Glossary

Star Fleet Command Glossary

Note: This specific glossary is the SFC-canon source for terms and definitions for this wiki. An import of Timo Saloniemi's glossary for his Hobbyist's Guide to the UFP Starfleet is provided here. Terms and definitions provided there are not SFC canon, but provided for research purposes.

A

Auxiliary

• small craft Common term for small craft embarked aboard and utilized by starships for various tasks. Craft types include work pod, shuttlepod, shuttle, plus various tactical and other special-purpose craft.
• starship Common term for starships dedicated to supporting various starship operations but not directly taking action. Ship types include, e.g., tanker, tug, and tender. The term is used in conjunction with patrol combatant, mobile combatant, and support combatant in Star Fleet’s system of categorizing military-application starships.
• system A supplementary system.

C

Cascade Ion Drive (CID)

Any reaction or warp drive utilizing a polaric ion cascade system as the means of extracting power from the antimatter powerplant. The UESF experimented on this potential competitor for dilithium technology in the early 22nd century (see Daedalus class) and experiments were carried on by UFP Star Fleet until the 2268 ban on all polaric ion testing. No operational applications ever emerged, although several foreign powers not signatory to the treaty are known to operate power systems of this type. Not to be confused with ion drive, a generic designation for a number of reaction drives.

Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (C3I)

A system of organizational and technical attributes and processes—along with information resources—to solve problems and accomplish mission objectives. C3I sets can be employed at any organizational level, from the individual tactical unit on up to the fleet-wide management systems employed by Star Fleet Command.

Cruise speed

Typically means the top speed that can be sustained for days, weeks, or months and is operationally used for interstellar cruising.

D

Deep space

• Pre-First Contact era All space outside the Sol system.
• Federation era The region near or beyond the recognized borders of the Federation, often uncharted in any considerable detail.

Destroyer

A dedicated medium defense starship intended for destroying enemy capital ships and installations. The designation is almost indistinguishable from a frigate in technical aspects; however, frigates perform a variety of offensive and defensive duties, while destroyers typically specialize in offensive engagements.

F

Flight

A variant of a class of ship providing one or more significant modifications intended to be incorporated by most or all members of that class.

Frigate

• through late 22nd century A dedicated medium defense and escort starship, larger than a corvette but smaller than a destroyer, often capable of trans-atmospheric operations.
• 23rd century through early 24th century A defense and escort starship, including small patrol craft, escort ships typically lacking torpedo armament, and versatile multipurpose ships similar to light cruisers.
• since mid-24th century A dedicated medium defense starship, typically carrying mission gear in switchable modules.

G

Gravimetrics

The science concerning the measurements of gravity, including variations in gravity fields and the graviton subatomic particle.

Gravitic mine

A type of explosive device used in the 23rd and 24th centuries in anti-starship and anti-personnel roles.

H

Hangerette

A small hanger, often berthing a small number of repair pods or other auxiliary craft.

I

Inertial Damping Field (IDF)

A forcefield/graviton-based system for countermanding the effects of inertia on starship components (especially the crew). Vital in enabling the ships to withstand the huge accelerations of impulse and warp engines. First used by Earth in the late 20th century and applied to almost all space technology in the UFP. Closely connected with artificial gravity systems.

Inertial Mass Reduction Field (IMRF)

A subspace field for reducing the inertial forces imposed by the mass of a starship. While an IDF protects components of a ship from differential inertial shear, an IMRF lowers the mass of the entire vessel, allowing it to perform sublight accelerations otherwise impossible for a ship of a given mass. In modern 24th century vessels, the IMRF is usually projected by subspace coils included in the impulse engines. Older vessels typically utilize separate field-manipulation crystals that deflect impulse power to stabilize the primary warp field at low intensities and thus allow it to be used for inertial mass reduction.

Interferometry

A technique using the interference of superimposed waves (typically electromagnetic) to extract information.

Interstellar Phenomena Classification (IPC)

An academic categorization system to assist in identifying individual members of a particular standard of known deep space objects within the Milky Way. The arrangement has two broad categories (Stellar and Subspace), with 15 and 8 classifications of objects currently and respectively, such as black holes, lost (or rogue) planets, and plasma fields (for the former) and subspace interphase pockets and subspace vacuoles (for the latter). From there, individual catalogues of members of each class are compiled in a cohesive manner, usually by a numbering scheme following the appropriate IPC code.

L

Laser

Typically, a secondary weapon on early space vessels. Current shielding technology has largely negated the threat posed by the coherent electromagnetic beam. The technology also saw common use in communications and targeting.

M

Magneton

A type of sensor (or scan) that studies the variations of magnetic energy.

Maximum speed

Typically, the speed beyond which the warp coils or other parts of the engine system begin to suffer irreversible damage from the generated high energy levels—the first threshold is normally the durability of delicate power system components like dilithium, followed by the durability of the coils themselves, then by ship integrity, and finally by theoretical warp engine performance limits.

Megesti

An energy-hungry spaceborne species endemic to the Algol system, specifically to an artificial environment created for the creatures comprised of a solar-orbiting subspace disk. The creatures are at risk of extinction no later than the early 39th century, due to the degrading conditions of their habitat.

Multiphasic

A type of sensor (or scan) that can penetrate areas of intense interference where conventional scanning methods prove impractical.

O

Original Cochrane Units (OCU)

The original warp scale, where the warp factor cubed was the velocity in c, the speed of light.

S

Standard Cargo Unit (SCU)

A typical unit of measurement of mass (6.75 mt) and cubic volume (1.9 m³).

Swarm

An existential crisis for the planet Earth, wherein 17 metropolis-sized and attendant “flocks” of medium-sized asteroids threatened to impact the surface between the years of 2031 and 2033; a world-wide effort diverted all of the planetesimals.
See Western Alliance for greater detail.