Crossfield class (32nd century refit)

STARSHIP CLASS
Crossfield-class (refit)

Affiliation:	Federation, Starfleet
Type:	Rapid reaction ship Science ship
Service period:	32nd century
Dimensions
Length:	750.5 meters
Width:	290.4 meters
Height:	69 meters
Mass:	200,000 metric tonnes (23rd century) 675,000 metric tons (32nd century)
Specifications
Decks:	18
Crew:	88-139
Speed:	Warp Transwarp Spore drive Impulse speed
Armaments:	Phasers Quantum torpedoes Photon torpedoes
Defences:	Deflector shields Cloaking device

The Crossfield class is a technologically advanced type of starship in active service during the 32nd century. The only known member was the USS Discovery-A.

History[]

After the USS Discovery reunited with Starfleet Command, the ship was recommissioned and the class began active service once more. The only active ship of this type, USS Discovery-A went under a 3 week retrofit period upgrading it into 32nd century standards with minor concessions in aesthetics in order to facilitate familiarity with the existing crew.

In 3190, the USS Discovery-A was destroyed by a gravitational anomaly rendering all vessels of this class currently destroyed. Meanwhile research is being done to revitalise it in order to mass produce its unique spore drive therefore eliminating the Federation's thousand year-long dependency on Dilithium.

Technical data[]

Computer systems[]

The ship utilises a combination of nano-gel and organic circuitry with isolinear chips used as memory storage hubs. It has a holographic communications system capable of simulating a pair of individuals and transmitting a high definition light replica thousands of light years away.

In addition to current Federation archives, the Crossfield class retains 23rd century databases that were lost or destroyed during the burn as well as the detailed knowledge of 100,000 years which includes information on time travel, universe travel, artificial intelligence and species biological data.

USS Discovery, a Crossfield class vessel, employs a fully sentient computer system possessing emotions described as beyond artificial intelligence. The system had named itself Zora and has unlimited access to all of the ship's functions including her own programming meaning she had autonomous operation of her existence and could prevent herself from being removed in addition to altering her core parameters which she did by changing it to "to care for the crew of Discovery" from standard Starfleet code.

Security Levels[]

Level 10 - Captain and above such as Admiral and Commodore
Level 9 - First officer
Level 8 - Commander
Level 7 – Lt. Commander
Level 6 – Lieutenant
Level 5 – Lt. Junior Grade
Level 4 - Ensign
Level 3 – Non-Commissioned Crew
Level 2 – Civilian Personnel
Level 1 – Open Access (Read Only)

Propulsion systems[]

Miscellaneous engineering systems[]

Rather than using remote power transfer which could possibly be jammed or fluctuate due to outside interference from stellar phenomena or outside technology, when going to warp or activating the spore drive, programmable matter creates the connection between the secondary hull and the nacelles within two seconds therefore allowing the huge amount of energy required for the warp field to flow unimpeded to the warp coils and with proper shielding and safeguards. Furthermore, as the Crossfield class was from the 23rd century, improvements were made to engine efficiency by optimizing field stress at speeds excess Warp Factor 8 and Transphasic technology was added to make it environmentally friendly preventing damage to subspace.

The new engine core of this class was constructed of over 200 elements, and no longer had any need for magnetic confinement due to special fuel injection processes. It also emitted omicron radiation during its operation, which is extremely rare and can only be created by certain forms of matter-antimatter reactions.

FTL[]

Spore drive[]

Crossfield class vessels are equipped with a displacement-activated spore hub drive, essentially a organic quantum entanglement drive, originally concepted and built in the 23rd century by Dr. Paul Stamets. The technology utilises mycelium spores harvested from a fungi species named prototaxites stellaviatori to jump and/or leap across the mycelial network ie; an infinite crossroads leading through the entire multiverse. Despite the limitless range of the Spore drive, it nevertheless requires a minimum of 1.3 seconds to properly "spin up". Currently Starfleet has upgraded several factors of the drive including its interface by integrating Nanogel that acts as a quantum transducer eliminating the need for the inserting shunts and making it more comfortable as well as it merely slid on and off the user's hands, leaving no residue.

The mycelial "jump" is denoted by Black Alert before the ship's super ring structure begins to rotate to cultivate excess energy cavitation which is a process of collecting the heat and other forms of energy derived from the friction and velocity of the spinning rings.

Visually, a Crossfield class ship appears to leave reality, then be transported to a very deep layer of subspace referred to as the Mycelial plane, and later return at a another point in space.

