by Ben Robinson
The concept of the warp wing was pioneered in the 22nd-century Bird-of-Prey—the B’rel class refined the design.
SPECIFICATIONS
PROPULSION SYSTEM
Type
FTL Coplanar Distortion
SPAN
72.97 meters
Fore-Aft Length
65.33 meters
Avg. Thickness
3.40 meters
WARP STRUCTURES
Total Volume
8,385.61 meter2
AVG. DENSITY
469.35 kilograms per meter2
Total Mass
3,935.78 metric tonnes
WARP PRESSURE VESSEL
Mass
3,003.78 metric tonnes
% of Total Mass
76.32%
Thickness
1.28 meters
The first component the plasma encounters in the wing is the plasma manifold and pumping inlet. From a cold-start condition, the manifold and pumping inlet send plasma to the system pressure vessel to 65,000 kilopascals (641 atmospheres) and 1,750,000K. The manifold then shuts the inlet and switches to supplying the injector sequencer and plasma injectors. Normally there are three injectors firing fore to aft, creating a repeating, traveling warp field wave that imparts a lightening of the apparent mass and forward motion to the ship. This pressure vessel is the toughest single part of the Bird-of-Prey, and is constructed of interlocking slabs of kovenium monoteserite, a material found in quantity in a handful of systems in the Klingon Empire.
1 Warp Plasma Conduit (Deck 5)
2 Plasma Manifold
3 Plasma Pumping Inlet
4 Warp Injector Sequencer
5 Warp Plasma Injectors
6 Warp System Pressure Vessel
7 Warp Energizing Plates
8 Disruptor Weapon Plasma Conduit
9 Reaction Control System Thrusters
10 Reaction Control System Propellants
11 Propulsion Systems Capacitor Bank
12 Wing Structural Integrity Generator
13 Plasma Venting Coolant
14 Internal Astronics Boxes
15 Short Range Sensors
All parts of the plasma system that are exposed to high pressures and temperatures have some amount of kovenium monoteserite in them, as Klingon engineers have discovered that this material helps to reinforce the structural integrity of the ship on the sub-atomic scale when it is connected to the structural integrity field generator.
Like other vessels that use dual warp fields, the Bird-of-Prey achieves controlled, balanced flight by making minor alterations to the strength of each field. Incredibly precise computer instructions control the shape of each field by firing the plasma injectors at different rates. Essentially, to turn right the pilot reduces the strength of the right warp field.
The wing warp system, as part of the overall Klingon predilection for redundancy and multiple options, is also capable of propelling the ship at sub-light velocities.
A portion of the warp plasma generated by the cores is routed to the wingtip disruptor weapons, which are typically fired at sub-light speeds with the wings in the lowered position. At the lowest angle, the hinged plasma conduit between the hull and the wing closes almost completely, creating the optimum plasma pressure for disruptor firing. Two main conduits within the wing, one a tap off the injector sequencer and the other a tap off the warp pressure vessel, converge on the wingtip to feed the disruptor.
Other sub-systems housed in the wing include a pair of main reaction control system thrusters per wing and their propellant tanks. If rapid venting of drive plasma is required, a set of cryogenic helium tanks is also available to cool the plasma outlets just below the plasma manifold. The last large sub-system encompasses a bank of electroplasma capacitors that services the structural integrity field generator and all other astronic systems, sensors, and servo mechanisms.
IMPULSE ENGINES
Unless it is traveling faster than the speed of light, the Bird-of-Prey relies on its impulse engines, which use a series of nuclear fusion reactors to generate the power needed to lighten its mass and push it through space or through a planet’s atmosphere.
While they may not be as powerful as the warp engines, the Bird-of-Prey’s impulse engines are considered to be the ship’s most important single system, even above the cloak and weapons. Without reliable impulse flight there would be no way to engage enemy vessels or reach planets and asteroids to deliver raiding parties. The Empire has worked long and hard to perfect its engines alone and in secret, benefiting from deals with allies, or stealing technology when it suited their purposes.
Basic sublight propulsion using hydrogen isotope fusion is one of the oldest and best understood technologies in the Milky Way. It was independently developed on many worlds over millennia, lost, rediscovered, and now spread among countless cultures in all four quadrants. The Klingons have improved the drive greatly in the modern Bird-of-Prey, creating both a reliable engine proven in battle and a unique system configuration, that connects the impulse engines to the warp core and central plasma conduit.
The B’rel-class operates 14 individual impulse engines, each consisting of an initial fusion reaction chamber, space-time driver and mass reduction coils, and vectored exhaust nozzle. Each engine is equipped with two cryogenic deuterium-only tanks, which are replenished from additional storage tanks in the port and starboard tail extensions. The large tank in Main Engineering can also be used, though the addition of tritium and trigexite necessitates changes in the reactor ignition power levels.
