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Here you'll find information about the U.S.S. Equinox. This is to provide
a supplement to storywriting and to help everyone visualize the environment
all the action takes place in. If you have any questions about anything given
here, or you have ideas of your own that you'd like to add (which I'm very open
to), please E-mail me. Also, please
try not to feel restricted by anything listed here. This is in no way intended
to be the complete history and specifications of the ship. It's here to give
you information to use and build off of in your stories, not to restrict your
creativity in any way. Feel free to reveal as many more details about the ship,
it's history, it's crew, etc. as you like in your stories.
The U.S.S. Equinox, Viceroy Class, registry number NCC-38944, was launched in
late 2370. When it was launched, the Equinox was
commanded by Captain Robert Winston on a mission of deep space exploration and
diplomacy. The Equinox was used by Admiral Garrovik in 2371 on a diplomatic
mission to the Breen system. The mission was cut short by the discovery that
Admiral Garrovik had been replaced by a Changeling from the Dominion, and that
the actual purpose of the mission was to replace several high ranking Breen
officials with Changelings. The Changeling who impersonated Garrovik escaped,
although two other Changelings he had secretly brought to Breen were killed.
There was a joint Federation / Breen investigation, but whether or not any
other Changelings were able to infultrate Breen society is unknown. The ship
underwent a complete replacement of the warp drive system in 2373 when the crew
was forced to adapt an alien propulsion drive to the warp engines to escape a
hostile situation. The ship escaped, but the Primary Warp Drive system was
damaged beyond repair by the alien system. The Warp Drive system was replaced
at Starbase 74. Captain Winston continued his mission aboard the Equinox until
being promoted to Rear Admiral in early 2375. It was at this time that command
of the ship was given to Captain Frank Mason.
The ship is 385 meters long (a little bigger than an Intrepid Class ship, but nowhere near as big as a Galaxy Class ship). It has 24 decks. The standard crew complement is about 190 Starfleet personnel and about 40 civilian crew members. The maximum capacity is estimated at about 300 Starfleet personnel and about 70 civilians and/or guests. Although there are a few exceptions, children are generally not allowed to live aboard Viceroy Class ships as they are on Galaxy Class ships.
The U.S.S. Equinox, like all other Viceroy Class Starships, is designed for deep space exploration. All ship systems, especially the power and life support systems, have several redundancies built in so that the ship may go for long periods of time away from any Starbases. The most interesting feature is the Secondary Warp Drive. The Primary Warp Drive is located in the drive section like on most Starships and can achieve a maximum speed of Warp 9.942 (but only for short periods of time). The saucer section contains a smaller, Secondary Warp Drive which can achieve speeds of up to Warp 4.116. The Secondary Warp Drive is useful when the saucer is disconnected from the drive section or when the Primary Warp Drive has been damaged or ejected. Also of interest is that all of the ship's systems are designed to maximize energy use. Design emphasis was on efficiency rather than power, which also contributes to the ship's ability to operate for long periods of time away from Starbases.
The saucer and drive sections of the ship can separate, but the procedure is only used for emergency situations since the reconnection sequence takes up both a lot of time and a lot of energy. When the ship separates, the saucer module retains the "neck" that connects the two parts of the ship together normally. When the saucer is disconnected, the drive section may retract the nacelles in toward the ship, leaving the section in an almost spherical shape. When this is done, an incredibly compact warp field may be created around the drive section, increasing the maximum speed to Warp 9.998 which, given the nature of the warp speed curve, is a considerable increase in speed.
Like most current Federation Starships, the Equinox is equipped with an Emergency Medical Holographic Doctor to use in the event that the regular medical staff is unable to perform emergency medical duties for any reason. The ship has been equipped fairly recently with holographic emitters throughout the ship to allow the EMH program to operate within almost any section of the ship. Another feature of note are the protected cores in the stardrive and saucer sections which can shield crew members from radiation and sensors. They were origionally designed to protect crew members during routine Baryon sweeps.
