Hello and welcome to another episode of Truth OR Myth Beta Canon, a Star Trek web series that dives in to a 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 Kelvin Constitution Class of Starfleet Starships, where Ill endeavor to create a cogent narrative to explain how this Amazing Class of Starship came to exist as it was seen in Star Trek 2009.
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, lets begin.
Last time, On Truth OR Myth BETA…
An attack by a powerful, unknown vessel on the U.S.S. Kelvin would cause a panic for Starfleet, and in response, they would put Admiral Alexander Marcus in charge of a team designed to protect the Federation against this new foe.
Meanwhile, House Mokai of the Klingon Empire, Having captured this starship, the Narada, couldn’t get it to work, and before they were able to extract the necessary data from the Narada’s captured Romulan Crew, the entire House would be charged with treason and executed as enemies of the Empire.
Admiral Marcus meanwhile, would run across a Boy Genius, Dr Richard Daystrom, on the federation New Service, immediately inviting him to head up the Scientific Teams attached to his various projects. But could Daystrom succeed where so many other Federation Scientists had failed? Well stay tuned and find out…
Dr Richard Daystrom 21-year-old mind, exploded with possibilities as he reviewed all the data available on the Narada. The Doctor had believed that he had been close to a breakthrough he termed Duotronics, that would revolutionize Federation Computer Technology. But, while sifting through the seemingly endless amount of data, he quickly realized that Duotronics was nothing compared to what he was looking at, lucky for him, and perhaps Starfleet, entire sections of what he believed to be Computer Data and Storage components had been recovered, and he immediately focused on those pieces of debris.
Starfleet’s scientists, for all their efforts, had not been able to get these components functioning, let alone access any information stored within them, but, Daystrom had an advantage, his theoretical Duotronic Systems might actually be able to access these dead component and bring them back to life. Over the period of 6 months, Daystrom and his teams would bring to life the first Duotronic Computer Core, and when the Narada’s Data Modules were hooked up to the new computer, Daystrom was in fact able to access the Data.
The Next year was spent by Daystrom and his team sifting through all the Data, separating everything recovered into several categories of Information. Admiral Marcus however was only interested in one category, that of the Narada’s technology. Though fascinated by the fact that apparently the Narada had come from the late 24th Century and had actually only been a mining converted by some form of technology acquired from an unknown species named the Borg, Marcus wanted anything that could be used to upgrade Starfleet’s current level technology to something close to that of the Narada herself.
The data recovered, however, had been fragmented, damaged extensively by the collision with the Kelvin. And sop there were simply no detailed schematics on technology that could be used to recreate its systems exactly, however, Daystrom, proving to be the Genius that he had been dubbed to be, was able to retrieve enough information from the data banks to begin to create theoretical mock-ups of various technologies and how they might work. This in turn would allow Marcus’s teams to begin to develop various technology based on the Narada Technology, one of the major developments being that of a Transwarp Drive.
Transwarp had been a theory of Starfleet’s Warp Specialists for many decades, though no one had ever been able to figure out how a Transwarp drive would work, let alone begin creating one, with Daystroms help, suddenly, Transwarp theory would become Transwarp reality. The Transwarp engine core did not by any means hold the elegance of the standard warp core which had been developed and redeveloped over the past century or more, but Daystrom and Starfleet’s best Warp Theorists believed the core might actually work, prompting Starfleet to Authorize a project to determine if what they believed was actually true.
And so, in the year 2244, the U.S.S. Shenzhou would be brought to a secret Starfleet Construction Yard in orbit of Jupiter’s Moon Io to be refit with the theoretical technology. After 14 months of Refit, the U.S.S. Shenzhou would be launched under command of its new Captain, Phillipa Georgeou, and it would become the first Starfleet Vessel to achieve and maintain Transwarp Velocity.
Amazed that the technology actually worked, Starfleet then approved Marcus’s plan to redesign the Constitution Class to include this new technology, while simultaneously authorizing projects to include Transwarp technology in all the current classes of Starfleet Starships.
