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 taking a look at the NX Class refit, in an effort to better understand its place in Star Trek History.
This episode was actually one of the first Beta Canon episodes I ever wrote for the Channel. But at the time I abandoned it because well, I didn’t think the graphics I had access to would do it enough justice, that being Demo-recording from Star Trek Online.
But now, with Space Engine, an overall better-looking program, and the ability to add models that I might need into the program, well I thought it was time to revisit this one. But just a warning, since this IS an episode I wrote before nailing down my particular style for these videos, you may notice a slight difference in how it was written, even though as of now, I AM going back over it, in an attempt to bring it in line with my own expectations.
Lastly, this video is made ignoring the Series Finale of Enterprise, as most of the fandom has done anyhow. Canonically speaking, of course, that episode IS canon, but it also takes place in a Holodeck as a dramatization and thus we can chalk up any contradictions as the holowriter taking artistic liberties, that simply wasn’t true.
And of course, as always, Because this IS a Beta Canon video, all information relaid 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 us begin…
In the midst of the war with the Romulan Star Empire, Starfleet Command began looking for ways to turn the tide of that war in their favour, and one of their answers? The NX Class Refit…
The Romulan Star Empire was a constant thorn in Earth and the Alpha and Beta Quadrants sides. In 2156 when yet another plot to destabilize Earths growing influence in galactic politics was uncovered, and Starfleet Command had no choice but to declare war against this aggressive foe.
Mobilizing all available starships, Starfleet began to patrol the systems they felt most vulnerable on the borders of Romulan Space. Starfleet Command had a problem though. While having stepped up their construction of starship, they simply did not have enough vessels in the fleet, to win an all-out war.
To combat this disadvantage, Starfleet Command began pulling vessels out of mothballs, giving them a quick refit and update and sending them off to the front lines ready for battle.
Though this did slow the Romulan advance somewhat, by 2157 Starfleet was losing vessels faster than they could replace them. To bolster their lines, other races such as the Andorians and Tellarites who’s relations with Earth and Starfleet had been strengthening steadily since a coalition was formed against Romulan Aggression back in 2154 would send limited supplies and starships to back their human allies.
Even the Vulcan high command would assist Earth, stationing their own Cruisers around Earth colonies in an effort to dissuade Romulan attacks in those systems.
Jonathan Archer, Captain of the first NX Class starship NX 01 Enterprise was put in charge of the entire war effort, and he quickly realized that Starfleet Needed a much better plan to win this war.
Visiting Starfleets Engineering and Scientific advancement facilities, he was amazed to discover that Starfleets Core of Engineers believed they had broken the Warp 7 barrier, creating a totally new warp Core technology that could revolutionize Starfleet forever. The problem however was that although this technology was ready to be tested, there simply wasn’t a starship design capable of holding this new technology and its related systems.
However, where Starfleet saw a problem, Captain Archer saw an opportunity. Gathering Starfleets top starship design engineers, he immediately commissioned them to design an easily constructed addition for the NX Class that would incorporate all the new technological breakthroughs including the much more powerful Warp 7 Core.
A few months later construction of this new secondary hull was completed and attached to the NX 02 Columbia which had been in Spacedock receiving extensive repairs while the NX 01 Enterprise continued to fight on the front lines.
In order to save time and get Columbia back in to fight as soon as possible, the warp 5 core would remain integrated into this new refit class… Although hastily cobbled together, this new design was an elegant evolution to the NX Class lineage.
Integrating shield emitter technology given to Starfleet by the Andorians, the design engineers decided to have both warp cores operating in tandem. the Warp 5 Core powering the new shield technology, while the new warp 7 core would handle manoeuvrability, speed and weapons systems.
This dual-core system would become the major contributing factor to Earth winning the war.
Forgoing a shakedown cruise, Captain Erika Hernandez and the crew of the Columbia had a trial by fire, when Starfleet Command received reports that a Romulan armada had set course to attack the newly established Deneva Colony.
Assembling as many ships as they could in the system, a mere 7 Starfleet Vessels and 2 Vulcan Warships, the NX 02 raced to the system at warp factor 6.7 and arrived just in time for Columbia to take control of fleet operations.
Facing down 28 Romulan Starships, the odds of victory seemed unlikely for Starfleet, however, with Columbia at the forefront of the Starfleet Task Force these odds quickly changed in Starfleet’s Favor.
Thanks to her new shield technology powered by its own warp core along with the new invented Mark 2 Photonic Torpedo systems, NX 02 herself became an unstoppable force, destroying half of the Romulan armada itself before the armada could even get close to the Deneva Colony.
As a result, The Romulan Star Empire pulled back its remaining starships from the Deneva attack to fortify the borders of their own territory while they searched for a countermeasure to the new Starfleet Shield and weapons technologies.
