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Engineering, or main engineering is the central point from which a starship's main power systems are controlled, especially propulsion. Engineering is the primary assignment of engineers and chief engineers.
In an emergency where the bridge is disabled or made uninhabitable, Engineering can also be used as a command and control center, overriding primary centers such as the bridge or auxiliary control.
Main Engineering on Deck 7 of a Nova Class starship is the “heart” of the vessel, which generates all power and maintains every system aboard. Staffed by highly-trained engineers and technicians, Main Engineering is the second most essential area of a Nova Class Starship. These compartments are centralized, and extend across three decks, to provide easy access to most of the ship’s critical systems. Nearly a hundred control consoles and access panels for vital equipment is located in this one large compartment. Blast doors can come down into position from three points to seal off the warp core and primary control room from each other and the rest of the vessel.
Its main entrance, on Deck 7, opens into a small master control room with vital control consoles on either side for technicians to keep tabs on anything from environmental controls to replicator repairs. This control room opens into a much larger, rectangular compartment filled with more consoles, ladders, and two small lifts to reach sensitive equipment on Decks 6 and 5, above. Directly below on Deck 8 is the antimatter injector system, plasma relay control, and emergency jettison hatch for the warp core. Directly above on Deck 4 is the cold fusion battery compartment, whose units are constantly charged by the warp core.
In the center of this cavernous rectangular compartment is the ship’s warp core. The massive Warp Core, technically an APD-01 dilithium swirl chamber Matter/Antimatter Reactor Assembly (M/ARA) extends for three decks in height with emergency ejection systems located at the top to loosen the unit, which is then ejected from the ventral engineering section of the ship on Deck 8, in case of a warp core breach. Like all modern engineering rooms, the Twilight's is equipped with breathing masks, fire suppression equipment, and medkits in case of accidents. Additional measures include a 24-centimeter-thick blast door that can be extended from the ceiling to the floor in case of a coolant leak inside Main Engineering. Due to the caustic nature of plasma coolant upon living tissue, this compartment must be fully vented before the computer will allow the doors to be opened.
Access to the top of the M/ARA is provided by a set of catwalks and doors that open onto Deck 6 where additional engineering systems are housed, including Deflector Control. Other entrances include access ladders and Jeffries tubes spread around Main Engineering, and additional corridors that extend further into the ship. On Deck 6 are also located the Chief Engineer’s Cabin and Office, so he is just steps away from his command center.
A Nova Class' Matter/Anti-matter warp core is an APD-01 dilithium swirl chamber Matter/Antimatter Reactor Assembly (M/ARA), and provides most of the power requirements for the Starship, including its warp engine nacelles.
In an emergency, these main engineering consoles can be reconfigured to serve as an auxiliary bridge; however, on the Twilight, there is an auxiliary control room on Deck Three that serves this function.
Aboard a Nova Class starship, Main Engineering is under the supervision of the vessel’s Chief Engineer, who has an office on Deck 6; this office has command override consoles that duplicate most functions in Main Engineering, as well as access to the Jefferies Tubes. The Engineering Office is conveniently located directly above the Damage Control Compartment on Deck 5; a hatch and ladder connect the two compartments. As this office is located starboard, through more engineering compartments such as the defense field generator bay, additional override consoles are located on the desk in the chief engineer’s more accessible cabin on Deck 6.
During a normal duty shift, the typical crew complement in Main Engineering is two engineers and seven technicians of various grades, manning all primary consoles in Main Engineering, the impulse engine control room, and on the Bridge. During Red or Yellow Alert, that number is increased. Fully one-third of the crew is cross-trained to some degree in engineering science, and can generally make simple repairs to most systems; these individuals are assigned to damage repair crews in a combat situation or other dire emergency.
Last Unicorn Games, Starship Game Statistics:[]
The Warp Core, combined with the Impulse Engine Fusion Reactors, produce 120 power points of energy every 2 rounds (in some versions of the game, every round.) In addition, Emergency Power is available from the auxiliary fusion reactors (5 each) for a total of 20 power points every 4 rounds; this power is usually held in reserve to reinforce combat shields, or to overpower the phaser arrays. Finally, there is a total of 120 power points in the cold fusion batteries on Deck 4; battery power is a one-shot deal, usually held in reserve to power the life-support systems in the event that all energizers are damaged and off-line, for up to 12 hours until repairs can be made. If half the decks of the ship have their life-support shut down, this power can be stretched up to 24 hours. It takes 2 hours of constant power feed via an EPS tap from a reactor to bring the batteries to full charge. There are two auxiliary fusion reactors crated and packed away in the Main Cargo Bay in the event of dire emergency; it takes a trained engineer about an hour to replace the damaged units and restore some power.
External links[]
- Engineering article at Memory Alpha, the canon Star Trek wiki.
- Engineering article at Memory Beta, the non-canon Star Trek wiki.
- Engineering article at Star Trek Expanded Universe.