Rynwon’s Bio

Rynwon Ka’quila Ea’arhone is a member of the Ea species. To most outsiders, the Ea are a bundle of contradictions-solemn and irreverent, placid and martial, reclusive and curious about the rest of the universe. The most significant fact about the Ea is that, after a major ecological collapse on their home world centuries ago, they fled to space. Like almost all Ea, therefore, Rynwon has lived all of her life in orbital colonies and on spacecraft.

The other centerpiece of Ea life is their philosophy. Over the course of their efforts to restore their world, the Ea have developed a strong adherence to what they call Alqui’osh’a (“The Way” or more properly “the path of the universe”), which counsels harmony with the natural order of the cosmos.

Nevertheless, the Ea are not monks. There is a strong tradition of epic and frequently ribald poetry among them. Many clans also have a long military tradition. The Way is not the path of least resistance. This is particularly true of the Rhone, Rynwon’s home clan and the most extroverted of all the Ea subgroups. Among their other diplomatic and commercial ventures, the Rhone frequently work as protection for freighter convoys or high-paying clients.

As a child, Rynwon was schooled in the martial tradition of the Rhone. She also became fascinated by the history of Starfleet, and the career of James T. Kirk in particular. When Rhone elders questioned her decision to join Starfleet, she presented them with an epic poem about Kirk (including some of his more infamous exploits) called “Kirk of the Stars” that helped to sway them.

Rynwon is especially outgoing for an Ea and is intensely curious about the world around her. She is also dedicated to a strongly Ea’an concept of honor, which both regulates personal behavior and involves a devotion to the well being of the universe as a whole.

Captain’s Log, Supplemental, Stardate 88351.48

We are currently in orbit around Pellme II, having completed what is likely the final task in our patrol of the Orion sector.  We assisted in examining and repairing seismic sensors on the surface that had been indicating an impending geological event of massive proportions.  Had those indications been correct, we would have aided the evacuation effort.  Luckily, that was not required.  The sensors had been sabotaged.  The primary suspect, now in the custody of planetary authorities pending a formal trial, is believed to have been working with the Klingons.

This encounter by proxy is our second with the Klingons during the last two weeks.  The first, as I detailed in a previous log entry, took place in the Kinjer system.  I had no combat experience against Klingon ships previously.  Nor, as far as I know, had any of the crew.  It was a very different experience than fighting pirates, or even, for those few of us on the Republic that are veterans of Vega, the Borg, and I think a shock to many on board.

Klingon vessels are far more heavily armed than raiders and their crews are, from everything I could see, far more battle hardened.  I believe that we could defeat three raiders simultaneously without serious threat.  Three Birds of Prey—which we did face at Kinjer—pressed the Republic and its crew to their limits.  Despite some very serious injuries, we all survived, largely because of several improvements made to the weapons and shield systems by Ensign Twelve.  I must also recognize Dr. Cummings for her work in the sickbay, both during the battle and more generally in her supervision and training of the medical staff. 

I have never really paused to consider Klingon culture and, at present, I cannot say much about Ea’an thought on the matter.  I can appreciate their concern for honor and their pride in a long and proud military tradition.  I am also aware that Klingon society is made up of more than warriors and is as diverse and, at times, contradictory as any other.  I have the superficial view of an outsider, even if I resist the tendency to simplify.  Nevertheless, I am uneasy with many Klingon’s glorification of violence either for its own sake or for self-focused reasons—to protect the Empire, advance their House, or increase their own reputation. 

Physical force is often required, but it must be used with caution and with care.  Untempered by wisdom, it invariably leads to imbalance, disharmony, and suffering.  Those who rely on violence too often are frequently narrowed—they become blinded to alternative behaviors, fail to see full range of their agency, and lose the ability to listen to the universe’s guidance.  The Klingons may be right about the Undine and the threat they pose—though this is another topic about which I know far too little—but their methods of meeting that threat seem largely counterproductive.

I will end this entry by turning to a more positive, and personal, topic.  Within the last two days, I have received letters from both Brigid and Patrick.  Brigid is embarking on an extended exploration mission. This seems perfect for her.  Patrick has reported a number of adventures, including an encounter with an Undine.  I will need to ask him more about this.  I suspect this may be knowledge that will become important.

