Post by Dimitris on May 25, 2004 8:41:30 GMT -5
Never in the proud history of Starfleet has there ever been a starship with the look or evolution to compare with that of the U.S.S. Defiant — the acknowledged first warship ever built by the Federation's defense and exploration forces.
With its compact design, tucked-in nacelles and bristling weapons array, the Defiant was a radical experiment borne of the rush to counter the sudden Borg threat of 2365-66. If anything, Starfleet's massacre by the Borg at the Battle of Wolf 359 late in 2366 showed the dire need for starships far more nimble and tough than the design lineage of most Federation ships. Most importantly, the Borg's deadly tractor-beam attack required a target far smaller than Starfleet's traditional profile of a large primary hull and warp nacelles atop standoff pylons.
Commander Benjamin Sisko, one of the battle survivors of Wolf 359, initially oversaw the experimental Defiant project at Utopia Planitia as the prototype was rushed into design and construction in just five years. Officially listed as an escort, the otherwise secret program achieved its design and performance goals with a radical change in Starfleet philosophy: its four decks were absent any hint of family quarters or extensive science labs — although sensor and analysis support is more than thorough to support the defense mission. Rather than the familiar Type X phaser strips, the Defiant featured non-traditional pulse phaser cannons; to save space, its meager two shuttles, later upgraded to three, employed small drop-ship shuttlebays instead of a traditional hangar deck. Austere space allowances, including bunk-like personal cabins and compressed facilities all around, were the rule.
Starfleet engineers soon realized, however, that they did their job almost too well after the Defiant was launched on Stardate 47538.5 for its shakedown cruise from the Antares Shipyards, carrying prototype registry NX-74205. For all its weaponry and toughness, the ship soon proved to be overgunned and overpowered for its design; in fact, the ship nearly tore itself apart in full-power performance tests. But no sooner had the project been abandoned for a fresh approach than galactic events caused a rethink of that decision in late 2370: the looming hostility with the mysterious Dominion of the Gamma Quadrant and its Jem'Hadar super-soldiers.
In fact, official first contact with the Dominion in late 2170 proved so ominous that the ship was pulled from mothballs by none other than its onetime overseer, Sisko — now in command at Deep Space Nine, where the nearby Bajoran wormhole had opened up contact with the Dominion in the first place. The station, previously defended by only three Danube-class Runabouts, was increasingly at the crossroads of galactic tensions and its commander wanted more muscle to handle any contingency.
Following Sisko's surprise return to DS9 with the Defiant after the Dominion invasion threats in early 2371, the ship was plunged into a host of duties while based at the station. For its covert and combat missions, the Defiant was destined to stand out in Starfleet lore in yet another way: it would be the first ship of the line ever outfitted with a cloaking device. Thanks to its similar perception of the Dominion threat, the Romulan Star Empire took the incredible step of loaning a cloaking system to Starfleet for the Defiant in return for shared intelligence, initially posting Sub-Commander T'Rul as part of the loan to oversee its use and security.
Even so, the "tough little ship” was still far from refined, and would receive numerous on-the-job upgrades and tweaks, largely under the oversight of DS9 Operations Chief Miles O'Brien. In fact, in its first encounter with Jem'Hadar ships during a mission to meet the Dominion's Founders only days after arrival at the station, the ship was easily overtaken in battle; it was later hijacked for a time to Cardassian space by a Maquis cell led by Tom Riker, the "twin” of Commander William T. Riker. A hull upgrade to durable ablative armor was soon in place, withstanding severe weapons fire for nearly two minutes even when unshielded; unreported to Starfleet initially, this proved key in disrupting the would-be military coup of Admiral Thomas Leyton on Earth in 2372. Still, even during the Dominion War after years in service, the ship could not make its potential Warp Factor 9.5 speed, or any speed above Warp 9, without tapping spare power reserves to reinforce the structural integrity field.
The Defiant's hard-luck situation soon changed, though. Thanks to the tactical integration of its cloak, the ship rescued Major Kira Nerys from capture on Cardassia Prime itself in 2371, retrieved staff trapped amid the Dominion's massacre of a failed Romulan-Cardassian armada against the Founder's homeworld, and saved the Deteppa Council members from Klingon invasion and capture in 2372, during the Cardassian Union's short-lived civilian government. Its durability was further confirmed when, after an interrupted trade mission to the Karemma, the ship took refuge in the corona of a gas-giant planet by modifying its shielding and outfought pursuing Jem'Hadar attack ships while inside.
And, despite the sabotage of a massive cascade computer virus implanted by Maquis leader Michael Eddington that left Defiant dead in space, the crew set out in their ship only days later to capture him — and did — with less than full computer control, a top speed of Warp 6, manually-targeted weapons, and no internal communications, cloak, transporters, and replicators.
Though armed for bear, the Defiant did find time for use on several science and diplomatic assignments earlier in the pre-war 2370s. The ship discovered dimension-straddling planet Meridian in the Trialus system, and studied a subspace inversion in the Bajoran wormhole as well as an nearby subspace compression effect. The crew also assisted a Trill team testing the creation of an artificial wormhole, and aided in the launch of a planned Cardassian-Bajoran subspace relay on the far side of the wormhole.
During its time, so to speak, the Defiant was also involved in three bizarre temporal incidents. En route to Earth for a symposium on Gamma Quadrant affairs in 2373, a chroniton buildup produced localized temporal distortions that sent the ship and crew to the year 2124, on the eve of the Bell Riots on Earth. Later, a Klingon spy's unauthorized use of the Bajoran Orb of Time while aboard sent the ship to 2267 as part of a plot to kill history's James T. Kirk. And, during the Dominion War, an otherwise routine recon mission turned surreal at Gaia when the crew encountered their own descendants, borne of survivors from a crash-landing after a temporal accident sent their ship back some two centuries. In the mainstream observable timeline, the effects of all three incursions were reversed and negated.
