site of an actual RPG. OOC Ships are intended for Out of Character interaction between STF members. OOC Ships are established and managed at the discretion of the Fleet Commander or Department." We will stick to that. Black Rock will not have a roster or a regular crew. It is intended for OOC interaction and in addition, we have decided, that we will allow temporary and voluntary IC interaction for Fleet purposes. The looks of the Starbase have never been defined. We thought that a shame, hence we have given the Starbase the following look and a little bit of background to nurture Fleet 6 culture as a whole. Are you a Black Fleet crew member? Come and visit us on Black Rock!
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Why do Fleet 6 personnel and visitors come to Black Rock temporarily?
Black Rock HISTORY Black Rock, originally named for the asteroid it has been built on (Asteroid 277), started out as a small mining base on the fringe of known space. It skirts a large asteroid field containing significant veins of Berythium Ore (::bear-ith’ee-um), with a secondary lucrative product of, Platinum at .04% per metric ton and Cast Rodinium, an extremely hard rock which requires great effort and time to mine. The mining base on Asteroid 277 is first mentioned in Starfleet records in 2295. According to records (see here), this is when the first Mariner class ships rolled off the production line. The USS Merrimack was one of these and the Rodinium for its armor plating was mined on this Asteroid. In following decades, private ownership of the Asteroid field and the mining base changed hands often. It was regularly raided and partly destroyed, then built up again. It had been used as a base for smugglers for some time, who used the lowest caves and tunnel system to hide their ill gotten goods. Even to this day, the lowest caves haven’t been fully explored and catalogued. It is rumored that some smuggler’s stashes are still hidden there. At one point a large mining consortium, dominated by the Ferengi bought the Asteroid field and the mining rights. They appointed a Chief of Mining Operations and rebuilt the tattered mining station, but they didn’t have the means to secure it. The constant raids from pirates of different races continued to disrupt the mining and lowered their profits. Being good Ferengi businessmen they found a way to get what they needed without cutting into their profits. After months of lobbying with Starfleet it was determined that military protection of the entire sector would be provided by Starfleet and it would cost the Ferengi nothing. The Ferengi Consortium would retain control of the small mining station and the processing facility including an attached docking port. In exchange Starfleet would have a free hand to enlarge the remaining structures to fit the needs of a deep space starbase. Today the mining operation is contained in a single wing of the large central base. The Starfleet base has been built into this very large asteroid, about the same size as 15% of the Earth’s moon. The Asteroid named 277 has a roughly round shape and consists of jagged peaks and deep valleys. The asteroid is made up of an extremely hard, dark stone with a very high density, not unlike an Earth diamond. Its smooth and jagged surface reflects light and has a slight shine; it most resembles the Earth stone Onyx. The Starbase has been built into the largest valley and onto the side of one of the largest mountains, called Port Mountain. The top of this mountain houses the fleet docking ports and shuttle bay ring. Above the station the control tower, which houses Ops and the VIP facilities, is housed partly within the mountain. There are large view ports facing toward the sheer rock face of the far side of the valley and they overlook the station from above. Command StructureThe unusual makeup of the station called for an interesting command structure. Though they only take up one wing of the whole station, the civilian mining crew outnumber the Starfleet crew actually assigned to the starbase. The number of Starfleet personnel who are members of ship’s crews and thus, just passing through on shore leave, can increase or decrease in numbers in the hundreds on any given day, but they are only on the station briefly while the miners and the merchants live here. Starfleet has overall command of the Fleet 6 Starbase and the Fleet Commander and Assistant Fleet Commander are both stationed here and oversee all Fleet 6 and Starfleet operations in the sector. The civilian operations side of the entire station, including the mining operation, is under the control of the Chief of Mining Operations (hence called Chief of Operations) who, while appointed by the Mining Consortium, reports to Fleet Command. Keeping the two factions working in harmony is a challenge at best and keeping clear cut boundaries helps. In order to facilitate this all access to the mining wing is restricted for non-mining personnel, as is all access to the control tower restricted for non-Starfleet personnel (The COO is an NPC to be flexibly assigned and played as needed.) Black Rock SPECS The view from inside the base’s large ports is very beautiful. You look into a rough mountain landscape of pure black, yet the smooth surface of the jagged peaks, reflect the surrounding light from the stars. It has an eerily, dark beauty. Some muse that the Black Fleet got its name from this, but there is no