Captain’s Log, Stardate 88321.61

We have responded to a request for assistance from the USS Heisenberg, a Hope class science vessel examining ruins on Chi Orionis 7.  The Heisenberg and her crew were well.  They had lost several pieces of delicate equipment in a cave-in and hoped we might be able to provide them replacements.  We were.

While the opportunity existed, the archeological team on board the Republic requested to beam down to the surface and aid in the work being done there.  Since we were not needed elsewhere and since the Heisenberg’s captain had no objection, I have given them permission to join in the excavations.  I will be visiting the main site myself tomorrow.

Ensign Tay has left the ship, as well.  A former Academy classmate is currently giving her a tour of the Heisenberg.  There are also several ongoing astrophysical research projects being conducted by members of the Heisenberg‘s crew that are of interest to her.  I have asked her to give an informal presentation about what she learns when she returns.

I believe that Ensign Tay, who did little to hide her excitement at meeting the Heisenberg, would have much rather served on such a ship than the Republic.  We have found some time for scientific research in between helping stranded freighters and warning away pirates, but exploration is not the focus of our current mission.  I hope she will not come back to the Republic even more dissatisfied with her present position. 

I believe sharing what she has learned will build stronger ties between her and the rest of the crew, particularly the science personnel, and help her step into the role of a leader.  I have already heard sporadic complaints about her management, or lack thereof, of the various science departments on board.

Such conflicts are inevitable when making a group of disparate individuals into a unified crew.  The other members of the Republic’s command staff, myself included, are feeling out our emerging relationships with the Republic and the others on board, discovering ways in which we work well together and ways in which we do not.  I have found myself becoming impatient with Ensign Tay’s forgetfulness in matters of protocol and procedure.  In the other direction, Ensign Bereil’s exaggerated sense of propriety and rigidity has annoyed me at times.  As captain, however, I cannot let such moments show in my behavior.

The only conflict about which I am truly concerned is the growing one between Dr. Cummings and Ensign Twelve.  I have witnessed a number of heated debates between them on the advisability of mixing biological and mechanical worlds.  I understand Ensign Twelve’s enthusiasm for such amalgamation.  I do not yet see the source of Dr. Cummings passionate resistance to it.  Whatever the reason, I have begun to detect a note of hostility in their professional interactions, when they are not able to avoid them.  This will be a matter I need to attend to soon.

I am thankful for Baris’s presence on board as we all make our personal discoveries.  His smile and demeanor are disarming and settling.  This is one of the reasons I anticipate he will make an excellent first officer.  However, we are left missing him at present.  This morning, he asked permission to remain in his quarters for several days.  Though he has said little about his condition—I know as much as I have read in his personnel files and researched on my own—I believe that he is struggling with an outbreak of Phobos Syndrome.  He has refused to see Dr. Cummings, and she has not pressed the point.  I can only hope that he finds his way back to the rest of us soon.

Captain’s Log, Supplemental, Stardate 88292.12

The average sector contains ten to the forty one cubic kilometers—nearly a million, million, million, million, million, million, million.

When we are finished with our patrol of the Orion sector, we will have passed through the tiniest fraction of that space, an almost imperceptible sliver.  To much of the energy and matter within, from wayward photons to roaring stars, our presence will make no difference, nor should it.  The universe will continue according to its own plans.  It is in the middle—in the lives of other beings—that we and the Republic may find a way to do some good.

Thus far, there has been little opportunity, however.  Our most noteworthy encounter was, up until yesterday, our first.  We discovered a disabled starliner, the Antares’ Queen, and sent a team of engineers to help repair their engines.  The details of this aid are in my standard log entry.

I did not mention there that, in gratitude, the Antares’ Queen’s captain sent an invitation to a special dinner.  I and the rest of the Republic’s command crew were seated at his table in a much larger hall, filled with smaller tables and noise.  Three walls were entirely transparent.  The Republic hung there in interstellar space, dark except for windows and running lights.  Several members of the starliner’s crew had already told me that the appearance of a classic Constitution class starship caused quite a stir among the passengers during our initial approach.

Even there, at dinner, many were watching it intently.  I noticed, however, that the male half of an older human couple, also seated at the captain’s table, was instead looking at me.  He cleared his throat and declared, in a loud voice, that it was very forward thinking of Starfleet to allow an Orion woman to command a ship, even one so old as the Republic, and to dress in a regular Starfleet uniform.  He was curious, though, if I wore more traditional Orion attire when not at formal occasions.

