USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A)

The **USS *Enterprise* (NCC-1701-A)** was a *Constitution*-class vessel operated by Starfleet in the 23rd century. It was the second Federation starship to bear the name *Enterprise*. After the *Enterprise*-A was decommissioned and mothballed, it was succeeded by the USS *Enterprise*-B.

## Specifications

### Armaments:

8 dual emitter phaser banks, 3 photon torpedo launchers

## Service history and disposition

Nominally, ships of this class were heavy cruisers, but in particular, this vessel was outfitted as a tactical command cruiser. The second Federation starship to bear the name, the *Enterprise*-A was christened shortly after the destruction of her predecessor, the USS *Enterprise*, in 2285. Captain James T. Kirk and his senior staff were reassigned to the *Enterprise*-A after they relinquished command of the captured HMS*Bounty* in San Francisco in 2286. Captain Kirk commanded the *Enterprise*-A for eight years, and the ship's final cruise was highlighted by the protection of the Khitomer Conference as the Khitomer Accords were drafted.

Despite the USS *Excelsior* being more advanced and already in service, the *Enterprise* was designated as the Federation flagship, as such when she would be assigned to escort Klingon chancellor Gorkon to Earth for peace talks, when the chancellor was assassinated.

When USS *Enterprise* was destroyed in orbit of the Genesis Planet, and in the early months of 2286, Admiral James T. Kirk and the former crew of the *Enterprise* prevented the destruction of Earth by the Cetacean Probe. In honor of their achievements, Federation President Hiram Roth ordered that the Recently damaged *Yorktown to* be renamed *Enterprise* and assigned the registry **NCC-1701-A**; the official commissioning occurred in that same year at the San Francisco Fleet Yards. Shortly afterward, command of the *Enterprise* was assigned to newly-demoted Captain James T. Kirk.

It was launched from Spacedock on the order of the Federation Council in appreciation of Captain James T. Kirk and his crew's efforts to prevent the Whale Probe from devastating Earth. The crew initially thought they were going to be assigned to a "freighter" at best, according to Leonard McCoy or the USS *Excelsior*, but the new *Enterprise* was soon revealed, docked next to the *Excelsior*. The crew took their stations and the *Enterprise* left Spacedock on a shakedown cruise.

### 2286

The shakedown did not proceed as planned, and the *Enterprise* limped back to spacedock for several weeks of repair under the supervision of Captain Montgomery Scott. Although its warp drive was working perfectly, half the doors on the ship were malfunctioning and several control interfaces did not work. The transporter was also nonfunctional, requiring shuttles to be used for off-ship mission

Before the repairs were complete, the *Enterprise* was called into duty in order to intervene in a kidnapping situation on Nimbus III. The ship was subsequently commandeered by the rogue Vulcan Sybok, who ordered it to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy in order to pursue the mythical Sha Ka Ree. During the return of Sybok to the ship aboard the *Galileo*, Commander Hikaru Sulu was forced to crash the shuttle into the *Enterprise* landing bay as the ship was pursued by a Klingon Bird-of-Prey, commanded by Klaa, and there was no time to use the tractor beam for a safe entrance. The Bird-of-Prey then followed the *Enterprise* to the center of the galaxy.

The crew was too involved with Sybok's visit to the planetoid found there and did not notice the Klingon vessel enter sensor range. The Bird-of-Prey caught the *Enterprise* off-guard and disabled it before it had a chance to retaliate. However, Klingon ambassador Korrd, rescued from Nimbus III, relieved Captain Klaa and ordered the Bird-of-Prey to stand down. The Klingon crew was later invited to a reception following the return of the *Enterprise* to Kirk's control and the discovery that Sha Ka Ree was a myth. The brig was also damaged during the mission, as Captain Scott blew a hole in the back wall to free Captain Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy

