Time to give this a review.

TEMPEST-CLASS
CATEGORY: Battlecruiser
VARIANT: Intelligence
DESIGNER: Sam Pennington
Mark I
Draft 1
DATE: 19 March 2020
REFERENCED URLs:

HISTORY AND MISSION OVERVIEW

In 2383, Starfleet Intelligence decided it needed a new type of ship to infiltrate and perform surveillance. Working secretly at a temporary shipyard orbiting Jupiter, they designed the Tempest Class Battlecruiser. Fast, light, and dangerous, the Tempest Class was equipped for quick infiltrations and subtle maneuvers. Only a decade had passed when the existence of the class became known. No longer Intelligence’s secret weapon, the Tempest Class was authorised for use by all of Starfleet.

Mission Profiles
Long range exploration and infiltration
Light combat and patrols
*Surveillance

STRUCTURE AND CONSTRUCTION

The Tempest has an arrowhead shaped saucer section and a narrow oval-shaped dish with a joined secondary hull that is a horizontal oval at the fore and tapers upward and inward to form a flat two-deck aft section.

The description here states that there are two separate primary hulls - a saucer section and a dish. I can’t quite figure out what you’re trying to say here as far as vessel shape.

There are two nacelles attached halfway down the hull.

How? Are they directly connected to the hull, or are there pylons?

Assembled in a mix of tritanium and duranium, it was built mainly by transporter welding. It is equipped with landing gear, capable of setting down on most M Class planets or moons. The ship can expand and retract along motorised tracks to bring the saucer section inline with the main body. This creates a compressed look and smaller area to avoid fire and make landing easier.

The rest of this works, albeit a little more detail would be nice.

SCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS

The Tempest class employs Class 9 Sensors, positioned near the main deflector. The system has a maximum high resolution range out to 4.34 light years, and a low resolution range out to 15 light years. External sensors are secured under a tritanium shell for protection.

While this is acceptable, this is where I was expecting to see more things that make this feel specifically like a clandestine operations vessel.

WARP PROPULSION SYSTEM

The Tempest functions using a class 8 1900+ cochrane MARA core with two nacelles positioned to port and starboard, which are embedded into the body of the ship.

Be sure to make the hull integration with the nacelles more explicit above in the next draft.

The cruising speed is warp 6, with a maximum sustainable speed of warp 9.0. Warp 9.4 is achievable for 12 hours. There is an emergency engine output function which increases output to warp 9.6 for 2.5 hours at the expense of shutting down all nonessential functions. (i.e. holodecks, replicators)

IMPULSE PROPULSION SYSTEM

Impulse engines are located at the aft of the ship, with small boosters fore. The maximum velocity is .30c. Designed for quick entry and exits, the time to accelerate and decelerate is 30 seconds.

Small grammar fix.

TACTICAL SYSTEMS

The tempest boasts type IX Shield systems positioned above the main deflector, encased in a tritanium shell. The maximum graviton load is 1598 MegaWatts. The energy dissipation rate is 4.2x10^5 kiloWatts.

You can abbreviate known units. MW and kW are acceptable here.

Type X Phasers in 6 strips line the body of the tempest class, 4 fore and 2 aft. They contain 200 emitters each. Each strip has an output of 5.1 megawatts with a range of 300,000km.

Ibid.

Two torpedo tubes are present, one fore, and one aft. The compliment of torpedoes is smaller than might be expected in a combat craft, holding only 50 photon and 10 quantum. This is to make space for additional probes.

There are 75 probes onboard.

COMMAND AND SUPPORT SYSTEMS

Bridge:
There is a central captain’s chair. With a first officer’s chair and second officer’s chair a quarter meter forward to the starboard and port respectively. The CO’s chair has a monitor built into the right arm. Behind the command crew are standing stations for one tactical and one science officer. There is a communications station on the port side. On the right is operations. In front of a large viewscreen, is the helm console. At the very back of the bridge is a row of consoles occupied by each department.