His mate scolded him and apologized for his rudeness.  I felt Ensign Bareil tense beside me.  I believe he has become somewhat protective.  This is in his nature, and he appears to see a spiritual connection between the two of us through our two peoples.  He had already requested several lessons in Ea’an meditation techniques.  I glanced at Baris, who tried hard to stifle a laugh.

I smiled and admitted that, on board the Republic, everyone wore a standard issue bikini.  Ensign Imbo looked particularly fetching in his.  Nevertheless, I was not Orion, though I was regularly mistaken for things I was not.  I was frequently called “Pandoran,” though I believe that their species is extinct.  Still, I understand some of the challenges Orion women face.  I offered an old Earth saying I had once heard: “It is not easy being green.” 

Baris could no longer contain his laughter, nor could Doctor Cummings, whether because of my choice of proverb or the thought of Baris in a bikini I cannot say.  I tried hard to keep my own composure, though my left ear was twitching wildly.

I was not dishonest about my familiarity with Orions.  Rhone ships are frequently hired to protect convoys or deliveries that are valuable, or at least valued, but not quite important enough to warrant Starfleet attention.  Particularly since the ascendancy of Melani D’ian and the purging of other species from the syndicate, our most typical foes have been Orions. 

Our mission in the Reytan system to prevent pirates from hijacking the signals of Federation communication relays thus placed me in a familiar position.  I have been on Rhone ships in battle with raiders.  I knew something of their tactics and their weaknesses.  Two of the raiders left when we warned them off.  Two others stayed to fight.  The first presented little challenge. 

The second offered a surprise.  It adopted the unusual strategy of keeping one of the arrays between itself and the Republic, rightly assuming that we would not risk firing and damaging the communication equipment.

We spent twenty minutes dancing around the array.  The Orion helmsman was certainly skilled.  Bareil is a fine pilot, but in this case he was outmatched.  It was Ensign Tay who responded with her own surprise.  She hacked into the array and directed it to emit a full spectrum burst in the Orion’s direction.  It was enough to blind their sensors momentarily and to enable us to outflank our opponent and force them away, into open space.  Once we had disabled their weapons and engines, we gave them a chance to surrender.  But like many raiders, this one unsurprisingly chose self-destruction to capture.

I saw in the flash of that ship what I have seen many times before: futures unlived, opportunities untaken, possibilities unfulfilled.  This time I wondered about the Orion pilot, what he or she might have become if not for the syndicate.  Was it her duty to press the button that caused the final explosion?  Is this what she really wanted?  How many other on board may have chosen something other than death?

I have resolved to learn more about Orion history and culture.  This is a small task, of little consequence, but possibly it may do some good in time.  Seeing farther can never cause harm.  The syndicate is a comparatively recent thing.  It is an unfortunate impediment to the Orion species’ true path, even if only a minority or Orions join.  It drains the life from a once noble civilization. 

Perhaps, Orion civilization will return to its fullness and the syndicate will finally wither once current galactic events have run their course.  Perhaps by serving at this time, in this place, the Republic and her crew may contribute in some small way toward that outcome.  This would be a most welcome surprise indeed.

Biography of Twelve of Twelve

Twelve of Twelve’s past is a mystery.  When she was liberated, a routine genetic test was run to determine her true identity.  The test results indicated no living relatives and gave no indication about who she was.  She might have been born on a far-flung human colony outside of Federation space or to a family that desired anonymity for whatever reasons.  Given the details of Borg assimilation techniques, there was also no telling how long she had been part of the collective.  It might have been a year or a hundred.

Like many other liberated Borg, Twelve struggles with frightening memories of her time as a drone.  However, perhaps because she does not have a history of her own, she does not see those memories as foreign or as something to be overcome or rejected.  Rather, she has sought to accept them as a part of her—to assimilate the Borg, as she sometimes says.  She prefers to be identified as a “human-Borg hybrid” rather than as a “liberated Borg.”

After her liberation, Twelve briefly worked at the Daystrom Institute under a special fellowship program run by Seven of Nine.  However, she inspired some controversy with her ideas on the integration of biological and mechanical systems.  This was and is an active field of work, and there are many indications that, after more than two centuries of rejection, public opinion in the Federation is moving toward a more open attitude to such mixing (though recent conflict with the Borg may reverse this trend). 

