This page deals with the arena in the ship's interior. The previous page deals with the ship's exterior and includes schematics. The next page presents screenshots of a Green Match.

upper part of the arena: ceiling and audience area beneath arena Tsunkatse symbol mounted below the control booth Tsunkatse symbol in the floor of the arena ditto control booth ditto ditto part of the audience, in an audience-attended arena, not on the Tsunkatse ship a narrow ledge enables competitors to gain height at the very start of a match the arena is unlit save for the lights which indicate the type of match; here the lights indicate a Red Match arena, lights on view of arena (Blue Match) looking from the audience area

Tsunkatse is fought in a custom-built arena that is located aboard a constantly moving, heavily armed and armoured transmission vessel, under the command of Penk who is both Tsunkatse manager and promoter. The ship follows a pre-determined but apparently random-seeming course around the sector which includes the Norcadian star system, whose homeworld, Norcadia Prime a number of Voyager crewmembers visit for shore leave in 2376. The Tsunkatse vessel can transmit to every planet in the region and broadcasts reach three billion viewers located in identical arenas. The sophistication of the holoprojection system from the transmission source is such that each crowd cannot tell that the action below is being simultaneously projected. view of the arena (Yellow Match in progress) looking from the audience area The atmosphere of the reception arenas is similar to that of a boxing or wrestling match on Earth during the 20th/21st centuries (except savate whose tournaments are usually quieter, family-like affairs, as contestants are men, women and children, and the audience likewise). The holoprojection concept makes it difficult to detect the location of the ship from the multiple broadcast directions, and means that no one in the audience can physically interfere with a bout or even, as Voyager's crew try to do with Seven when they first see her in the arena, beam out a contestant (see also below, re forcefields). The transmission arena is situated on the uppermost level of the Tsunkatse vessel, and is heavily protected by multiphasic forcefields designed to prevent competitors from being transported away during their fight. The security of the vessel is such that some competitors, such as an Hirogen encountered by the captive Seven of Nine and Lt. Commander Tuvok in 2376, have been resident on the ship for 19 years, effectively held prisoner for the entertainment of the Norcadians and others in the sector. During the attack by Voyager and the Delta Flyer on the Tsunkatse vessel, Tsunkatse impresario Penk has to divert power to the signal generators feeding transmitters 5 and 6 to continue the broadcast when Janeway in the Delta Flyer is successful in destroying one of the signal transmission dishes. This allows Seven of Nine and the Hirogen to be beamed out of the arena, due to the resulting drop in shield strength. The arena is referred to as 'the Pit' by many of the competitors. The arena is circular and situated below the audience area that runs around the entire periphery of the auditorium. The only interruption in the view is from the main control console that houses Penk and two operatives directly above the large symbol representing the tournament. The control booth is completely open and gives Penk an excellent view of the tournament directly below, and also allows him to control the transmission of the broadcast and the reception at any one of the many identical audience-attended arenas. Audible signals can alert Penk of the loss of audience, or problems with reception, and he is able to make or order adjustments very quickly. He has two assistants who work at computer consoles behind him. The holoprojection system replaces the front of this booth with an illuminated display, hiding the controllers during the game and giving the illusion that the competition is taking place before them. There is no audience present in the actual transmission arena, making it easy for combatants to talk and be heard by the other during the fight. The basic shape of the arena comprises self-contained dome constructed primarily of a smooth, light-coloured material that houses the audience at its widest circumference. The ceiling of the arena consists of a black curved cap with a 12-sided inner section that houses a series of lamps, which angle outward to form a number of lights that may flash brilliantly or be reduced to complete darkness. The use of lighting and sound is particularly important in Tsunkatse, and the addition of a heavy drumbeat as musical accompaniment between matches keeps the excitement and anticipation of the spectators high (in humans the equivalent is keeping the adrenalin flowing), and also adds dramatic impact when the combatants enter the arena from the narrow, automatically-controlled doors that are located on either side of the arena's base. closed door; the green lights indicate a Green match open door; the blue lights indicate a Blue match open door through which the winner leaves the arena; the yellow lights indicate a Yellow match open door; the red lights indicate a Red match Projecting downward from the outer perimeter of the black ceiling cap are a number of equally spaced recesses that contain constantly moving searchlights. Different combinations of projected patterns in many colours can be moved over the contestants and the spectators making a dazzling spectacle during the matches. Spectators are arranged in rows of four tiers, and watch through a completely open section that is covered in white boards in the actual Tsunkatse arena in which the competitors fight, with the lower curved wall directly beneath this viewing area having a series of linked chain design and Norcadian symbols. A narrow ledge is formed in front of this low wall that allows competitors to take a higher position during combat, and is only broken up by the rectangular central control station support with its large Tsunkatse pendant illuminated on its front-facing wall. The arena slopes downward at an approximate angle of 45 degrees to the actual fighting area, which comprises a series of thick padded mats with the Tsunkatse symbol repeated once again in the middle of the floor. The edging to the symbol, however, seems to be of a different colour to that which is wall-mounted, something I noted when drawing the symbol with reference to screenshots. The angled walls consist of a series of brightly illuminated panels that are strong enough to support the weight of the contestants during combat, and are separated by lower, black angled grilles that can be used to reach the narrow ledge directly above. There is a repeated series of four circular lamps above the metallic grilles, that flash in sequence between and during the contests, and the colour of the illuminated panels changes according to the type of match being fought. They represent up to four competition types, corresponding with the color of the combatant's hand and foot polaron disruptors, separated by the amount of damage that can be inflicted. Green, Blue and Yellow competitions allow the defeated competitor to be taken from the arena after the match, but Red competitions are to the death and attract the largest audiences.

Close-ups of part of the arena area: the floor and one of the elements of the Tsunkatse crest, and grille mesh with part of the lights next to it which indicate the level of combat. The four "holes" are spotlight-emitters.