Located in San Francisco's Presidio area is the famed home of Starfleet's future finest officers. It is a sprawling campus, right on the bay, and nearly everywhere has a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, but nowhere has a better view of it than the gleaming, Main Building (Alpha), which houses both most of the Academy's administrative offices, including the Superintendent's Office. A beautiful, open atrium runs through most of the main floor.
Every building is assigned a name, following the traditional alphabetical designations (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie…). Further, every floor or "deck" is designated the same way, except for repetitions. For example, the top floor of the Main Building is referred to as "Alpha Building, Bravo deck" or simply "Alpha Bravo." Rooms are then numbered by deck.
Alpha Building also houses the cadet's equivalent to a student union, known as "the Alpha Hotel." It is located below the main deck, but the building is situated on a slope, so the huge windows of the Cadet Lounge also have a clear view of the Bay. Besides the Cadet Lounge, where Third Class and higher cadets can eat and socialize, the Alpha Hotel includes various recreational facilities, like equipment for billiards, dom-jot, barokie, and even tongo. There are also several small holosuites available for Second Class cadets and higher. A great deal of the Gamma Team's down time will be spent here.
Classroom and other buildings are spread across the campus, and are connected for the most part by beautiful garden paths. Trees, flowers and bushes from a dozen worlds (those that can survive on Earth) grow there, attended to by Boothby. The only view to challenge the Alpha's belongs to the Academy Parade Grounds, annual site of the Commencement ceremonies. Further from the bay is where one finds the Academy athletic facilities. A large open field is used for football, soccer, rugby, field hockey, etc. and is circled by a running track. Also are facilities for tennis, baseball, softball and an outdoor pool. Gamma Building houses the main gymnasium, as well as smaller facilities for workouts, zero-g games and an indoor pool.
Located in the Sierra Building complex are the various mission simulators used for the training of Second Class cadet teams. Some of the simulators are large-scale holodecks, which are usually used for multiple-team training, simulation of larger ship areas (like Main Engineering), or planetside training. The others are bridge simulators-- full-scale mockups of the control centers of various starship classes, from smaller and older ships like the Oberth-class (U.S.S. Grissom, STIII) to the elaborate nerve center of the massive Galaxy- (U.S.S. Enterprise-D) or Sovereign- (U.S.S. Enterprise-E) classes. These trainers can simulate battle damage, with panels exploding, sparks, smoke, etc. It is the cadet teams' responsibility to repair whatever damage occurs during their mission.
Most of the science classrooms and academic labs are located in the Tango Building complex. The Command School's home is the Delta Building, the Engineering School is located in the India Building. Other facilities include a large, beautifully appointed ballroom (Alpha Delta) used for banquets & formal functions, and various small chapels serving a number of faiths. Monuments on campus include ones dedicated to the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger, Yuri Gagarin, and to the many Academy alumni who have given their lives in the line of duty.
The Cadet Quarters are comprised of two building complexes: the Quadrant buildings (or “the Quads”) and Charlie Complex. The Quads (Quadrant One, Quadrant Two...) are where most cadets spend their first two years. There, close-knit groups of eight cadets live in suites of four double bedrooms and a large common room. Starting at the third year, most cadets move out to the smaller Charlie buildings (Charlie One, Charlie Two...), which have a mix of double and single rooms. Each room, whatever its size, has its own small replicator and sanitary facilities.
Beginning thier term at the Academy, teams are posted onto an Academy-attached training vessel, for a period of two weeks at a time (i.e., two weeks on board ship, three to four weeks planetside). Though Gamma Team is no exception, this training is typically a cover for their secret assignments, and so they may not follow the typical schedule.
The starship that Gamma Team will be calling its home away from home is the Starship Endeavour, named after both an ancient Earth naval vessel (including a research ship attached to the Woods Hole Institute), and the Earth Space Shuttle.
The Endeavour is unlike any of the other ships attached to the Academy-- it's brand new, where most of the others are vessels within a few years of decommission. An Independence-class ship, the Endeavour is a small, sleek cutter, designed for short-range exploration scientific missions and local patrols. Also unlike those other ships, the only officers assigned to her are the specially-commissioned members of Gamma Team.
U.S.S. Endeavour
Federation Registry Number: NCC - 81833
Independence-Class Starship
Length: 187 meters
Crew Complement: 32
Cruise speed: Warp 7