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.
Back to the ship