Service Systems Example

As can be seen in the diagram piping and conduit for service systems typically run inside walls or bulkheads. Pictured are a local 400 Hz Power Panel, a Water Delivery Unit and a standard passageway Adaptapanel, commonly used in this case for internal communications, compartment environmental control and computer access.
400 Hz Local Power Panel: The 400 Hz Local Power Panel has controls for Solid State Switches and mechanical interrupts or active switches. The Solid State Switch has no moving parts and can be controlled remotely through the control system or locally. Active Switches provide a physical breaking of the current path (which is why they are sometimes called breakers). Solid State Switches have no moving parts but interrupt current through material modification. As the result of a biasing signal the material either becomes a conductor or an insulator. In the ancient past only small currents could be controlled in this way. Modern solid state switches can handle thousands of amps.
Water Delivery Unit: The water delivery unit can provide water at a controlled temperature to whatever container is placed under it. It can produce water at any temperature form ice cold to boiling hot. There are typically such units in every stateroom, at routinely staffed duty stations, such as the bridge or engineering control, and in various passageways. Galleys typically contain several with attachments to make filling pots easier. Advanced units can add flavorings and even carbonation and such units are typically installed in mess rooms and galleys.
Adaptapanels: Adaptapanel was originally a trade name for a now defunct Solonami controls company. The name has passed into common usage to describe the touch control panels often used for front end displays on starships.

The adaptapanel has its own miniprocessor, memory, and multiple network connectors, which allows them to be connected to the Security, Controls and Communications Networks while preserving network isolation. Strong security protocols maintain system isolation to prevent an attacker from using an adaptapanel to bridge across networks for unauthorized access. Each panel can act as a communication display, control local environment, and act as a security pickup for area monitoring. Specialized panels (that is a standard panel with special programming) are often used to control access to spaces or operate Iris Valves under biometric control. Each adaptapanel has its own embedded Local Control Processor.
On the NdN each Iris Valve is serviced by a pair of adaptapanels. The pair act as door controls with the ability to perform handprint scans to determine access to restricted areas. When no access restrictions are necessary the panel can display a simple "open" or "close" button. The comm unit can allow contact with the other side of the door, for staterooms or secured offices. Environmental readbacks can indicate the status of pressure, atmospheric composition or even gravity, on the far side of the valve. In an airlock both the airlock and decontamination systems can be controlled through the panel.
The adaptapanels on NdN are set to a IISS standard pattern. The array of buttons to select panel functions runs along the bottom. The right side of the panel has mutable buttons displayed for each selected function. The left panel area is dedicated to the specific function. So it might display a hand scanner waiting for a handprint at a secure door, or a visual readback for comm use or an parameter display for use in environmental control. When not in use the adaptapanels typically display a ship specific wallpaper with a prominently displayed touch field to activate the unit.