One month after the Nimbus III incident, under the orders of Starfleet Chief of Staff Admiral Robert Bennett, the *Enterprise*-A ferries a group of Federation diplomats to a high-level peace conference at Starbase 49, located between the UFP and the Klingon Empire. There, Captain Kirk holds a secret meeting aboard the *Enterprise* with Captain Koloth, who presents the long-missing ship's logs from the USS *Gagarin* (unearthed by newly-elected Klingon High Council member Gorkon), destroyed seven years earlier by a Klingon battlecruiser at Nuvidula IV. Kirk proposes a dangerous mission — covertly entering Klingon space and rescuing the *Gagarin* survivors, which Admiral Bennett authorizes. With Captain Spock assuming command of the *Enterprise*-A, Kirk and Sulu secretly depart Starbase 49 aboard Koloth's battlecruiser, the IKS *Gal'tagh*. Aided by intelligence leaked by Gorkon, Kirk, Sulu, and Koloth arrive at the Klingon colony of Don'zali IV and meet with the former warden of a Klingon prison on the planet Pao'la. Back at Starbase 49, the diplomatic talks are interrupted by the detonation of a bomb; the docked IKS *Terthos* is seemingly attacked by the nearby *Enterprise*-A, but the plot is foiled, and the saboteurs identified. On Pao'la, Kirk, Sulu, and Koloth attack the prison and rescue five USS *Gagarin* survivors (including Commander Stephen Garrovick), but their shuttle is shot down. Kirk's party fights a losing ground battle against advancing reinforcements, but are saved by the arrival of another Klingon cruiser, the *Zan'zi*, whose commander frees the Starfleet prisoners, on orders from the newly-installed Chancellor Gorkon (having deposed his predecessor, Kesh). However, the commander then orders his orbiting ship to destroy the prison and its entire population in order to conceal the remaining disgraceful evidence of the Empire's crimes. Horrified and disgusted by the act, what little trust Captain Kirk has left towards Klingons as a race is destroyed. The prisoners are repatriated to Starbase 49, and the *Enterprise*-A heads back into space.

During a routine patrol, the *Enterprise*-A becomes trapped by an unknown force and is taken to a previously unexplored planet. Captain Spock attempts to lead a landing party to the surface, but instead of the team, Spock, Kirk, Doctor McCoy, and Captain Scott are transported to an amusement park planet which is ruled by Harry Mudd. Mudd claims to have arrived on the planet and only wishes to seek a way off the planet, which the *Enterprise*-A can provide. As the landing party investigates the planet, they discover that it is actually a nursery, and Spock is able to free the *Enterprise*-A by melding with the artifact which controls the planet.

The *Enterprise*-A receives a distress call from a merchant ship that is under attack by Orion pirates. When the *Enterprise*-A arrives they find the merchant vessel being towed by the Orion vessel and find that the merchant crew had been taken prisoner. However, the *Enterprise* crew frees the hostages and takes the pirates captive thanks to another engineering marvel by Captain Scott.

### 2288

The *Enterprise*-A enters orbit around Gamma Trianguli VI, where a landing party led by Captain Kirk discovers a nearly-devastated world, brought about by the destruction of the Vaal computer-entity's environmental maintenance systems two decades earlier. Encountering a large number of natives, led by Makora (who has amassed a large number of wives and children), the group is soon drugged by their host at dinner, imprisoned, and marked for death. Challenging Ensign Konom to a duel for the "hand" of Nancy Bryce, Konom flees in cowardice, leading Makora to select Doctor McCoy as his substitute. However, Spock enables the group's escape from captivity, and they soon encounter Konom and Akuta, leading a force of disaffected Vaalites. A battle soon erupts in the nearby arena, with the *Enterprise* firing a stun-dispersion phaser pattern on the area, disabling the combatants. However, Captain Kirk quickly learns that the entire crew in orbit have been mysteriously rendered unconscious by means unknown.

Discovering that it is Akuta behind the *Enterprise*-A's disabling (having gained telekinetic abilities), the landing party under Captain Kirk is once again taken prisoner, Akuta blaming Kirk for the ruin of his world decades earlier, as well as his own accelerated aging. While Akuta uses his powers (augmented by those of other Vaalites) to drag the *Enterprise* down into the atmosphere in an attempt to burn it up, Spock escapes his bondage and convinces Akuta to release the ship from its plunge, and awakening the crew in orbit from their comatose state. Nerve-pinching Captain Kirk and feigning mutiny, Spock contacts the *Enterprise* and joins Akuta beneath the planet's surface. About to be burned alive at the stake, Kirk and his crew are rescued by a security force beamed down by Captain Scott, but the Vaalites drive them back to the ship. However, Kirk leads Sulu, Chekov, and other crew members down into the bowels of the planet, where they encounter Vaal's still-functioning defenses...and an immobilized Spock.

