Some initial thoughts for an upcoming 'Future Trek' fic

[Shamrock Holmes]

I'm too busy with work and other projects at the moment to write this, and it also needs a lot more planning. However, I had a couple of thoughts about it that I wanted to share:

Project Triangle

Launched as part of the Federation Tri-Centennial celebrations on Stardate 123612.2, Project Triangle was the first major test of the Alpha Quadrant Alliance Joint Expeditionary Fleet (JEF for short), originally established as an ad hoc force for the Alpha Quadrant Alliance operations in the Delta Quadrant in the 2410s. For similar reasons to the nascent Federation, the Alliance opted to use Starfleet-centric designs and practices for most of the new fleet, however some other influences were used to ‘improve’ the fleet to face its new challenges as they sought to explore and colonize the Triangulum Galaxy.

Primary command of the Fleet is vested in the Grand Admiral of the Joint Expeditionary Fleet (Starfleet Grade 10), originally held by George Stiles, an eighth generation Starfleet veteran dating back to the original Earth-Romulan War.

Under the Grand Admiral are the three Uniform Branches, commanded by a ‘Starfleet Grade 9’ or equivalent:

- JEF Deep Space Corps (colloquially known as ‘the Fleet’) is the JEF’s ‘tip of the spear’ responsible for most of the organization’s space operations including exploration, diplomacy, and defence. It is split into the Exploration Division (colloquially ‘the Starship Service’) which operates the bulk of the expeditionary assets [Based on the old Starfleet ‘chevron’ division of the TOS era] and Operational Support Services [‘Starbase Duty’] which are responsible for various strategic-level support operations including fleet maintenance, upgrades and repair, JAG, R & D and diplomacy [based on the old ‘Starflower’ division of TOS, controlled by an ‘Grand Admiral of the Fleet’]

- JEF Auxiliary Service: The JAS is responsible for operating space vessels that for transportation and storage of cargo and transportation of civilians between JEF bases, planets and starships. [Based on the old Starfleet ‘hoof’ division of the TOS era, controlled by an ‘Director of the Service’].

- JEF Ground Forces: JGF are split into three sub-branches – Ground Forces Sentinels (hybrid army/coast guard unit, responsible for crewing and defending border watch stations and ground-based border outposts, “Balance of Terror” & “Arena” (TOS), “Siege of AR-558” (DS9)), the Ground Forces Commandos (orbital drop-capable operators used for a variety of roles (modelled on a hybrid of US Green Berets and SEALs. “The Final Frontier” ‘hostage rescue team’) and Ground Forces Reserves (an ‘on-call’ branch used to provide infantry and armor support during military operations). [Mostly based on the old ‘spikelet’ division of TOS, but with Klingon Defense Force and Cardassian Guard influences, led by a ‘Supreme General of the Force’]


All three branches typically wear similar uniforms, but with a different colored trousers and jackets/coveralls (navy blue for Deep Space Corps, charcoal grey for Auxiliary Service and khaki for the Ground Forces) with a coloured shirt (brick, ochre, white, gray, olive, cyan) which resemble traditional Starfleet designs, but with a greater degree of additional equipment and environment adaptations. The ‘suit’ is similar in style to the Starfleet flag dress uniforms worn from 2369 to 2364 (with the option to wear only the trousers and colored shirt on duty) while the coveralls resemble the cadet uniform of the 2350s and 2360s, however the rank insignia follow the TOS-style.

---

Due to the differing influences on the organization, each branch has a slightly different approach to rank. Predictably, the Deep Space Corps structure is most familiar to Federation Starfleet personnel:

Officers:
Commander-in-Chief (two broad gold stripes, personal insignia): Grand Admiral of the Joint Expeditionary Fleet (technically not a member of the DSC but wears their rank in memory of George Stiles, SC, JEF (ret’d))
Flag Officers (broad gold stripe, up to four medium stripes, gold breast insignia): Grand Admiral of the Fleet > Admiral of the Fleet > Vice Admiral of the Fleet, Rear Admiral of the Fleet > Rear Admiral of the Branch^.
Flag Adjutants/Staff (broad silver stripe, three to two medium stripes, silver breast insignia): Fleet Captain > Staff Captain > Staff Commander.
Commanding Officers (three to two medium stripes, silver breast insignia): Star Commodore > Star Captain > Escort Captain/Star Commander.
Senior Officers (two to one medium stripes, silver breast insignia): Star Commander > Lieutenant Commander > Lieutenant (Department Head).
Junior Officers (zero > half or one medium stripe, silver breast insignia: Lieutenant (Duty Officer) > Lieutenant Junior Grade > Ensign.
Officer Designate (zero medium stripe, silver breast insignia, grey uniform): Acting Ensign (department braid/shirt) > Midshipman (grey shirt).

