Sovereign-class starship

The ***Sovereign*-class starship** is a class of assault cruiser produced by the United Federation of Planets Starfleet in response to the disastrous Battle of Wolf 359. The class took advantage of many of the technologies and lessons learned from the development of the *Defiant*-class prototype. The *Sovereign*-class has had a successful tenure in Starfleet, seeing valuable service in the Battle of Sector 001, the Dominion War, the Hobus Crisis, the Klingon War, and the Iconian War. A *Sovereign*-class starship bore the name of *Enterprise*, the sixth Federation starship to do so, and served as the symbolic Flagship of the Federation for 36 years from 2372 to 2408.

The design has had a highly successful career, particularly in service on the line of battle, but the *Sovereign*-class has at times fallen out of use due to the rapid march of technology outpacing the ships themselves. To keep them first-rate, there have been two major refits of the original class, the *Noble*-class, which proved too expensive for the gains granted, and the more conservative, yet more advanced, *Vizier*-class. The latter refit is expected to keep the old *Sovereign*-class hulls in active service for decades still to come.

# Background

By the late 2360s, the peace that had gradually settled on the Alpha and Beta Quadrants began to degrade, with new threats to the Federation emerging, including the resurgent Romulan Star Empire, the newly encountered Borg Collective, lingering tensions with the Cardassian Union, and a civil war inside the Klingon Empire which left the long-standing Khitomer Accords unstable. Starfleet's almost complete failure to defend the capitol of the Federation against a single Borg vessel in 2367 led to heated debate in the Federation Council and resolutions to increase material and research investment in defense. The first series of projects was produced for the *Defiant*, with intent to produce a pure combat vessel utilizing the latest technologies available to the Federation. When concerns for the design's structural integrity, as well as the political repercussions of commissioning a ship built for war, ultimately led to the *Defiant* being shelved, but some of the technology produced, such as power systems, quantum torpedoes, ablative armor, and auto-modulated deflector shields, would be incorporated into the *Sovereign*-class. The *Sovereign*-class better fit Federation defense doctrine at the time with its features of diplomatic facilities and ability to make a show of force without necessarily turning to violence more effectively. Starfleet also put great faith in their cruisers, tested and proven over more than a century. The *Sovereign*-class thus went into full production.

In 2371, while construction was underway for the initial few ships, the USS *Enterprise* (NCC-1701-D) was destroyed at Veridian III. In recognition of their accomplishments, and wanting to restore the active service of the Federation Flagship as quickly as possible in response to continued internal unrest, the USS *Honorius* was almost immediately renamed and re-registered as the USS *Enterprise* (NCC-1701-E) while still under construction.

Originally, only specially extended drydocks at the San Francisco Fleet Yards were capable of building a *Sovereign*-class starship and possessed the trained hands necessary for the work. Utopia Planetia's large drydocks were instead dedicate to the *Galaxy*-class, as only Utopia Planetia had docks wide enough. Extending drydocks proved a more efficient task than widening. At the peak of production during the Dominion War, the San Francisco Fleet Yards were producing three *Sovereign*-class starships at a time. After *Sovereign* was completed in 2370, *Enterprise*, *Destiny*, and *Odyssey* were launched before the Dominion War began, followed by *Legacy*, *Noble*, and *Reprisal* which were undergoing construction during the war. All participated in the Dominion War with the exception of *Reprisal* which launched two months after the war's end.

# Design

The Battle of Wolf 359 marked the beginning of a new policy in Starfleet. New Starfleet Regulations would prohibit intentionally bringing children into battle unless the alternative was of equal or greater danger to their well-being, and would strongly advice leaving all non-essential personnel somewhere secure if possible. The *Defiant* intentionally had limited comforts to minimize dead weight. The *Sovereign*-class would represent a reasonable compromise between the *Defiant* and "expected" Starfleet accommodations. Crew Quarters were largely held over from the *Galaxy*-class with only limited reductions. Family-sized Quarters were entirely eliminated, as were provisions for children to have permanent stays. Guest Quarters were also reduced, more so in number than in comfort so as not to inhibit diplomatic functions. Holodecks remained largely due to their practical applications rather than entertainment value, though fewer in number than on the *Galaxy*-class.

