Ptolemy II Class

The Ptolemy II-class tug is a workhorse logistics vessel that has been in service with Starfleet Auxiliary since the 2280s. Capable of pulling multiple cargo, logistics, or passenger modules, this class remains in service with both the Auxiliary fleet and the merchant marine fleets of several Federation worlds. While they are being replaced for pure cargo roles by the Wallenberg-class tug, it's unlikely that they will be fully displaced in the Auxiliary fleet for quite a while, as they have superior passenger and logistics capabilities irrespective of the types of modules they are pulling compared to the newer class. While a Wallenberg is dependent on its modules for both cargo hauling and personnel transport, a Ptolemy II can pull multiple bulk cargo modules while also hosting several hundred passengers and carrying technical or medical supplies in its internal cargo holds—admittedly at a much slower speed than the newer class.

Engineering

Ptolemy II-class vessels share the same general arrangement as Miranda II and Soyuz class starships and are built from the same components. Unlike the Miranda II, the upper portion of the saucer on the Ptolemy II is relatively flat, and the superstructure under the bridge is larger, containing numerous cargo holds with direct access to space through large doors. Aft of this, they are very similar to the Soyuz-class, with an extended aft structure containing a third large shuttlebay and the ship's relocated impulse engines. The Ptolemy II differs from both its parent design and its other two contemporaries in that the warp nacelles are mounted above the ship's main body, while two mounts for cargo pods are beneath.

While a first-gen Ptolemy-class starship could pull 3 cargo pods in a linear sequence and still attain cruising speed, the Ptolemy II can pull two from each mounting point, for a total of four. With four pods, this class can comfortably sustain warp six. In a pinch, or for intrasystem missions at impulse speeds, it can pull up to six pods, but will be limited to warp four. A quirk of this design is that the load balance must be symmetrical in mass, so pods must be mounted in even numbers. If there is nothing to carry in one of the positions, a bulk carrier module full of neutral matter, such as rock, will be loaded. This is an issue that was corrected in the Wallenberg by returning to a linear module arrangement.

Over the years, equipment aboard Ptolemy II-class ships has been steadily upgraded where possible. They have benefited greatly from the fine-tuning and retrofits developed for the related Constellation and Miranda II, which has led to increased automation, fewer maintenance needs, and higher top speeds. While not as advanced or as easy to maintain as an Olympic-class liner, they are considered a relatively pleasant assignment for engineering crews.

Tactical

Ptolemy II-class starships are armed with two dual forward Type-VIII phaser banks, and four single banks of the same type mounted two on either side of the aft superstructure. It does not have any torpedo launchers. Combined with graviton shields, a ship of this class can defend itself if absolutely necessary, but they are almost always kept to well-mapped and well-patrolled space lanes deep within Federation space. If they need to venture towards the frontiers, they will be escorted by at least one Starfleet vessel.

When carrying passengers, it is standard doctrine for these ships to detach their cargo modules should they come under serious attack. Without their pods, their sublight speed is increased greatly which allows them to find a vector to escape via warp. This doctrine does not apply, of course, when they are pulling passenger pods.

Standard Cargo Pods

Ptolemy II-class vessels were designed to tow a line of standard cargo pods developed in the mid-23rd century, which have received steady updates over the years. These pods are cylindrical and attach to the tug via a curved docking pad on the dorsal surface that mates the ship to the pod with magnetic latches, and allows for EPS, computer, turbolift, and Jeferries tube pass-throughs. All standard cargo pods are 200 meters long and 40 meters in diameter and have thirteen decks. Ptolemy II class vessels can also pull the flat pods made for Wallenberg-class starships and vice versa, but an adapter must be inserted between them to match the hull geometry.

Manufactured and Agricultural Goods Pod

Early pods were built either for manufactured goods or for refrigerated goods (i.e. food, medicine, etc.) but there is now one model of standard pod for manufactured goods, medical supplies, and food products, as they are all capable of storing their cargo at the appropriate temperature, air pressure, and humidity. These pods have 13 decks of cargo storage, with cargo transporters on each deck, as well as cargo elevators in the center of the pod, and three large cargo hatches on either side deck seven to allow for loading and unloading either by transporter or by hand.

Bulk Dry and Fluid Goods Pod

Two closely related pod designs are for bulk dry goods, ranging from grain to dilithium ore, and for bulk fluid goods, including water, industrial chemicals, terraforming fluids, or even oxygen. Both designs have 17 bin/tank dividers that separate the container into 18 bins or tanks forward to aft, with utility decks on the top and bottom decks that contain machinery and cargo transporters. Fluid goods pods have an additional two horizontal dividers in the form of anti-surge baffles that keep load distribution variances from occurring.