On Stardate 52062.8, the saucer section was destroyed after an attack by Goulavar ships. This left the Equinox with only the drive section as the crew made their way out of Goulavar space.
These are some rough designs of the ship to give you a better idea of what it
looks like. First, here are some crude drawings of what the ship looks like when
looking at it from the side, the top, and the front.
Next, here's a drawing of the bridge:
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This is a listing of the ship's crew. The only positions listed are those
that have been established in one or more stories:
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Senior Staff | |
| Commanding Officer | Captain Frank Mason |
| Executive Officer | Commander Rebecca Ming |
| Security / Tactical Officer | Chief Petty Officer Beeg |
| Chief Engineer | Lieutenant Commander Syxx |
| Conn Officer | Lieutenant JG Elea |
| Operations Officer | Lieutenant Commander Mull Valen |
| Science Officer | Lieutenant Commander Oblokoni'Slyt Enoz |
| Chief Medical Officer | ????????????? |
| Ship's Counselor | ????????????? |
| Department Heads | |
| Head of Interstellar Sciences | Ensign Zenoz |
| Arboretum Director | Mr. Clemons |
The U.S.S. Equinox has 24 decks. The top 10 decks are contained within the
saucer section, and the bottom 14 decks are in the drive section. The only
locations listed are those that have already been established in one or
more stories. The locations of all other areas of the ship haven't been
established yet. Also, note that the saucer section has been destroyed,
so only the drive section (decks 11 - 25) remains at this time:
| Deck # | Known Features |
|---|---|
| 1 | Bridge, Captain's Ready Room, Conference Room |
| 2 | |
| 3 | Crew Quarters including Captain Mason's Quarters |
| 4 | |
| 5 | Reman's barber shop, Guest Quarters |
| 6 | Protected Core #1 |
| 7 | Concert Room |
| 8 | |
| 9 | the Equilibrium (mess hall) |
| 10 | Arboretum |
| 11 | Security Office, Brig |
| 12 | Cargo Bays |
| 13 | Sickbay, Shuttlebay 2 |
| 14 | Crew Quarters including Elea's Quarters and Cynthia Calea's Quarters. |
| 15 | Holodecks 1 and 2 |
| 16 | Battle Bridge, Crew Quarters including Mull Valen's Quarters |
| 17 | Main Engineering, Primary Warp Core |
| 18 | Deflector Core |
| 19 | Shuttlebay 1 |
| 20 | |
| 21 | |
| 22 | Aft Torpedo Tubes |
| 23 | Interstellar Science Office, Astrometrics, Stellar Cartography, Deflector Control |
| 24 |
The current Starship Equinox isn't the first ship to bear the name.
The first Federation Starship to bear the name Equinox was a Nova class
science vessel commanded by Captain Rudy Ransom. Captain Ransom made
history by making contact with the Yridians, a race previously thought
to be extinct. Ransom was given an award by Starfleet's Exobiology
Counsil, one of several awards he recieved during the course of his
career.
In early 2370, the Equinox disappeared without a trace. The ship was conducting a routine science mission, and no distress calls or reports of anything out of the ordinary were made before the ship's disappearance. Several ships were dispatched to search for the Equinox, but after several months, it was presumed destroyed. No evidence was found to confirm the ship's destruction or to give any indication of who might have destroyed it, but there were many rumors. The most common was that it was destroyed by Maquis terrorists, which Starfleet Command believes is the most likely explanation.
The next ship due for completion at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards was a Viceroy class ship, NCC-38944, that was to be named the U.S.S. Sachem. After a memorial service was held on Earth for the crew of the Nova class U.S.S. Equinox, it was announced that the Viceroy class U.S.S. Sachem would instead be named the U.S.S. Equinox in honor of Captain Ransom and his crew. The new U.S.S. Equinox was launched several weeks later under the command of Captain Robert Winston.
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