/sci/ - Science & Math

>>9274071
The "explanation" is that the warp nacelles (thingies on either side) emit a short range field of hard radiation and thus are kept on struts some distance from the hull. For the warp bubble to work, they also have to be in a configuration where they can emit a field that surrounds the ship, and cannot be outside the shield bubble.

Further, the saucer section contains all the living quarters, and thus the bulk of the children, as this is a ship with families on board. It can be detatched, should the ship go into battle, and has its own, slower and less radioactive warp drive, in addition to some phaser armorment. Albeit, they hardly ever do this in the series, and seem to often knowingly go to war with everyone aboard.

Beyond that, "Fuck you, it's sci-fi."
(Also, apparently, everyone who ever flew on the Defiant is sterile.)

Granted, when you have the sort of shields this beast is supposed to have (capable of borrowing through several miles of rock at sub-light speeds, yet remain unharmed), a second set of passive navigation shields that can take meteor impacts at relativistic speeds and deflect 50 gigawatt lasers, and a series of internal "structural integrity" shields, you can do whatever you want - cuz magic.

Not that real world ships and space stations don't sometimes take bizarre shapes, being freed from the structural limitations of gravity.