 Deck Five is the lowest deck in the main saucer and the middle deck in the seconady hull. This level of the saucer section is a multi-disciplinary lab comprising Stellar Cartography, Astrometrics, Planetary Cartography and Tactical Intelligence, depending on the mission profile. In the centre of the deck is a holoprojector which can display starfields, planetsry surfaces or tactical displays at need. Forward is a small airlock with factlities for launching a pair of augmented personnel modules, or APM Worksuits in Scout configuration. Aft is the turbolift. Surroundong the deck is a series of Jefferies tubes. The secondary hull contains the ship's magazine, carrying 268 photon torpedoes and 480 probes of various types, as well as housing the upper level of the ship's main deflector. The deflector, which is a bundle of 7 discrete elements, is between the two forward launchers. There are four transfer wells for torpedoes and probes, one for each launcher. Torpedoes are arranged so priority is given to the forward launchers, but torps can still be fired from the aft launchers in times of need. Probes can be launched from either the forward or aft launchers. Some may question the need for so many torpedoes on a scout vessel, but the Buckner and her sister ships have served as long-range reconaissance scouts behind enemy lines in the Cardassian, Klingon and Dominion Wars, with an excellent record and a high survival rate. |