Other Ranks (bronze insignia and stripes)
HQ SEA (broad bronze stripe, four medium stripes): SEA of the Fleet#
Flag SEA (broad bronze stripe, up to three medium stripes): XCMC of the DSC > XCMC of ED/OSS > Fleet XCMC > Sector or Task Force XCMC.
SEA and Chief Petty Officers (three to two medium stripes): Chief of Operations or CMC/MCPO > CSC/SCPO > CC/CPO.
Petty Officers (one-and-a-half or one medium stripes): Petty Officer 1st Class > Petty Officer 2nd Class.
Enlisted (half or no medium stripe): Crewman 1st Class > Crewman.
Recruits (gray uniform): Crewman Trainee (department braid/shirt) > Crewman Recruit (grey shirt).

---

Due to its status as an unarmed support organisation The JEF Auxiliary Service uses a hybrid, simplified system compared to the above:

Flag Officers (broad stripe, up to three medium stripes, gold breast insignia): Director of the Service, Deputy Director, Regional Director, Assistant Director, Deputy Assistant Director.
Commissioned Officers (two, one or no medium stripes, silver breast insignia): Auxiliary Captain (‘Skipper’) > Chief Officer > Ship’s Officer or Civilian Researcher.
Officer Designate: Auxiliary Midshipman.
NCOs and Crew (up to two medium stripes, bronze breast insignia): Bosun or Crew Chief, Leading Crewman or Civilian Specialist, Able Crewman.
Recruits (gray uniform): Crewman Trainee (department braid/shirt) > Crewman Recruit (grey shirt).

---

Due to its partial Klingon roots, the Ground Forces use an ‘army’-style rank system rather than the ‘navy’-style system traditionally used by Starfleet:

Flag Officers (broad gold stripe, up to four medium stripes, gold breast insignia): Supreme General of the Force > General of the Force > Lieutenant General of the Force > Major General of the Force > Brigadier General of the Force.
Flag Adjutants/Staff (broad silver stripe, two-and a-half or two medium stripes, silver breast insignia): Staff Colonel > Staff Lieutenant Colonel.
Field Officers (three to one-and-a-half medium stripes, silver breast insignia): Field Brigadier > Field Colonel > Field Lieutenant Colonel > Major.
Junior Officers (one-and-a-half to half medium stripes, silver breast insignia): Lieutenant > Second Lieutenant > Ensign.
Officer Designate (zero medium stripe, silver breast insignia, grey uniform): Warrant Officer (department braid/shirt) > Cadet (grey shirt).

Senior Enlisted Advisors (bronze insignia and stripes)
HQ SEA (broad bronze stripe, four medium stripes): SEA of the Fleet#
Flag SEA (broad bronze stripe, up to three medium stripes): XCSM of the Force > XCSM of the Sentinels/Commandos/Reserves > Regional XCSM > Sector or Division XCSM.
SEA and Chief Petty Officers (three to two medium stripes): Command Sergeant Major/Chf MSgt >Senior First Sergeant /Senior MSgt > First Sergeant/Master Sergeant.
Petty Officers (one-and-a-half or one medium stripes): Sergeant > Corporal.
Enlisted (half or no medium stripe): Private 1st Class > Private.
Recruits (gray uniform): Force Trainee (department braid/shirt) > Force Recruit (grey shirt).


* = dress jackets add an additional braid to designate assignment (apart from Flag personnel who carry it over), this is typically gold for Flag Officers (SG5a and above), silver for adjutants (SG1 to SG5 tasked directly to FOs), bronze for Senior Enlisted Advisors (SE7 and above), and department colour for officers and rated enlisted personnel. The same colour also carries over to the shirt color for all qualified personnel (with the exception of Flag Officers and adjutants (who wear may wear white).

^ = Headquarters Staff Officers
# = By tradition, the SEAoF is usually a former CMC of the ED but this not required, typically wears a bronze version of the C-in-C’s personal insignia.

Note, the main story will begin over thirty years after their initial arrival, approximately two hundred years after the signing of the First Khitomer Accords.

 

[Dulak]

Just a thought, since this entire series is happening so far from Federation space and anything that goes on (or went on) there. A whole new setting as it were. Why tie it to Star Trek at all? I'm just saying, You've done a lot of background work to fit parts of Starfleet background as far as uniforms and ranks, etc. But really, all of what you have is just trappings at this point, so you could quite easily create something out of "whole cloth" as the old saying goes, and have an original idea not bounded by everything in the Trek canon.

