When it comes to research, experience is the key. But, how do you experience life on a starship? The simple answer is “you can’t.” So, this is where imagination and experience combine to create something wonderful. Let’s look at a starship about like a destroyer. In general, a destroyer is a hunter. She may have one or two cutters (rather like a “RIB” in today’s navy) but nothing like the kinds of craft available to a carrier. I think modeling her after an old Diesel submarine with a few modifications like some mass-driver turrets (kind of like an eight-inch gun), laser mounts, and missile tubes to replace the torpedo tubes. And, just for giggles, let’s say that it’s four reactor power plants (I use fusion plants, where the reactor creates a stabile micro-star in my stories) where there’s three required for power and one for failsafe. And it’s cramped. So cramped that you pretty much have breathing room only, with one shift racked, one shift either coming off or getting ready to go on, and one change at stations at all times, with almost zero privacy anywhere in the ship. Continue reading “Where Reality Meets Fantasy”