The *Enterprise*-A returns to Earth, where Captain Kirk resumes his shore leave in the South Pacific with Gillian Taylor, observing the development of the Humpback whales George and Gracie.

### 2289

Starfleet Command orders the *Enterprise*-A to the region of space known as the Briar Patch, in order to conduct sensor probe surveys upon the supernovae remnants in the area. Upon arriving, the starship encounters six antique, barely-operational Klingon freighters containing some three hundred exiled refugees from the Klingon Empire, led by the disgraced General Potok. Captain Kirk, instantly suspecting a trap, reluctantly beams over Potok and some survivors, but the general ends up in the starship's brig after becoming aggressive upon learning of Kirk's command of the new *Enterprise* in the wake of the Genesis Incident the previous year. However, Potok agrees to allow Spock and other Starfleet engineers to make repairs to the freighters in order to safeguard the lives of the civilians onboard. During the course of the repair work, a cloaked Klingon bird-of-prey under the command of Korgh (the chosen heir of the recently-deceased Commander Kruge) captures Potok's freighter with Spock and a security force still aboard, and attempts to kill Captain Kirk while the captain pilots a Workbee on an inspection of the flotilla. The assassination attempt is thwarted after Spock convinces General Potok to turn against Korgh, given the dishonorable nature of the attack. Korgh is placed under guard by Potok's men, the freighters fully repaired, and the Klingon exiles allowed to journey deeper into the Briar Patch in search of a permanent home.

The *Enterprise*-A arrives at Starbase 30, located planetside on Christophi IX, the former site of strife at the hands of several marauding warrior races, now a pristine resort-world. With most of the crew on shore leave, Captain Scott remains aboard with Captain Spock, seeking to perform maintenance upon the ship's frequently-malfunctioning systems. Captain Kirk unsuccessfully attempts to evade a Starfleet Internal Affairs official, who is to be the *Enterprise*'s new onboard "watchdog." Dr. McCoy, Chekov, and Uhura go on a sand-skiing trip, where the doctor is injured after a collision with a tree. Mr. Scott, deep in upgrade-work aboard the *Enterprise*, manages to beam the entire landing party up just in time to prevent the Internal Affairs official from boarding the ship. The *Enterprise* then departs Starbase 30.

While held at gunpoint, Ambassador Palmer manages to convince both warring parties on Chronian III to agree to a mediation, and dismisses the *Enterprise*-A crew back to the ship, despite Captain Kirk's objections. Not long afterward, the ambassador is assaulted while making an audio transmission, and the Klingon Bird-of-Prey under the command of Captain Klaa decloaks near the planet, opening fire on the *Enterprise*. Unable to beam the ambassador up to the starship while the deflector shields are engaged, Kirk comes up with the unorthodox plan to catch the Klingon torpedoes with a transporter beam, and teleport them behind the Bird-of-Prey, the laws of physics continuing to carry the torpedoes under their previous momentum into their new target. Damaged, the Bird-of-Prey enters warp in order to escape the battle, and Ambassador Palmer beamed up to the ship, but massively injured and requiring replacement of organic limbs with prosthetics. Transporter Chief Sara Tuchinsky, distraught over the attack upon the ambassador, agrees to a plan proposed by Kirk to end the conflict, as well as extract a measure of vengeance upon its perpetrators. Beaming down with a security force in the midst of a confrontation between the Buice and Ziminda leaders, Kirk pretends to "disintegrate" the Ziminda leader with his phaser (in actuality beamed to an isolated area of the planet by Tuchinsky), shocking both sides into returning to the bargaining table. The *Enterprise*-A then departs the planet.

