Hello and welcome to another episode of Truth OR Myth Beta Canon, a Star Trek web series that dives into the history of any given topic using Beta Canon sources and my own imagination to fill in the gaps. In today’s episode we’re looking at the Inquiry Class, as first seen in Star Trek: Picard Season 1, to better understand its place in Star Trek History.
I’d like to also take a moment to thank Marc Bell for his AWESOME model of the Inquiry Class. Though originally, I wasn’t really a fan of this design, it’s grown on me thanks to his 3D Model. So, check out the link to his site in the description below.
And of course, as always, because this IS a Beta Canon video, all information re-laid should pretty much be taken with a grain of stardust, and only considered a little bit of Star Trek Fun! And so, with all that out of the way, let’s begin.
With the Federation in a vulnerable state, and its member worlds demanding a quick and satisfying solution, Starfleet Command would do something they had never done before, mass-produce a single class of starship that could fill multiple mission roles for the organization.
And this class, known as the Inquiry Class, would become one of the most versatile starships designs ever created by Starfleet. But what do we know about this copy and paste design? Well today, we’ll find out…
The synth attack had Starfleet and the Federation running scared.
To save the Romulan Species as well as several other species in its surrounding space, Starfleet had built an armada of transports which if successful, could in fact evacuate all humanoid life in the danger zone.
Not only that, but Starfleet had recalled almost two-thirds of its own regular fleet to various space docks throughout the Federation for immediate and quick refits to become colony vessels.
These starships were then to proceed to evacuation sites where they would use their industrial replicators to keep these colonies afloat until their own resources could be deployed to sustain those colonies.
The main stage for the Construction and refit of all vessels was at Utopia Planitia, the Shipyard orbiting Mars. Increased massively in size to include all near Mars Space, this construction yard now had the capability of building or servicing almost 13000 vessels at a time.
In fact, so jam-packed was this expanded shipyard, that some classes of Starfleet Starships couldn’t even navigate through it to orbit Mars itself, but of course, this expansion of Utopia Planitia was only to be a temporary measure, until the Evacuation of Romulus was complete, so no one was really concerned.
But then on April 5th, 2385, all hell broke loose…
Because it was First Contact Day, a Federation Holiday, Utopia Planitia was running a skeleton crew that was augmented by a synthetic workforce.
Most already assigned starship crews were on shore leave on Earth, celebrating that momentous historical event, while seemingly out of nowhere, the synthetic population malfunctioned, going rogue and began a full-scale attack on the shipyard.
And this attack would have devastating consequences for the fleet…
Because each of the Construction Docks was so tightly packed for the rescue effort, the destruction of a few vessels within them, did major damage and destruction to the other vessels being constructed around them, basically, a domino effect.
By the end of the attack, the entire fleet of transport vessels as well as most of the Starfleet Vessels put in to dock for colony conversion had been destroyed.
The rogue synth attack would also have 2 other important side effects.
One, Starfleet and the Federation would decide to ban synthetic lifeforms and the creation of any synthetic lifeform’s technology within the Federation’s Border.
And two, Starfleet and The United Federation of Planets would give in to Member World pressure and withdraw their support from the Romulan Evacuation effort.
The Romulan Senate felt betrayed. And violently denied any involvement with the synth attack. After all, it made no logical sense. Why did the Romulan Star Empire attack their own evacuation fleet and destroy their only means of true survival?
After years of internal conflicts such as the Reman Uprising, as well as heavy losses during the Dominion War, the Star Empire itself was also vulnerable.
To that that the Free Romulan Movement had various colonies and occupied planets seemingly rising up against the Romulan Empire on a daily basis, and Romulus itself no longer had the resources to conduct a complete evacuation of its own homeworld, let alone the other surrounding star systems.
But this was no longer a concern for the Federation, but instead, their concern now was for their own fleet.
Oddly one of the biggest concerns again was Romulus. Several Member World who had always been against the Federation Helping the Romulans to begin with and were the ones pushing the Romulan/ Synth connection as a narrative was now pushing the possibility that the Romulan Star Empire had engineered the entire matter in order to destroy most of the Federation Fleet as a prelude to invasion.
Although again, this was a completely illogical idea, the hysteria over the Synth Attack drove many citizens in the Federation to support this idea and demanded Starfleet come up with an immediate solution.
And Starfleet would. First, all starships in the various other Construction Facilities throughout the Federation would be retrofitted back to their normal configurations and launched to the Federation/Romulan Border.