The bolded part can be one sentence. Are the communications and operations stations also standing stations or are they seated? Same question for the remaining consoles.

Ready Room:
The CO’s ready room comes with a desk, seating for two guests, and a small display case. It is situated port of the bridge.

Conference Room:
The senior staff conference room is to the right of the bridge. The conference table has 10 seats. There is a large screen for presentations. A replicator is also present.

Primary Armoury/Chief of Security Office
The primary armoury holds 100 type II hand phasers, 25 type III phaser rifles, and 10 type IIIc phaser rifles. These require CO, XO, or DH authorisation to access. The CoS’ office contains a desk, 3 chairs, and a standard replicator.

Secondary Armoury:
The secondary armoury holds 100 type II hand phasers, 25 type III phaser rifles, and 10 type IIIc phaser rifles. These require CO, XO, or CoS authorisation to access.

Brig:
The Tempest brig houses 3 cells, each capable of holding up to 3 people. There is a failsafe power supply lasting 2 hours for the force fields. If the main power fails and emergency power is activated, bulkheads seal the brig exit until authorised by a command/senior officer to open.

Science Lab/Chief Science Officer’s office:
A laboratory designed for surveillance and intelligence is positioned on deck 9. The CSO’s office is in the back. The office holds a desk, 3 chairs, and standard replicator. Scientific equipment is minimal, providing what is necessary to undertake surveillance missions, but little more. There is a full laboratory and a stellar cartography lab on deck 9.

Stellar Cartography:
For remote tracking and data gathering, a cartography lab is adjacent to the science labs on deck 9.

I would recommend upgrading this to a compact Astrometrics lab like we see in Voyager. One would imagine that Starfleet used technology from that sojourn that wouldn’t break the timeline.

Main Engineering/Chief Engineer’s office:
Main engineering is a utilitarian space. In the very back is the warp core. There is a central “pool table” console for collaborative work. To starboard is the CE’s office. The office contains a desk, 3 chairs, and a replicator.

UTILITY SYSTEMS

SNIP

Transporters:
There are 2 transporter rooms located on decks 10 and 12, connected to a pattern buffer on deck 11.

Be sure to include pad counts and maximum range here. Also, are there any emergency transporters?

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CREW SUPPORT SYSTEMS

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Crew Quarters:
The designers saw no reason to differentiate quality of quarters by rank between officers and crew, and thus officer and crew quarters are identical. It is divided into two rooms. The entire residence is located in one room, a standard desk with a computer terminal, a single chair, a queen sized bed, a small couch and coffee table. There is a restroom with a sonic shower, sink, and relief facilities.

You could probably combine the above two sections into a single section to save space. It’s a distinction without a difference, as you already note.

SNIP

Holosuites:
There is one holosuite present on deck 5, with all standard functionality.

Given the nature of the Tempest’s mission, are you sure it’s wise to have so few recreational options aboard?

Sickbay:
Sickbay is designed for emergency use and receiving casualties. There are 5 biobeds and 1 surgical beds. It is equipped with a standard EMH program. The CMO’s office is at the very back of sickbay, and contains a desk, 3 chairs, and a replicator.

Similar to the above question, why would Sickbay not be available for all regular medical issues as well as emergency cases?

AUXILIARY SPACECRAFT SYSTEMS

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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

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DECK LAYOUT

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SHIPS OF CLASS

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CONCLUSION
The Tempest class once served as a right hand for intelligence and now offers Starfleet a quick and quiet alternative to the larger battleships.

SUBMITTED 19 March 2020
Sam Pennington

This spec has a good foundation upon which to build. Save for some issues with ship structure and the use of space aboard, there aren’t many major issues. What truly needs to be addressed before the next draft comes down to one question - what makes this vessel uniquely an Intelligence-based vessel? There needs to be clear-cut ways that this design, instead of others available for the task, needs to be used instead of the Pendragon or the Manhattan.

Good start. Hopefully you can keep improving the design in the future.

Nicholas Villarreal
Engineering Director