Having docked at Starbase 42 for repairs following the Chronian III battle, Captain Kirk briefs his crew on the Recreation deck concerning his status as a hunted man, as a result of the Klingon bounty placed on his head, and states that any transfer-requests after this point will be granted. Aboard the starbase, Admiral Galloway convenes a hearing concerning Kirk's alleged phaser-disintegration of the Buice head of state, but Kirk's story is supported by the recovering Ambassador Palmer within the starbase's medical facilities. However, Admiral Galloway informs Kirk that a protocol officer will henceforth be assigned to the *Enterprise*, in light of the political potential for a future Federation/Klingon alliance. On Earth, the religious leader of the Nasgul assaults Klingon Ambassador Kamarag on the floor of the Federation Council Chambers, with both men raising the bounty on Kirk's head to massive heights. As the *Enterprise*-A prepares to depart Starbase 42, the (attractive) new female protocol officer, R.J. Blaise, beams over to the starship

### 2290

Following an attack on the USS *Lafayette* by an unknown assailant, the *Enterprise*-A is ordered to the Needran system to liaise with the *Lafayette* and the Klingon light cruiser IKS *qul HoH*, the latter ship having saved the Starfleet vessel during the attack. Aboard the *Lafayette*, Captain Kirk meets with Captain Anderson, and the two officers realize that someone is leaking classified intelligence concerning the deployment of Starfleet vessels along the Federation/Klingon frontier in their protective role over Needran shipping — a joint operation shared with the Klingon Empire. Back aboard the *Enterprise*, Kirk exchanges barbs with Keydn, commander of the *qul HoH*, and is informed of the impending arrival of a Klingon heavy battlecruiser, the IKS *Qapla*, commanded by Commodore Khezri. Afterward, Sally Gallan, owner of the private mining and transportation firm contracting with the Needran government, meets with Kirk in the *Enterprise*'s briefing room, and threatens to shut down all mining operations immediately unless both Starfleet and the Klingons send more ships to the region as protection. Upon the arrival of the *Qapla* in orbit around Needran, Kirk speaks with Commodore Khezri and attempts to obtain the *qul HoH*'s sensor logs, but is denied. One hour later, both captains meet with the leader of the Needran government in the capital city, where Kirk suggests implementation of stringent background checks upon ***all*** personnel in sensitive positions — Federation, Klingon, and Needran alike — in order to prevent any further security leaks. Suddenly, Khezri is contacted by his ship — the *qul HoH* is under attack, and requires immediate aid. The *Enterprise*-A and *Qapla* jointly arrive on the scene of the battle, and the Klingon survivors are beamed aboard the starship, along with Commodore Khezri, who finally agrees to share the Klingon sensor data with the *Enterprise* crew. Upon viewing, it is learned that the mystery vessel possesses capabilities significantly greater than either of the other two ships. However, Kirk is summoned to Sickbay, where the *Qapla*'s senior defense officer confidentially reveals shocking information — someone had tampered with his ship's sensors, leaving it vulnerable to the recent attack. On the *Enterprise* bridge, Commander Uhura detects a mysterious coded signal originating from Needra, out into deep space, a signal sent by Klingon commander Keydn to the Tyrion, the race responsible for the depredations. Captain Kirk orders a security force under the command of Pavel Chekov beamed planetside to investigate the signal, and Uhura to track the signal's destination as quickly as possible

ear the planet Needra, the Klingon battlecruiser IKS *Qapla* suddenly breaks orbit, leaving the *Enterprise*-A to track its heading — 214 mark 42, back to the site of the attacks upon the USS *Lafayette* and IKS *qul HoH*. Commander Uhura informs Captain Kirk that she has successfully decoded and traced the mysterious, recently-intercepted signal to the "Tyrion Legion," disclosing intelligence upon a joint Starfleet/Klingon convoy, as well as the timing and exact route...except that there is no such convoy planned. Kirk realizes that the message is clearly a ruse, intended to lure the Tyrions into an attack. Scanning the region, the *Qapla* decloaks and attacks three Tyrion vessels, Commodore Khezri likewise realizing the falsehood of the convoy-intelligence. One Tyrion ship is destroyed, with the other two retreating at warp factor fifteen, and Captain Keydn is placed under arrest by Khezri, pending execution. Back at Needra, the commodore consults with the *Enterprise*-A command staff regarding the situation, and pushes for a joint attack by both starships upon the Tyrion Legion's home base — they now have only eight capital ships remaining in their fleet. However, Captain Kirk counsels caution and a defensive posture, despite the urgings of Captain Spock to consider the Klingon commodore's advice. Meeting with an upset Sally Gallan afterward, the captain comes up with a new strategem to avoid a full, head-on conflict — Kirk informs the Klingons that the *Enterprise*'s warp engines must be temporarily "taken offline" for a day. In other words, long enough, it is hoped, for Ms. Gallan to rendezvous with the Tyrions and broker a cease-fire agreement. Taking a ship to the main Tyrion base, Ms. Gallan commences talks with the Tyrion leader...with Commander Sulu, Commander Uhura, and Chief Engineer Scott hacking into the Tyrion computer network aboard Gallan's ship in the meantime, and covertly beaming over to analyze their extraordinary warp-capabilities. Shockingly, the technology aboard the Tyrion ship appears to be old, jury-rigged junk, with no indication as to what grants them their amazing speed. Scotty and his team return to the *Enterprise*-A with news that four of the Tyrion ships are completely non-warp capable, and that their enemy will be attacking Needra itself within twenty-four hours. The *Enterprise* and *Qapla* depart immediately for the Tyrion staging zone, with Kirk reluctant to launch an attack. Kirk hails the cloaked Tyrion fleet and informs them of his knowledge of their plans. The Tyrion commander orders a barrage, but all systems in his fleet crash — courtesy of a computer virus uploaded earlier by Uhura. However, the *Qapla* decloaks as well, and proceeds on an attack vector. Captain Kirk orders the *Enterprise* to open fire to warn Khezri away. Kirk resumes negotiations with the Tyrions after their belligerent commander is vaporized by a disruptor fired by his own first officer, and Kirk and his crew ponder the eventual fulfillment of the Organian peace prophecy with the Klingons.