Twelve pushed this openness to its limits.  While she did not believe that the Borg were the best example, she did argue that some amalgamation of living organism and mechanical device was the future of human evolution.  She was particularly interested in the capacity of nanotechnology to join these two worlds.

Even though her work on nanoprobes was praised by some at the Institute, the fellowship committee chose not to renew her position when it expired.  Instead, she was approached by the Advanced Research Concepts Division of Starfleet about joining a special project involving the use of nanotechnology to repair and refit starships.  She agreed and after several years of work, was assigned as chief engineer to the first experimental result of the new construction techniques, the USS Republic.

Biography of Trisha Cummings

Trisha Cummings grew up in New Edinburgh on Mars.  The colony had been founded by one of her ancestors, Macalister Cummings.  It was also home to several major production facilities of the Federation News Network.  Her father worked for FNN as a senior data miner and media analyst.  Her mother was a producer who worked on the popular current affairs program Federation Today.

Early on, Trisha decided she did not want to go into the media business.  Instead, she chose to follow in Macalister’s footsteps and become a doctor.  She showed considerable academic and medical promise and was accepted to the prestigious medical school at the University of South Paris.  While there, she met Ogilvie Lash, a guest instructor at the school and one of the most famous surgeons on Earth.  Lash had made a name for himself both by performing cutting edge work with artificial organs and by devoting almost all his practice to pro bono work with the needy throughout the galaxy.

Recognizing her skill, Lash adopted Trisha as a protégé.  Trisha was meanwhile in awe of Lash’s commitment to helping sentient beings.  However, a year into her residency at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, Lash became embroiled in a serious controversy.  He was charged with using dangerous experimental procedures on his patients without their knowledge.  He was eventually tried and sentenced to time in a Federation correctional facility.

Trisha knew nothing of Lash’s activities.  The prosecution in the case went out of their way to emphasize her innocence.  Unfortunately, the scandal tainted her career and she soon realized she would not be able to practice medicine on Earth and would probably be unwelcome on many other worlds.  Rather than change careers, she decided that Starfleet was her best option.  In particular, it was one way she could escape what seemed to be an impossible situation while honoring the impulse that had brought her into medicine in the first place—the desire to help people. 

Trisha is a devoted, skilled, and selfless physician.  Though she is not always friendly—her experiences with Lash taught her to separate her personal and professional lives as much as possible—she will do whatever is needed to help her patients.  Beneath her outward reserve is a person passionate about her work and about the welfare of those around her.

Biography of Bariel Laan

Bariel Laan’s parents grew up in a Bajoran refugee camp.  Though they never discussed their experiences in great detail with their son, Laan still understood, if only at a subconscious level, the hardships they endured.  At a young age, he resolved that no Bajoran would ever need to live in such circumstances again.

Laan was related to Bariel Antos, and his parents had hoped he might follow his famous ancestor’s footsteps and become a vedek.  Laan certainly admired religious leaders and credited them with keeping the hopes of the Bajoran people alive during the Cardassian occupation.  But he did not believe that they could or should be the primary defense of Bajor.  Instead, fighters were needed.  Though his parents frowned on it, Laan could never get enough of stories about the Bajoran resistance.

His decision to enter Starfleet was a difficult one.  He knew that many older Bajorans harbored some resentment at the Federation for not stepping in to help them sooner.  And he felt echoes of this resentment himself.  But, he believed that Starfleet was changing, forced by larger galactic events.  It was, in his opinion, becoming a more active and military force, willing to ensure the safety of sentient beings by force, if necessary.

Laan entered service with the strong desire to protect Bajor, in particular, but also all Federation citizens and even those sentient beings not part of the Federation, but in need.  His Academy instructors sometimes saw his heroic actions as rash and, while they admired his ideals, also worried that those ideals might get him killed.  Nevertheless, Laan remained passionate about what he perceives as the duty of a Starfleet officer—to protect the helpless and to restore peace to the galaxy.

Biography of Zova Tay

Like most Trill, Zova Tay had hoped as a child that she might someday become a host. Unfortunately, upon entering adolescence, she developed a rare blood condition that had no direct effects on her health, but made it impossible to support a symbiont.

While many other Trill would find the revelation of this “handicap” crushing, it seemed to have little impact on young Zova.  She continued to follow an early love of science and determined to be every bit as good a scientist as someone who was joined.  She did, in fact, have considerable talent, impressing many of her teachers (though, believing at first that she was an ideal candidate for joining, they were often disappointed to learn about her “condition”).