Warp drive[]

Crossfield class starships possess a Federation standard warp drive that functions through running highly energised plasma through the unique composition of the warp coils thereby creating a subspace field ie; a discrete bubble of subspace is temporarily merged into normal space around the exterior of the craft. To explain the phenomena, under normal circumstances subspace and normal space do not interact, but the high amount of energy and the unique properties of the warp coils contained in the nacelles allows a "blending" of the dimensions, surrounding the ship in the aforementioned subspace field. By manipulating the way plasma is moved through the warp coils, Crossfield class vessels alter the nature of the subspace field, such as causing it to move in a specific direction therefore actually accelerating the subspace "bubble" to faster-than-light velocities without violating laws of relativity as the ship contained within the field is technically stationary.

The maximum speed of the warp drive installed on typical vessels of this type is Warp Factor 9.99973523079 which is 87,600 times the speed of light or around 10 light years/per hour. Average cruising velocity is Warp Factor 9.0 which is 1,516.38 times speed of light and equates to 1 light year/per every 5.78 hours. Previously, before retrofit, Crossfield class ships could only travel a maximum of Warp Factor 7 which is roughly 656.14 times the speed of light and more than twice as slow as 32nd century Warp 9 as well as 133 times slower than it's current top speed.

Warp core ejection[]

In the event of a warp core breach, a Crossfield-class starship could eject their warp core. This procedure required the authorization code of the chief engineer or a member of the senior staff, most prominently the captain and/or first officer. The core was ejected through the ejection port on the underside of the secondary hull and magnetic rails inside the channel accelerated the core once disengaged from the vessel thereby firing it away from the ship.

Transwarp[]

Vessels of this class are fitted with a Transwarp coil allowing the formation of a Tri-quantum conduit rift. It utilized a combination of the traditional warp drive, navigational deflector and deflector shields as its components with the ship having to be taken to warp factor 2.3 to generate the initial required subspace field before the navigational deflector used a tachyon matrix to emit tachyonic bursts on a high-energy band. The deflector shield of the ship was used to emit the tachyon bursts into space at the resonant transwarp frequency level. The subspace field of the conduit then formed in front of the ship.

The Transwarp coil design utilized solid trilithium that retains integrity for workable periods of time and a process of extreme refinement of standard dilithium allowed the use of the advanced compacted flow of energy required by the transwarp drive. Generated transwarp conduits radiate high neutrino emissions accompanied by an intermittent graviton flux and a chroniton field is projected throughout a Crossfield class ship interior in order to compensate for temporal stress.

The maximum speed is known to be 1,000,000 – 10,000,000 times the speed of light allowing for extremely rapid travel to any of the four quadrants of the Milky Way galaxy.

Sub-light[]

The Crossfield class possessed two methods of transport within normal space at sub-light speeds. The first is a magnetohydrodynamic drive called the Hyper-Impulse engine that is essentially a massive magnetic coil to propel the ship at speeds just under 0.75 percent of the speed of light. This magnetic system also utilizes the Space-Time Driver Coil to operate effectively at sub-light speeds which produce a non-propulsive symmetrical subspace field that helps the ship to accelerate, decelerate, and maneuver by effectively lowering it's apparent mass.

The second is a Newtonian-thrust-based reaction system in the form of two assemblies of vectored thrust nozzles aligned on the far rear of the secondary hull opposite the shuttle bay with two smaller and thinner assemblies on the back of the saucer dish. They are powered by fusion reactors using deuterium fuel to create helium plasma. These rocket-like engines are typically employed for a boost of velocity, specialised maneuvering, et cetera. A known speed of the Impulse thrusters is 0.17 percent of the speed of light and are generally used to bolster the magnetic drive bringing the total sub-light speed up to 0.92 c which is .8 percent less than that of Warp 1 AKA the speed of light.

Auxiliary complement[]

Six-to-Seven Type 6A shuttlecraft
Four Landing pods
Unknown number of Escape Pods
Twenty four Worker bees

Energy generation[]

Ships of this class are powered via multiple sources including; an antimatter x matter drive which generated enormous amounts of power through explosive collisions releasing pure light (energy) which is then funneled directly into FTL as well as several other systems and is regulated through a matrix of magnets and Dilithium.

Furthermore, Crossfield class vessels also utilise several impulse reactors fueled by Deuterium which make use of a nuclear fusion process to generate energised plasma that is then distributed throughout the ship via a Plasma conduit managed EPS grid. The Plasma conduits were reinforced by Nanopolymer enriched in bosons. Jet Reno expressed frustration that the USS Discovery-A does not conform to the 32nd century standard polaric conduit recommended specifications.