The *Enterprise*-A is recalled to Earth to participate in the inauguration ceremonies of the newly-elected Federation President Ra-ghoratreii of Efros. Immediately upon arriving in orbit, Captain Kirk beams down, not to San Francisco, but to the Kirk family farm near Riverside, Iowa, where he visits the grave of his brother, George Samuel Kirk, Jr., killed over twenty years earlier on Deneva. At the gravesite, the captain is suddenly interrupted by his nephew, Peter Kirk, whom the captain invites up to the starship for a tour, but is turned down. The following morning, Captain Spock and Dr. McCoy (in full dress uniform) beam down to attend the inauguration, where Captain Kirk is invited to a poker game by Admiral Cartwright. Declining the invitation, Kirk returns to his apartment, where he is accosted by his nephew and two gigantic aliens, members of a species about to be wiped out unless time travel (the most closely-guarded secret in the Federation) is performed. Telepathically assaulted by the aliens upon his refusal to help, the captain is later discovered by Carol Marcus, who contacts the *Enterprise*-A; Spock and McCoy beam down from the starship and surmise that the Sumellians extracted the secrets of time-travel computation from Kirk's mind. Suddenly, the *Enterprise* receives a priority one scrambled message from Admiral Cartwright — the Sumellians have achieved time travel. Cartwright informs Kirk that a Sumellian ship was tracked on a direct course for Earth's sun, but then disappeared. Cartwright authorizes Kirk to use any means necessary to stop them. The *Enterprise*-A sets a course for an uninhabited star system adjacent to the Sumellian system — the starship slingshots into warp, traveling backwards in time to the year 2267, and the day before the cataclysm which destroyed the aliens' homeworld. Arriving in orbit, the Sumellian vessel is detected, and opens fire on the *Enterprise* when Uhura orders a defensive stand-down. Captain Kirk orders a phaser barrage, disabling the aliens' shields, and the *Enterprise* locks a tractor beam onto the vessel. Beaming over with a Security detachment, the captain encounters the two Sumellians from Earth, but Peter Kirk is nowhere to be found. A massive detonation on the planet occurs — the end of the Sumellian race; Kirk orders no response to the incoming distress signals. In a conference room aboard the *Enterprise*-A, it is determined that Peter's true objective was to time-travel back to Deneva, and save his own family from the Neural parasites which devastated that world. The *Enterprise*-A arrives in orbit around Deneva some two hours ahead of the original USS *Enterprise* NCC-1701, and Captain Kirk beams down to the planet, and encounters the future version of his nephew already speaking to his brother about the future — despite Peter's warning, Sam Kirk is still killed by a parasite, Peter is attacked, and stuns the captain after dropping his phaser. Reviving later in the *Enterprise* sickbay (in the future), it is revealed that Peter stole a starship and was last seen heading towards the sun.