As she progressed in her studies, however, Zova found herself increasingly overlooked, often given basic tasks while others were allowed to engage in cutting-edge research.  Scientific leaders among the Trill were all joined, and though they harbored no overt prejudice against those who were not, they generally did not believe that someone without a symbiont could master the complexities of modern science.  Trill was a center of scientific work, in their eyes, precisely because joining provided lifetimes of knowledge and experience to draw on.

Though Zova became frustrated with her position, she did not give up her aspirations.  She still believed she could become the equal of anyone in the sciences.  Rather than remain on Trill, she resolved to join Starfleet.  At the Academy, Zova was extremely popular among both her fellow cadets and her instructors.  Finally recognized, she redoubled her efforts to become a great scientist.

She consistently earned high praise for her theoretical and laboratory work.  However, her performance outside the sciences often suffered.  Though she could memorize enormous quantities of scientific data, she frequently forgot basic facts of starship maintenance or Starfleet protocol.  On her cadet cruise, she actually made an important discovery regarding Kelly Radiation, but her more general evaluations were lackluster.

Upon graduating, she sought an assignment at Memory Alpha.  However, though her superiors felt confident in her scientific promise, they believed a Starfleet officer needed to be more well rounded.  The best place for her, they determined, would be on board a starship, ideally one commanded by a captain with a scientific background—someone who could be a mentor—but not primarily used for scientific missions.  They hoped that she would discover new aspects of herself as she explored the universe.

Zova is currently chief science officer on board the USS Republic.

Captain’s Log, Supplemental, Stardate 88269.78

I have been aboard the Republic as its new captain for several days.  I spent the first exploring every part of the ship, even the Jeffries Tubes.  I walked outside as well, around the primary hull, top and bottom, down the neck, back and forth and around the secondary hull.  Such a tour is an Ea tradition upon assuming command of a new vessel.  We call it sha’las dar qal’va, which means “first journey.” 

I was surprised by how modern the Republic looks within.  In certain details, the interior is scarcely distinguishable from the Connemara’s, though the hum of the Republic’s engines is an eighth of an octant lower.  But there were touches here and there of something older, on the lower decks especially.  A wall-mounted intercom panel that, for some reason, survived.  An old-style bright red doorway at the entrance to the tertiary sensor relay access room.  A corner of one of the science labs where there remains a control panel with bright lights and toggles and an out-dated card reader.  These were perhaps overlooked, though I cannot really believe this.  There were possibly technical reasons to preserve them, and I can imagine a few.  Or the engineers left a few pieces of the old ship for continuity’s sake.  Or as a joke.  Both seem plausible.

In a way too, I was looking for Kirk.  Ea are not telepathic.  If there is some part of him here, I will not find it by thinking, but I may by acting.  That seems more appropriate in any event, given who Kirk was.  And I did feel some connection with him.  Not from within the Republic, but from outside.  In the lower surface of the saucer as it curved away toward the sensor dome or the long vista of the engineering hull, the sharp valley of the nacelle pylons framing the limb of the Earth, the warp engines looming high above.

I expressed a desire to Baris to involve the crew in several other Ea traditions.  He wisely advised that I avoid anything with nudity or excessive violence.  I told him I would make due.

I have chosen two.  The first is the blessing of the ship.  If I were among the Ea, we would perform this from outside, on the hull, breathing in the light of the stars and the green and blue and white of Ea below, and breathing out into the ship.  I did not ask this of the Republic’s crew.  Instead, I asked them pause and recited the blessing over the intercom.  This was not ideal, but with an old ship like the Republic, it is probably more important that it blesses us, and that it will do in its own way, in its own time.

The second is a gift, something of meaning, to each of the ship’s new bridge officers.  This is one of the oldest traditions I know of, though I chose it mostly because I was eager to meet my new shipmates.

To Baris, I gave a stone I brought with me from Ea.  Every Ea will visit the surface of our homeworld when they feel called and choose something—a stone, a flower, a vial of water—that speaks to them.  This object will help them in meditation, among other things.  I found my stone immediately before leaving for Earth and the Academy, and I thought Baris could use it now.  I know a little of his condition, and I’m aware he uses meditation to find a way through it.  I hope the stone will help.

