Name: USS Dragonstar Registry: NCC-81625 Class: Prometheus Rating: Advanced Tactical Strike Cruiser Launch Date: Stardate 55010.0, January 3rd, 2378 Current Assignment: Task Force 17, Beta Quadrant Border Patrol Division

From its inception, the Prometheus Class was intended as a deviation from standard Starfleet vessels, which are geared primarily for exploration. Along with the Defiant and Sovereign Classes, the Prometheus was Starfleet's response to rising threats from the Borg, Romulans, and eventually the Dominion. While the ship does have extensive scientific and diplomatic capabilities, it excels in Tactical arenas. It's more heavily armed than ships in excess of twice its size, and it's got shielding and power systems to match, as well as a few unique design considerations.

One of the first concepts you must learn in order to gain a better understanding of the Dragonstar is the relatively new Starfleet concept of Multi-Vector Assault Mode. This technology has its roots in the saucer separation technique that has been possible with almost every class of Federation Starship, but only recently came into routine use with the development of the Galaxy Class. The design and technological advancements of the Galaxy Class eliminated the need to return to a Starbase in order to reconnect the two portions of the ship.

The designers of the Prometheus Class expanded on this idea, with greater efficiency and with different motives. On the Galaxy Class, saucer separation was intended to allow all non-essential personnel to evacuate to the Saucer Section, which would then separate and be left behind while the Stardrive Section went into a dangerous situation. But with the Prometheus Class, designers took an almost purely military approach to the separation mode. Multi-Vector Assault Mode essentially allows a single ship to become a small, heavily armed task force, capable of taking on threats that would normally be too great for a ship of its size to handle. The ship splits into three distinct sections, which can be computer controlled from the primary hull or independently piloted by Conn Officers stationed in three identical bridges. All three sections are independently warp-capable, and all are heavily armed. The following sections will describe the basic specifications of each section, and of the ship as a whole when in standard operating mode.

Decks: 16 Total Crew: 412 Overall Length: 407 meters Overall Height: 64 meters Overall Width: 160 meters Mass: 1,800,000 Tons	Full Impulse: 0.983c Normal Cruising Speed: Warp 7 Maximum Safe Cruising Speed: Warp 9.2 Maximum Sustainable Speed: Warp 9.9 Maximum Emergency Warp Speed: Warp 9.995 for 18 hours
Defenses/Abilities Class Five Regenerative Shields 50 cm Ablative Hull Armor Interphasic Cloaking Device	Total Weapons 12 Type XII Phaser Strips 4 Class V Pulse Phaser Emitters 5 Pulse-Fire Photon/Quantum Torpedo Launchers

The ship spends the vast majority of its life in Standard Operating Mode (SOM). Multi-Vector Assault Mode is typically reserved for battle situations. In SOM, the ship's two main warp cores are connected and act as one. The ship's four main warp nacelles work in tandem to generate an extremely efficient and finely tuned warp field, allowing this class to reach a maximum emergency warp speed of 9.995 for 18 hours. This is faster than virtually any other class of ship in the Federation, and is believed to be among the top five fastest known ship designs in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.

While in SOM, if an extra level of power is required, the ship's third warp core can be activated. On the Dragonstar, the third warp core is active most of the time as a matter of course, due to the extra power demands of the ship's experimental Interphasic Cloaking Device. The Cloak is the same one that was tested on the Oberth Class Starship Pegasus many years ago. That same cloak was then installed on the former Flagship of Tango Fleet, the Galaxy Class USS Pegasus. When that ship was replaced as Flagship by the Sovereign Class Starship Octavian, the cloak moved to the Octavian. Several years later, the cloak barely survived destruction when the Stardrive Section of the Octavian was lost in battle. It was salvaged, and eventually installed on the Dragonstar, the ship the Octavian's former commander, Toroca, was assigned to after the destruction of that vessel.

Interphase isn't covered under the terms of the Treaty of Algeron, so although the Romulans resent the Federation's experimentation with cloaking technology, they have no legal ground to stand on. The Interphase Generator draws a tremendous amount of power, and cannot be powered up quickly from a cold start, so in SOM, the third warp core is online in standby mode, feeding just enough power to the Interphase Generator to keep it ready for action at any moment.

If the ship encounters a battle situation, the Commanding Officer may choose to activate Multi-Vector Assault Mode (MVAM). In MVAM, the ship splits into three independent sections, all of which have warp capability and a powerful weapons loadout. The sections of the Dragonstar are labeled somewhat differently, due to its trinary nature and more militaristic function. They're labeled in order of strength. Therefore, the saucer section, which on any other Starfleet class is referred to as the Primary Hull, is actually the Tertiary Hull on the Dragonstar, since it's the weakest section. The ship's middle section is the Primary Hull, being the most heavily armed. All facilities are labeled according to section. Thus, all primary facilities are in the Primary Hull, and so on. Additionally, the ship's Main Bridge is in this section, buried deep within the ship in SOM, rather than on the top of the Saucer like most other Federation ships. Each section has an identical Bridge, which are all activated and fully crewed during MVAM. One additional item of interest: nearly a third of the ship's weaponry is hidden during SOM and only becomes availabe during MVAM.