### Final voyage(2293)

n 2293, the *Enterprise*-A was due to be retired along with most of its command crew. However, it was pressed back into service for one last mission as an escort for Klingon chancellor Gorkon during the initial stages of the Khitomer Accords. The ship rendezvoused with the Klingon flagship, *Kronos One*, and was to follow it to Earth. Unfortunately, a joint Starfleet, Klingon, and Romulan conspiracy had an operative, Lieutenant Valeris, aboard the ship. Valeris participated in a plan to implicate the *Enterprise* and Captain Kirk as rogue assailants in Gorkon's murder, with the goal of derailing the peace process. The *Enterprise* appeared to fire two photon torpedoes at *Kronos One*, temporarily disabling its propulsion and gravity systems. Amid the chaos two space-suited Starfleet crew members, Burke and Samno, beamed aboard, assassinating Gorkon. Valeris altered the ship's records to make it seem as if two torpedoes had been fired. The torpedoes actually came from a cloaked prototype Bird-of-Prey directly below the *Enterprise*, which had been modified to fire while cloaked.

Kirk and Dr. McCoy were arrested and tried for the murder, and sentenced to life imprisonment on the penal colony Rura Penthe. Valeris also provided Kirk's log entries from the *Enterprise* to the Klingon co-conspirators to further implicate Kirk. The *Enterprise* was ordered back to Earth, but Spock ignored orders and initiated an investigation aboard the ship. He discovered evidence which linked Valeris to the conspiracy, despite her best efforts to sabotage the investigation. The *Enterprise* then entered Klingon space, masquerading as the freighter *Ursva* and rescued Kirk and McCoy. Spock mind melded with Valeris and learned more about the conspiracy, including details of the Bird-of-Prey and names of those involved. Captain Sulu aboard the USS *Excelsior* provided Kirk with the new location of the peace conference, and the two ships warped to Khitomer in order to prevent a second assassination of the Federation President and the new Klingon chancellor, Azetbur.

General Chang was waiting in orbit with his Bird-of-Prey, however, and the *Enterprise* was attacked upon arrival. The starship was seriously damaged and suffered a hull breach through its saucer section. The *Excelsior*, too, was helpless against the cloaked ship. Fortunately, Spock, McCoy, and Uhura devised a plan to use a photon torpedo equipped with sensors capable of tracking ionization from the Bird-of-Prey's impulse engines. It successfully hit Chang's vessel, knocking it out of the cloak and leaving it vulnerable to further torpedo volleys from the *Enterprise* and the *Excelsior*. Following the destruction of the Bird-of-Prey, *Enterprise* and *Excelsior* crew beamed down to the Khitomer Conference and apprehended the conspirators, preventing the assassination. Following the Khitomer mission, the *Enterprise* was ordered by Starfleet Command to return to spacedock to be decommissioned. Captain Kirk ordered the ship on course to the "*second star to the right... and straight on 'til morning.*" Kirk later recorded in his log that this was the final cruise of the starship *Enterprise* under his command, commenting, "*This ship and her history will shortly become the care of another crew. To them and their posterity will we commit our future. They will continue the voyages we have begun and journey to all the undiscovered countries, boldly going where no man – where no*one*– has gone before.*"

The next USS *Enterprise*, the refit *Excelsior*-class USS *Enterprise*-B, was launched later that year. The *Enterprise*-A remained mothballed as of 2294.

The *Enterprise*-A is ordered to be decommissioned by Admiral Androvar Drake, and is scheduled to be destroyed in a Starfleet live-fire exercise. However, the government of Chal requests that they be given the *Enterprise* to use in their system defense forces. When Chal's population takes control of the vessel, they retrofit the ship with Klingon disruptors and sensors, replacing the previous classified Starfleet technology stripped out of the vessel. Retired Captain James T. Kirk is appointed commanding officer of the starship, which is renamed *Enterprise* (without a registry or registry prefix) as it makes way for Chal, while Captain Scott also returns to duty as its chief engineer. When a Starfleet investigation into Chal's past reveals that Drake is attempting to steal lost genetic engineering secrets hidden on Chal by the colony founders, a showdown occurs in the system. The rest of the former *Enterprise* crew arrive at Chal aboard Hikaru Sulu's USS *Excelsior*, and the *Enterprise*-A is destroyed in the corona of one of Chal's binary stars while defending the *Excelsior* from Klingon battle cruisers under the direction of Admiral Drake.