Four large engine assemblies are mounted on Deck 4, and eight smaller units are mounted below this on Deck 6, all just aft of Main Engineering and the twin warp cores. The two engine groups are separated by a large external gap at the end of what would be Deck 5. Each group is isolated from the other and accessed through different sets of armored pressure doors. The main entrance to the impulse engine rooms are hatches in Main Engineering. The hatch on Deck 4 is immediately aft of the deuterium storage tank, while the separate engine assembly on Deck 6 is reached through a hatch between the racks of antimatter pods.
The Bird-of-Prey’s impulse engines are used for maneuvering at sublight speeds whether that is in open space or a planetary atmosphere.
The impulse engineering space is 24.3m wide for both sections; the Deck 4 area is 5.3m tall while the Deck 6 section is shorter at 3.8m.
Unlike the constant maintenance activity needed to keep the warp cores running efficiently, the impulse sections require only occasional monitoring and repair inspections outside of battle conditions. The Deck 4 propulsion units are designed specifically for mass lightening and forward flight, while the eight lower engines not only provide forward flight motion but have the added capability of vertical take-off and landing. Two additional downward-venting engines are located on Deck 4 near the ship’s neck section.
In the nominal flight mode, a continuous stream of cryogenic deuterium is gasified, injected into the toroidal reaction chamber, and crushed into a blazing ring by dual-mode laser and magnetic pinch emitters to achieve fusion. The initial energy pulses must come from either the warp plasma network or banks of tetrapolymer power cells, but once the fusion cycle stabilizes, the reactor will jump past the ‘break even’ point and produce more energy than it takes to compress the stream.
This system, like the warp cores, will continue to work as long as fuel is available. Fusion plasma is spiraled off and channeled into the space-time driver coils, which push a low-level subspace field through the ship’s entire structure. This field lightens the apparent mass and propels the ship forward. It is analogous to the motive force created by the warp wing alloys, but at much lower energies.
The power generated by the warp reactor is still nearly a million times greater than that released by the impulse fusion chambers, necessary to drive the ship across the faster-than-light barrier. Any exhaust products from the fusion reaction, primarily waste heat and gases, a
re vented through the vectored exhaust nozzles. As with most impulse systems currently in use, the exhaust does little to actually move the vessel, as the driver coils do all of the actual pushing and pulling through the continuum. Under stealth conditions, especially when the vessel is cloaked, the majority of the exhaust products can be stored temporarily in the nozzle section.
IMPULSE ENGINE ROOM
The main impulse engine room is on Deck 4 and contains four fusion reactor assemblies.
1 Forward Impulse Compartment Wall
2 Access Hatch to Main Engineering
3 Deck 4
4 Short Range Sensors
5 Starboard Tail Extension
6 Deck 6 Impulse Compartment
7 Deuterium-Only Matter Tanks
8 Exhaust Nozzle
9 Vectored Exhaust Director
10 Stealth Mode Exhaust Accumulator
11 Space-Time Driver Coils
12 Fusion Plasma Monitor Window
13 Fusion Reactor
14 Impulse Systems Monitor
15 Warp Plasma Conduit (from Main Engineering)
16 Warp Plasma Distribution Conduit
17 Deck 6 Impulse Exhaust Vents
Two impulse engines on Deck 4 near the front of the main body of the ship are used to control the ship’s movement in the Y axis.
The coils can be configured for flight in any direction, making the Bird-of-Prey highly maneuverable in space and during planetside flight operations. The key to controlling the ship’s motion at sublight speeds lies in the triggering order of the coils and the plasma intensity sent through them. Both factors—translated into heading and velocity—are controlled directly from the bridge by the helm officer. Preprogrammed maneuvers, particularly in battle, are selectable at the helm, with manual control returned to the helm officer when conditions allow or when overrides are called for.
Impulse flight is usually limited to one-third of c, the speed of light. This is about 100,000 kilometers, or roughly 50,000 kellicams per second. Extended travel at this velocity or higher leads to a time distortion effect and requires resetting of the ship’s chronometers. As most starships of different cultures track relativistic changes through internal computer routines and sensor inputs, this is generally more of an annoyance than a true operational issue. Warp flight eliminates most time-based problems, though the B’rel, K’vort, and Vor’cha class ships continue to experience some small temporal differences while traveling at fractional warp factors, essentially sublight flight using warp engines.
Klingon propulsion designers have taken the concept of redundant and alternative systems to the extreme with the physical connection of the impulse engines to their warp counterparts. Depending on the situation, opening and shutting plasma flows in either direction could save a ship.
Bird-of-Prey commanders often need to become masters of their ship’s engine systems and to be aware of the many options available to them if they are to stay in the fight and triumph against enormous odds. Most are privately grateful for the help from the central computer, but they and their engineer warriors learn which options to choose through long experience.
One scenario, not considered likely but validated in numerous simulations, involves assisting a failing warp engine system to at least cross the Warp 1 threshold. If going faster than light becomes a survival measure, all twelve impulse reactors, if functioning, are run at 155%, with their energy diverted to the warp plasma conduit. Crossing Warp 1 requires a considerable amount of power, but once over, the power required to maintain low warp drops off slightly.