Ship's Systems

On a modern vessel like the Nicolas de Nicolay most support systems are located safely out of the way in the areas between decks or in bulkheads.
Beneath the Grav Plates, located in a utility trench most of the power, fluid and air systems are located. In the diagram the grav plate has been raised and the systems can been seen clearly marked for the student. They will be described from left to right below.
DC Power System: The DC Power System is used to power many components aboard the vessel, especially systems related to propulsion, gravity and weaponry. The system has a positive and a negative lead. Typically there are several fore to aft runs on each deck.
400 Hz System: The 400 Hz Power System is used for many electronic and computer systems. Often at the loads it is itself converted to dc in many different voltages, but some components used the 400 Hz Ac itself. A 400 Hz power tap is shown in the diagram.
Control Network: The Control Network is the computer network that is interfaced to the actual systems which controls the vessel. This includes the control panels located in various compartments and control rooms, as well as Local Control Processors (LCP) which control almost every piece of equipment on the ship, Adaptapanels located throughout the ship, and ship's computers which run software dedicated to running the ship. In most ships there are two geographically isolated  fiber network trunks laid from fore to aft. On the NdN and all Leviathans the trunks are laid on the port side of Deck E and the Starboard side of Deck B. The line shown in the diagram is a local fiber line for the Control Network.
Return Vent: The Return Vent cycles air out of the space, usually through a number of cleaning and humidifier systems that will be discussed below. A sphincter valve, whose technology is very much like that used for Iris Valves, is used to isolate the vent whenever there is a bulkhead. The sphincter valve closes if there is too great a pressure differential across the valve. In the diagram a local return vent feeding into the main return vent from the right.
C-Fluid Return: Starships do not use water as the primary fluid for cleaning and waste disposal. Water is too valuable a commodity to be wasted in these uses. Instead a liquid called C-fluid is used in freshers for showering and other cleaning. The C-fluid is recycled in Main Life Support on Deck E. Like the Return Vents there is a valve at every airtight bulkhead which closes automatically in the case of a depressurization accident or excessive flow, such as from a catastrophic leak.
Communication Network: The Communications Network is a computer network dedicated to communications. It does not directly interface with either the Security Network (described below) or the Control Network. The purpose of this isolation is to prevent unauthorized access to either of the other networks through the Communications Network, which often carries traffic originating from off the ship and traffic which is unofficial, such as entertainment, as well as official message traffic. As for the Control Network there are two for-and-aft trunks, in the case of the NdN and her sister ships one runs on the centerline of Deck G and the other on the centerline of Deck B.
Black Water Return: Is the Main Sewage line. It transports waste return from the freshers for recycling. Unlike most commercial vessels Leviathan Class Starships recycle the water from its Black Water System. A transport fluid is also recycled once the entrained water has been extracted.
The ship also has a Gray Water System which is not shown in the diagram. This system receives excess water from the water delivery unit drains and humidity control extraction system (also to be covered later) and sends it to Life Support on Deck E. There is a valve at every airtight bulkhead which closes automatically in the case of a depressurization accident or excessive flow, such as from a catastrophic leak.
Water Line: Provides water to the water delivery units. As for other fluid systems there is a valve at every airtight bulkhead which closes automatically in the case of a depressurization accident or excessive flow, such as from a catastrophic leak.
C-fluid Supply: The C-Fluid system provides clean foam to fresher showers. The entrained dirt, germs and waste are separated out and the fluid reused. There is a valve at every airtight bulkhead which closes automatically in the case of a depressurization accident or excessive flow, such as from a catastrophic leak.
Security Network: Independent computer network used for secure communication, security video pickups, and door override controls. The system is primarily used by security personnel, although the ship's master and executive officer have the necessary access codes to use the system.

Fusion Plant

The heart of any ship is its fusion power plant. Without jump drive a starship is trapped in real space, but without its fusion plant it's passengers and crew are at the mercy of the hostile environment of space. Every system on the ship from gravity to life support to propulsion to lighting depends on power from the fusion power plant. Not even a single missile or probe could be launched without power.
All fusion plants have basically the same components. Small craft generally have an integrated power plant, with all major components on a single skid. Even a ship as large as 200 dtons will typically have such a plant. A larger ship, such as a Leviathan, will have several subassemblies dispersed into individual systems.

The fusion reaction takes place in the containment vessel. On most skid mounted fusion plants the containment vessel is mounted horizontally. The Leviathan's containment vessel is mounted vertically. The fusion plant consists of six stacked containment vessel segments. Each vessel segment is an  independent fusion bottle capable of producing the plasma reaction, the tiny captured star, that converts hydrogen into helium releasing energy as heat and radiation.
The reaction is started in the Deuterium Warm Start Reservoir by the Laser Ignition System. Once the fusion reaction has been started it is conveyed to the proper fusion containment bottle by the Cold Start Ignition Manifold.

Once the fusion reaction is fully productive the balance of the hydrogen gas becomes plasma. The plasma is passed through a Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) Generator that directly produces DC electricity. This power is used by the great majority of high powered components on the vessel, such as the main propulsion Maneuvering Drive, as well as many of the gravitic components aboard ship.
After it passes through the MHD Generator, which greatly cools the plasma, it is sent to one of two 400 Hz AC Generators. One is the main generation unit and the other is a back up. 400 Hz is used by many of the electronic systems on the ship, including sensors and control systems. It is then returned to the containment vessel by the return conduit.

There is a 400 Hz Generator Switchboard which distributes power from the generator room to the ship's 400 Hz Distribution System. There is also a MHD switchboard that distributes power to the ship's DC Distribution System.
Some of the systems in the Fusion Generator room are powered by 400 Hz, so there is a local 400 Hz power panel located there.

