NX Class Escape Pods

[Major Chord]

Where exactly are the NX class's escape pods located? Memory alpha says E-Deck, which makes sense (and is, I believe canon), and so does this deck plan diagram, from Anti-Drone's site, and I believe he uses canon sources to find out where everything goes.

http://www.waxingmoondesign.com/NX01EscapePods.html

However, the one time we get to see Enterprise launch escape pods, in "In a Mirror Darkly", they appear to get launched from D-deck. The ship does not need more than about 25 lifepods ( I'm going by AD's diagrams which have 4 crewmwmbers per pod), and at least 2/3 of that amount can be seen launching from D-deck in IaMD.
This would be problematic, because there would be almost no space for the windows ( which I think there are some) in the walls of D-deck.

From pictures on EAS,

http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/scans/stmagazine/nx-bottom.jpg

there appears to be a nice little cut-out on the bottom of the ship, on deck E( it runs through the hyphen on NX-01 on the bottom panels) where life pods could launch from, that would corespond with AD's diagram, and the canon sources that say that say that the pods are on E deck. I could understand having a few other pods scatterd throught the ship, to evacuate important places like Engineering, and the bridge, but so far, what we have been shown on screen conflicts with the canon production sources we have been given ( a la Memory-Alpha).

So, how can this problem be remedied, besides just ignoring one source? I posted this on Flare a while ago, but I'd like to get trekBBS's take on it.

( I figured that this belongs in the tech area, moreso than the ENT forums, but I'm pretty sure someone can move it if need be.)

 

[Timo]

I'd simply argue that the Mirror universe folks do some things differently from our guys.

Granted that they don't sound like the sort of people who'd put much effort into safety technology. But perhaps it is essential for those nasty guys to have entire cabins that can eject separately for a cowardly retreat? That would explain the window rows on the "lifepods", too...

Or then the pods in the Mirror universe are so prominent because they are frequently used as assault craft.

The AntiDrone version is IMHO quite compatible with what has been seen on screen - although I'd assume that for example very few of the laboratories were ever completed.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[AstroSmurf]

^ I agree but I wanted to fill them in anyway. Sometimes I can't resist being overly anal retentive.

As for the escape pods, I was never happy with their placement in IAMD. The area they eject from is less than five feet high so the mirror universe pods would require evacuating crew to practically lay down in them to fit. And since the NX-01 is the only Starfleet ship out there, would you really want to force the crew to be stuck on their backs until some passing alien ship happened along? It is only logical, at least from a "crew support" approach, that the life boats would be as big as a shuttle pod. For that idea to work, they would have to go somewhere else.

As for canon, the life boats (at least in the regular universe) were only mentioned once in the episode "Shuttlepod One". Their location was also never mentioned in dialog either. Basically they could be anywhere... if you ignore their rather odd placement in IAMD.

 

[Deks]

The Delta Flyer featured escape pods that required of a person to be in a lying position.
The Flyers escape pods are as small because it's a shuttle to begin with.
Also given the NX-01's size and being 200 years technologically behind, it's not that difficult to imagine it would have a similar layout.

I can also imagine that the escape pods are virtually on the same deck in either mirror universe or the regular one.
Everything would virtually be the same apart from some subtle differences ... and I doubt those difference would affect the escape pods position.