Weapon Banks and Fighter Bays

There are different types of weapons systems that a ship may have. The main weapon system is a beam type weapon (lasers, phasers, etc.).  A beam type weapon draws its power from the ship's engines, so as long as an engine is working the weapon will have energy to fire.

The auxiliary weapon systems can be torpedo launch tubes or fighter launch bays.

A fighter takes up one kiloton in the cargo hold.  In  combat the fighter is moved from the cargo hold into the fighter launch bay to be fuel and armed. A ship with many fighter launch bays can get more fighters into combat sooner. Fighter bays are designed into the hull and unlike torpedo launchers cannot be added. Some races (such as the federation) have very few, hull designs that include fighter bays. A starbase has room for up to 60 fighters to be used in defense or to be transferred to a ship with fighter bays.

The torpedo launch tube aims and arms standard torpedoes. Torpedoes take up one kiloton of cargo space each. 

In combat the torpedo is moved from the cargo hold into the launch tube.