If the trappings are important to your story, or you just want to write about something both familiar and new, and the Trek background is how you want to get the familiar, then by all means go for it. It's got to be fun to write. BUT, I just want to point out that at this nascent stage of story development, you have options. Many options.

BTW, thanks for posting your detailed rank and uniform ideas. Have you already worked up ship designs as well?

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

If the trappings are important to your story, or you just want to write about something both familiar and new, and the Trek background is how you want to get the familiar, then by all means go for it.

A little of the first, a lot of the second.

BTW, thanks for posting your detailed rank and uniform ideas. Have you already worked up ship designs as well?

Only in general terms of types, there are four in the DSC (Explorer/Command Ship [successor to the Vesta with similar lines], commanded by a senior Commanding Officer (Grade 5 or 5a), Cruiser [mid-size workhorse similar to Treklit's Luna or Merian-class designs, commanded by a Grade 5], Frigate [smaller workhorse ala the Intrepid-class, commanded by a Grade 4 or 5] and Escort/Patrol Ship [small recon/strike vessel designed for border patrol and combat, probably a slightly larger version of the USS Spirit from the Ships of the Line, commanded by a Grade 4).

The Auxiliary Service has a few of designs of various sizes all with a more 'functional' look than the DSC vessels for bulk transport, courier, colony support (these can also be used as troop transports during war), NB I've added a service rank of Commodore to the AS to act as convoy commander, above that AS personnel are civilians because any large scale deployment of AS ships (over half-a-dozen or so) would inevitably mean they are supporting a DSC and/or GF operation so would fall under their Flag Officer anyway.

The Ground Forces generally avoid fielding ships of their own generally restricting themselves to patrol ships (probably based on the Klingon BoP/Bajoran Raider), transports and runabouts.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Given the Project Triangle would be as much a colonization program as it is an exploration mission, do you think it would make sense that the project's "senior staff" would include Federation civilian experts (more like the National Security Council or even the Cabinet) rather than purely being run by the three "Heads of Service" and the "Grand Admiral of the JEF". Maybe a Federation High Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner, an ambassador or two, a junior director from the Federation Security Agency, Diplomatic Corps etc.

Any thoughts?

 

[WarpTenLizard]

Just a thought, since this entire series is happening so far from Federation space and anything that goes on (or went on) there. A whole new setting as it were. Why tie it to Star Trek at all? I'm just saying, You've done a lot of background work to fit parts of Starfleet background as far as uniforms and ranks, etc. But really, all of what you have is just trappings at this point, so you could quite easily create something out of "whole cloth" as the old saying goes, and have an original idea not bounded by everything in the Trek canon.

If the trappings are important to your story, or you just want to write about something both familiar and new, and the Trek background is how you want to get the familiar, then by all means go for it. It's got to be fun to write. BUT, I just want to point out that at this nascent stage of story development, you have options. Many options.

BTW, thanks for posting your detailed rank and uniform ideas. Have you already worked up ship designs as well?

I second this. Fanfiction rocks, but when given the choice, it's usually better to write something original.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Great idea. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Assuming that the DSC's starships are more realistically crewed and deployed, can we assume that their Transwarp Exploration Task Groups (TETGs) are commanding by Rear Admirals (two-star), with Chief of Staff (Branch Admiral or senior Captain, most likely from a Mercury-class Exploration Command Ship ['improved Vesta', commanded by an experienced Captain or Commodore, essentially a hybrid LCC & LHD with a crew of c 3,500 (inc flag staff) and a Ground Forces Commando brigade (inc runabouts/flyers for CAP/CAS and 'improved Argos' for landings, and a BGEN or MGEN as CO) for supplemental manpower]?

The main 'combat' role for the Task Group would be taken by the Ganymede-class cruiser (a successor to the Luna-class, but with more Prometheus or Vesta-esque lines to allow transwarp travel, crew c 1500 commanded by a Captain or experienced CMDR), supplemented by either Shikahr-class frigate (inspired by the New Orleans-class, but visually more like sleeker and roomer Saber, crew 250-500, commanded by a CMDR or experienced LCDR) or the Atlirith-class patrol ship (militarised 'improved Raven-type' or Sydney-class, possibly inspired by the old Kumari-type but smaller, crew <100 mostly flight/tactical and services personnel, commanded by a LCDR or experienced LT), the later also being used by the GF Sentinels (CG/NG hybrid) in the system defence role.

I also like the idea - from Project Full Circle - of including some non-combat focused support vessels like an engineering/factory ship (cf the Mulciber-class or Red Sector's Combat Support Tender) and a hospital/farm ship (hybrid of the Theophrastus class and the Galen/Olympic-classes vessels) in exploratory/multi-role taskforces (rather than the 'all-combat' lineup of a Battlegroup).