The space savings would allow for a slimmer, lighter saucer section.

## Armament

**Type XII Phaser Arrays**: Originally a competing design to the new Pulse Phaser Cannons for the *Defiant* project, Type XII phaser arrays are a defense-oriented evolution of Starfleet standard phaser arrays. A tighter frequency specialization and the use of more modern materials and design created a weapon better suited to offensive action without the loss in fire arc seen in the cannon design. Though passed for the Pulse Phaser Cannon's greater punch on the *Defiant*, the Type XII Phaser Array found a home on the *Sovereign*. To mitigate the difficulties of the reduced frequency range, auto-modulating technology was incorporated specifically to fight against the Borg. Some of the technologies of the Type XI phaser array were also incorporated for reduced attenuation when fired through an atmosphere.

**Type 4 Burst Fire Torpedo Launchers**: The Type 4 Burst Fire Torpedo Launcher was very similar to the torpedo launchers of the *Galaxy*-class, but the *Sovereign*-class fitted twice as many. Even that was later deemed insufficient to contest the dreadnoughts of the Dominion, and many *Sovereign*-class starships were refit late in the Dominion War to add several compact Type 1 Burst Fire Torpedo Launchers.

***Wide Angle Autoloaded Torpedo Launcher***: The most devastating weapon of the *Sovereign*-class was its Torpedo turret located on the ventral side of the saucer section forward of the main deflector dish. This torpedo turret allowed for substantial off-axis firing without loss of impact speed due to maneuvering to get on target, as well as improved firing capability for a rapid sequence of torpedoes. It was designed specifically to fire the new quantum torpedo. Combined these technologies made a weapon system capable of then unheard of hull penetration, a capability aptly demonstrated in the Battle of Sector 001. The weapon system was not so effective against shields, especially the primary and secondary shield combination used by the Romulan warbird *Scimitar*. Nonetheless, in the case of the *Scimitar*, it proved to be one of the few weapons capable of inflicting any significant damage to the vessel, with direct hits successfully penetrating both layers of shielding and disabling the *Scimitar'*s cloaking device during the Battle in the Bassen Rift with the *Enterprise*-E.

## *Sovereign*

*Sovereign* launched in 2371 to great fanfare and expectation at Sol. She had a lengthy shakedown cruise near the Cardassian border where the Federation hoped that the presence of their newest starship would deter conflict in the region and send a message to the Dominion. She would participate directly in the opening of hostilities with the Klingon Empire where she demonstrated her capabilities to the greater whole of the Beta Quadrant, and would be recalled for the Battle of Sector 001. She patrolled the neutral zone even after a ceasefire was agreed to, only being summoned away when the Dominion War began. She arrived too late for Operation Return, but once arrived she began to patrol the Cardassian border again. Later she participated heavily in the Kalandra Sector campaign with her sister ships *Odyssey* and *Destiny*, and was present for the Battle of Cardassia and the end of the war. After an incident in the Vesuvi system, she continued to patrol the Bajor sector for years to come, vigilant of the Dominion who remained idle.

Transferred to the home fleet, *Sovereign* would trial various upgrades and technologies for future ship classes before finally serving as the flagship of the home fleet, seeing seven Admirals in her time there and rarely leaving the Sol system. She defended Earth on two occasions, once against the Undine in 2414, and again in the Battle At Midnight in 2415. These two desperate battles took much out of the old ship, and in January of 2416, *Sovereign* was moored inside Earth Spacedock where she remains serving primarily as office space for Starfleet Admiralty. Several decks, including the Bridge, were later opened for tours during business hours as part of an effort to inspire a new generation to enlist in Starfleet.

