Layout of the Bridge


Yuri watched as Priscilla slowly walked down the ramp to the front of the Bridge, all the time taking in the surroundings. She didn't look all that pleased to him, and he wondered what she was thinking.

"Is it really all that different?" he asked. "Other than the turning of the stations to face the main viewscreen?" He was referring to the Engineering and ship monitoring stations that had been moved from the back wall to the arc behind the command chairs that formerly only contained the security and tactical station.

Priscilla turned so she could see him yet still face the rest of the Bridge. "Yes. It is."

"There's the unified Ops and Conn," she began, indicating the elongated console stations at the front of the Bridge. They looked very similar to the Helm station on an Intrepid class starship (such as the U.S.S. Voyager), except longer and with two chairs, one for Operations and one for Navigation, on a track instead of just one chair. The idea being that in emergency situations, or if the need ever arose, one of the two officers could push the other chair out of the way and man both stations at once. Unlike the former design where in the same situation the officer would have to jump back and forth between the two separate stations.

"The split in the tactical arc. And the stairs..." Priscilla continued, pointing to command area at the center of the Bridge. The Captain's and First Officer's chairs had been moved so that the center of the Bridge now lay between them instead of underneath the Captain's chair. The arc that formerly housed the Tactical station only still stood in the same place, behind both the Captain's and First Officer's chairs, but it was now split in two places. The Tactical and Security station lay directly behind the two commanding officer's chairs. When facing he main viewscreen, to the left of the Captain's chair was a split in the arc with two stairs leading up from the Captain's level to the level behind, and to the right of the Captain's chair was the First Officer's chair. To the right of the First Officer's chair was the other split in the arc with two stairs leading up to the level behind. On the other side of the stairs next to the Captain's chair was another chair, for whatever dignitary might be visiting the Bridge. Behind this chair the arc continued, though raised from it's former tapering height to the normal station height, and then turned a ninety degree corner towards the main turbolift before tapering off at a much steeper angle than before. This part of the arc now contained the Engineering station for the Bridge so that the officer manning it in emergency and battle situations was facing not only the main viewscreen, but the commanding officers as well. On the other side of the stairs next to the First Officer's chair was a fourth chair, for whichever medical officer or mission specialist was visiting the Bridge. Behind this chair the arc continued as an exact reflection of the side of the arc that contained Engineering, except this side contained a medical aid station and the generator and holo-emitters for the Bridge level Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH).

"... and the EMH," Priscilla finished. Then she thought a moment. Eventhough they didn't look any different, she pointed to the back wall and added, "Not to mention the expanded Science 1 and 2 stations, and the addition of the astrometrics link station."

Yuri looked at everything Priscilla pointed out, nodding when she had finished. He hadn't realized the changes to the Bridge's layout would feel so drastic to those who had served on the ship before.

Priscilla moved to the command center with Yuri trailing behind. She looked up to find the circular cathedral type ceiling and star window exactly the same as it had been. "But I like it," she commented at last. Yuri smiled, glad that she approved of the design he had helped create.


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