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Starfleet One

By Jeff Cooper




The U.S.S. Diplomacy, also known as Starfleet One, is the personal starship of the President of the Federation Council. Starfleet One is a Galaxy - Class vessel with extensive modifications to crew quarters. It has larger, more luxurious staterooms, three banquet halls, a formal ballroom, a much larger Ten-Forward lounge, an expanded medical facility, and additional entertainment holodecks. Starfleet One also has suites supported by sophisticated life support systems for lifeforms with exotic environmental requirements. In a highly secure section of the saucer, a state-of-the-art, subspace, communications center and interactive conference rooms are available for the President's Cabinet and Diplomatic Staff.

A relatively small crew of Starfleet officers and enlisted people operates Starfleet One. A large part of the ship's standard complement consists of civilian chefs, caterers, and service providers. An extremely large, but very low-key, security contingent makes up at least 25% of the ship's staff. On the other hand, a small, but highly visible, contingent of Starfleet Marines provides formal security services at official functions.

The U.S.S. Diplomacy is armed, but every effort is made to de-emphasize the combat capabilities of the vessel. All collimator phaser strips are coated in microns-thick, gold-pressed latinum. This adds attractive accents to the ship's hull and emphasizes the prosperity of the Federation to cultures that value that sort of thing. On a practical note, if the phasers are needed, the gilding vaporizes quickly with no noticeable impact on phaser efficiency.

Given the diplomatic nature of Starfleet One's missions, the vessel has no Starfleet markings. The UFP Seal figures prominently in all exterior hull markings. Starfleet standard red markings have been replaced with blue flashes and insignia.

The Model

The model is an Enterprise D from an AMT/Ertl three-ship set. I kitbashed the other models and had an extra Galaxy model with no definite modification plans. I decided to build it stock and mess around with the decals and insignia. The UFP seals are from a Star Trek sticker book my wife and son got me. All other decals were produced in Microsoft Paintbrush and printed on an HP DeskJet printer. A very simple yet distinctive model.

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