proof of that. The starbase is protected against the vacuum of space by the newest duranium hull technology and very strong standard and emergency shield technology. Docking Ports & SecurityThere are seven VIP docking ports, able to accommodate the largest Starfleet vessels on the top third of Port Mountain. Each ship in the fleet has one customary docking assignment which also carries the ship’s name. Olympic Port, Genesis Port, Europa Port, Vanguard Port, Oed V Port (for the Oed V Governor’s ship), Merrimack Port and Guest Port. These ports are able to be used for repairing fleet ships should they have sustained damage. The extensive storage holds of the Starbase contain spare parts which cannot be replicated. The Merrimack Port is the large port closest to ground level. The USS Merrimack is retired from active service and permanently berthed here as a museum of Fleet 6 history. Lower on the mountain is a docking ring with 8 smaller docking ports for all smaller vessels and a fly through shuttle bay. Port Mountain has shafts inside its rock that lead from all docking ports to the security checkpoint of the station. The turbolifts leading down from the six top major ports are separate from the lower ones guaranteeing a higher level of security for the personnel of the ships docked there. Additionally there is a command bypass on the turbolifts coming from the top six ports which can bypass the security checkpoint if desired. The security facility, including the main security office, is housed next to the exits from the turbolift shafts. Shields & WeaponsBlack Rock employs a standard shield system with a total dissipation rate of 2.2x10^6 kW. The shield generators are located inside the base of Port Mountain, adjacent to the security facilities, thus protected by the ultra hard rock of the mountain. Additionally the base contains 400 type-10 phaser emitters (50 emitters per array) with a total output 5.0 MW. There are two arrays located on the left side of the station and two located on the right side. The other four are located along Port Mountain, covering the station from above. Finally, the base has a standard compliment of 200 torpedoes feeding four tubes. They are housed in four torpedo bunkers placed within the surrounding rock face in a circle around the station. Computer Systems & SensorsThe station has a standard isolinear computer core supplemented with a state of the art bio-neural system. It incorporates two of the latest Starfleet Mk 10 computer cores. Each core is capable of running the station should the other fail. One is located at the base of Port Mountain; the other is located on the lowest level of the station. A bio-neural processing cluster is located below ground and used specifically for processing central command functions. It is linked to the computer cores to access data. The maximum ranges of the sensors are 16.75 light years for low-resolution scans and eight light years for high resolution scans.? All parts of the station used by Starfleet (except for the mining wing and the lowest tunnels) are equipped with holo-emitters. The station employs the most up to date holographic interface named S.O.H.I. (Starbase Operational Holographic Interface). Since the crew assigned to the Starbase is minimal, SOHI takes care of all standard operational tasks and is the aide-de-camp to the Chief of Operations. She is programmed to look like a human female with blond hair and blue eyes. (SOHI is also an NPC, played by either the FCOM or the AFCOM temporarily as demand arises). Command facilitiesMain Ops is situated in the control tower, which is inside the rock face of Port Mountain about 100 meters above the station. Its large ports look out over the valley and the station, as well as the mining wing. Main Ops contains a control console for each function and each section of the entire base, including the mining wing. A large view screen, with a standard feed from one of the cameras on Port Mountain, shows the whole of the Starbase from above. Additional cameras on Port Mountain can zoom in on every above-ground section of the base, while interior cameras do the same for all below-ground sections. Main Ops has three command chairs. One for the Fleet Commander, one for the Assistant Fleet Commander and in front of them one for the Chief of Operations, which is the only one occupied on a regular basis. Each chair is equipped with a full set of controls and its own communication console. The offices of the civilian Chief of Operations as well as the offices of the FComm and AFComm are adjacent to Main Operations. Starfleet VIP sectionLocated in the control tower, to the right side of Main Ops are the Starfleet VIP facilities. These include the quarters for command staff (including Chief of Operations), a VIP Lounge, a conference room and VIP guest quarters (e.g. if the President or Vice President visit). They all have large view ports overlooking the station, just like Ops. Crew facilitiesAll other sensitive areas are based below the surface, affording them the extra protection of the black rock. Also located within the mountain are:
The station above ground houses a huge arboretum and hydroponic garden and all crew recreational facilities, such as four holodecks, 12 holosuites, crew quarters, the gym, the merchant wing and the large bar/restaurant/lounge. Also located in the station above ground are:
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