Chapter Text
Edition: 13660 CC[1] (2402 Earth CE)
Entry Author: J. Roczniak
Entry Reviewed: N. Kelly
Manufacturer: Haraway-Artemis Shipyard Syndicate, Utopia Planitia (Block FD370+)
Introduction:
5169 CC/2133 CE (original prototype, not approved for type-pattern)
9259 CC/2263 CE (Block 10 prototype)
9410 CC/2268 CE (Block 20 production model)
12571 CC/2374 CE (Block FD360/FD370 emergency alliance supply model)
Production Timeframe: 9410-present [12751-13110, 13559-present for Caspian-class lend-lease]
Type: Explorer
Landing Pad: Large
Minimum Crew: 1
Minimum Full Crew: 5
Optimal Crew: 12
SCO Optimized: Yes
CNO Qualified: Yes (Optimal)
Military Fuel Qualified: Yes
Hardpoints:
1x Large Weapon/Class 3 (1x Federation Torpedo Launcher/Class 3A on FD350+)
6x Medium Weapon/Class 2 (4x on FD360+; 2x gimbaled phaser pulse cannons installed)
6x Utility Mount (4x on FD360+; 2x Class 2A tractor beams installed)
Compartments: 3/1/1/2/4/2/1/0
Dense Life Support: No
Compact Module Support: Yes, with adapters
Core Module Support (Block 20):
FSD: Class 8 SCO, Mk2/Mk3
Thrusters: Class 7
Reactor: Class 8
Power Distributor: Class 7
Sensor Suite: Class 8
Fuel Tank: Class 7
Core Module Support (FD350):
FSD: Class 8 (Export), Locked to Supercruise regime (no jump capability)
Reactor: Class 8A Mk2 Military-Fuel Antimatter Reactor
Core Module Support (FD360):
FSD: No Support
FTL: Compact Class 8A//Cochrane-Alcubierre Metric
Thrusters: Compact Class 7A Impulse Thruster
Reactor: Class 8A Mk2 Military-Fuel Antimatter Reactor
Power Distributor: Class 7 Hybrid EPS-RTSC Junction Unit
Core Module Support (FD370+):
Reactor: Class 8A Mk3 Antideuterium Slush Warp Core
Vehicle Bay: 2x XS SLV (Ship-Launched Vehicle) bays, 1x ground vehicle bay
The Caspian Explorer, also known in Federation service as the Caspian-class scout ship, is one of the workhorses of the Pact of Flowers' post-SRP Pilot Union's Farseeker branch, and a common sight among the Pilot Union's Ranger branch. Originally a design exercise found in the Patron Lilith deep database, the incomplete design was refined into a viable prototype in 5169 CC [late February 2134 CE] by Haraway-Artemis' Lab 13 design bureau. However, the saucer layout failed to attract much interest among the Pact's starship pilot community. This was primarily due to the ship's internal layout - many design elements assumed a means of gravity control and inertial compensation[2] that were at best strictly theoretical. Further developments of the Caspian Explorer design, among others, would be hamstrung by this fundamental lack, despite efforts to make sense of examples taken from derelicts found within the Bubble.
It would not be until the fortuitous discovery of a collection of derelict ships in HIP 16348 in 9161 CC [late April 2260 CE], that this calculus would meaningfully shift. While many of the wrecks were only partially salvageable, and most of those were hopelessly obsolete Klingon M'Chla/A1 warpers, one wreck stood out in the cluster of derelicts for being relatively structurally intact - the Walker-class capital ship platform designated USS Shenzhou (NCC-1227). While the ship had suffered battle damage and further degradation from the asteroid field it was originally found in, the core technologies were deemed to likely be intact.
This would officially begin the Shenzhou Recovery Project, which was declassified 12163 CC [early June 2355 CE]. The Shenzhou Recovery Project aimed to install a capital-class CNO-based fusion reactor complex into the hulk of the USS Shenzhou, allowing its core systems to be brought online in preparation to be taken safely into witchspace. This was the first and so far only metacommune strategic defense decision sealed under a 3000Ms expiry order, even though Starfleet and the Klingon Imperial Navy were aware of the successful recovery of the Shenzhou and a Klingon D4C lost in the system for unrelated reasons, by the 9600s CC [mid-2275]. Contrary to popular belief, the only item of note salvaged from the wreck of the USS Clarke (NCC-1661) was a secondary computer core found in a segment of the primary hull. The Caspian Explorer is not a derivative of the Malachowski-class capital ship platform in any meaningful way despite the accusations made in the 9600s. This is most obvious when you consider that neither the reactor nor the FSD module bays of the Caspian Explorer can accommodate a Class 9 module of any description.