Tactical[]

Tractor beam generators: Crossfield class vessels are equipped with six tractor beam emitters that project a attenuated beam of gravity outward toward a target thus allowing the manipulation of an object's trajectory. There are two positioned on the ventral engineering hull (port and starboard), two above the aft doors to the cargo bay to guide boarding shuttles, and two dorsal on the inner-ring of the saucer section.

Weapon systems[]

Torpedoes[]

It is armed with numerous torpedo launch banks, 2 forward and 1 aft, that shoot out self-propelled torpedoes each equipped with quantum warheads utilising a Zero Point energy reaction. The class also carries class 5 Photon Warheads utilising a Matter x Antimatter payload.

The complement of which is 40 photon and 20 quantum but the supply is replenishable as the photon torpedoes can be replicated and then subsequently supplied with the antimatter from the vessel's generator but the quantum torpedoes cannot be produced by the effort of a lone Crossfield class ship.

Phasers[]

The class is armed with twelve arrays of directed energy strip emitters that fire pulsed beams of enhanced phased nadion particle discharge at a target in contrast to the standard tetryon plasma weapons of the 32nd century. It uses automatic frequency rotation programs to combat enemy adaptation.

Stealth systems[]

Cloak screen: The class is equipped with a highly advanced cloaking device that was proclaimed to be perfect as it emitted no tachyons and left no residual anti-protons, the two ways that a cloaked ship could be tracked and located. Thus when a ship of this design type cloaked, it was imperceptible and virtually impossible to find.

Defensive systems[]

Deflector shields: For protection, the class features sophisticated forcefield armor that has proven to be regenerative employing said sub-routines in addition to self-adaptive matrices to compensate for enemy fire. It is comprised out of layered energetic distortion infused with graviton waves and can absorb kinetic forces as well as energy discharge for prolonged periods of time. Against quantum torpedoes, the shields could only withstand 33 direct hits when set at maximum Isoton yield with each zero point energy explosion dealing 3 percent damage to the deflectors.

Design[]

The Crossfield-class retains an overall layout near-identical to it's past iteration consisting of a saucer section, a wide secondary hull, and two elongated nacelles. The outer and middle sections still housed rings that could rotate clockwise and counter-clockwise respectively, so as to provide centrifugal energy generation. However, there were a multitude of alterations both aesthetic and design in nature. For example, the entire hull was no longer copper colored and instead was chrome-silver. Additional changes included the complete removal of the connecting corridor struts between the outer ring and inner ring of the saucer section as well as the formerly round deflector dish now had hexagonal contours.

The nacelles were now physically detached but remained connected to the vessel which enabled an improved level of maneuverability for a "more efficient flight". It did this via magnetic seals generated by a series of superconductors making it's individual components lack a actual connection with one another but remained a cohesive unit. In addition, there are now gaps in what remains of the nacelle pylons. Removing majority of the pylons enabled the elimination of nearly ten percent its gross weight thus why it was more maneuverable.

Additionally, the secondary hull appears to have been gutted and changed to accommodate newer impulse engines, with a different shape; the neck of the ship was thinner with a more V-shaped appearance from the rear view, fewer windows, and was generally sleeker. The turboshafts were entirely removed and were now free floating inside the ship with the magnetic levitation tracks being constructed as the turbolifts moved, thanks to programmable matter.

The class utilises 4th dimensional construction methods to make it bigger on the inside than what the physical exterior which possibly allow for. Cleveland Booker commented upon the appearance of the ship's inner facilities below the general habitable zones as 24th century "borg-like"

Decks/Layout[]

Deck one - Bridge, briefing room and Captain's ready room
Deck two - Crew quarters, guest quarters, mess hall, crew bathroom with sonic showers, gym
Deck three - Dual science laboratory, transporter room 1 and 2, VIP guest quarters
Deck four - Medical bay, loading bay, CMO's office, cargo bay 3
Deck five - Holodeck 1, airlocks, captain's personal quarters, captain's personal bathroom with sonic showers
Deck six - Armory 1, shuttlebay
Deck seven - Holodeck 2
Deck eight - Cargo bay 1-2, astrometrics, emergency vault
Deck nine - Brig, armory 2, airlocks
Deck ten - Secondary crew quarters, ten forward/after shift recreation lounge, public crew locker room
Deck eleven - Main engineering, engineering test bay alpha and beta, Cetacean ops navigation, spore reaction cube, spore cultivation bay
Deck twelve - Logic sciences laboratory, multiple utility closets
Deck thirteen - Computer core
Deck fourteen - Deuterium fuel tanks, cargo bay 4-5, Dilithium vault
Deck fifteen - Crew bathroom
Deck sixteen - Unknown
Deck seventeen - Unknown
Deck eighteen - Unknown