Decks: 10 Overall Length: 244 meters Overall Height: 38 meters Overall Width: 160 meters Mass: 700,000 Tons	Normal Cruising Speed: Warp 6.0 Maximum Safe Cruising Speed: Warp 7.2 Maximum Sustainable Speed: Warp 8.0 Maximum Emergency Warp Speed: Warp 9.2 for 18 hours
Total Weapons 6 Type XII Phaser Strips 4 Class V Pulse Phaser Emitters 3 Pulse-Fire Photon/Quantum Torpedo Launchers

This is the Tertiary Hull, or alternatively, the Saucer Section. It is the weakest overall, even though it technically has a greater armament than the other two sections. The main difference that causes its lower overall strength is the fact that it doesn't have as great of a power generation capacity, and a huge percentage of what it DOES have is channeled into the shields. This gives it shield protection almost the equal of the other two sections, but severely impacts its ability to use its phasers.

This section is the heaviest of the three, and the least manueverable as well. Normally this section would participate in any battles along with the other two, but if it's an expected suicide mission, this section can be used as a warp-capable escape pod for all nonessential crew.

While this section IS warp capable, it's not able to manage the high warp speeds the other two sections can. This is because it's got a smaller, secondary warp core, designated as a Class XVI Tri-MARA MicroCore, developed specifically for this ship class. This core provides enough power to run full shields and all critical systems. It's also sufficient to power the weapons, but it's not capable of generating the sheer energy release the ship's main core can, so this section can't fire the main phaser banks as often or for as long as the other two sections can. Finally, this core is connected to another of the ship's unique design considerations. The Tertiary Hull features two Micro-Warp Nacelles.

In standard operating mode, these nacelles are retracted into protective shielded pockets and they don't receive power unless the ship is attempting emergency warp speeds. When the order is given to activate Multi-Vector Assault Mode, among the very first things that happen is that these two small nacelles are powered up. This is a safety feature, and enables the ship to separate even while at warp with very little risk. The only restriction is that the ship must drop to warp 8 or lower, since that is the fastest speed this section can sustain. As the saucer separates from the Primary Hull, the two small nacelles extend out from their protective pockets, in order to create a more efficient warp field than they would be able to from inside the pockets.

During MVAM, this section is commanded by the ship's Second Officer.

Decks: 6 Overall Length: 300 meters Overall Height: 29 meters Overall Width: 148 meters Mass: 500,000 Tons	Normal Cruising Speed: Warp 7 Maximum Safe Cruising Speed: Warp 8.5 Maximum Sustainable Speed: Warp 9.6 Maximum Emergency Warp Speed: Warp 9.95 for 18 hours
Total Weapons 4 Type XII Phaser Strips 2 Class V Pulse Phaser Emitters 3 Pulse-Fire Photon/Quantum Torpedo Launchers

This is the Primary Hull, or alternatively, the Upper Stardrive Section. It is the Primary Hull because although it isn't technically the most heavily armed, it is the most powerful section overall, and is the most important section, being the one that connects the other two. The Primary Hull also contains all of the ship's most important areas. In addition to the Main Bridge, the Primary Science Lab, Main Engineering, Primary Security, and the Main Sickbay are all located here. The Primary Computer core is here as well.

The Primary Hull would function pretty well as an independent Starship in its own right. It's heavily armed for a ship of this size, and it has shield generation capability almost equal to that of an entire upgraded Galaxy Class starship. It's the smallest of the ship's three sections, and therefore the most highly manueverable. With the right pilot at the helm, this section can outmanuever a much smaller Defiant Class starship. In terms of sheer brute strength, this section's Type XII phasers, Pulse Phasers, and Torpedo tubes allow it to outgun any Federation starship up to and including an Akira Class ship. When it's backed up by the other two sections, the mini-task force becomes a true force to be reckoned with, easily capable of inflicting catastrophic damage on much larger foes in a matter of moments.

This section is the control section of the ship, as well. The Main Bridge is located in this section, buried deep within the ship in normal operations. During MVAM, the computers on this section are capable of remotely controlling the other two sections, although due to the possibility of enemy jamming fields, all three sections are usually independently piloted by separate Conn officers. This section carries two of the ship's primary warp nacelles, and half of the integrated warp core, designated as a Class XVIII Multi-MARA SuperCore. This section can travel at high warp, although it's not as fast on its own as the integrated ship is.

During MVAM mode, this section is commnded by the ship's Commanding Officer.

Decks: 7 Overall Length: 298 meters Overall Height: 32 meters Overall Width: 148 meters Mass: 600,000 Tons	Normal Cruising Speed: Warp 7 Maximum Safe Cruising Speed: Warp 8.5 Maximum Sustainable Speed: Warp 9.6 Maximum Emergency Warp Speed: Warp 9.95 for 18 hours
Total Weapons 8 Type XII Phaser Strips 2 Pulse-Fire Photon/Quantum Torpedo Launchers

The lower section, properly referred to as the Secondary Hull or Lower Stardrive Section, is the second-most powerful section of the ship. Since it doesn't have any pulse phasers and has one less torpedo tube than the Primary Hull, it's got a slightly lower overall firepower. However, in virtually all other aspects it's nearly identical to the Primary Hull. Its shields and power systems are just as tough as the Primary Hull, and it too has half of the ship's integrated main warp core, and two of the primary nacelles. It can maintain a speed equal to that of the Primary Hull on its own. If the Primary Hull and Secondary Hull are combined together, they can match all of the rated speeds of the integrated ship except for the emergency warp factor, which the integrated ship requires all three warp cores and six nacelles to achieve.

During MVAM, this section is commanded by the ship's Executive Officer.