Accessing Starfleet Database

Subject: Constellation Class Design

For a long time now, Starfleet Starship Design has had an obsession with designing a four-nacelle starship and it is easy to understand why. Logically, a four-nacelle design should be faster than a two nacelle design as a four nacelle design would allow for a tighter and more developed warp field to be generated. Adding to that was the safety aspect, as if one or two of the nacelles were damaged or inoperable, the design would have one to three nacelles still functional, allowing the starship to travel at a relatively fast speed. This obsession would be indulged by Starfleet Command but unfortunately, the design of a four-nacelle ship proved to be more complex than anticipated.

When tested, the initial prototypes failed to impress Starfleet Command, including speed. The technology used in creating these prototypes were simply not up to the challenge of creating a type of focused warp field that would allow for increased speed by leaps and bounds. The designs were so negligible that the Federation had begun to see the attempts of creating a four-nacelle starship design as a waste of time and resources. However, with the leap in technological development at the end of the 2260s, the engineers of Starfleet's Starship Design division were once again inspired to take a look at a four-nacelle design in attempt to design a starship that could deliver all the promises made on the previous quad-nacelle design.

Five prototypes were designed and constructed under the project codenamed Constellation, named after the Constitution class ship USS Constellation, that was lost with all hands destroying a weapon of mass destruction. The five prototypes were constructed with shakedown crews scheduled to begin shortly Starfleet Command abruptly canceled the trial runs, placing any further construction on hold and the five prototypes were placed in a decommissioned yard. The suspected reason is following the end of the famous five-year mission of exploration of the Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk the Constitution class had begun to show its age and Starfleet Command had considered decommissioning the class. However, it was the very successful five-year mission of the Enterprise that had made the class so popular that the decision to decommission it was met with outraged protests from citizens on many Federation worlds.

Due to these protests, Starfleet Command decided on a refit program for the Constitution class, choosing the Enterprise as the first to undergo an extensive refit that took place over eighteen months. The refit was time consuming and diverted resources and personnel, leading to the Constellation program to be put on hold. Fortunately, when the Constitution Class Refit design proved to be a complete success, Starfleet began to imagine and create new starship classes based on that successful design. With the pressure to create an entirely updated fleet of advanced starships, Starfleet's Engineering Corps had the Constellation prototypes out of the decommission yard, refitting and revamping the design, leading to the official birth of the Constellation class.

Measuring over three hundred and ten meters in length with seventeen decks, the Constellation was designed to be operated by a crew of three hundred and fifty officers. The design is powered by a vertical warp core, rivaling the power output of a Constitution with twin impulse reactors as backups to boost making it an overpowered vessel with the cruising speed at warp factor 6 and emergency speed at warp 9.2 for eight hour increments. Designed to explore the unknown regions of space in not just the Milky Way Galaxy near Federation space but also in a brand-new galaxy, the Constellation was armed to the teeth, consisting of 6 Photon Torpedo Launchers 4 Forward/4 Aft (200 Torpdoes),6 Type 8 Phaser Banks. Like it's Constitution sister, the Constellation's shields are the most powerful and advanced in Starfleet and like it's Miranda cousin, the Constellation utilizes deflector emitters along its hull rather than a single deflector dish common in most Federation ship classes.

Another defining feature of the class is the more than usual number of shuttle bays which is actually a misunderstanding due to the number of shuttle bay doors along the rim of the saucer section as there is only one official shuttle bay. It has easily been misunderstood as a carrier type vessel but that is not the case here. The primary shuttle bay is located at the front of the primary hull while the other sections with bay doors are in fact specially designed multifunctional areas, ranging from cargo areas, shuttle bays but primarily are designed for research laboratories. With the Federation's continuing growth at a rapid rate, it had been learned quickly through starship exploration the need for self-contained areas that could be jettisoned quickly in an emergency situation were essential to the continued survival of the ship and crew.

Thus, these research bays were integrated into the design. If a terrestrial artifact of unknown origin, piece of technology, or other type of unknown object was discovered and brought onboard, the crew could place said object within one of these bays and if research suddenly turned dangerous, the object could be jettisoned into space easily, keeping the crew and ship relatively safe. Another new and interesting feature to be added into the Constellation class design is a specially designed long range sensor array located on the underside of the primary hull. Tube shaped, this sensor array increases the ship's design long range sensitivity by over two hundred percent, making it a valuable asset for an exploration type of starship.

The first of the class, USS Constellation would be launched in the year 2275 for a year long shakedown and evaluation run. Although it did not preform above and beyond anyone's expectations the class did well overall and as a result Starfleet Command put the class into full production, periodically updating and refitting the technology as time went by. Despite the contributions the class has been made, the class has been easily overlooked by many in the Federation as a ship of the line, gaining a reputation of being underpowered and overworked.