To Ensign Tay, our new science officer, I gave a sculpture representing the creation of a virtual proton and anti-proton in a pure vacuum.  It took some explanation, but eventually—and we were both enormously pleased when we did—she saw the interaction in the complex shapes and colors.  I hope this might give her new insight into the universe she seems to love so much.

To Ensign Bereil, our new security officer, I gave a blessing.  I taught him to recite it in both Ea and English.  He seems earnest in his desire to protect others, and I hope this will be of use to him on that path.  In English it is this:

In search of peace
May gravity guide me
May electromagnetism guide me
May the strong force guide me
May the weak force guide me
May the deep force guide me
May the quick force guide me
And where I do not find peace
May I guide it into being
With the force of my breath
The force of my blood
And the force of my heart

To Dr. Cummings, our new chief medical officer, I gave a miniature ha’ishla tree.  One of the most significant differences I have perceived between ships and stations of the Ea and those created by the species of the Federation is the relative lack of living things.  Almost every Ea ship is filled with plants and with small creatures, some of whom joined us in our initial exodus from our home, others of whom came later.  Their presence does raise challenges—they do not understand why they should not chew through this wire or borrow into that insulation.  But in meeting them, we design places that welcome us all.

When Dr. Cummings reported for duty, she asked if she could use the shuttle bay from time to time to let what she called her “finches” spread their wings.  I agreed, on the condition I could join them.  It was a joy to see them swoop and dip in the empty bay, after the day’s last shuttles had landed and been stowed.  I hope they will all enjoy the tree.

To Ensign Twelve, our new chief engineer…I have yet to decide.  She was formerly a Borg, and the Borg are an uncertain subject among the Ea.  For some of us, they stand in opposition to The Way.  We have seen firsthand what the unmitigated application of technology can do to a living world.  For others, the minority, the Borg are the universe’s attempt to assimilate technology, to bring the natural and artificial together.  These two great realms are not necessarily so separate.  Though no Ea device has ever achieved it, some others have reached sentience.   And while natural objects are generally the more resonant and deep and filled, there are created objects that have absorbed enough to be wise.

My own mind is unsettled.  I am troubled by the increasing willingness I see among so many species to incorporate technology so deeply and so unthinkingly into their lives and their bodies.  I believe that humans were more circumspect—perhaps because they were closer to their own troubling past—in Kirk’s day.  Alternatively, I am moved by arguments about the value of integration.  No thing in the universe remains itself for long.  It will always blend into something else.

It occurs to me now that she struggles with many of the same questions the Ea have struggled with.  And both of us have done so to heal—for us, a world, for her, herself.

I will take her to Ea.  Not now, but someday soon, so she can see the answers that we have found.  I hope, in this, she will discover inspiration.

I must finally mention two others, a Trill and a human, that I met prior to taking command of the Republic.  They were to become captains of their own Constitution class vessels and so attended the same workshop at the Academy that I did.  The Trill, Adalaxia Brigid Zeen, is still uncertain about her place in the world, but I believe she will find the correct path.  The human, Patrick Guinness Donal O’Kennedy, is what we call a siva’ral.  I believe the correct English term is “trickster.”  His laugh was musical.  But—I do not know if this is true of human stories too—among the Ea, the trickster must always find a way to sadness and grief, and through them become something more.  I am happy to call them both friends.

I do not know the future, of course.  I do know that we are making preparations for our first mission.  We will be on routine patrol in the Orion sector, allowing the Republic to become the symbol of hope and optimism it was intended to be.

Excerpt from “Kirk of the Stars”

Revenge
Is the terrible inevitability of falling
For Finney
An orbit decayed
By malice

Finney and Kirk, once close friends
Then, on the Republic
A falling
Out, a mistake by Finney
Logged by Kirk

Many years later
A career delayed, a plan for retribution
A storm, Finney missing
A record altered
Kirk accused

Not the last time Kirk faced vengeance
Or the last time he found a way
To keep from falling

CIRC: Reaching for Starfleet’s Future by Revitalizing Its Past, Executive Summary [Classified, Level Sigma 10]

Today, more than ever, Starfleet needs every available starship.  Advances in production methods, the expansion of facilities, and the development of modular construction systems have increased the number of active warp-capable vessels.  But Starfleet is still hard pressed to cope with the demands of greater patrol responsibilities, heightened need for diplomacy, and growing combat losses at the same time it continues to fulfill its exploration mandate.  Working with the Corps of Engineers, Starfleet Intelligence, and researchers at Memory Alpha and the Daystrom Institute, engineers at ARC-SPAR have succeeded in the initial stages of a Combined Initiative to Revitalize the Constitution Class (CIRC, pronounced “kirk,” for short) that may help to expand available resources.

