Site-to-site transport

A site-to-site transport was a special type of transport in which an object or person was transported from one site directly to another, neither site being a transporter platform. A site-to-site transport was accomplished by first transferring the transporter's target from the site of origin to the pattern buffer of the transporter, in the same manner as the usual "beam in" procedure; instead of being routed to a transporter platform, however, the matter stream was diverted to a second site, in a similar procedure to a conventional "beam out".

Site-to-site transportation was very resource intensive. It consumed twice the energy of a conventional transport (since it was effectively two consecutive transport maneuvers), and required twice the time in the pattern buffer. It was very useful, however, when time was critical (for example, when a casualty needed immediate attention in sickbay, site-to-site transportation was almost invariably used) or other unusual circumstances. On the other hand, it was almost never used in emergency evacuations of large groups because it would effectively halve the capacity of the transporter system. 

Notable uses

 * While on Earth in 1986, Montgomery Scott utilized site-to-site transport capabilities on board a Klingon Bird-of-Prey to transport an away team directly from the elevator of a hospital facility to just outside where the ship was parked. Technically, this was the chronological first known utilization of this technology.


 * In 2268, Montgomery Scott transported Tepo directly from his headquarters to those of Bela Okmyx. Not counting time travel, this was the first known use of this technology.


 * While on Deneb IV in 2364, Data and William T. Riker transported directly from the mall at Farpoint Station to an underground cavern below the facility to join the rest of their away team.


 * While on Angel I that same year, Data, Deanna Troi, and Natasha Yar transported directly from their planetside accommodations to Ramsey's camp.


 * Miles O'Brien disabled the site-to-site transport function to stop Data from beaming off the bridge in 2367. The android was able to reactivate it.


 * Wesley Crusher created what alleged to be a site-to-site transport program in 2368 to avoid being captured by the crew, who were under the influence of a Ktarian game. However, the program transported him to a transporter pad in Transporter Room 3.


 * Captain Benjamin Sisko and Senator Vreenak used site-to-site transport in 2374 to avoid the Romulan from being seen by the populace of Deep Space 9. They transported from the wardroom to a holosuite.


 * Tom Paris used a site-to-site transport in 2374 to surprise B'Elanna Torres with flowers in a Jefferies tube junction after telling The Doctor he was delivering his helm report to Chakotay.


 * B'Elanna Torres used site-to-site transport to get to her quarters in 2377, to avoid being accosted by a group of Klingons gathered outside engineering who believed her unborn child to be the kuvah'magh.


 * In 2378, The Doctor beamed himself from another part of Voyager to sickbay after Commander Chakotay contacted him with his combadge and asked him to report there.


 * Seven of Nine used site-to-site transport to avoid being seen while she entered Chakotay's quarters with flowers.


 * Captain Picard used site-to-site transport to beam over to the Scimitar from the bridge of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) in 2379. However, it caused such a strain on the already severely damaged ship that all transporter functions shorted out immediately afterwards. He was only able to beam back after Data gave him a prototype emergency transport unit shortly before the Scimitar's destruction.