From:		Jorith
Date:		08 January 1996 00:44
To:		U.S.S. Lafayette (BBS)
Subject:		RE: Briefing Room

<Lt. Cmdr Kindle - Briefing Room>

	Chandy stood and moved to the front of the room. She smiled a little as she thought how she had jumped just as much as everyone else when Mortimer called the room to attention. It had been awhile since she had been in a formal military meeting. Standing silent for a moment and looking out over the new crew members, Chandy thought about how to start.
	"The Lafayette is a new style of starship, and as such it has several modifications that most of you will be unfamiliar with. For instance, in our matter/antimatter reaction assembly, the Lafayette's constrictor coils are a high-density, forced-matrix cobalt-lanthanide-boronite, with thirty-six active elements configured to provide maximum field strength only within the pressure vessel and permitting little or no field spillage into the Engineering section..." Chandy stopped herself as she saw the crowd gazing at her with confused and utterly lost looks. "Oops," she thought. "I forgot most of these people aren't engineers. Guess I'll just stick to the absolute minimum." 
	"Needless to say, the warp engines do what they are suppose to do." A scattering of relieved laughter broke the stunned audience's silence. "We are able to maintain a crusing warp speed of 8.8 at increased efficiency, but we do have the capability to reach faster speeds. Above warp 9.4, however, the warp field coils tend to deteriorate more rapidly than normal. More rigorous testing will be done to try and reconcile the problem."
	"A change that affects most of you more than warp field technology, is our Combat Information Center, or CIC. As we are a smaller ship, we do not have the space available for a full Battle Bridge. Since this is a covert operations ship, however, a section of Engineering is dedicated to the purpose monitoring, analyzing, and reporting on various covert situations as they occur. Those of you who are to be assigned to the CIC will be more fully briefed on it's capabilities and will be working more closely with Tactical than with Engineering. Also, in the extreme case of the Main Bridge being taken out, the CIC and the Engineering sections together will function as a temporary back-up bridge."
	"Another unique feature of the Lafayette, is what the designers have dubbed a 'stealth mode.' This is not cloaking technology, nor has it been fully tested yet. The Lafayette is the first ship to employ it and reports we make on its reliability and usefulness will determine if StarFleet will continue with its production. To attain this 'stealth configuration', the warp engines and saucer are retracted towards the main body of the ship, which will reduce the ship's warp field efficiency ratio. The designers do not recommended that the warp drive be engaged in this configuration, but a theoretical speed of approximately warp four is possible in emergencies. As of now, we have not tested this system, as we were awaiting a full crew compliment. I do expect, however, that our first assignment will include extensive diagnostic checks."
	"The Lafayette's first sensor array proved to be defective, but we have had a new sensor array installed since our arrival here at StarBase 336. Other than the new CIC section, the sensors are fairly standard and don't require discussion here. Again, those who will be dealing more with them shall recieve more information at a future date."
	"We have two transporters aboard this vessel. Our primary transporter is the larger and nicer of the two. This is mostly for diplomatic reasons. A good first impression is always important and as such, a smaller transporter would not be appropriate. On the other hand, the designers - always putting in back-ups and redundancies - have felt that the Lafayette be fitted with a second, smaller, transporter. It will have a variety of purposes, none of which need to be expanded upon now."
	"Finally, let me just make a brief statement on the defences of this ship. You will notice that we have no civilians aboard - family or otherwise. This is for a very specific reason. Among all it's other roles, the Lafayette has also been designed to perform in many potentially dangerous situations. Therfore, we have an impressive array of phasers for so small a ship. Also, our deflector shields are of top quality and have proven very efficient. At a glance, the Lafayette may seem more defenceless than she actually is. Again, this is for diplomatic reasons."
	"That is all I have for now. Unless there are any questions, I will turn the time back over to Lt. Cmdr. Mortimer."

[occ: As has been said before, most of the information given here is still being hammered out by the design team and can change at any time. For now, however, we can go with what we have....afterall, systems fail and upgrades can be made at any time :) ]