A full treatment of the Shenzhou Recovery Project is impractical here, being better explained in N. Kelly and Nyxxx-Theta’s seminal work "Rebirth into Beauty: The Shenzhou Recovery Project" under our imprint. The most immediate application once towed home by the Lotor-type mobile fleet salvager[2], however, lay in both the databases and practical examples of Federation-style inertial compensators[3] and gravity plating. This was not only a boon for passenger ships[4], but also popular multirole ships like the Asp series, the Python Mk1 and the Anaconda. This also took the Caspian Explorer from a failed design study to a working prototype by the 9260s CC, and full type acceptance of the Block 20 blueprint in 9410 CC.
Lesser-known is the type-pattern's role in bringing about acceptance of the aneutronic carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle (CNO) fusion reactor module within the Pact's spaceflight community, which offers a much higher specific power, runs an aneutronic cycle, as well as being able to run directly on stellar hydrogen instead of having to separate out deuterium and/or helium-3. The type pattern also demonstrated the first example of a Class 8 supercruise overcharge FSD, which allows much higher frame-shift drive supercruise velocities, at the expense of more rapidly consuming fuel. This new SCO FSD pattern itself debuted an optional enhanced hyperspace window generator that was much more efficient at using certain exotic particles typically found in the stellar plasma jets of neutron and white dwarf stars, substantially improving “neutron highway” jump performance. Cementing its status as a favored daughter of Haraway-Artemis, in the 10100s CC, Lab 38 used a Block 80 Caspian Explorer to demonstrate a new multifuel reactor system that allowed it to consume anhydrous antiproton endohedral fullerene (p̅@C60) fuel powder, colloquially known as "military fuel". This further increased the flexibility of the Caspian Explorer platform, and brought about the Caspian Defender and Caspian Tender remixes, which respectively tuned the type-pattern for combat and sustainment operations.
During the leadup to Starfleet ADM Leyton's attempted coup, backchannel negotiations between Leyton's office and Haraway-Artemis were conducted with an aim to fill a tender for light scout ships in 12689 CC (2372 CE, SD 49103.0). Even after the failure of the coup, the negotiations continued more openly, and the now-venerable Lab 13 quickly prototyped a variant that they called the Block FD350 (Federation Design). The FD350 used the supercruise-only FSD built strictly for trusted export customers, which admittedly the Federation still was not. Also, the FD variants were specified with the top bridge module as the favored option, to match Starfleet design sensibilities. Several prototypes were built, but no attempt was yet made to deliver them to Starfleet, as the export license was ultimately denied at the all-systems council level. Even without jump capability, the defense coordination councils were not satisfied that Starfleet could be trusted with any sort of witchspace drive.
In any event, the Federation Starfleet wanted further customization of the type-pattern, having belatedly realized the value of being able to backfill patrols during the early phases of the Dominion War; the FD360 being the first successful iteration. This variant dropped the FSD entirely, including instead an entirely redesigned engine package that incorporated integral warp nacelles and a compact set of Class 7-size impulse engines - leaving the overall profile looking somewhat like a Malachowski-class that shrank in the wash. The system also incorporated a first-of-class RTSC-EPS hybrid power distributor set, which allowed certain high-energy systems to use fully Starfleet-accustomed EPS components, instead of the solid RTSC rails favored by Pact ship construction techniques. Finally, the blanked-off frontal bridge option on the FD350 was replaced entirely by a standard Federation deflector array. The FD370 also changed out the shuttlepod bay and SRV elevator in favor of a larger single elevator designed to accommodate two standard Federation shuttles. A single Danube-class runabout or Peregrine-class fighter was also supported. The first FD360 was type-accepted as the Caspian-class. The namer craft (USS Caspian, NX/NCC-74220) and the rest of her initial tranche were brought from the Mirai Orbital Fleet Yards to Utopia Planitia by a heritage flight of the Last Hope in 12754 CC.
The FD360 and FD370 series first saw combat in the First Battle of Chin'toka, where clever use of wolfpack tactics demonstrated by Pact advisors helped the combined fleet eke out a win, despite the Pact's loss of much of the 4th Haraway Battlegroup. This included three Sakura-type fleet carriers, most of their Militia Corvettes and Viper MkIV Block 200s, and half of the Battlegroup's Shin Osaka-type battlecruisers [5]. While casualties were heavier than Starfleet would have preferred, the very low crew requirements and the sheer agility of the ship endeared it to its crews, especially the ones who had opted for personality backups through the wartime dispensation.
Many of the FD360, FD370 and the refined post-war FD380s serve with distinction in Starfleet, despite the off-and-on antipathy of elements of the Federation government and Starfleet towards the Pact. Deliveries of the FD380s ceased after the Zhat Vash terrorist attack against Mars in 13104 CC (April 5th, 2385 CE, First Contact Day) caused the Federation to demand a total ban on synthetic life, and then to try and enforce it upon non-member polities. This greatly angered the Pact, which had had many A-Doll and other synthetic citizens since its founding. In protest, the Pact of Flowers withdrew their embassy and STAR treaty signatory status in 13168 CC. The same declaration officially closed all System Defense Authorities to Federation citizens [6], thus effectively outlawing transit by Federation citizens and their Starfleet through Pact-controlled space.
