Medical Ship

DRC-1180 Primary Medical Vessel

The DRC-1180 PMV, or hospital ship, as it is more commonly known is a very simple hull design with very complex inner systems and architecture.

The primary hull is a large rectangular prism, each side is identical to the other in that it has 1 small launch bay for shuttles, 1 docking port for multiple dock latching, and a myriad of windows. This vessel has no weapons, being a medical vessel, but it does have a powerful shield grid, and very fast sublight, and warp engines. There is a forward command center located on the very front center of the vessel, it sticks out appearing as a small cube on a much larger cube it has 2 small airlocks on the sides of the bridge for crew access. The twin engines on the back of the vessel take up 1/3 of the back and run from the bottom to the top of the back in straight lines. There are 5 thrust vents on each engine running the whole engine length.

The interior of the vessel is divided into 5 main sections, and each section is further divided into smaller sections. Most of the primary sections contain 3 decks, with 13 decks in total ship size.
One of these sections is called the “primary systems section” this is section 3. Section 3 contains the entire rear engineering section, the central corridor that runs from the rear to the front bridge. This section is only 1 deck tall with a crew mess hall, engineering, bridge, crew quarters, security, and the main ships systems, it has a total crew of 120 with room for 80 more at maximum safe capacity. This section is completely sealed off from the rest of the ship at all times, even when there are no patients on board. Anyone wishing to transition from this section to another must pass a dual quarantine airlock. This process takes nearly 10 minutes, as the first airlock must be purged, all air scrubbed clean, the person sterilized and fully examined for contaminants. The second airlock performs the same function for the sake of redundancy.

The other 4 sections are all identical to each other, but are completely independent of each other and can be modified if needed. Each section begins next to the engineering section and runs from the outer hull, down 3 decks and then all the way to the front of the ship. Each section has it’s own shuttle, shuttle bay, cargo bay, and airlock so that no other sections need to be accessed. There are 2 quarantine airlocks on each deck on each side, for a total of 12 airlocks per section. These airlocks are open during “blue” times, or times when all sections have been medically cleaned, all staff cleaned, and there are no patients or detectable contaminants. If there is even 1 patient or contaminant on the ship, every section and subsection is completely sealed from the rest. Only a priority command from the chief medical officer, a medical staff member, and the commanding bridge officer will fully open the airlocks during “red” times, or emergency situations. Each section has no link other than the airlocks to other parts of the ship. All power is wirelessly transmitted past an airtight bulkhead. Each subsection also has it’s own life support, power generators, and food and waste system. This makes the vessel expensive and complex, but also very safe.

Each section is capable of having a completely different atmosphere than the others. There could be a silicon atmosphere in one, an oxygen atmosphere in another and a vacuum in another. Each subsection is also capable of varying environments, but to a much lesser extent.

Each section contains a number of subsections, each connected by a single stage airlock. Each airlock can be overridden and locked from the chief medical officer’s office or from the bridge to prevent quarantine breaches. As stated above, each subsection is also completely self sufficient from any other. The ship is designed in such a way so that the quarantine of one section will not affect traffic among other subsections.
Subsection A, is usually the medical offices and staff quarters as well as the mess hall and entertainment rooms, these are often very small. Subsection B is usually where the shuttle bay, cargo bay, and dock are located. Subsection C is the patent area, this is where 15 bio beds are located, each bed can be separated from the others if need arises. Sections C–S are identical, no more than 15 patients per subsection usually, there are usually 1 doctor and 2 assistants in each. The ship can hold 1020 standard care patents this way. Sections T–W are the critical care areas, they hold only 5 beds per subsection (80 patents total), and 1 doctor, 1-2 specialists, and 3-4 assistants. Subsections X-Y are the medical laboratories, these are where experiments, research or manufacturing of un-replicatable medicines or treatment instruments can be done. Each lab is always closed even during “blue” times.
Section Z is known as the “passenger” zone, it contains 130 passengers and 20 crew. This section is the largest with gyms for physiotherapy, entertainment, basic quarters and a mess hall for recovered patients to await transport off the ship, each Z subsection is separated from the others. The ship is able to hold 2040 crew and passengers normally, but can hold 2980 people at operational maximum.

Each medical shuttle holds 1 pilot, and 2 paramedics. It can hold 8 patients or 12 non-medical passengers and 3 crew. Each bed has a null G field which holds the patient perfectly still with no gravity affecting the patient. Although it should be noted that there is full gravity within the shuttle. Each section has 2 shuttles for priority patients that cannot use the molecular transportation beam for a total of 8 medical shuttles.
Section 3 has 1 shuttle for crew use. It is externally attached between the rear engines via a hatch on the bottom of the shuttle. It also has a side door for planetary landing access. This shuttle holds 10 passengers, and 2 crew. Or it can be fitted to hold a small amount of cargo, 2 crew, and 1 passenger. It also has basic repair tools affixed to the exterior inside sealed holds for use as a basic repair pod. This is the only shuttle on board capable of warp flight (warp 2.14 maximum).