Starship section design[]

The main bridge features a central command chair for the Captain in the center with turbolift access at the front-starboard and rear-center, and a computerized transparent window-viewscreen that boasted programmable matter allowing the computerized overlay to display in 3D. Clockwise from the center command chair, the bridge stations comprised of a free-standing multi-purpose station, science station, another free-standing multi-purpose station, tactical, helm, operations, spore drive control, communications, and a free-standing science station. Each station featured tactile interfaces such as LCARS in addition to holographic displays/controls as well as they were capable of reading bio-signs and were therefore highly adaptive to the current user. In essence, it learned and adjusted to the user's reflexes, creating interface styles that were unique to each individual. The captain's chair also possessed a forcefield dome function with an optional sound-proof mode.

Off the bridge was the captain's ready room. It is located to the port side of the bridge and is furnished by couches, tables and sofa chairs as well as a desk. All of which are in warm colours. The room features holographic technology and can function similar to that of a Holodeck. Furthermore, it housed many personal effects and replicators.

The briefing room was located on the same deck as the bridge and ready room and was used for conducting meetings plus various conferences. The room itself appeared like a slightly curved rectangle with a slightly robust table in the center capable of holographic projections through an LCARS touch interface in addition to another table at the front of the room to the side opposite a wall mounted console. At the end of the room there was a small coffee table and sofa chairs facing a computerised square window.

Engineering test bay alpha was a specialised version of a standard engineering work space converted for study, use, and practice of a Crossfield class spore drive. Aboard the USS Discovery, the engineering lab was highly classified and required a certain level of clearance for access typically around level 6 though level 4 sometimes worked there just without full authorisation. Immediately off of engineering lab alpha was a cultivation bay where Dr. Paul Stamets grows his own prototaxites stellaviatori spores and protected them using breath print identification. The lab also contained the reaction cube, mycelium spore storage canisters, and various components.

Main engineering was located on deck eleven and not only housed the vessel's critical components/systems including the Warp core but was actually constructed around the matter-antimatter reaction assembly. A series of Jefferies tube crawl ways connected engineering to the shuttlebay and various other levels.

The medical bay on 32nd century Crossfield class vessels are highly advanced featuring the original design elements of the 23rd century design whilst utilising present day technology and equipment. The room appeared hexagon in shape and was more brightly painted and lit compared to the rest of the ship. It featured multiple tactile tables with holographic displays, computer monitors on the wall, and several thin biobeds each with holographic interfaces and capable of analyzing the humanoid body at the subcellular level, offering the physician a total understanding of the patient's status in addition to an advanced atomic scan through an electromagnetic gel covered biobed while the patient wore a white suit made of an unique hyperconductive material which interacted with the gel. Sickbay was also able to conduct encephalographic polygraph scans and cerebral mapping. Additional equipment included Hyposprays, dermal regenerators, antiproton chamber for radiation treatment, anti-grav lifts, styrolite for suspended animation, hematic microrepair unit for treating internal bleeding and stabilizing the cardiovascular system, genetronic replicator able to scan the genetic information in a damaged organ before translating that information into a set of instructions for replication and then replicate an entirely new, healthy organ for replacement. The medical bay also included complex holographic systems for a plethora of reasons such as to either accommodate holographic images/displays, anatomical imaging, temporarily replace organs with holographic copies, and for the EMH system. In the event of a biohazard, a quarantine field was automatically erected by the ship's computer separating the infected from the rest of the crew. Overall, sickbay on Crossfield class vessels could diagnose physiological, psychological, temporal and interdimensional issues and provide effective treatment.

Crossfield class shuttle bays received extensive modifications following the 32nd century refit. Force-field technology allowed shuttlebay space doors to usually be kept opened as the blue field kept the atmosphere inside while allowing support vehicles to enter and exit. The doors were only closed in the event of force field failure or during emergency situations like red alert. It contained a large platform which descended to enable access to a launch facility for landing pods. The room's ground is tiled black hexagonal patterned and it houses many cargo containers magnetically attached to the floor as well as shuttles and worker bees suspended in the air on opposite ends.

