USS Stargazer (NCC-2893)

The **USS *Stargazer*** (**NCC-2893)** was a *Constellation*-class cruiser. The vessel was commanded by Jean-Luc Picard from 2333 to 2355. *Stargazer* was a participant in the Battle of Maxia Zeta in 2355. Daimon Bok returned the starship to the Federation in 2364

## Ship Specifics

### Commander:

Grantly Norris,Anton Manning,Daithan Ruhalter,Jean-Luc Picard

## Specifications

### Crew:

350 1,500 (passengers); 3,500 (evac. limit)

### Armaments:

6 type VIII phaser emitter; 6 launchers (160 photon torpedoes)

### Auxiliary craft:

work bees; at least 2 Federation shuttlecraft

## Service history and disposition

### Early service

Construction of the *Stargazer* began in 2276.

The ship was launched in 2280 under the command of Grantly Norris

In 2300 The Command of the ship was turned over to Captain Anton Manning

In 2329, the *Stargazer* was still commanded by Captain Anton Manning. That year, the ship visited Vulcan on the occasion of Ambassador Spock's marriage to Saavik.

In 2330 the ship was given Command to, Captain Daithan Ruhalter.

During a mission in 2333, they encountered activity on the Romulan Neutral Zone when a group of Romulan starships began attacking an unidentified Vulcan ship. Whilst investigating the incident, a planet was destroyed through unknown means, crippling the *Stargazer* and leaving Captain Ruhalter critically wounded. The next high ranking officer, Jean-Luc Picard, took command of the ship during the encounter. Ruhalter died of his injuries, and when the ship returned to Starbase 61, Picard was given command, a position he would hold for the next 22 years.

### Captain Picard

In 2339, the *Stargazer* came under attack by an 11-million-year-old automated defense system. Just before the star became a red giant, the native civilization had attempted to stop its expansion. Instead, the attempt caused solar eruptions, and the entire civilization was forced to abandon the system. Captain Picard ordered the *Stargazer* into a gap in the weapons' coverage, allowing science officer Valderrama to deactivate it.

The *Stargazer* accidentally jumped forward in time ten days in 2341 by a tiny quantum singularity that was responsible for the orbital irregularity of a binary system. When the *Stargazer* attempted to warp away from the singularity, it instead leapt forward in time, causing the warp nacelles to stay in temporal sync with their previous timeframe. First officer Jack Crusher deduced that emitting a series of graviton pulses from ten light-days away would resynchronize the engines with the rest of the ship, allowing the *Stargazer* to continue . Around this time, the *Stargazer* returned to Earth for an extensive overhaul and refitting

In 2345, the ship took fire while surveying an ice giant. After a warning shot, the *Stargazer* was contacted briefly by aquatic beings that lived in the water-ammonia mantle of the planet. Dubbed "Polyphemians" by Captain Picard, they requested no further contact, as previous interactions with Class-M-life forms had been harmful to both parties.

In 2348, the *Stargazer* was involved in a minor skirmish with Acamarian Gatherers. The Gatherers laid an ambush, but Picard lured them towards the sun just as the red dwarf gave off an x-ray flare. The conflict was resolved peacefully, and Doctor Greyhorse treated the Acamarians for radiation exposure.

In 2349, the *Stargazer* discovered ancient ruins in the Kassae system which belonged to a civilization similar to the Gorn species.

### The Battle of Maxia

In 2355 the *Stargazer* was in the Maxia Zeta star system. Also in the star system was the Ferengi scout *Seventy-Fifth Rule*, commanded by Flax, son of DaiMon Bok. Upon encountering the *Stargazer*, Flax launched an unprovoked attack on the *Stargazer*. During the course of the battle, the *Stargazer* was severely damaged.

Captain Picard ordered his helm to obtain a bearing on the attacking vessel, and upon receiving that bearing ordered his ship to jump into high warp for several seconds. He then ordered the ship to come to a full stop near the unknown ship. As a result, the *Stargazer* briefly appeared to be in two places at once - and the *Seventy-Fifth Rule* fired where the *Stargazer* had been. The *Stargazer* fired phasers and six photon torpedoes at the ship, which exploded.

Afterwards, Captain Picard decided to abandon the *Stargazer*, which was on fire and losing power. The survivors of the battle drifted in shuttlecraft for weeks before being picked up. Upon his return to the Federation, Captain Picard was court martialed for the loss of the *Stargazer*, but was ultimately acquitted. The desperate maneuver Picard used at the battle would come to be known as the Picard Maneuver.

Because the Ferengi had refused all communications during the battle, Starfleet had no idea who attacked the *Stargazer*. Starfleet Intelligence initially suspected that it was a Cardassian ship that had attacked the *Stargazer*.

### Retrieval

Shortly after the battle, a starship commanded by Bok entered the system in search of the *Seventy-Fifth Rule*, but only the stricken *Stargazer* was found in decaying orbit of Maxia Zeta V. Against many of his crews wishes and risking trouble from his superiors, DaiMon Bok took control of the *Stargazer* as a personal prize in the hopes of one day hatching a plot for revenge against Picard. Over the years, Bok used scavenged parts and components purchased from corrupt Federation dealers to restore the *Stargazer* to the point where, apart from some slight structural damage, she was fully operational once more.

In 2364, Bok asked for a meeting with the USS *Enterprise*-D. At the initial meeting Bok formally returned the *Stargazer* to Federation control. It was at this point that Starfleet finally learned the identity of the unknown vessel that attacked the *Stargazer*, that it had been a Ferengi starship.

What Bok had not revealed at the initial meeting was that his son had been in command, that he was on his first voyage as a DaiMon when Picard destroyed his ship. Bok was using the *Stargazer* as part of an elaborate scheme to take revenge on Picard. He had planted a mind altering device in Picard's quarters on the *Stargazer*, Picard unknowingly took the device back to the *Enterprise*. This device permitted Bok to control Picard's mind to the point where Picard was reliving his experiences on the *Stargazer* just prior to the battle.

Bok used the device to get Picard on board the *Stargazer*, in the hopes that in his confused state Picard would mistake the *Enterprise* for the attacking Ferengi ship and destroy them. Picard, convinced he was at the Battle of Maxia, tried to attack the *Enterprise* using the Picard Maneuver - however Data had constructed a defense to the Picard Maneuver and kept Picard from attacking his own ship.

Bok was arrested and removed from power by his first officer. Following the incident, a tug met the *Enterprise*, and towed the *Stargazer* to a nearby starbase.