The chief reason that meson weapons are exposed to external damage is
in the case of spinal mounted main weapons system. Because the weapon
serves as the backbone/keel of the ship it is susceptible to damage
when hits are received near the spine. The question raised from this is,
'what do spineless ships do?' (they run away, of course :-)). Is it
possible to mount a meson weapon in the center of a dispersed structure
ship? I can't think of anything in ship design that would prevent this.
I'm supposing the damage tables are an extension of "High Guard" when
meson weapons were solely spinal mounts.
As for bay and "turret" mounts, they probably can be, and should be,
buried as deeply as possible. Then on the outer sections of the ship
you could put quarters, stores, and other areas that would be empty
during general quarters and could be depressurized.
And intuitively, you should be able to bring all meson weapons to bear
(if you can shot them through a planet, why not half a ship?), but the
reason may in some ship design or power constraint I haven't thought of.
eric sergienko