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 Enigma Class, to better understand its place in Star Trek History.
I couldn’t find much information on this class at all, but being pleased with the 3D model, I decided I’d make an entire backstory for this wacky starship design.
As always though, because this IS just a bit of my own 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.
Running scared after the first Federation/ Klingon War, Starfleet Command would begin to commission vessels classes designed with only one thing in mind, espionage and the first class of this new range of vessels was that of the Enigma Class.
But what do we know about this highly classified starship design?
Starfleet Command and the United Federation of Planets learned several lessons from their war with the Klingon Empire. One of the most important lessons is that the more information they could have on an enemy, the better.
Starfleet Intelligence was the official branch of Starfleet that dealt with information gathering and anti-espionage endeavours. Up to this point in Starfleet History whenever a mission from Starfleet Intelligence required a starship to achieve its goals, Starfleet Command merely assigned a vessel to the organization on a temporary basis.
But in 2258 all that would change… Presenting a plan to Starfleet Command for a new class of starship, one specifically designed for data gathering on the Federation’s enemies, Starfleet would begin to see the benefits of such a vessel class.
Calling for a closed session with the Federation Council, Starfleet Command then presented this new Starship design for approval.
The Council was not so keen on the new class. Though agreeing that the Federation could in fact benefit greatly from an increase in information gathering, certain member worlds felt that as an organization, Starfleet Command shouldn’t hide in the shadows or sneak around unseen spying on other worlds.
Also, several peace treaties that had been hammered out with the more aggressive species in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants expressly forbade this kind of secretive spying.
The internal debate among the council members raged on for several hours before Starfleet Command presented its ace in the hole, calling Admiral Robert April to weigh in on the topic.
April had been instrumental in designing the Constitution Class, even commanding the USS Enterprise during its first 5 Year Mission, and as a result, when April spoke, people listened.
April didn’t like the idea of espionage at all, but he also understood its necessity in protecting the organization he had pledged his life to. So after an amazing speech to the council, and the vote on the project was called, the new starship design would be given approval having just over 60% of the vote.
And in 2261, the Enigma class would be born.
Constructed at a secret facility Orbiting Saturn’s moon Enceladus and sitting at a length of approximately 240 meters, the Enigma Class would be designed to be operated by 200 Officers and Crew Members.
Only 12 starships of the class were ever to be constructed, with crews handpicked by Starfleet Intelligence. As far as the galaxy at large was concerned, the Enigma Class did not exist.
Anyone assigned to an Enigma Class Vessel swore an oath of secrecy to the Federation President, and the Commander of Starfleet, the Enigma Class was so highly classified, that even most of the Admiralty were not aware of its existence.
As a cover story for the crews of these starships, fake starships were created. Everything from Construction logs for these starships through to false mission reports was generated by Starfleet Intelligence all to keep up appearances.
You see the Enigma Classes mission profile, really wasn’t the issue, what was, was its massive sensor array system attached directly beneath the Saucer Section.
The most powerful Sensor array ever created by Starfleet up to this point in its history, an Enigma Class Vessel could scan particles of space dust 25 Light Years Away, with standard long-range scans of up to 100 light-years.
Treaties with the Romulan Star Empire and Kzinti Patriarchy forbade this type of technology to be included in any starship.
Border and Listening outposts could have larger and more sensitive Sensor Systems installed on them but scanning into either side’s space was always limited to only 10 Light Years at a maximum.
But the Enigma Class could Scan well into any enemy’s space, getting a clear view of starship deployments and movements, acting as a major warning system for the Federation without even getting near enough to the enemy for them to be aware that they were being spied upon.
Most other systems aboard the Enigma Class were comparable to the systems included within the Constitution Class. As a result, the Enigma Class had a standard safe cruising speed of Warp Factor 6, with an emergency speed of Warp Factor 8.
But the warp drive of the Enigma Class did have one significant change included, which allowed these starships to quickly alter their warp signatures to appear as completely different starship classes on long-range sensors.
Though equipped with standard Phaser and Torpedo systems, the Enigma Class was ordered to avoid combat at all costs.
The only exception to this order was if any starship, civilian or otherwise not a part of Starfleet, had gotten close enough to conduct short-range scans of the ship.
In that instance, all Enigma Class vessels were under orders to search and destroy said vessel before they could report their findings. A special Corbomite Auto-destruct System was even included in this design.
Considered to be the last resort plan, an Enigma Class Vessel engaging another vessel where the odds were not in their favour, could simply engage the Destruct System near the other vessel, and be assured of both starship’s annihilation, leaving no evidence of either vessel behind to be analyzed.
Starfleet Intelligence was very particular with these vessels’ deployments, often time located in dead, uninteresting star systems away from prying eyes.
By the mid-2260s, the Enigma Class was providing Starfleet Intelligence with a wealth of information, proving its usefulness in spades.
However, when it was discovered that the Romulan Star Empire had developed a cloaking device impervious to standard sensors of the time, the Federation Council began to worry, not just about cloaked fleets crossing into Federation Space to attack its worlds, but also that a cloaked vessel might detect and scan an Enigma Class Vessel without the starship ever knowing.
And when the temporary Klingon/ Romulan Alliance came into effect in 2268, Starfleet Command had no choice but to pull back all Enigma Class Vessels close to both borders, a situation neither Starfleet nor Starfleet Intelligence cared much for.
In direct response to this dangerous situation, Starfleet Intelligence would set a plan in motion to steal one of these new cloaking devices from the Star Empire.
Sending the USS Enterprise under the Command of Captain James T. Kirk into Romulan Space, the intrepid crew of that starship were successful in acquiring a cloaking device, and Starfleet Command began to analyze every component of this technology.
Getting a detailed picture of how the cloaking device worked, Starfleet Command was able to reconfigure the sensor systems of the Enigma Class to negate that advantage.
Though not completely seeing through the cloaking device, motion and visual sensors could detect a cloaked vessel in general terms. Allowing ample time for the Enigma Class to withdraw should a cloaked vessel be detected.
Some of the special sensor upgrades included in the Enigma Class would later be adapted for use in the Constitution Class Refit program to great success.
Outraged by what the Enterprise had done, but too embarrassed by the situation, the Romulan Star Empire would simply reconfigure the cloaking to the device to operate at a different frequency, making any advantage that Starfleet had moot, or so they believed.
But what they didn’t know was Starfleet’s Plan to steal the device was a 2-pronged attack. Utilizing another Section within the organization, Starfleet had been able to place an operative in the Engineering Division of the Empire starship Construction bureau.
With this operative relaying any new cloaking frequencies back to Starfleet, the Enigma Class could rest assured that its anonymity would remain intact.
The Enigma Class would serve in the early 24th Century. Because of its mission profile, the class would also never receive a refit or variant in the Constitution Class Refit Style, as it wasn’t necessary, as it did its job admirably as it was.
And when Starfleet Command finally made the decision to decommission the class, they simply had the vessels destroy themselves, leaving no trace of their existence whatsoever.
At first, seen as a necessary evil, the Enigma Class would prove itself with each kilobyte of data is transmitted back to Starfleet Command, earning this class it’s a secretive place, in Starfleet History…
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