Freeport Alpha
Overview:
Freeport Alpha (Previously known as Babylon 5 by its previous occupants) is a 5 mile long O'neill cylinder type space station, its rather low tech compared to the flagship but it far exceeds the industrial capacity of the empire to manufacture, the station is severely damaged and only now is taking aboard crew, it is located in deep space near what appears to be an area of space suffering from higher then normal neutrino emissions however the database shows the station was abandoned and slated to be destroyed by its owners in a star system far from here, how the station ended up here remains a mystery, some of the civilian and station population did not manage to get off before the station relocated, as a result some shops are still open.
Technical Specifications:
Station Navigation:
Blue Sector Blue/Red: Central Corridor Red Sector
Green/Red: Garden Green Sector Brown Sector
Grey Sector Grey/Yellow: Intersection Yellow Sector
One of the first things a new arrival on the station learns is that sometimes it takes
a long time to get from Point A to Point B. This point seems academic on a space station that is five miles long, but such a distance seems much farther when it actually comes time to traverse it. The designers of the station obviously foresaw the necessity of mass transit inside the station, and included several elements into its design to make travel easier. Though it is very nearly a station-wide pastime to grouse about the slow travel of the station’s various lifts, even those who grouse loudest must concede that the transit system,as it stands, is perfectly adequate, considering the demands placed upon it.
Length: 7962 meters
Diameter: 840 meters at widest point
Solar panel span : 2070 meters
Displacement: 2.5 million metric tons
Gravitation capability: 0 g to 1.41 g
Typical Gravitation: Varies from location - 0.9 g to 1.35 g
Cargo Capacity: [during any 24 hour period]
15,000 metric tons(dry)
5,000 metric tons(wet)
Dock workers: 1500
Station Personnel: 6,500
Refits:
Docking - Low Grade Docking Beams.
Medical Bay - One Regeneration Tank.
Blue Sector:
Blue Sector has four transport tubes, running between wedges 2 and 3, 6 and 7, 10 and 11 and 14 and 15. Each tube has a single freight/security lift running the entire length of the sector, as well as two passenger lifts.
Red Sector:
Red Sector has six transport tubes, three of which offer Core Shuttle access. These three run between wedges 16 and 1, 5 and 6 and 11 and 12. The other three begin on Deck 10, the first habitable deck of the Sector, and run between wedges 3 and 4, 8 and 9 and 13 and 14. Each tube contains three passenger lifts. The three tubes with Core Shuttle access also have a single freight/security lift.
Green Sector:
With only three inhabited decks between the maintenance systems that support the Garden and the station infrastructure facilities inside the hull, Green Sector scarcely needs lifts at all – indeed, it is the one area on the station where Senator Kelly’s stairway idea would be feasible. Those it does have run between wedges 16 and 1, 5 and 6 and 11 and 12. Each tube has a single lift.
Brown Sector:
Like Green Sector, Brown Sector has only three transport tubes that run between wedges 16 and 1, 5 and 6 and 11 and 12. Each tube has a single freight/security lift running the entire length of the sector, as well as two passenger lifts, which are locked out of restricted areas without proper security credentials.
Hallways:
Though the Core Shuttle and transport tubes can take someone to virtually any deck in the station, actually moving around on the deck is going to require walking. There were discussions early in the planning stages of the
Babylon Project of placing moving walkways throughout the station, but allowing for two-way traffic made this idea practically unfeasible. When the station’s construction budget was cut again and again, the few remaining proponents of a moving walkway system finally gave in. How far one must walk in Babylon 5 depends, of course, upon where in the station one is, and circumnavigating one of the outer decks can entail walking as much as three kilometres.
Lift System:
The Core Shuttle offers a quick and easy way of moving from one part of the station to another, but it does not go everywhere. Babylon 5 also uses a complex series of lifts to move about from one part of a Sector to another. The primary means of travel from one sector of the station to another is the Core Shuttle, a mass transit tram that runs from the aft end of Blue Sector to the middle of Brown Sector.
The Core Shuttle runs through the centre of the station, experiencing minimum spin and keeping the gravity in the Core Shuttle at less than 0.1 g. There are actually three separate trams operating on the Core Shuttle line. The trams are operated by the computer, rather than a human driver, and have run without incident since the opening of the station. Any Core Shuttle tram may be boarded at any of the following stations:
Blue Sector Station 1
Red Sector Station 1 Red Sector Station 2 Red Sector Station 3
Garden Station 1 (Green Sec.) Garden Station 2 (Green Sec.)
Garden Station 3 (Green Sec.) Brown Sector Station 1
Brown Sector Station 2 Brown Sector Station 3
Because the Core Shuttle operates in such low gravity, it can take some time for passengers to board or disembark from the tram. Each stop the Core Shuttle makes takes approximately three minutes, though that time will, of course, vary depending upon how many people are boarding or disembarking. The tram’s doors will not close if someone is in the way, nor will the tram move if the doors are open.
On average, a ride from one end of the core shuttle line to the other end will take about 15 minutes. Waiting times at a Core Shuttle station average less than four minutes. The Core Shuttle operates in extremely low gravity, meaning the passengers aboard the tram are required to take certain precautions. Each seat aboard the Core Shuttle tram is equipped with padded shoulder harnesses, which must be used by the passenger.
Passengers are allowed to stand during transit if there are no available seats, but in such cases, the passenger must maintain a firm grip on the safety straps attached to the ceiling. There is no way the tram itself can recognise if one of the passengers is violating this requirement, however, and there have been a few bumps and bruises caused by the inertia of such acceleration or deceleration in low gravity.
Each tram of the Core Shuttle has enough seating for 30 humanoids, with enough standing room for another 25.
The Core Shuttle cannot be stopped while in transit unless it is overridden by a commlink with command authority. Such authority resides only with the station’s command staff and high ranking security officers (lieutenant and above).