Despite these setbacks, the Constellation class has been found to be capable of carrying out many mission profiles in both the Milky Way and the Skyriver Galaxy that it was never initially designed to take. Its speed alone makes it an excellent starship responder to any possible situations. A handful of Constellations have been assigned to the Skyriver Galaxy, monitoring activity between the Republic and the separatist faction calling itself the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

End File

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Logging out of Starfleet Database

Outer Rim Territories
Karthakk Sector
Q-17
Karthakk System
Ruby Nebula
USS Hathway
Bridge

"Anything to note, Lieutenant?" Captain Jeffery Pierce asked, watching as the ship glided into the outlaw system.

So far, no hostilities had been made but that was likely because no one had detected them.

The science officer, a Human/Caitain hybrid by the name of R'Meera was already running deep scans into the system. Her yellow slitted eyes, contrasting fur with white stripes and head hair, nose and upper lip showed her Caitian heritage but she lacked the tail of her Caitain heritage and had decidedly human feet. R'Meera's hands were very human in appearance but she had both exterior human fingernails and Caitain retractable claws inside her finger tips.

"Sensors are detecting ship signatures consistent with Trade Federation design." R'Meera answered, her hands dancing across the console. "Wait, a pair of fighter class ships have emerged from hyperspace."

"Location?" Pierce immediately asked.

"Located near the nebula labelled 'Ruby'." R'Meera reported. "A Class J nebula."

"What do you make of them? More Trade Federation?" Pierce inquired.

"Negative. One fighter does not match anything in our records. The other one appears to be a modified freighter." R'Meera answered. "The other fighter appears to have two life signs, one is confirmed to be a droid. Astromech class. I think it has a Republic transponder, sir."

"And the other?"

"The best I can determine is that they are humanoid." R'Meera stated before the scans detected more signatures. "More contacts, sir. They appear to the Vulture droids. They are on an intercept course and charging weapons."

Pierce frowned.

Should he intervene and stop a potentially dangerous shoot out?

On the one hand, the two ships were likely in danger.

On the other hand, this was free space far from Republic or Federation jurisdiction. Getting involved in a local fight could draw the Federation into another conflict with the Trade Federation.

Then again, it's not like they had positive relations with the Trade Federation to begin with.

The First office, Commander Lara, an Orion who had joined Starfleet turned to Pierce. "Your orders, Captain?"

Pierce carefully considered his options…and then made up his mind. "Mr. Donovan, plot an intercept course. Jardins, signal Yellow Alert."

The Jedi Starfighter emerged from hyperspace, ending up at the coordinates where the contact was said to be.

"Astromech, scour the area for any starships." Master Gallia ordered upon returning to sub-light speed. "Our contact must be nearby."

The Astromech droid beeped in affirmation and then beeped again, this time in a negative tone.

"Nothing? That's odd…The nebula must be interfering with our sensors." Gallie pondered before another beep came up and a ship was detected on her scopes. "I am opening all comm frequencies. Shooting Star hailing Know-It-All. Do you copy?"

A second later, someone voiced back. "Know-It-All, copy. Who sells egg seeds on Coruscant?"

Adi Gallia sighed. "You know who sent me. Do we really need codenames?"

"Um…yes. Who sells egg seeds on Coruscant?"

"Mace Windu, now will you please take me to Nym?" Gallia asked impatiently.

"Okay, okay, keep your headpiece on already." The contact's ship came up beside the Jedi Starfighter. "Reti, well paid guide to the Outer Rim at your service. Just follow me and I'll take you right to the resistance movement."

"Wait a moment." Gallia suddenly said as her scanner beeped. "I'm picking up readings of incoming craft. You've been followed."

"What?! Are you kidding? I once outran sixteen droid starfighters on Naboo." Reti protested. "It would be impossible for any-" Reti was cut off as blast fire shot past his and Gallia's ships. "Oh boy, we're in trouble."

That was an understatement.

An entire squadron of Trade Federation droid fighters had emerged from seemingly nowhere and were firing on them.

"I don't know how they did it. I'm the slickest pilot in the entire Karthakk system." Reti complained as he and Gallia spun their ships around and began firing on the droids.

"Now is not the time, Reti." Gallia grunted.

"We can't leave until we destroy these droids. We'll lead them straight to Nym."

That was a very good point, but Gallia wasn't going to say it out loud. Rather, she focused on shooting down the droid starfighters as fast as possible.

With the Force guiding her, Master Gallia expertly shot down any droid starfighters that came across her targeting computer.

"Incoming! Look out!" Reti shouted over the comm channel.

"They are coming in waves." Gallia grunted as she shot down another fighter.

"Hey, nice ship there, Adi. You ever thinkin of selling?" Reti asked, sounding impressed.

"This is not for sale. It is a prototype that may become a powerful aid to the Jedi." Gallia retorted as she fired and destroyed two more droid fighters.