Because sometimes the Fusion Generator must be shut down for maintenance there is an Emergency Backup Power Unit. The EBPU consists of a Power Cell Matrix which can store enough power to keep lights, gravity and life support operating for a minimum of 2 hours. It can also keep most control systems on line and provide enough power for Fusion Plant Ignition, to restart the fusion plant after shut down. During normal operation a small amount of DC current is sent through the Matrix Interrupt to maintain a charge on the Power Cell Matrix. When power is lost some DC power is sent back through the charging line to power select DC systems, like the grav plate network.  Other DC power is sent to a DC to 400 Hz converter to supply power to select 400 Hz loads.

On the upper level of the Fusion Power Room is the Thermal Transfer Circuit. The TTC provides cooling to the containment vessels. A Primary Loop is used to transfer heat from the containment vessel. Combined with the magnet bottle system, which prevents the plasma from contacting the containment vessel the TTC prevents the very high temperature plasma from melting the containment vessel and plasma conduit. In the Heat Exchanger the Primary Loop transfers it's heat to the Secondary Loop that transports heat to radiator strips on the hall. Because of the NdN's stealth design excess heat can also be dumped to a thermal transfer matrix that converts the heat to energy which is stored in power cells for later use, or disposal. Thermodynamics limits the amount of heat that can be converted this way, but the ship can under many circumstances simple radiate heat away based on the probable position of observers. It is also possible to play with the specific wavelengths of radiated energy. In almost all cases lower TL sensor can be spoofed by a combination of techniques, allowing the NdN to safely shed excess heat without detection.

Nicolas de Nicolay Tour

Moving past the lift and taking a right you see the Survey Information Center access.

You enter the upper level of the Survey Information Center.

A holographic projector table sits at the left corner. Two empty probe control stations occupy the wall. Beyond another holographic projector station seems to be in use.

The station is displaying sensor and probe data of a Series G yellow dwarf star, most likely the one in this solar system.

A stairway ladder leads down to the main level.

At the base of the ladder a Probe Control Station sits idle. Next to it an iris valve on the forward bulkhead leads to the embarked modular cutter.

The Main Level of the Survey Information Center contains numerous holographic projector stations, probe control stations and even a map table.

The holographic projector station is displaying planetary data on one of the nearby worlds. The map table displays the inhabited satellite of the system's ringed gas giant.

At the far end of the center a bank of computers servers supports the center. The door on the forward bulkhead leads to the forward Deck E passageway.

A large holographic display area allows for projection of system, as well as world data.

Nicolas de Nicolay Tour

Taking the lift in the Morgue you descend to Deck D.

 The door across from the lift opens to the Armory

The Armory contains a selection of combat CAW guns, small arms, and bull-pup gauss weapons, as well as ammunition.

A smart desk allows arms to be signed out and is used for inventory and other administrative purposes.

Past the lift is the Deck D Forward Passageway. Staterooms on the right are typically occupied by security and embarked S-3 officers. The door to the left is the Armory.

The Local Launcher Control consists of a control console which can be used to operate the Probe launcher and Heavy Missile Launchers located on this deck. Normally the Probe Launcher is controlled from The Survey Information Center and the Heavy Launcher is controlled from one of the Fire Control stations. The two ladders on each side of the console are used to access the two dorsal turrets.

The probe magazine is located on the port side of Local Launch Control.

Each Probe Launcher System consists of three breech loading launch tubes. The NdN carries two Probe Launcher Systems. The Launchers are designed to handle both Short and Long Range Probes. Both probes are based upon the SIM-12 250mm missile. Both types have a modular instrument socket for installation of an instrument package.  Short Range Probes have smaller sockets and smaller instrument packages. They also have receive only laser communicators, which means that instrument packages tend to be sampling units which are retrieved for analysis, as opposed to Long Range Probes which report reading via telemetry over their laser communicators. The launchers can also be used to deploy Stealth Surveillance Drones. Behind the launcher Long Range Instrument packages can be seen in their storage rack.

The probe magazine holds 40 probes and up to 80 instrument packages mixed between Long Range and Short Range Probes. There is a workbench for working on instrument packages. Probes are moved by hand using grav lifters, so coordination is required between the Survey Information Center and the magazine to ensure the correct probe is prepared for launch with the required instrument package.

A second egress from the magazine leads just outside the Armory, next to the lift.

Overlay Machine

R E S T R I C T E D
The Overlay Machine, which was originally developed for the Imperial Interstellar Survey Covert Survey Branch, is actually a combination of devices, drugs and techniques that allow an artificial personality to be overlayed over a subject's real personality. The device uses a combination of drugs and hypnosis to suppress the subject's real personality and memories with one created by the programmer.

