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 Chariot Class, to better understand its place in Star Trek History.
I’d also like to give a HUGE shout out to Alex3D, for the awesome models of both the Chariot Class and Earth Spacedock. Links to his website are in the description below.
As always, because this IS just a bit of fan fiction, 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 Project Galaxy in full swing, the Federation Council decided it want in on the action, and so the Chariot Class would be born. But what do we know about this overly luxurious class? Well today, we’ll find out…
Starfleet Command, The United Federation Of Planet and the Federations Citizens in general, were loving all the starship Classes coming out of Project Galaxy.
Though the namesake of the Class had yet to debut, what had been seen of it, seemed to check all the boxes for both organizations.
Not everyone was impressed though. A strong minority opposed the Project Galaxy Classes, seeing them as unnecessary and the height of hubris on Starfleet’s Part.
Creating cities in space was all well and good, so long as you had the might to protect them, and this minority felt that Federation Technology had not yet reached the level that these designs had.
Add to that, that internally, these Starships offered such wide-open spaces, with luxuries that would embarrass even the Kings and Queens of old, and I’m sure you can begin to see this minorities point of view.
But in the late 2340s, these concerns were all swept aside, in favour of the hysteria surrounding Project Galaxy.
With Starfleet Command pumping out class after class in the project name, the Federation Council decided it was time for them to have a starship class as well.
Up to this point in history, when Ambassadors or the Council needed to be ferried around, Starfleet merely assigned an available starship to do the task. But with Starfleet and the Federation revamping its image Galaxy-wide, the council wanted its own starships that could do these duties.
With the council’s support of Project Galaxy, and wanting their continued support for future classes, Starfleet Command was only too pleased to provide the Council with its request, and the Chariot Class would be born.
Sitting at a length of 382 meters and a width of approximately 264 meters, the Chariot Class would be designed to be operated by 600 specially chosen officers and crew members.
The Captain of a Chariot Class vessel usually held the rank of Admiral, retired, or close to it. And usually, these Admirals would be some of the most decorated Admirals Starfleet had to offer.
The rest of the crew of these vessels would be chosen based on their diplomatic or hospitality traits.
Because of this class’s mission profile, Chariot Class Vessels would often include the best Chefs and their own teams aboard them, even though replicators had made such a thing, unnecessary.
The Chariot Class was also designed with speed in mind.
Knowing that dealings with other governmental bodies throughout the Galaxy could be difficult and at times tasking, the Council wanted a ship that could get them from point a to point b rather quickly.
As a result, the Chariot Class would have a standard safe cruising speed of warp factor 8, with an emergency maximum speed of warp factor 9.
Tactically, this starship class would also be well-armed, containing 6 Phaser Emitter arrays, 2 Photon Torpedo launchers, 1 forward and 1 aft… While shielding for this class would be standard for the time.
The Federation Council also laid 1 other stipulation on the class designers, telling them that although they wanted the class to appear generally as a Project galaxy type vessel, they also wanted it to be clearly different from theirs. Easily recognized at a distance from all other starship classes.
And so, the designers would create this class with an unusual fin-like Secondary Hull, achieving the Council’s requirement. Much of the design itself was inspired by the Ambassador Era of Starship design.
It was with a sense of irony, that Starfleet’s Starship designers would create this class, in that style, given how the council looked upon the Ambassador Class.
After Starfleet Command, mixed and matched components to make the Ambassador Class simply work, and then lied to the federation Council about it, once the lie was exposed, the council had chosen to bury the entire matter, becoming complicit in the deception.
But then, once the deception was exposed, the federation Council would claim ignorance of the whole matter and place the blame for the entire debacle directly on Starfleet’s Doorstep.
And as a final act of indignity, the Federation Council would then forcefully retire or transfer the Entire leadership of Starfleet itself, making the Council appear as heroes, rather than the true bedfellows in the deception that they were.
Another irony of the Chariot Class, however, was that no one from the council made the connection to the Ambassador Class that its designers were hoping for.
Quarters aboard the Chariot Class were like those that would be included in the Galaxy and Nebula classes. However, guest accommodations would get an extreme upgrade.
Staterooms would be larger than any accommodations seen in any other starship design.
In fact, whole sections of the ship could be easily converted into mini embassies for any Federation Member world, with each room containing its own separate environmental controls.
These allowed areas of the starship to truly resemble the conditions of a species’ home planet. Several Areas of the starship could even be converted into extremely hazardous gaseous environments or even aquatic ones.
Large comfortable lounges, along with several rec areas would provide entertainment for the class. Often, the Chariot Class would actually book entertainers to perform aboard them, leading to some of the best Entertainers the federation had to offer to reside aboard these classes.
The Chariot Class would also contain the largest number of Holodecks seen in any starship class. Every deck would also contain specially designed transporter systems.
Longer in range than the standard transporters of the time, as well as containing the latest upgrades to the site-to-site transporter function, these Transporters could easily expand their buffers to allow large groups of people to transport at any given time.
For missions where the transporter was unavailable or inappropriate, the Chariot Class also contain 3 Shuttlebays, 1 Large and 2 smaller ones.
Auxiliary spacecraft for this class were also specially designed with diplomatic functions in mind.
Launched in 2351, the Chariot Class would perform well in its shakedown cruise. And with the federation Council fawning over its design, the Class would be put into limited production, with 5 more of the class to be constructed over the next decade.
And the Federation Council would make good use of their new starships, parading them around to various Federation Events and functions.
However, by the time the 6th Vessel of the Class was launched, things began to change for the federation.
Though the majority still supported the project Galaxy Classes, the minority that saw those classes in a different light was beginning to grow.
And to quiet down those voices, the Federation Council would put a temporary hold on building any more Chariot Classes.
And of course, in early 2367, when a single Borg Cube destroyed the federation Fleet at Wolf 359, and Starfleet Command was forced to re-evaluate its starship designs, the Chariot Class would be one of the first on the chopping block.
The 6 Chariot Class vessels constructed, would remain in service until the early 25th Century, when they were finally, and quietly put out to pasture.
Not because of their age, which was still relatively young for the class projected lifespan, but because the Federation had truly changed, and no longer felt comfortable using them.
And Starfleet for its part was completely uninterested in the design, but instead of simply decommissioning the class and sending it to a starship graveyard to be picked apart, they would place all 5 surviving vessels of the class into a mothball shipyard, where they could be reactivated in a moments notice should an emergency situation arise.
Starfleet had learned its lessons well from the Battles with the Borg and the Synth Attack.
Created during a time of luxury and decadence, the Chariot Class would end up representing everything bad about its Era of Starship Design. And as almost a warning to future generations of Starship Designers, to ensure a balance between size, luxury and power, the Chariot Class would earn its cautionary Place, in Starfleet and Federation History…
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