Second, Construction on all transport style starships would cease, and disassembly of the resources contained within those vessels would quickly undertake.
And Finally, a single starship class being developed by the Starfleet’s top starship design team would be rolled out with several hastily developed variants in design, to replace the starships destroyed during the Synth Attack.
And thus, the Inquiry Class would be born… Sitting at a length of approximately 640 meters, the Inquiry Class would be designed to be operated by 100 Officers and Crew Members, although in normal operations, this class would contain a crew of 500 or more.
Although large, the class was easily constructed. This was due to several factors.
First, its simple streamlined design allowed for a much shorter construction period than most other vessels of its size.
Also, its internal components and arrangement were as equally streamlined, allowing Construction Yard replicators to easily churn out the various materials needed for this design.
In fact, instead of the usual 1-to-2-year construction period for a class this size, an Inquiry Class vessel could be constructed in only 8 months. Utilizing every new bit of technology developed by Starfleet over the recent years, the Inquiry class would also be the most powerful and fastest starship class created up to this point in Starfleet History.
Her new warp core would allow the Inquiry Class to be the first vessel class to have a sustainable safe cruising speed of Warp factor 9. With an emergency maximum speed of Warp Factor 9.999.
Tactically, the Inquiry Class would sport the latest in Phaser Emitter design, as well as the new starship Phaser Cannon Emitters developed based on the Defiant Classes’ successful system.
Shielding for this class would be Multiphasic Regenerative Shields based on technology developed by the USS Voyager while stranded in the Delta Quadrant. Even the Inquiry Classes’ main deflector dish would get an extreme upgrade, including a special design grate which would provide additional protection for the dish.
Internally the starship would have 4 distinct configurations…
One would be a pure tactical vessel, which would include additional weapon systems batteries as well as weapons storage.
This variant would also have larger security forces posted on them, with fighter and tactical shuttlecraft which could be easily deployed during combat manoeuvres.
A second Tactical/ Science hybrid would also be created. This variant would replace the additional weapons systems with scientific laboratories and sensor equipment.
The Third Variant would be a Tactical/ Engineering hybrid. Again, replacing the vessel’s additional weapons system with construction and repair facilities as well as industrial replicators recovered from the disassembly and retrofits conducted on the remaining fleet after the Synth Attack.
The final variant of the design would be a Tactical Transport variant.
This style of the class would replace the additional Weapons systems with Cargo bays that could themselves be quickly converted to barrack style facilities for troop transport should war break out.
The Entire Inquiry Class project was highly classified, meaning the Federation’s public was not informed of the class until its launch in mid-2386 when over a thousand vessels of the class suddenly appeared on the Federation’s New Service.
Of course, by its launch, war with the Romulan Star Empire was one of the most unlikely events in federation History.
This was because, after the withdrawal of assistance by the Federation, the Romulan Star Empire basically collapsed, as an everyone helps themselves style attitude began to prevail.
As a result, the Free Romulus movement gained traction and had begun to become one of the largest factions remaining in the Empire.
And this faction did not blame Starfleet or the Federation for their withdrawal from assisting the Romulan People, seeing the entire matter as a form of Logical Karma brought about by the Star Empires’ continual bad behaviour.
The other Remaining factions such as the Tal Shiar and the Original Governmental Faction no longer had the people or the forces to be a real threat to anyone, especially the Federation.
And thus, a slow peace process would begin between these 2 very old enemies, eventually leading the Romulan Society to reunify with its Vulcan Cousins and become valued members of the Federation.
As for the Inquiry Class, she would perform quite well in all the roles she was designed for.
However, when normal construction operation would once again begin for Starfleet’s Shipyards, construction of the Inquiry Class would be immediately halted in favour of the traditional various vessel design philosophy that had prevailed in Starship designs since the conception of Starfleet Command itself.
Of course, this left the general population of the organization wondering why Starfleet would return to this philosophy, and the answer is a really a twofold simple one.
First, though performing well with variants in its design, the Inquiry class never did outperform those vessel classes that were purely scientific and exploration in nature.
And second, different and new starship designs ignited the imagination of Starfleet’s Starship Designers, allowing for many new breakthroughs as well as refinements of technology for these other vessel classes, allowing the organization to continue to grow and develop. With each starship class off the assembly line is an exciting adventure for those officers and crew members serving in the fleet.
Although a cookie-cutter style vessel class, designed for a war which never came, the Inquiry Class proved itself a valuable necessity for the fleet. Earning the Inquiry Class, its essential place, in Starfleet History…
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