The big problem with Transwarp however, was again, the Core itself. Not only did it have far more components then it’s standard warp core counterpart, but the system itself was HUGE. For example the USS Shenzhou had it’s entire lower decks, over half ship in reality, converted simply to house the system itself, this meant that space aboard the Walker Class Starship, was at premium, and many other scientific and recreational facilities had to be removed from the starship just to ensure enough living space for the crew.
So Marcus knew, that any new starship design he presented, would have to be much larger than anything Starfleet currently had on the drawing board. Admiral Marcus had loved the design of the Constitution Class, but knew right off the bat, that it was far too small a design for what he had in mind, let alone to comfortable house the Transwarp drive.
So his Team of design Engineers were instructed to increase the size of the class itself, to whatever size they needed to make the starship work and to make the starship a jewel in Starfleet’s Crown. And when the design engineers returned with a design that was more than twice the size of the original design but did everything Marcus wanted it to do, he simply authorized construction to immediately commence.
It was at this point that Marcus would also decide to change several other things. First, he decided though the Class would remain as the Constitution Class, he would not name the first vessel after the class itself. Feeling the design was such a radical departure from its original basis, he would choose the first starship to be constructed to be named the Enterprise after the first Warp 5 Vessel that had started Starfleet’s real Trek to the Stars.
Second, the Enterprise would not be constructed in orbit as was the standard construction method of the time. Rather having the starship built on Earth, this change was actually brought on by Richard Daystrom himself, as the Doctor believed that construction in a gravity environment would be beneficial to the class, to lock down the specific component arrangements making construction and testing a much easier endeavor, at least until all the design components and specs were figured out.
So a large area of Riverside, Iowa on Earth would be cleared and set up as the Enterprise’s construction yard.
Construction on the Enterprise would begin in 2250 under the direction of Commodore Robert April. Although after his promotion in 2254 to the rank of Admiral, Captain Christopher Pike would take over, and be given effective Command of the starship once built. Thanks to Daystrom, many other improvements in technology were included in the Constitution Classes design. Including, improved weaponry and shielding, Scanner and Sensor Technology, as well as highly advanced Environmental, Structural Integrity and Inertial Dampening Systems.
By late 2257, the Enterprise, now in orbit of Earth, began final systems adjustments and changes preparing for the shakedown launch in 2258, and Starfleet Command for its part, had refit over 50% of its fleet with new, modified versions of the Transwarp drive.
Dr Richard Daystrom, in an effort to facilitate and assist in new technological developments based on all the Narada Tech, had opened his own Institute, named the Daystrom Institute, which employed large teams of the best scientists the federation had to offer, to achieve these goals. And Daystrom was seen as a hero through out the Federation, coming up with new technologies and theories, which kept the Daystrom Institute working closely with Starfleet while Daystrom himself worked on a classified Computer Operating System he code-named M-1.
Then in 2258, just before the Enterprises scheduled launch when a distress call was received from the planet Vulcan, the Enterprise and a fleet of Transwarp capable starships were sent to investigate and assist the founding member of the federation, once there, it was discovered the Narada had reappeared and subsequently would destroy the Vulcan Home World, leaving the Enterprise as the only surviving starship.
Eventually, with the help of Ambassador Spock, and the use of Red Matter, the Enterprise and her crew would save Earth from a similar destructive fate, and a young Cadet, James T. Kirk, would be promoted to the rank of Captain, and be given command of Starfleet’s newest flagship.
Proud of what Marcus’s team had achieved, Starfleet Command would give Marcus carte blanche to continue his efforts to protect the Federation from outside threats. And Marcus would then use his newfound trust and faith Starfleet had placed in him, to begin construction of a larger, far more powerful starship under the code name Project Vengeance, setting his eyes on the Klingon Empire, who he believed, was the biggest threat to the United Federation of Planets.
The Enterprise herself would prove a major asset to Starfleet, and they would begin full production on the class, modifying it as new technologies, and developments in current technologies became available. And when the Enterprise was destroyed in the Yorktown Incident, the Enterprise would once again become the first starship in a new line of updated Constitution Class Vessels, continuing to boldly go, where no one, had gone before…
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