## *Enterprise*

The sixth Flagship of the Federation, *Enterprise* was originally to be commissioned as the *Honorius*, but the destruction of the previous *Enterprise* saw Starfleet Command making special dispensation to rename this ship to be the new *Enterprise*. *Enterprise* spent almost a year in shakedown before participating in the Battle of Sector 001 against orders. During the Dominion War, *Enterprise* participated primarily in diplomacy and home fleet defense. In 2378, *Enterprise* became the second Federation starship to visit Romulus, meeting the new Praetor, Shinzon, who attempted to use the pretense to assassinate Captain Jean-Luc Picard, culminating in the Battle in the Bassen Rift and the *Enterprise* ultimately destroying the new Romulan flagship *Scimitar*, killing Shinzon and his conspirators with it and preventing an attack on the Federation using Thalaron weapons. *Enterprise* would continue service, providing aid for the Hobus Crisis under Captain Data. After a major refit, she participated in multiple five year missions of exploration into the 25th century when she began to stay closer to home in response to heightening tensions. In 2408, *Enterprise* was destroyed by the Undine at Starbase 236. It was later learned that she had been lured into a trap by Undine infiltrators.

## *Destiny*

*Destiny* was launched in 2372 and endured a rocky shakedown cruise for almost a year, facing more engineering issues than her sister ships *Sovereign*, *Enterprise*, and *Odyssey* combined. By the time of the Klingon War, most of these issues had been corrected. She participated in a critical counterattack against the Klingon Empire in 2373 and continued to patrol the neutral zone until a ceasefire was agreed, at which point she was diverted to the Bajor sector after a brief refit. While en route to the Bajor sector, *Destiny* would be diverted by the detection of a Borg vessel on a course for Earth and join the Federation fleet for the Battle of Sector 001, where she was damaged and lost warp power near Proxima Centauri. Repairs at Earth Spacedock would be completed only three days before the Dominion War began. *Destiny* participated in Operation Return, where she served as troop transport for MACO teams assigned to retake Deep Space 9. After an emergency trip to Trill, she joined the Kalandra campaign, where her phasers joined the *Odyssey'*s in conducting orbital strikes against Jem'Hadar positions on Betazed. *Destiny* would be present for the Battle of Cardassia and the end of the Dominion War, afterwards returning to Earth for overhaul. For the next decade she alternated patrols with *Odyssey*, *Sovereign*, and *Reprisal*. She provided relief during the Hobus Crisis, then underwent another overhaul for exploration duty over the next twenty years.

Excessive damage reports plagued her entire life, and *Destiny* was decommissioned and scheduled for scrapping in 2408 for construction contract 97029, a new *Odyssey*-class starship. She was saved from this fate by the Klingon War of 2409. Hastily recommissioned using the existing construction contract, she fought along the Klingon border as she did in 2373 until the war's end. Involved in a shakedown after another overhaul in 2414, *Destiny* arrived at Sol just as the Undine launched their attack on Earth Spacedock, where Captain Castaldi rallied the 1st Fleet to secure the Sol system. Promoted to Admiral by grace of his superiors having been killed, Castaldi transferred his flag to *Sovereign* and *Destiny* was transferred to the 26th Fleet stationed in the Outback. Prior to Operation Undique, she was involved in developing new technologies for the exploration of Dark Matter Nebulas, but was heavily damaged in that operation. Repaired shortly before the Iconian War, she served as flagship of Task Force Avalon for the entirety of war, and briefly served as Alliance flagship at New Romulus on the Day of Air And Darkness. Crippled at the end of the war during Operation Hallowed Sabre, *Destiny* was decommissioned only to be repaired again when it was realized that she had been heavily involved in a causality loop that spanned her entire service life, vindicating her of her lifetime of engineering problems, leading up to the Battle of Revelations. After dueling and destroying two Na'kuhl battlecruisers in close quarters combat, *Destiny*, now all but destroyed, was auto-destructed to stop the firing of a Na'kuhl weapon in an incident which caused the formation of the OB-73829 nebula.

