WorkBees: The Original Workhorse of the Federation
From their angular design to the modular augmentations, the WorkBee is the most versatile style of shuttlecraft in and out of the Federation. Since their conception nearly one hundred years ago, they have been all over the Federation and their design has been stolen by every major and minor power in the galaxy. This is truly the most prolific and important design in the history of the galaxy. Every ship that pilots the spaceways has been constructed, remodeled, augmented, and eventually dismantled by these small crafts. But sadly, they are usually overlooked and, in this day and age, taken for granted. One simple reason is because of their size.
With the average displacement of 2.5mt, the WorkBee is not exactly big. But, like Vulcan Pincer Ants, they can carry many more times their mass and propel itself and cargo quickly across vast distances. Due to its small size, the WorkBee is capable of getting into some of the smallest of spaces without endangering any of the ships that they are working on or the station they are navigating through. Because of this size, stations are able to maintain them far easier than a runabout or a starship. Even the shape is conducive of the name.
Honeycombed around various parts of the interior of any starbase or station are slots - cells that the WorkBees inhabit. Like the terran insects they were named after, these craft 'hibernate' within these 'hives' and often times get an attachment mounted. Watching a standard WorkBee enter a cell and emerge a few minutes later with arms, floodlights, and welding equipment - it's like watching a butterfly hatch from a cocoon. With all the myriad of attachments available to the WorkBee there are literally hundreds of different package combinations that are mission specific. Each package is specifically tuned to the jobs at hand and is determined by the Head of Operations, or "Queen Bee."
The Queen Bee has the complete duty of controlling which WorkBees get outfitted, with what, and when. One of the other duties of the Queen Bee is also to determine which project takes priority. Even though there may be nearly five hundred WorkBees in an Ournal-class Starbase, there is nearly twice that in jobs pending. Getting around quickly is a major part of a busy day.
What would be considered slow for a starship is fast for a small WorkBee. Each WorkBee is complimented with a single B3/4-R Fusion Impulse Reactor. This engine is capable of propelling it and some fairly large cargo at nearly full impulse speed! Only when a fully assembled piece, such as a Galaxy-class nacelle, is to be moved does the WorkBee begin to struggle. Being able to tow or even move such an object takes a lot of power and patience, both of which the WorkBee crew has in abundance. Rarely, though, does the hive work alone on such projects, but it has been known to happen, and it is becoming more and more common as space lanes are getting more and more populated.
As more and more ships are being constructed with the aide of WorkBees, the WorkBee construction itself has fallen to the wayside. Even with all the demand, there are very few companies that have the contract to build more WorkBees. If Starfleet decided to triple the WorkBee compliment, the standard fleet would be increased at least six times. Because of this limitation, the WorkBees have to adapt to all possible situations quickly and efficiently in order to keep up with the demand.
With the many augmentations that the WorkBee gets, one of them is the ability to fight. In a pinch, the WorkBee compliment can be outfitted with a micro M/ARC and nacelles to reach an enemy quickly and micro torpedo systems to do some kind of damage to them. Sadly, the WorkBee compliment of fighters has been too small to deal with the assault on some of the Federation's worlds during the latest war and Borg incursions. Though they may have enough power to sufficiently stop a Federation, Klingon, or Romulan vessel, it is only possible in very large numbers. The bigger the ship the more WorkBees are needed. In these cases, the Federation has opted to use full fighters and entire starships to complete and win the battles that the WorkBees would be unable to stand in. Though the future may turn things around for our small friends.
The Federation Council and Starfleet Command are looking into new designs and applications for the WorkBee hives. Not much is known right at the moment about these new designs, but it shouldn't be very long before we hear something about them. Starfleet could use more of the versatile craft, but who knows. Right at the moment, though, the Federation is loaning out entire hives to the Cardassians to help rebuild their war torn worlds and culture.
So for construction to construction, the WorkBee goes everywhere to build and populate. Once things are settled for the Cardassians, the Federation will begin another era of uncertainty and expansion thanks to the WorkBees.
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