<Lt. Cmdr. Max Mortimer, Briefing Room>

[O.O.C. - I'll assume that anybody else who wants to attend is here, even if they haven't posted a message here yet]

This is supposed to be a briefing. Instead everybody is milling around like they're at a party! What sort of discipline are these cadet's getting nowadays. Most of this lot look barely old enough to even attend the academy, and they're wearing lieutanants pips!

Just as Mortimer is about to call everybody to sit down, he notices somebody familiar making their way through the crowd.

"Kim! It is you! When I saw your name on the crew roster, I assumed that it must be somebody else with the same name. I didn't think that you were due to leave the academy for another six months."

A bleep from the computer tells Mortimer that the briefing is about to start.

"Sorry, it looks like we'll have to catch up later. See you after the briefing."

Mortimer turns to the sea of blue, yellow, and red, and pounds on the table in front of him with his metallic left hand.

That got their attention. 

He puts on his most authoritive voice.

"ATTEN-SHUN"

"Call yourself Starfleet Officers. You look more like a collection of academy dropouts. Sit down. This briefing is about to begin."

"I'm Lieutanant Commander Maxwell Mortimer, Operations Manager and Acting First Officer. Captain Storm has asked me to fill you in on shipboard procedures. Most of the information you will receive is also availiable from the ships LCARS system. The purpose of this briefing is to give you all a quick orientation to the ship. Some of the senior officers are here to tell you about their respective areas."

"Firstly, I'd like to welcome you all aboard the USS Lafayette. This is the finest ship in the fleet. Those of you who have served aboard other ships in the past may have heard that line before, but in the case of this ship, it's true. There may be rumours circulating about 'mysterious disappearances' on this vessel, but I must ask you to ignore them. If anything like this was really happening, you would be informed."

I almost convinced myself with that.

"This ship is organised along military guidelines. If you're used to Galaxy-class vessels where the crew can bring families on board and there are more recreational facilities than on a theme planet, forget everything. This ship is a military vessel. When you are on board, you are a Starfleet Officer. When you are wearing your uniform away from the ship, you are a Starfleet Officer. When you are out of uniform away from the ship, you are a Starfleet Officer out of uniform. When you are a Starfleet Officer, you will be expected to behave as such."

"Unlike many of the pleasure cruisers you may have been serving on previously, enlisted crew are expected to salute officers here. Ensigns and junior grade Lieutenants will also be expected to salute senior officers."

Mortimer notices some of the younger ensigns looking around nervously, adjusting their uniform collars and sitting up a little straighter.

I'm starting to enjoy this.

"The Lafayette is a frigate. It is one of the smallest classes of Starships. The Lafayette is a Lafayette-class vessel, named after it's class as it is the first of it's kind. Our primary mission is one of patrol, escort, scouting, policing, and diplomacy. This class of vessel is also intended for covert ops missions, and we may be called upon from time-to-time for these assignments."

"We have a standard crew complement of 116, split approximately 25/91 between officers and enlisted personnel. Positions held fluctuate as we experiment to find the best mix between departments. The majority of crew are engineers."

"The Lafayette has twelve decks, with the join between saucer and engineering sections on decks 6 & 7. The saucer is not seperatable, an unnecessary extravagance on ships carrying extraneous personnel"

"Those of you serving on the bridge will notice a configuration slightly different to the standard bridge module currently in use by Starfleet. Ops and Tactical stations have been switched."

"In the past, I have heard sickbay referred to as sickcloset, due to it's small size. Despite this, it has recently been refitted and expanded during our stay here at the starbase."

"Recreational facilities are sparse. A single holodeck is availiable for group use, but this is usually assigned for training purposes. If you do wish to use it, you must book it through the Operations department.
Four holosuites are availiable for personal use by crew.
Being a military vessel, the Lafayette has two lounges, for use by enlisted personnel and officers respectively. The officer's lounge is located on deck 2, while the crew lounge is on deck 7, both in the saucer section."

"Only senior officers, in other words department heads, receive personal accomodations. Junior officers have been assigned to double cabins, while enlisted personnel are housed in barracks areas. There are six extra cabins set aside for passengers. You should have been informed of your cabin assignments while en-route to the ship."

"A single shuttlebay on deck 8, engineering section, houses our shuttlecraft. An extension to this bay, currently sealed, contains the latest stealth shuttlecraft. This area, like many on the Lafayette, has been sealed by Starfleet until such time we have received the relevant training and authorisation to use these facilities. These areas have not even been seen by the command personnel on board."

"At this point, I would usually hand over to our security chief to tell you about security procedures. However, Lt. Diego is among you at the moment, being a new crew member herself. Therefore, I will cover these myself. Security personnel will routinely carry phaser-II units while on duty, with phaser-Is optional while off-duty. All starfleet officers are issued a personal phaser-I unit when they leave the academy. These are to be carried by all personnel assigned to bridge duty, and again are optional when off-duty. Non-security personnel not assigned to bridge duty should not carry phasers without authorisation. Medical personnel retain the right to refuse to carry weapons of any kind."

"I'll now hand over to Lt. Commander Kindle, our Chief Engineer, to tell you about the Lafayette's engineering systems, sensors, transporters, and defence systems. She is also the next officer in the line of command after myself. After this, you will have the chance to ask questions."

===================================================================

[O.O.C.]

Most of the technical information you are receiving here is still conjectural, as the design team are still in the process of working out how this ship is put together. Most of the information here is based on the team's discussions, and nothing actually disaggrees with what has been said so far.