For a refit, what Lagrange said.
condense the 3 NL45s in the broadsides and fore-quarters into 4 NL55s in the fore-quarters. Replacing the NAC/30s with 20s is a style question - not everything needs to be optimal - but it could give you a slight edge in range for 500 tons.
Then you can fill the broadside with a few more large lasers, and sprinkle more machine guns around. You can probably drop 20% fuel for a defensive design with no ill effects.
Personally, I also strive to mount my small weapons in multiples of 6, which has too little gains to be anything but another style question.
For a variant: Reduce it's weight by 10k tons. Maybe a slight increase in SI. Remove the nose lasers to upgrade the PPCs to heavies. If spare weight can be found, add more lasers to the quarters or an NACs to the nose. Reduce barracuda ammo somewhat - in an actual fleet battle, the ship doesn't last long enough to fire all its ammo from forward-mounted weaponry. Go to your fire control limit where possible, filling with extra machine guns. In case there's no capital weapons in the arc, as in the aft and broadside arcs, feel free to double up - any more probably starts to bite into your available space due to crew quarters.
Oh, and get some extra life boats. I personally go with 1 / officer, but whatever floats your boat (heh).
No rush with your turns for now. Marcus is still finding his inspiration again. I found mine for now so am trying to write stuff while it's there.
Were you two responsible for different ends of the universe or something?
And can we help the search in any way?
Also, a question of fluff: Are we influential on the developments in our nation, who lives/dies/gets constipated, or is that firmly in the realm of the GM?