"Holy burning sprockets, you really are a Jedi." Reti commented as another droid fighter blew up.

Gallia, however, had no time for praise. "Where are they all coming from?"

Reti flew in and fired as three more droid fighters came around an asteroid.

"I've researched your past. You were once quite a mercenary." Adi couldn't help but say to her wingmate.

"What? Oh, that little thing on Ovoo IV." Reti chuckled as he shot down a fighter on his own. "It was nothing."

"Good job, Reti." Gallia praised.

"Yeah? You need a new Padawan?" Reti couldn't help but ask before his scanner beeped. "More fighters!"

"I trust you after this you can introduce me to Nym?" Gallia asked as she opened fire.

"No problem. Me and Nym go way back. He trusts me…I hope."

Adi Gallia had no comment as three more fighters came out from behind an asteroid and immediately fired, taking out the nearest one.

"Good shot. Nym's going to be impressed with ya…I hope." Reti said, again hesitating at the end.

Gallia couldn't help but take in the seat of the Ruby Nebula as she shot down another droid fighter. "This is beautiful sight, Reti."

"Yeah, well…This is where I meet all my Jedi contacts." Reti replied bashfully, grunting as his ship's shield absorbed more blaster fire. "These guys ain't kidding around!"

"More starfighters?" Gallia asked, surprised by how persistent the enemy was being.

"The Trade Federation's been on us like this for months." Reti complained. "Hey, I'm picking something up. Another ship."

"More fighters?" Gallie asked.

"No, it's…" Reti trailed off as the ship came into view. "What is that?!"

Gallia turned her fighter around and her eyes widened when she saw the ship. It was different than any ship she had ever seen but she recognized the style of the saucer shaped hull.

"That's a Federation vessel." Gallia stated.

"Federation?" Reti repeated in confusion. "Wait, you mean those United Federation guys? I've heard of them. They helped out during the battle of Naboo and really stuck it to the Trade Federation that day."

"But why are they here?" Gallia pondered.

As far as she knew, they were far from the any worlds that were known to be engaged in diplomatic trade or relations with the United Federation of Planets. Why would one of their vessels be out here in what was essentially non-aligned space.

Her communicator beeped and she answered. "Attention all ships, this is Captain Jeffery Pierce of the USS Hathway. I ask you all to please seize hostilities at once."

"USS Hathway, this is Jedi Master Adi Gallia. Why are you so far out here?" Gallia questioned. "I am not aware of any worlds here that are interested in establishing relations."

"We're running a routine survey, cataloging the nebulas in this sector. We don't intend to intervene but I ask for the fighting to please stop." Captain Pierce answered.

"Negative." Another voice spoke, sounding like a Neimodian. "You have made an enemy of the Trade Federation. All of you will power down and surrender your ships."

The source of the fighters was revealed to be a Trade Federation landing ship.

"That must be the carrier launching all the fighters." Gallia noted.

"If we can take it down, we can high tail it out of here." Reti informed her.

"Do not resist capture." The Neimodian voice spoke. "And the Federation vessel will turn and leave or power down."

"I am under no obligation to do so. This is free space and thus we're allowed to be here as long as we want." Captain Pierce retorted.

The droid fighters turned away from fighting Gallia and Reti and fired on the Hathway, their blaster fire harmlessly dissipating across the bubble-like shield surrounding it.

"Call off your attack now or be fired upon." Pierce said, his voice turning a stern cold.

"We are not afraid of you, Captain." The Neimodian said stubbornly.

"Very well." Pierce said before the channel closed.

From the saucer shaped hull of the ship, beams of orange light lanced out and destroyed the droid fighters attacking it, vaporizing them on contact.

"Dang, these guys are good." Reti commented as five fighters were taken out in only a few seconds.

The Trade Federation ship aimed its turrets and fired on the Hathway, only for two torpedoes to be fired on retaliation. The two torpedoes slammed into the forward of the ship's deflector shields that were set to absorb blaster fire thus were not able to handle the detonation of the anti-matter warheads that immediately blew the ship apart in a singular large fireball.

"WHOA!" Reti exclaimed at the destruction of the ship. "These guys don't mess around!"

Gallia had to admit she was impressed but also concerned.

Why was the Hathway here?

She needed to complete her mission as soon as possible but she had to know why the UFP ship was here.

"Captain Pierce, this is Jedi Master Gallia." She spoke on an open channel. "I believe we have to talk. May I be allowed to come aboard?"

"Very well, Master Jedi. Proceed to the shuttle bay at the front of the ship." Pierce answered.

"Reti, we just have to make a quick stop but keep your ship ready."

"Yeah, sure, Adi." Reti replied.

Adi Gallia brought her fight around the Hathway, spotting a pair of bay doors opening at the very front of the ship's hull and angled her fighter in towards the landing bay.