The more likely scenario involves using the warp cores to power the impulse driver coils. This may occur if the fusion toroids are out of commission, or if their output is seriously degraded, with other parts of the system unharmed. The warp plasma is channeled through the T-conduit in Main Engineering, into distribution junctions in the impulse compartments—one on Deck 4 and one on Deck 6—and finally into the individual impulse engine units. If everything flows correctly, the helm will have sublight flight control. If some of the driver coils are damaged, as has happened on the Rotarran, those units are isolated and the time to reach a desired speed will take longer. Prior to invoking the complex protocols for using the escape pods, a commander and his crew will make use of any opportunity to regroup, repair, and return to battle. The Klingon motto shown opposite illustrates this perfectly:
The forward impulse engines have the same basic components as the main impulse engines and combine a fusion reactor with mass-lightening coils.
1 Deuterium Injector
2 Ship Support Fixture
3 Transverse Structural Member
4 Structural Reinforcement
5 Scuff Pads
6 Fusion Initiator Test Port
7 Vessel Shock Pad Fixture
8 Fusion Initiator Capacitor Bank
9 Fusion Reaction Chamber Housing
10 Overboard Heat Dump
11 Fusion Initiator Mag Pump
12 Vectored Exhaust Nozzle
ghoSlaHbe’chugh Duj may’ yaH yIchenmoH
HoS Hutlhchugh nISwI’mey qach QaD yIchenmoH
jagh DajeylaHbe’chugh batlh yIHegh.
* * *
If the ship cannot proceed, create a battle station.
If the disruptors lack energy, create a protected structure.
If you cannot defeat the enemy, die honorably.
* * *
RCS THRUSTERS
A series of four RCS engines are located in an assembly on each wing. In each case, two thrusters point up and two point down.
The Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters on the B’rel-class Bird-of-Prey are a set of four main microfusion engines and four smaller vernier or trim engines. The RCS system is designed exclusively for use during impulse flight, specifically in aid of combat maneuvers involving high rotational rates about the ship’s center of gravity.
These engines are housed in swappable modules installed on the trailing edges of the warp wings.
Unlike most other starships, the Bird-of-Prey does not normally use its RCS thrusters for small-scale maneuvers such as those encountered in dockings or surface landings. Instead low three-axis translational rates from 5.5 down to 0.3 meters per second are handled by precisely energizing the impulse engine fields. The RCS engines only aid in aligning the ship’s rotational attitude during these movements, before station docking clamps are activated or before the landing gear makes contact with the ground.
The large primary RCS engines are each 1.94 meters tall, and consist of a central microfusion chamber and associated fuel and power system housing, and an expansion nozzle. In each warp wing module, one thruster fires upward and another downward. The nozzle, which is made of baakten alloy lined with a 3.2cm mixed ablative layer of carbonitrium and ur hargol, measures 72.1cm across and 59.3cm high. It is attached to the motor body, which is 134.7cm tall and constructed of directionally strengthened duranium krellide. The entire assembly is attached to the wing module structure at two hardpoints.
The hexagonal microfusion section houses a toroidal, 62cm-across plasma pinch chamber. Deuterium is fed into this in the same way it is to the impulse engines. However, the RCS engines don’t use space-time driver coils, and rely on pure fusion exhaust alone to provide the necessary thrust. The engine is throttleable, and can produce between 250 and 4300 metric tonnes of thrust.
The engine subsystems include a plasma power coupling, deuterium flow valves, computer control and sensor connections, and an overpressure relief vent. The plasma coupling taps into the ship’s basic power network, providing the energy necessary to initiate the microfusion reaction in the torus.
A set of capacitors nearby in the wing are available as backup power sources.
The deuterium fuel used by the engines is stored in two pressurized tanks that are next to the RCS modules in the warp wings. It passes through a series of gate valves and conduits before it reaches the primary thrusters in semi-slush form.
The overpressure vent is opened normally during routine RCS shutdown events, after a series of maneuvers or for maintenance. The vent conduit ejects surplus energy into space through a non-propulsive port.
The vernier engines, used in either combination with the main thrusters or alone, are 71 per cent scaled copies of their larger cousins. The subsystem connections are virtually identical, and the output can be throttled between 15 and 190 metric tonnes of thrust.
Thruster operation is normally activated by combat maneuvering subroutines in the central computer, which are in turn activated by commands from the helm officer.
Direct fusion thrust from the RCS nozzles has a slight advantage over impulse engine motive power alone in that it can overcome a small lag from the space-time driver fields, which experienced helm officers sometimes criticize as “rubbery.” This can get the Bird-of-Prey moving in the desired axis as much as 2–3 seconds quicker depending on the relative speed and aspect of the target.
Programmed maneuvers in the computer are coordinated with the ship’s subspace gyro system, accelerometer grid, and short range targeting sensors. These trigger thruster firings with the quickest possible system reaction times. In benign situations such as space station or planetary approach, thruster firings are balanced for smooth rotations. In combat, however, all rate limiters are turned off, and the Bird-of-Prey can—and does—pitch and roll as required to survive. Violent movements can be felt even with inertial dampeners at full power.
