
CLOAKING DEVICE


-History

 The Cloaking Device was invented by the Romulan Empire an estimated thirty
years ago.  It was captured by a Federation vessel, but the analysis proved
unpromising.  As part of a trade agreement with the Klingon Empire, several
sealed units were installed aboard Klingon vessels.  These were safe-guarded
by anti-tamper destruct devices to prevent their analysis by their Klingon
operators.


-Function

 The device was installed in the Engine Room, hooked in parallel with the
Deflector Screen field generators.  When activated, it utilizes this field
to shunt any impinging electromagnetic or tachyonic energies around the ves-
sel, and past it along the radiation's original heading.


-Effect

 The net effect is that a cloaked vessel is effectively invisible to sensors
using said radiations.  The radiations effectively pass through the volume
occupied by the cloaked ship, and no radiation can be reflected or occluded
by said vessel.  This effect is so effective that - when a vessel is cloaked
- a grounded craft cannot be seen by the naked eye or instrument even at a
distance of one meter.


-Detection

 The Cloaking Device does not eliminate a vessel's weight.  Thus, the effect
of its mass upon the space/energy matrix fabric remains as always, and can
be detected by a Matrix Distortion Sensor - which would not detect the ves-
sel but rather the distorted space it occupies.  However, such a scan is
limited in regards to weapon's targeting, providing little more than the
target's approximate location and speed.


-Limitations

 The Cloaking Device is an enormous energy drain when activated - often re-
quiring up to 70% of a vessel's reactor output.  Thus, a cloaked vessel
will not be capable of firing heavy weapons without first disengaging the
Cloaking Device.  As well, a cloaked vessel's sensors are partially inhib-
ited by the very shunting effect protecting the ship.  However, since some
parts of the Deflector Screen can be lessened selectively, it is possible
for a cloaked vessel to transport personnel.


[From 'Starfleet Dynamics' copyright (c) 2291 by the Starfleet Academy
Training Command Press]


Jimmy Dee Notes/Comments:
-------------------------
Outside of the F**A universe of Trek, it appears that Star Fleet set out to
develop their own cloaking devices right after "The Enterprise Incident"...
For the ST-TMP Blueprints (and the tons of other packages which would fol-
low in the 80's) claim that not only did the Enterprise class starships have
cloaks, but so did the Vulcan Long-Range Shuttle... Apparently by the time
of ST-TMP, all three powers have cloaking technology... What little we know
of Star Fleet cloaking devices comes from Ships of the Star Fleet and re-
lated references:

Defense: CGCP/SCDS cloaking generation, penetration and stasis counter-
         measure system
(System contractor: Hycor, Woburn, Earth)...

The specs of most major Ships of the Line from ST-TMP and later feature the
above, along with Primary Force Fields and other Densive Systems... In
addition, Ships of the Fleet gives the following specs for the cloaking
device of the USS Decatur class strike cruiser:

Cloaking generator maximum power: 93x Earth normal gravity
Cloaking penetrator range: 2.623 x 10^9 Km.
Cloaking device intermix conduit: Bali 4000 Series Magnetic Flux Antimatter
                                  Valve
(System contractor: Bali Industries, Tanami Spacebridge, Australia, Earth)

Without any data on Romulan or Klingon cloaks, the above info's worthless
at this time... All we know is that it's one defensive package which can not
only cloak the ship, but detect cloaked ships and protect the ship against
the stasis field weapon developed by the Klingons and seen in TAS' "More
Tribbles, More Troubles"...

Now let's take a look at the history of the cloak... Supposedly, if one can
accept the erroneous novel "Final Frontier" the Romulans became interested
in cloaking after the Enterprise ended up in Romulan space and Captain
April bluffed them, some 20 years before Trek's first season... Because of
numerous conflicts in the novel, I'm willing to dismiss it in the same man-
ner as it's presented: in a Kirk daydream while on shore leave... What we
do know, on the other hand, is that the Romulans tested their prototype
cloaking device in "Balance of Terror" against the Enterprise and the Earth
outposts bordering the Neutral Zone... The energy drain was so intense that
the Romulan Bird of Prey needed to rely upon impulse drive for propulsion
while cloaked (pointed out in the McMaster blueprints and assumed by many
that the Romulans hadn't developed warp drive until their brief alliance
with the Klingons... If the Romulans never had warp drive, there never
would have BEEN a Romulan War in the first place, and the Klingons would
have kept the secret of FTL drive away from the Romulans at ALL costs!)...
The three most energy-intensive systems were the Cloak, Plasma Weapon, and
Warp Drive--none of which could be used simultaneously... The cloaked ship
was detectable by motion sensors... In "The Enterprise Incident" improved
cloaks are in use (thus Star Fleet's dirty spy mission to get their hands
on one) which can't be detected by motion sensors... Within 5 years, the
unit had been duplicated by Star Fleet Intelligence and was being incorp-
orated into the newest of Star Fleet vessels... But even sooner than that,
approximately a year after "The Enterprise Incident," Mr. Flint had design-
ed an improved cloak which confused ship's sensors--in Spock's own words,
"We have already penetrated the Romulan cloaking device, and so have the
Romulans themselves; the technology in that field seems to have rendered
itself obsolete."--according to the novel "The Cry of the Onlies"... About
two years afterward (one year before ST-TMP) in "The Lost Years," a quick
stop on the neutral planet Arcturus enables anyone to purchase a cloaking
device--mass produced and mass-marketed? Yet even this late, Kirk was able
to track the ship's distortion... Cloaks offer cover, but are not perfect,
as we have seen... They're a constantly changing technology: as a cloaking
field is perfected beyond detection, sensors are upgraded to detect the
cloaked vessel by other means... In TNG's "The Emissary," an 80 year old
cloaked Klingon warship was easily detected by the Galaxy class Enterprise,
thus proving this point...

In ST VI, the Enterprise made its way to Rura Penthe through Klingon space
using her cloaking device--this according to the (somewhat flawed) noveliz-
ation... The Klingon outpost was able to track her but not identify her, which
was where Uhura's role at deceiving the station came in handy...

So why did we have to wait till ST VI for our Enterprise class ship to cloak?
It wasn't convenient until then (and it's a cheap escape for the ship from
tight situations)... In ST-TMP, Kirk didn't even want the ship's deflectors up
for fear of them being misinterpreted as hostility... In ST II the Enterprise
was hit by the Reliant's phasers at point blank range, and afterwards was run-
ning under low power... In ST III, the ship was hijacked by Kirk and a skeleton
crew--when hit by Kruge's ship they were unable to even maintain their shields
much less a cloaking field... In ST V the ship was experiencing massive mal-
functions and hadn't even been given a proper shakedown cruise...

More data on cloaks can be found in Ships of the Star Fleet Volume II: Perim-
eter Action Ships... Cloaks for the Akyazi class perimeter action ships are
produced at Prentice-Schafer Inc., Marsport, Mars (again in 2290)... The
Akyazi and Arbiter classes feature cloaks with countermeasure subsystems
("Orissa" units in the Akyazi group and the DCA/DSA configuration in the
Arbitersub-class)... These subsystems provide the perimeter action ships with
the
ability to generate false sensor images, multiple sensor echoes, and/or con-
tradictory recognition readings in an attempt to further confuse and deceive
threat force detection systems and their operators... This stealth system is
probably a perfection of Flint's prototype from 25 years ago...