## *Odyssey*

After the previous *Odyssey* was destroyed by the Dominion in 2371, Starfleet Command ordered a new *Odyssey* as a *Sovereign*-class starship, hoping to improve morale in Starfleet and convey strength to the Dominion with a replacement that was newer and more powerful than the previous name bearer. Completed too late to participate in the Battle of Sector 001, her first combat action would be against the Klingon Empire during the short-lived war, participating in a major counterattack with her sister ships *Sovereign* and *Destiny*. After the ceasefire was agreed to, *Odyssey* joined her sister ship *Destiny* to the Bajor sector, where she would ultimately assist in Operation Return and eventually the Kalandra campaign, where her phasers would join *Destiny'*s in conducting orbital strikes on Jem'Hadar position on Betazed on one of the few occasions in which a Starfleet vessel has ever fired on a Federation homeworld. During the campaign, *Odyssey* would deliver vengeance for her previous namebearer when she and her task group destroyed the first Dominion dreadnought of the war. After the war ended with the Battle of Cardassia, *Odyssey* would alternate patrols with her sister ships and join in the relief efforts of the Hobus Crisis. She was refit for exploration after *Enterprise* and participated in long range exploration for the remainder of her service life. Decommissioned in 2408 and scheduled for scrapping, the Klingon War came too late to change her fate, as had happened to her more fortunate sister ship *Destiny*, and her material went to the construction of the lead ship of the *Odyssey*-class as planned.

## *Vizier*

The original *Vizier* led a short but heroic existence. Launched in 2373 during the early stages of the Dominion War, *Vizier* was scheduled to rendezvous for Operation Return, but an early launch to the operation would preclude the participation of *Vizier*. She would later be assigned to the Kalandra Sector, where she fought a long and hard campaign to liberate Betazed. During the final stages of the battle, the Dominion attempted to quell rebellion on the planet through orbital strike, much as they would later at Cardassia. *Vizier* positioned herself between a Jem'hadar Dreadnought and the planet surface, taking the full brunt of the dreadnought unrelenting. A task group led by her sister ship, *Odyssey*, came to her rescue and destroyed the dreadnought, but by then *Vizier'*s warp core was heavily damaged and on an unstoppable overload. Rather than eject the warp core and risk it entering Betazed's atmosphere, Captain Haitham al-Majid ordered abandon ship and made every effort to move the ship away from Betazed before the inevitable warp core breach which claimed *Vizier* and himself. *Vizier* would be the only *Sovereign*-class starship lost during the Dominion War, and her sacrifice and that of her Captain would be remembered with a second *Vizier*, NCC-74977-A and also a *Sovereign*-class, launched a few short months after the signing of the Treaty of Bajor.

## *Ramillies*

The name of *Ramillies* was inherited by NCC-91108, then unnamed, when the previous bearer, a *Galaxy*-class, was suddenly destroyed. Subsequently re-registered as NCC-2115-C, *Ramillies* was launched in 2382 for Aquarius Shipyards, the first *Sovereign*-class to be constructed outside of Sol. After a year of shakedown, she participated in two separate five-year missions, visiting the Zenas Expanse and the Gamma Quadrant. Her third five-year mission was delayed when in 2395, a terrorist attack destroyed the docking bridge and killed her captain. After completing the mission to the Eridan Belt in 2401, she became involved in heightening tensions with the Klingon Empire, eventually heightening to all out war, as well as encounters with the Borg Collective. She further participated in operations in the Solonae Dyson Sphere in 2411.

After the war, *Ramillies* was assigned to the Outback, but became involved in a collision with the USS *Trafalgar* while in spacedock, delaying her deployment by nearly six months for repair. After finally arriving in the Outback, *Ramillies* had little time to acquaint herself before signs pointed to war with the Iconians. *Ramillies* would lead a battlegroup for the entirety of that war, and often sortie with sister ship USS *Destiny*. *Ramillies* would survive the war to continue operating within the Outback, now operating as the flagship of Task Group Discens for the past year, taking the lead in the development of technology to explore the Dark Expanse, as well as functioning in diplomatic capacities with the Futara Union.