With its compact design, tucked-in nacelles and bristling weapons array, the Defiant was a radical experiment borne of the rush to counter the sudden Borg threat of 2365-66. If anything, Starfleet's massacre by the Borg at the Battle of Wolf 359 late in 2366 showed the dire need for starships far more nimble and tough than the design lineage of most Federation ships. Most importantly, the Borg's deadly tractor-beam attack required a target far smaller than Starfleet's traditional profile of a large primary hull and warp nacelles atop standoff pylons.
Commander Benjamin Sisko, one of the battle survivors of Wolf 359, initially oversaw the experimental Defiant project at Utopia Planitia as the prototype was rushed into design and construction in just five years. Officially listed as an escort, the otherwise secret program achieved its design and performance goals with a radical change in Starfleet philosophy: its four decks were absent any hint of family quarters or extensive science labs — although sensor and analysis support is more than thorough to support the defense mission. Rather than the familiar Type X phaser strips, the Defiant featured non-traditional pulse phaser cannons; to save space, its meager two shuttles, later upgraded to three, employed small drop-ship shuttlebays instead of a traditional hangar deck. Austere space allowances, including bunk-like personal cabins and compressed facilities all around, were the rule.
Starfleet engineers soon realized, however, that they did their job almost too well after the Defiant was launched on Stardate 47538.5 for its shakedown cruise from the Antares Shipyards, carrying prototype registry NX-74205. For all its weaponry and toughness, the ship soon proved to be overgunned and overpowered for its design; in fact, the ship nearly tore itself apart in full-power performance tests. But no sooner had the project been abandoned for a fresh approach than galactic events caused a rethink of that decision in late 2370: the looming hostility with the mysterious Dominion of the Gamma Quadrant and its Jem'Hadar super-soldiers.
In fact, official first contact with the Dominion in late 2170 proved so ominous that the ship was pulled from mothballs by none other than its onetime overseer, Sisko — now in command at Deep Space Nine, where the nearby Bajoran wormhole had opened up contact with the Dominion in the first place. The station, previously defended by only three Danube-class Runabouts, was increasingly at the crossroads of galactic tensions and its commander wanted more muscle to handle any contingency.
Following Sisko's surprise return to DS9 with the Defiant after the Dominion invasion threats in early 2371, the ship was plunged into a host of duties while based at the station. For its covert and combat missions, the Defiant was destined to stand out in Starfleet lore in yet another way: it would be the first ship of the line ever outfitted with a cloaking device. Thanks to its similar perception of the Dominion threat, the Romulan Star Empire took the incredible step of loaning a cloaking system to Starfleet for the Defiant in return for shared intelligence, initially posting Sub-Commander T'Rul as part of the loan to oversee its use and security.
Even so, the "tough little ship” was still far from refined, and would receive numerous on-the-job upgrades and tweaks, largely under the oversight of DS9 Operations Chief Miles O'Brien. In fact, in its first encounter with Jem'Hadar ships during a mission to meet the Dominion's Founders only days after arrival at the station, the ship was easily overtaken in battle; it was later hijacked for a time to Cardassian space by a Maquis cell led by Tom Riker, the "twin” of Commander William T. Riker. A hull upgrade to durable ablative armor was soon in place, withstanding severe weapons fire for nearly two minutes even when unshielded; unreported to Starfleet initially, this proved key in disrupting the would-be military coup of Admiral Thomas Leyton on Earth in 2372. Still, even during the Dominion War after years in service, the ship could not make its potential Warp Factor 9.5 speed, or any speed above Warp 9, without tapping spare power reserves to reinforce the structural integrity field.
The Defiant's hard-luck situation soon changed, though. Thanks to the tactical integration of its cloak, the ship rescued Major Kira Nerys from capture on Cardassia Prime itself in 2371, retrieved staff trapped amid the Dominion's massacre of a failed Romulan-Cardassian armada against the Founder's homeworld, and saved the Deteppa Council members from Klingon invasion and capture in 2372, during the Cardassian Union's short-lived civilian government. Its durability was further confirmed when, after an interrupted trade mission to the Karemma, the ship took refuge in the corona of a gas-giant planet by modifying its shielding and outfought pursuing Jem'Hadar attack ships while inside.
And, despite the sabotage of a massive cascade computer virus implanted by Maquis leader Michael Eddington that left Defiant dead in space, the crew set out in their ship only days later to capture him — and did — with less than full computer control, a top speed of Warp 6, manually-targeted weapons, and no internal communications, cloak, transporters, and replicators.
Though armed for bear, the Defiant did find time for use on several science and diplomatic assignments earlier in the pre-war 2370s. The ship discovered dimension-straddling planet Meridian in the Trialus system, and studied a subspace inversion in the Bajoran wormhole as well as an nearby subspace compression effect. The crew also assisted a Trill team testing the creation of an artificial wormhole, and aided in the launch of a planned Cardassian-Bajoran subspace relay on the far side of the wormhole.
During its time, so to speak, the Defiant was also involved in three bizarre temporal incidents. En route to Earth for a symposium on Gamma Quadrant affairs in 2373, a chroniton buildup produced localized temporal distortions that sent the ship and crew to the year 2124, on the eve of the Bell Riots on Earth. Later, a Klingon spy's unauthorized use of the Bajoran Orb of Time while aboard sent the ship to 2267 as part of a plot to kill history's James T. Kirk. And, during the Dominion War, an otherwise routine recon mission turned surreal at Gaia when the crew encountered their own descendants, borne of survivors from a crash-landing after a temporal accident sent their ship back some two centuries. In the mainstream observable timeline, the effects of all three incursions were reversed and negated.