Editing Alaya Ravenstone (section)

=== MISSION TYPES ===
Seeking out new worlds and new civilizations is central to all that Starfleet stands for. As something of a younger sister of the Galaxy class, The Illuminar Class turn their impressive technology and speed to the business of pushing back the veil of the unknown.

Mission for an Illuminar class starship may fall into one of the following categories, in order of her strongest capable mission parameter to her weakest mission parameter.


'''Deep-space Exploration''': The Illuminar class is equipped for long-range interstellar survey and mapping missions, as well as the ability to explore a wide variety of planetary classifications.


'''Ongoing Scientific Investigation''':  A Illuminar class starship is equipped with scientific laboratories and a wide variety of sensor probes and sensor arrays, as well as the state-of-the-art dorsal subspace sensor assembly; giving her the ability to perform a wide variety of ongoing scientific investigations.


'''Contact with Alien Lifeforms''': Pursuant to Starfleet Policy regarding the discovery of new life, facilities aboard the Illuminar class include a variety of exobiology and xenobiological suites, and a small cultural anthropology staff, allowing for limited deep-space life form study and interaction.


'''Federation Policy and Diplomacy''': A Illuminar  class starship’s secondary role is the performance of diplomatic operations on behalf of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets. These missions may include transport of Delegates, hosting of negotiations or conferences aboard in the vessel’s Conference Hall, courier for important people and/or items, and first contact scenarios.


'''Emergency/Search and Rescue''': Typical Missions include answering standard Federation emergency beacons, extraction of Federation or Non-Federation citizens in distress, retrieval of Federation or Non-Federation spacecraft in distress. Planetary evacuation is not feasible.


'''Tactical/Defensive Operations''': Though not designed primarily for battle, the Illuminar class –like all Starfleet vessels– is designed to be resilient and ably armed


All Starfleet vessels make use of a computer program called a Universal Translator that is employed for communication among persons who speak different languages. It performs a pattern analysis of an unknown language based on a variety of criteria to create a translation matrix. The translator is built in the Starfleet badge and small receivers are implanted in the ear canal.

The Universal Translator matrix aboard Illuminar class starships consists of well over 100,000 languages and increases with every new encounter.


The normal flight and mission operations of the Illuminar class starship are conducted in accordance with a variety of Starfleet standard operating rules, determined by the current operational state of the starship. These operational states are determined by the Commanding Officer, although in certain specific cases, the Computer can automatically adjust to a higher alert status.