hey NUKE, you know a bit about explosives...and physics. why is that?
now, if i put my 2 cents worth into this..i think

of you are missing the point, that yes this is in the future...therefore,

of the technologies that are being researched today, are going to be a reality then. for instance:
power systems on warships: most likely, the whole ship is a conductor, and used as such. beam technology, im guessing are going need capacitors the size of the ship, and all the heat sinks are in the cannon itself. the actual power source would probably go along the lines of zero point energy. since its probably the only thing so far that could yeild enough energy to be used.
weapons: well if you ask me, ill take an anti-matter bomb anyday. most likely containing super dense cluster of anti-tritium atoms, being held in place by feilds. when exploded, you can have an "anti-matter nuke" of some sorts, which, when comes in contact with the hull of any ship, rips the guts out of it. since mater and anti-matter anihilate when brought together, creating energy, thats one nasty reaction to happen to the side of a ship.
what i dont get, is the massive engine glows. what a waste of power! what would be making that much light? it cant be any kind of combustion..well you wouldnt want it to be.. these days they are using super light engines in space with i think if i remember corrextly, of excited Argon gas to prepel satelites, mapping the gravity fluctuations on earth. lol.
i have no idea what the hulls could be made out of.. i would guess that using the ship itself as a conductor, would have 2 uses. one as a huge capacitor for beam weapons. and 2nd a way of polarising the hull to defelct things like charged antimatter particles.
eh, thats just my logic anyway. but just one more thing..in the next 10 years, all nuclear weapons will be phased out, since there is no use really for them. its possible to make bombs, that creat the same explosive effects of a nuke, but without the radioactive fallout. its made by chemical bombs, which are detonated to mix with the air, then that mixture is then detonated, which creates a vacuum, which in turn creates a massive shockwave, similare to that of a nuke. the results of this kind of weapon is insane, cause it means, what does a country fear about using them? they dont have the radio active fall out issues, so it takes away the huge ethical debates. so, bring on WW3, cause that pretty much what these weapons are gonna lead to...w00t! i just hope they have a pegasus built by then, so i can do what im good at..lol. poon some @55 FS style!