Auxillary power does come from backup fusion reactors littered around the ship. it can also come from the main impulse engine reactors as well.
Umm, I have never heard of a "backup fusion reactor" anywhere in the episodes or even the tech manuals. The only fusion reactors aboard a ship seem to be its impulse engines, which were suggested to be fusion-based all the way back in "Doomsday Machine" (where one was said to explode like a fusion bomb).
they were equipped with 38 original type 6 torpedo's, more powerful than the previous model that older ships carried.
To nitpick, we don't know that
all the 38 were of Type 6. Nor do we know that they would be particularly powerful - only that they are new and thus might surprise the defenses of the Dreadnought missile.
Torpedo launchers don't need a special tube post 2370, as all tubes were modified to be more general oriented as quantums came inter service.
That's just speculation - and it makes little sense, because all through the movies and episodes, the fact remains that only special tubes are seen firing quantum torpedoes. If other tubes are capable of that as well, why aren't they put to this use?
The incompatibility probably has little to do with size. A photon torpedo requires special arrangements so that it can be loaded with antimatter - hence not just any missile launcher can do. A quantum torpedo might similarly require a very specific arming or priming system, one that cannot easily be refitted to starships, thus explaining the lack of q-torp firings from regular tubes. Or a q-torp might explode in the barrel of a standard launcher, and requires a very gentle or otherwise special type of acceleration field only available in the two special launchers mentioned.
Voyager was able to create more photon torpedo's using it's industrial replicator and antimatter generator (i assume, as this is the only way shuttles could be created and torpeo's replaced. They definatley used more than 38 torpedo's.)
The other option is that they purchased the torpedoes or their key components from people who had the required resources. The torpedo shortage persisted as long as the ship was in Kazon territory; after that, it was no longer considered an issue - perhaps because our heroes were now free to trade with civilizations that were capable of the sort of precision manufacturing that the torps require, and had supplies of antimatter for sale to starship operators who could pay.
intrepid class vessels have a shuttle thing on the underside of the saucer.... what is that for??? and has it ever been used??
The
Voyager never used hers - leading us to speculate that the ship never had one. Perhaps this particular unit was not completed in time, so the hole on the belly of the ship was simply covered with plates (which is what it looks like, certainly!). Or then Janeway opted not to embark that shuttle for that mission.
The so-called aeroshuttle supposedly looked much like a winged runabout, so it probably was similarly capable of relatively high warp speeds (say, warp 4 or 5, as opposed to the shuttles that usually did something like warp 2). Perhaps it was intended to be a long range courier and scout for the ship, rather than a short range ferry like the smaller shuttle types.
We might speculate that Janeway did have this craft, and that this was the unseen Type 9 shuttle that in "Resolutions" was left behind for her and Chakotay to use, while the ship forged on. This would be a slightly more credible means for the couple to continue their trip than any of those tiny boxcar-sized craft we usually see. Also, Type 9 was credited with warp four, a runabout-style speed...
We might also speculate that our heroes cannibalized components from their aeroshuttle so that they could build the also rathe runaboutish Delta Flyer. So the aeroshuttle never flew again.
Timo Saloniemi