The mess hall was where crewmembers could relax and enjoy a meal or a quick snack in a social setting. It featured multiple tables and seats, which were colored white and held enough space to accommodate dozens of crew at once. On the back wall are five independent replicators.

The Gym was located on deck 2 and was dedicated to physical fitness and exercise. It featured a window looking out into space, surround sound speakers for music, and a raised platform capable of replicating any requested equipment through programmable matter reconfiguration.

Life support/Crew support systems[]

Crossfield class vessels utilise an artificial gravitational field generator facilitated through Duranium sheets lined in the interior deck plates. The levels of gravity produced were modulated by a graviton stabilizer and typically produced Earth standard gravimetric forces: 0.99 g.

To protect from damage caused by approaching a star or entering the atmosphere of a planet, this type utilised a standard Federation heat shield consisting of a thermal deflector unit. This is seperate from the vessels deflector shield.

To mitigate radiation damage to both the crew and ship systems, Crossfield class ships have a seperate protective system independent from the main deflector shields which use a double lattice layer consisting of semi-fluidic material designed to safely absorb the energy of the radiation.

Like all FTL capable vessels, the Crossfield class requires the use of an advanced inertia dampening system to counter the effects of rapid acceleration and deceleration by sustaining and absorbing the natural inertia of such a vessel as it moved through space in sub-light or warp velocities.

The structural integrity system is an application of EM field technology allowing the mechanical integrity of the physical space-frame of a Crossfield class starship to be augmented. This system provides a network of polarised forcefield segments that compensate for propulsive and other structural stress factors that otherwise exceed the design limits of the space-frame or to assist in the compensation of weapon fire. EM field generation for the SIF is provided by a number of field generators with the Crossfield class having five generators: three on the saucer section, and two in secondary hull.

The ship has a recycling oxygenation system that used a synthetic fiber-based technology creating an artificial ecosystem of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and other gases, while taking in carbon dioxide exhaled by the crew and purifying it.

Upon being retrofitted, Crossfield class vessels were provided with current Federation standard replicator systems/hubs as a means of producing necessary items such as food, clothing, medication and virtually anything else required. The menu is only limited by the programming but cannot replicate certain material such as Latinum, programmable matter, antimatter or Dilithium. Additionally, biofilters automatically screen out all contaminants before alerting the ship's computer and then use programmable matter to break down the harmful element unless otherwise ordered. Replicators are fueled by the vessel's bulk matter supply described as the base material which is then deconstructed on the atomic level and then reformed using magnets and matter-energy-matter conversion technology. It used Nitrium in the construction of its components.

During the retrofit, ship transporter systems were also updated and enhanced to conform to the standard specifications for the 32nd century. They functioned via matter-energy-matter conversion meaning a person or object is reduced into an energy pattern, then sending ("beaming" - possibly through quantum entanglement) it to a target location or else returning it to the transporter, where it is re-converted into matter. In doing so, the target matter is discorporated into a vibrant blue particle facsimile and the entire process takes less than a second. When used, a transporter left residual ionization in the air that can be isolated and traced. Additionally, transporters have bio-filters to remove contagious microbes or viruses from an organic subject mid-transport. The maximum range was 70,000 kilometers which was a 75 percent increase from the 24th century limit and was 172 percent greater than the range of 25,749.504 kilometers during the 23rd century. It was not fitted for transwarp beaming or subspace transporting.

Saucer separation mode[]

Inspired by the earlier Galaxy class, ships of this type had an emergency maneuver involving the complete disconnection of the primary hull from the secondary hull and nacelles. The saucer lacked the ability to enter any mode of FTL but did have "warp sustainers" thereby allowing it to continue at warp velocities when the class separated during such times for a maximum of 30 seconds before falling to impulse.

The saucer had two Newtonian-thrust impulse drives rated for travel to the nearest planetoid, to reach a safe distance from the discarded section, or if close enough reach the nearest Federation outpost. It was capable of fusion overburn in which the impulse engine's power output was pushed past the maximum safety level in an effort to generate a great amount of forward thrust before burning out the drive's reactors.

In general, activating the saucer separation triggered an automated distress call on secure Federation subspace frequencies.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

The Crossfield class was named for Albert Scott Crossfield, a test pilot and aeronautical engineer. Albert Crossfield lived from 1921 to 2006, he was a fighter pilot during the Second World War and would go on to fly fourteen test flights as part of the X-15 test program. In 1986 he was part of the task group that investigated the destruction of the NASA Shuttle Orbiter Challenger after it exploded during take off .73 seconds after take off.