Unofficially, certain groups such as the Fenris Rangers still had permits, and some FD370 and FD380 crews (among others) defected to the Pact, taking their ships with them. This also effectively forced the Pact to carry most of the burden of evacuating Romulus and Remus by itself. This freezing of relations, and the total halt of Caspian-class deliveries, would persist until 2399, when an investigation by the newly-formed crew of a B320 Mamba, known as La Sirena [7] forced the latest iteration of the Zhat Vash cult conspiracy to be exposed. Their crimes against sophonts included their explicit and fundamental violations of the Borg Reclamation Treaty, genocidal terror attacks on both Pact and non-Pact synthetics [8], and deliberate exposure of sophonts to Type-III psychic cognitohazards.
Since the signing of the Coppelius Accords in 13559 CC (2399 CE), deliveries of FD380s and critical parts availability have returned to normal across the known galaxy. Haraway-Artemis hopes to approve the Block 460 type-pattern and deliver the first tranche of the upcoming FD390 block to Starfleet and Federation-allied licensees by 13680 CC (2403 CE). The Caspian Explorer and its variants have been the able vanguard of the third generation of the Pact starship design tradition, and will likely continue to be so for gigaseconds to come.
[1] For those unaware of the Cradle Second-Standard Calendar, the Pact's official seconds-based timekeeping epoch matches the historical Unix computer operating system epoch. All CC dates given here are in megaseconds, which corresponds to 1 week, 4 days, 13 hours, 46 minutes, and 40 seconds per CC. Full epoch dates are written as Ms.ks.s, so for example, 10000.000.000 would translate to 10000 CC or Saturday, November 20, 2286 at 17:46:40 UTC+0. The Federation Starfleet uses stardates for much the same reasons, though it instead normalizes a Sol III year to a metric form of 1000 units.
[2] A derivative of the workhorse Magnolia-type fleet operations rescue carrier, forgoing all but two small-type landing elevators and an SLV bay fitting up to thirty-two XS-size utility and fighter craft, the Lotor-type fleet salvager was designed to retain and safely transit capital-class warper ships. Detailed specifications and a treatment of its history can be found in any edition of Kelly's Working Ships from the 9300s CC, with Shenzhou Recovery Project redactions removed in the 12200 CC editions.
[3] Inertial compensators, also known as inertial dampers, are a technology that damps or fully compensates for dangerous variations in inertia that would otherwise cause hazardous g-forces to be experienced by the internal contents of the ship, such as passengers, crew or cargo.
[4] Examples include the HASS Panther Clipper Transit and Lynx Highliner, the CSU Type-7 and Type-9 PAX variants, and the Glitter Design Bureau's line of luxury passenger ships, such as the 700o Orca and 900o Beluga.
[5] The Shin Osaka pattern is derived from the Farragut Battlecruiser originally detailed in the Patron Lilith database. For over eleven gigaseconds, the Shin Osaka (named after "New Osaka", a hab district inside the legendary Ceres Station before the Great Exodus) has stopped many fights before they could start. Through sheer tonnage and its prodigious capacity for SLVs and wolfpack Corvettes, it has been the backbone of the Pact's Shockjump strategic doctrine, first demonstrated to the Federation during First Contact in 8509 CC (September 1, 2239 CE), and subsequently during the Flower War in 11815 CC (2344 CE), at the Battle of Wolf 359, multiple fleet actions against the Dominion, and the joint fleet action against the Zhat Vash cultist fleet of 13547 CC (2399 CE).
[6] For more details, see the All-Systems Council's "Anti-Neo-Optimal Declaration of 13116 CC" (mid-August 2385 CE), passed unanimously by the all-systems delegates of the Pact of Flowers metacommune.
[7] There are persistent rumors that La Sirena's crew were an official joint Federation-Pact operation, but all members we could reasonably interview denied this, including Starfleet's VADM Jean-Luc Picard and CMDR Raffaela Musiker, Pilot Union CMDR Wendy Hopper (a High Priestess of Lilith), and Hannah Jurati, a recently awakened A-Doll.
[8] In particular, several of the attacks perpetrated by Zhat Vash cultists were on various Halls of Ancestors, a type of facility that provides restoration of minds into bodies. As implied by the name, it is effectively a shrine where friends and family can access the mindstates of those who have elected to suspend their lives for a time, or alternately chose to delay their resurrection, in a safe, welcoming, mediated environment for both physical and Level II virtual contact; the sociocultural and religious significance of these sites cannot be overstated.