The receptive sleep state is artificially induced using drugs and a special machine. The process consists of 12 hours of processing followed by 12 hours of induced sleep. Typically upon awakening the subject believes themselves to be the new personality. A delayed post-hypnotic suggestion can be established which will trigger the transformation to the new personality up to 72 hours after awakening.

The fewer personality traits or memories which must be altered the easier the overlay and the harder it will be for even a psion to penetrate. So it is much easier for a veteran of the Imperial military to be overlayed with the memories of a veteran of the Consulate military than for an academic with no military experience to receive the same overlay.
It is also possible to program suggested activities for the personality. These activities cannot overcome normal deep seated personality boundaries. So for example a pacifist can not be made to assassinate someone using this technique. However a military sniper who would have no problem assassinating an enemy commander could be made to carry out such an assassination against a target they would not normally act against, provided the induced memories are sufficiently supportive of the act.
Some of the drugs used can induce an allergic reaction. All members of the NdN's crew likely to have this technique used on them have been tested for this.
Removal of the overlayed personality is triggered by a code-word or situation. This can include seeing a particular design, picture, person or place.  If the code-word is not used the overlay is persistent, even when the treated individual is confronted with contravening facts.
It is possible to overlay personalities over existing overlays.
The Covert Branch has provided a specialist on the Overlay Machine to act as the NdN's surgeon. Only she, the ship's command and his executive officer have access to the Overlay Machine space.
The typical process is for one of them to escort the subject to the room. The subject is then briefed in the process (memories of this briefing are removed as part of the process, so that afterward the subject is unaware that they have been processed.) The process is then completed.
Typically the subject will be sent on a recce using the Shebzhinij-class Launch. The personality will be triggered to activate once clear of the NdN. False memories will be induced to provide a cover story and activities conducive to completing the present mission will be invoked. During the course of the mission the only information a psionic telepath will be able to detect will be consistent with the cover story. Once the mission is completed the subject will feel a compulsion to return to their ship. When the NdN is spotted the false personality will remove itself, while allowing the subject to remember the relevant mission details for debrief. After debrief the subject is sent off "to rest" which will trigger a final post mission suggestion causing any mission details incident to the use of the overlay machine to be suppressed. The general mission time will be remembered, so as not to cause psychological trauma which is likely to be the result of incidents of induced memory lapses.
R E S T R I C T E D

Nicholas de Nicolay Tour

Back in the Deck B Common Room presenting your hand to the Adaptapanel releases the lift and causes the lift controls to appear.

Calling the lift car you select Deck C.

This lift connects this Deck (B) down to all the decks to Deck E.

The lift arrives at the smaller Common Room on Deck E. Looking aft a number of two person staterooms surround the Common Room. At the aft end is an iris valve which leads to the Upper Main Drive Room.

Halfway down that aft passageway is a door with a Restricted Area sign. You pass by on the way to the open aft iris valve.

Next to the door a Machinery store space holds plug and play replacements for many ship "hotel" systems. Hotel systems are systems which make the ship habitable, such as potable water, sewage, lighting and gravity, as opposed to systems which propel the ship, or give access to jump space or weapons systems.

Through the open iris valve you step out on to a small balcony ringed with a transparent crystal barrier topped with a handrail. The mezzanine deck has a single engineering control station next to a hatch leading up to Deck B. Over the handrail you see a fusion generator below in the Main Drive Room.

You return back through the Common Room. Beyond is the what on a military vessel, or one of the civilian Leviathans would be the Master's Passageway. Several senior officer's staterooms and the Master's Stateroom have doors off this passageway.

The NdN Master's Stateroom is a large cabin. As you look in you can see that it is at least twice the size of any other stateroom.

A comfortable bed with lots of storage space make up the sleeping cabin.

Beyond the sleeping area a fold away couch, fresher and entertainment projector allow for down time or a small conference area. Next to the door a computer closet contains a station which allows rudimentary monitoring of ships's systems or routine work to be done.

Past the Master's Stateroom a ladder leads up to Deck B. An iris valve allows access to the forward passageway.

In the forward passageway, on the starboard side an Emergency Aid Station, for use during Alert Stations, is located. Past it an Electronics shop contains parts and repair facilities for electronics repairs.

Beyond the Forward Passageway, the Morgue stores four suits of Scout Expeditionary Dress, for use by the vessel's Security Service. The four 700 mm launchers can be used to perform an orbital insertion or ship-to-ship assault