Hailed as a complete success by Starfleet and its allies, the NX 02 would be sent to the Romulan Border for patrol duty while the NX 03 Challenger and the NX 05 Atlantis returned to Earth to receive similar upgrades.
NX 01 Enterprise herself would be the last vessel to receive the refit, as Captain Archer wanted to remain on the front lines until he felt that the border to Romulan Space could be adequately defended tactically why his vessel was in drydock.
By early 2159 all remaining NX Class vessels had received the refit and the war seemed to have slowed to a few scattered battles in unclaimed space, turning a very hot war into a cold war rather quickly… Any time a Romulan ship or armada attempted to attack a system beyond their border, one of the NX Class Refit Starships was able to intercept and stop the Romulan force before too much damage was done.
Romulan Warp Drive Technology was quite primitive compared to that of Earth’s. And even though Romulan Intelligence forces had acquired detailed schematics of many alien warp systems, the Praetors arrogance had prevented them from using those stolen technologies.
As a result, Romulan Warp Drives tended to leak Delta Radiation, a situation which prevented Romulan Crew Members from serving a long time on any Romulan Vessels as the cumulative effect could be deadly.
But now, with the war turning to humanities favour and the Andorians, Tellarites and Vulcans seemingly ready to join the war on Starfleet’s Side, The Praetor would finally authorize construction of human-designed warp drives, to be installed in their starships, and once this fleet was ready, the Romulan Star Empire would bet their entire survival on a single battle in the Cheron System.
It was a brilliant plan, the Romulan Star Empire leaked information to Starfleet Intelligence, that the Romulan’s were building a brand new, highly advanced Starbase in Cheron System. And subsequently, would be using this base as a launching point to attack and destroy Earth itself.
This would force Starfleet Command to muster all available ships in a desperate attempt to destroy the base before it became operational.
The Star Empire would then ambush and destroy all the starships with the over 100 newly refit vessels they had at their command, their fleet itself, being hidden in the Cheron Nebula, but what the Star Empire didn’t know, was that Section 31, a Starfleet Intelligence type organization had gotten wind of the real plan and had secretly informed Captain Archer of the Romulans True intentions.
Furthermore, in true Captain Jonathan Archer style, he would turn this Romulan Trap to Starfleet’s favour.
Captain Archer would make it appear as though Starfleet was assembling its fleet in a nearby sector, Gamma Hydra 12, having bought the Romulan ploy, hook line and sinker. Using false sensor signals, Archer would also make it appear as though all remaining NX Class Refit Vessels were assembled there as well.
However, the truth was, Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Atlantis and Endeavor took up positions in star systems surrounding Cheron, cloaked from Romulan Sensors by hastily copied Suliban Cloaking Technology, prepared to warp to equal distant positions around the Cheron Nebula on Archers orders.
Also equipped with modified torpedoes designed to ignite the Nebula’s Sirillium gas, these 5 starships would fire into the nebula before the Romulan ships could exit and respond using the nebula itself as a giant weapon to destroy as many of the Romulan ships as they could.
Then the Starfleet Taskforce from Gamma Hydra 12 would warp in to assist with the clean up of the remaining Romulan Vessels.
The plan was a complete success destroying almost 75% of the Romulans attack force. The remaining vessels were then easily destroyed or irrevocably damaged by the rest of the fleet.
This Battle known as the Battle of Cheron would put an end to the war, forcing the Romulan Star Empire to surrender in a humiliating defeat as the Star Empire no longer had a large enough space force to protect its borders or even Romulus itself, but Starfleet was really in no position itself to occupy any Romulan Worlds, nor did it have the space force to police Romulan Occupied Territory.
And so in a bluff of major proportions, Earth would hammer out a treaty with the Star Empire that would see the Neutral Zone, a buffer between what would become Federation Space and Romulan Territory established. Entry into which by either side, would be considered an act of war.
This Treaty would become the sole basis for why the United Federation of Planets and the Romulan Star Empire would never go to war again.
As for the NX Class Refit, more would be constructed after the war. And once the United Federation of Planets was established in 2161, the NX Class Refit vessels would become the testbeds for the combining of Federation Member World donated Technology integration. A process that would see this vessel class last well into the 2190s.
Once the Malachowski and Walker classes began to make their presence felt through out the Federation, Starfleet would finally decommission the class in the early 23rd century.
Shortly after the Earth/ Romulan War, the NX 01 Enterprise would be restored to its original configuration and placed in the fleet museum where it still shines today.
And although no refit version of the NX Class was included in the Fleet Museum, various holographic displays aboard NX 01 pay tribute to that design.
Brought out as a desperate measure by Starfleet Command to win the war, the NX Class Refit would not only turn that tide but would also go on to be a shining example of Federation Exploration during the early days of that organization’s history. Earning the NX Class Refit its place, in Starfleet History…
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