U.S.S. SWIFTWIND

The Quantum class was initially developed alongside the Intrepid class as a long range scientific exploration vessel. However the success of the Intrepid class and the threat of the Dominion/Federation war forced the design on hold for 3 years.  Following the discovery of the Quantum particle (a unique power source) through illegal channels; Section 31 pursued the development, adding a twin navigation deflector to utilise wormhole drive technology.  The ship employs the same variable warp geometry - nacelle pylon retracting technology as the intrepid class. This allows the ship to reach a maximum safe velocity of warp 9.9952 for 14 hours. Normal cruising speed is a sustainable warp 7.2

The ship is equipped with a vast platform of weapons deemed necessary to protect the classified technology on board. It houses 11 phaser banks and 4 photon/quantum torpedo launchers,  making it the most heavily armed ship of its size.  Illegal tholian crystals were originally embedded in the phaser banks making their yield much more effective and also able to emit a low level radiation that can be altered to harm a particular species such as the Jem’Hadar.  The crew objected to these biogenic weapons once they were discovered.  As well as the standard complement of torpedoes the Swiftwind had an additional arsenal of 1000.  A specific manufacturing workshop to create more was built,  however the need to resupply the antimatter stores made this area redundant.  Ablative armour adorns 43 percent of the ship’s hull concentrated around the more vulnerable parts of the ship, specifically the deflectors.  An interphasic cloak first developed aboard the USS Pegasus was installed on the ship although it has still not been perfected.

The wormhole drive is in essence a weapon. In theory an entire fleet can be mobilised almost instantly to anywhere it is needed, providing the element of surprise.  This advantage makes it a deadly sought after technology with moral ambiguity.  The technology is not perfected however.  The artificial wormhole differs from any studied before and produces Xosian radiation. The full effects of this radiation have not been studied fully to calculate their longterm effects on crew and ship functions.  Despite no apparent detrimental effects to life forms there is no adequate shielding against it.  The wormhole drive was discovered to have a dangerous flaw;   the wormhole can become unstable and produce intense large scale gravimetric fluctuations.  These send out powerful rippling eddies destroying all matter and disrupting energy in its wake.

The USS Quantum was the prototype and the Swiftwind was built simultaneously, as both ships are needed to use their deflectors to create, stabilise and navigate the artificial wormhole.  The ships had a supplementary energy core that powers a Starfleet /alien hybrid engine,  the Wormhole Drive engine uses an alien escalde ring to draw the Quantum particle from another dimension where it exists naturally.  In our dimension the exotic particle is unstable and has to be contained by a bynar crew whom use their cyberntically enhanced brains to make the mammoth calculations necessary to manually regulate the tachyon fields. Both ships were feared either destroyed or captured by the Dominion after an ambush in the gamma quadrant wiped out an entire strike force. 

 

The crew complement is 240 with no capacity for extra passengers, as the ship was designed to be used in a more militaristic role. Surprisingly for a scientific ship there is only 1 research lab, and a cybernetics lab.   There is a large mess hall/rec lounge referred to as the Rabbit Hole.  Due to taking on survivors from the destroyed Federation fleet the ship now has 1600 crew on board making resources and space limited.

 

The Swiftwind is 338 meters long and although there are 15 decks( the bridge being on deck 1 ),  the deuturium fuel tanks are situated 2 decks higher and are not habitable areas.

 

 

 

Bridge forward view

Bridge aft view

Engineering main view

Engineering aft view

Transporter room

Sickbay

Crew Quarters

 

Cybernetics lab

The rabbit hole (recreation lounge)

Shuttlebay

Brig