Starliner Pod

Starliner Pods have housing and life support capabilities to comfortably accommodate up to 500 passengers and 90 crew members for voyages of up to several months. They are fully self-contained vessels in their own right, capable of impulse power and a theoretical endurance of eighteen years with full fuel reserves, which allows them to serve as lifeboats should their tug be lost.

The top deck is a wide, green promenade that makes the journey more comfortable for those used to terrestrial environments, with passenger and crew quarters taking up the next several decks. An entire deck is devoted to recreation, with a dance club, two bars, a casual lounge, two coffee shops, an two four-hundred seat auditoriums for live theater or musical performances. The forward end of the middle deck is the most like a standard starship, containing the ship's bridge as well as a 30-bed sickbay, but aft of this there is a library, a half-dozen holosuites, two gymnasia, two large dining rooms, and a daycare center. Lower decks are taken up by transporter rooms, maintenance facilities, and cargo holds for both passenger luggage and small shipments.

For all of their facilities, these liners are still cargo pods, however, and they only have windows on their fore and aft ends, meaning that passengers must go to the lounges to really see the stars. Since the mid-24th century, all of these pods have been retrofit with virtual windows in every set of quarters to help reduce the sense of claustrophobia this created. In recent decades, they have also been enhanced with hospitality holograms to reduce their crew from the original 150 to 90. The primary responsibility of the crew is for their passengers' safety and comfort.

Hospital Pod

Hospital pods are very similar to starliner pods, but with the recreational facilities replaced with triage areas, and the passenger staterooms replaced with patient rooms and ward space for a combination of 300 acute and intensive care patients, as well as multiple operating facilities. Like starliner pods, they are capable of operating as a self-contained vessel, both as a lifeboat and to be left in orbit of a planet with an ongoing medical crisis.

Specialized Pods

In addition to standard pod types which are swapped out easily between tugs and exist in large numbers, there are other pod types that must be specifically built for either a particular ship or a particular mission.

Colonial Habitat Pod

Colonial habitat pods are intended to be delivered to the sites of potential colonies to serve as the initial habitation facilities for their first residents. While in space, they appear to be a standard cargo pod, but once they reach their destination, they split in two in the center, to become two separate cylinders with their own descent engines in the center of the pod. When landed, they 20 decks of usable space for apartments, medical facilities, labs, office space, fabrication facilities, or whatever else is deemed necessary for the colony. They are purpose-built for each colony they are sent to, with the understanding that they will almost invariably be scrapped in situ to build permanent buildings, when there is sufficient infrastructure to do so. Their decks are arranged for to aft rather than top to bottom. While in transit, they don't carry colonists.

Neutronic Fuel Pods

Neutronic fuel, meaning deuterium or anti-deuterium, is highly volatile, and so can't be stored in a standard fluids container. Instead, long booms are built that hold 12 individual storage pods each. These pods contain highly compressed fuel, each enough to power most starships for a year. Should a fault be detected, the crew has the option of jettisoning individual pods without compromising the ship or rising the entire cargo. Ptolemy II-class ships fitted with neutronic fuel pods operate as neutronic fuel carriers for long periods of time, as the connection point includes additional structural integrity reinforcements and redundant power connections to make sure that the integrity of the fuel pods is maintained. A fuel carrier can only carry two neutronic fuel pods and no other modules. While neutronic fuel pods have less volume than standard cargo pods, they are significantly heavier due to the density of the materials they are carrying. To compensate for this, they have additional impulse jets on the stern that improve the tug's sublight performance.

Tractor Beam Pods

Some Ptolemy II-class starships are equipped with industrial-grade tractor beams in place of their pod mounts, to allow them to serve as tugs in a more general sense, either moving other starships around shipyards or towing large objects (like starbase components) from system to system, but this interstellar tug duty has largely been taken over by the California and Parliament classes.

Shipboard Life

While classified technically as a tug, Ptolemy II-class vessels are still cruiser-sized starships and have good standards of accommodations for their crews. Without the scientific and tactical equipment necessary for an exploratory ship, they have the space for a crew of 150 and up to 300 passengers, in a combination of single, double, and quadruple staterooms. There are multiple mess halls and lounges as well. Most of the vessels of this class on regular passenger routes have also been retrofit with holosuites. Despite the age of these ships, service aboard a Ptolemy II-class vessel is considered ideal for many members of Starfleet Auxiliary.

For those vessels assigned to pull starliner pods on regular routes, only the most senior Starfleet Auxiliary captains are assigned to command them, given that they can be responsible for upwards of 1,300 lives.