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.