A minimal investment of personnel and resources, but with the capacity to respond quickly to situations that, if left unaddressed, could damage public faith in Starfleet's ability to ensure their safety.
That was the description that Captain Christopher Bauer included for the USS Saratoga in his report to Starfleet Tactical. Contrary to his assessment however, the Saratoga required a great deal of investment and manpower to bring about, on behalf of the R&D engineers of the Miranda V project. Following the return of the USS Voyager from the Delta Quadrant, Starfleet began to push for the development of new classes of starship to incorporate the last few decades of technological advancement. Starfleet's plans called for many of the older vessels brought back into service during the Dominion War to be mothballed and replaced with a smaller but more advanced fleet that prioritised exploration. Starfleet Tactical was hesitant to see the fleet downsized while the galaxy was still in such a precarious political position. They requisitioned the USS Saratoga, one of the ships scheduled to be decommissioned, and tasked the R&D engineers at Starbase 51 with developing a next generation refit of the Miranda-class. The Saratoga had originally been built in the 23rd Century, had been retired from service once already, and had already been refit numerous times. Tactical Systems
The Miranda V project (the "Miranda Mark V") preserved most of the existing spaceframe, but reinforced the hull with new alloys. The team determined that adding ablative armour would make the Saratoga too heavy to achieve full impulse without vastly increasing the size of the impulse engines, and so revisited a 22nd Century technology, incorporating polarised hull plating as a second layer of protection from energy damage. The engineers updated the existing phaser arrays, but also incorporated point defence turrets that retracted into the hull - as seen on Starfleet vessels in centuries prior - to provide better protection against smaller, more agile craft. They also added phased polaron cannons, again on retracted mountings, based on designs reverse-engineered from the Jem'Hadar. A tachyon-based energy dissipator weapon was incorporated into the main deflector, based on the Breen energy dampening weapon that had devastated Alliance forces during the Dominion War. Propulsion Systems
Cosmetically, the largest external alterations were to the propulsion systems. The ship's nacelles were entirely rebuilt and, inspired by the impulse thrusters on the Delta Flyer, additional impulse drives were added to the much larger nacelles. The engineers also completely redesigned the mission pod, constructing an assembly that incorporated a Quantum Slipstream Drive directly into a dedicated navigational deflector. The pod also contained several torpedo launchers orientated fore and aft, inspired by the Akira-class. Internal Spaces
Because of the efforts to reduce the crew, considerably less internal space needed to be dedicated to crew accommodation. Much of this was turned over to power generation and battery storage, while some was retained to allow the Saratoga to potentially serve as a courier or troop transport. The USS Saratoga retains only one mess hall and a handful of crew lounges. An astrometrics lab modelled after the one aboard the USS Voyager was installed, and modified to also function as a communications hub and strategic operations suite. Because access to the slipstream pod and the nacelles was necessary but not convenient due to the lack of turbolifts running through the struts, engineers installed a network of "internal transporters" at these and near other key locations, to allow easy movement throughout the ship. The ship's internal cargo spaces and shuttlebays were reconfigured. The engineers installed an additional ventral bay, Shuttlebay 01, based on the design used in the Defiant-class. Shuttlebay 02 (port side) retained it's original configuration, but the bulkhead separating Shuttlebay 03 (starboard) from the adjoining cargo bay was removed, allowing the more convenient loading and unloading of large equipment. The Saratoga's typical compliment of shuttlecraft included Type 9 and Type 10 vehicles, though the ship could (with careful logistics) carry a number of additional small craft. Automation & Crew Reduction
To make the Saratoga as appealing to Starfleet as possible, every effort was made towards automation so that the ship would require as small a crew as possible. The Miranda V team borrowed heavily from the innovations that went into the USS Prometheus, and also made use of a variety of holographic programs. As with most modern starships, the Saratoga carries an Emergency Medical Hologram: specifically the latest model, programmed with the intention that it would develop a unique personality rather than one evolving by accident. During the ship's development, the engineers created an Engineering Diagnostic Holoprogram (based on an engineering program Reginald Barclay had devised as part of Project Pathfinder) to help ensure the new systems were interacting correctly, which proved useful enough to leave aboard. To allow for a smaller science department, Starbase 51 installed a copy of their Interface Holoprogram, which R&D scientists used to interact with their research and data in lieu of relying on consoles and voice commands. The engineers also added an Emergency Command Hologram based on the modifications to the USS Voyager's EMH program. In addition to the latest model of Emergency Medical Hologram, the ECH could be re-tasked as an EMH with Mark I functionality if required, and the Interface Holoprogram was coded to function as a nurse or surgical assistant if required. While all areas of the ship were equipped with holoemtters, only certain key locations such as sickbay, engineering, astrometrics, the shuttlebays, and the bridge were fitted with extra systems to sustain multiple holograms at once. |
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