Constitution Class starships were once the symbol of the Federation and an embodiment of the very best in Starfleet.  They represented a watershed not just in their initial construction, which put together all the most advanced technologies of that era, but also in their later refit.  Today, the original Constitutions have all been retired.  Some, such at the USS Republic, have become training ships.  Others are museum ships or have been converted into freighters.  Still others have been abandoned in surplus depots.  We are determined to restore these ships to active duty and to revitalize, in what appear to be a time of increasing conflict and war, an icon of a more hopeful and optimistic time.

There are two major challenges to making the classic Constitution a viable and versatile starship once again.  Depending on the initial date of commission and subsequent refits, their on-board technologies are over 140 standard years old.  A system-by-system replacement would be extremely resource-intensive and such efforts would be better spent producing new ships of modern design.  Large components—such as the warp nacelles—could be replaced completely, but this would involve essentially building an entirely new vessel and is what ARC-SPAR engineers hoped to avoid.  Even if system-wide replacements could be installed, hulls eventually develop microfractures from stressful maneuvers and from the forces associated with warp fields and artificial gravity.  A spaceworthy Constitution, at least to the standards currently required for active Starfleet vessels, would thus require a new hull, but once again, this amounts to constructing a new ship.

CIRC aims to shift the dominant mode of thinking when it comes to major refits by using Borg-inspired nanotechnology.  Rather than “thinking down” from the ship as a whole to its component parts, this new approach works by introducing nanoprobes programmed to reconstruct portions of the vessel from the atomic level up.  Our ability to affect a complete reconstruction is at present limited, partly by technical constraints and partly by physical phenomena, such as the enormous amount of heat generated during the process.  Current protocols involve nanoscale reconstruction of the hull, primary systems, and basic receptors for modular components only, after which traditional refit methods are used to configure internal spaces, such as corridors and bridges, and large pieces of equipment.  Nevertheless, one day, perhaps as soon as several decades from now, it should be possible to “grow” starships out of raw matter by introducing a sufficient number of nanoprobes.  CIRC is the first, still very tentative step into this new future.

ARC-SPAR engineers are aware of the potential dangers of their new approach.  The use of modified Borg technology has up to now been viewed with justified suspicion.  Such technology may not be entirely under control in all circumstances, particularly in confrontations with the Collective.  Given its former links to the Borg hive mind, it may also have some residual agenda that Starfleet engineers do not fully understand and cannot compensate for.  For this reason, no Borg technology was directly used in this project.  Moreover, a variety of safety precautions will be taken.  Nanoprobes will be introduced to each ship in a physically sealed and shielded drydock installation at a classified location.  The nanoprobes themselves are tagged so that they cannot escape detection and have a variety of built-in self-destruct protocols.

We have already completed our first full-scale CIRC refit on the USS Republic.  Destruction of all the nanoprobes used in the process was confirmed both through external scans and by a comprehensive inspection from within the ship.  All major systems are operating excellently, at levels that meet modern standards.

Though the Republic has responded well to initial testing, we do not recommend that revitalized Constitutions be used in front-line operations for some time, if at all.  Because of programming issues, a few subsystems—most notably internal communications, matter recycling, and shuttle flight control—could not be improved.  Moreover, their reconstructed frames are not able to accommodate an increase in weapons emplacements or the most advanced weapons, though we are working on changes that might allow such equipment.  Finally, given the relatively small size of the ship, by modern standards, there are serious limits on the number of systems and subsystems it can accommodate.  Instead, we recommend that Starfleet take advantage of the symbolic value of the Constitutions, using them primarily for diplomatic and, possibly, first contact purposes.

Starfleet and the Federation will overcome the challenges that currently confront them and will, once again, face a bright future.  ARC-SPAR and its CIRC partners firmly believe that one means of reaching that future is by drawing on the past.  A human poet named Robert Rose once wrote that “Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made, for somewhere deep in their oaken hearts the soul of a song is laid.”  Through the techniques developed by CIRC, we are able to finally tap into that song and to revitalize the dream of a more peaceful and hopeful time.