This is another ship featured in my fiction writing. At this point, I don’t plan on writing more about this ship/crew, but I’ll keep it on file just in case I need it. TIMEFRAME: TOS-era, after "Balance Of Terror" and before "Errand Of Mercy" and "Arena". SHIP: Federation Patrol Cutter "James McShane". This is a good ship with a problem. PATROL AREA: Police District Four, in the north-west region of the Federation. If you look at a map of the Federation oriented with the galactic center to the “north”, there are three known star empires neighbors: Romulans to the south-east, Klingons to the south-west, and Kzinti to the north-west. The Tholian holdfast is due-south. Contact has yet to be made with the Gorn to the north-east. When the Federation Counsel unilaterally declared the Federation perimeter to be 4750-parsecs radius from Sol/Earth, Star Fleet built a series of space stations and deployed fleets to protect the border. The central core of the Federation is well developed. This leaves a “middle ring” that is still largely unexplored, still very much the Wild West. Star Fleet does not have a strong presence in this region; rather, the Federation Consolidated Law Enforcement Service, aka Space Police, has set up patrol zones. The First District covers the central “home worlds” core and extends north / northeast. The Second, Third, and Fourth Districts cover the south-east, south-west, and north-west, respectively. The Fifth District is being carved out of the northern half of the First District. Districts are broken down into five or six Precincts, and each Precinct will have a squadron of five or six patrol cutters plus a support frigate. Captain: Lieutenant Commander Marcus Maxwell is a kindhearted and fair man with 24 years of service, 12 as an enlisted Gunner’s Mate. He believes in giving second chances, but even he has his limits. Executive Officer: Lieutenant Jonathan Wu is a man with 14 years of service. He is a quiet man by nature who dislikes personal confrontation. Operations Officer: Lieutenant Cynthia Harris has 12 years of service, but this is her first space-duty assignment. She spent two years as an Academy instructor and then a year at a small ground station before joining the McShane four months ago. Intelligence Officer: Lieutenant Edith Grossman is a very book-smart woman. She is confident in her job but not her personal life. Tactical Officer: Lieutenant Duncan is an Alpha Centauri man who could be mistaken for a Norse God. (NOTE: Tactical Officer is not the same as Weapons Officer, but rather is the head of the Tac-Teams, combining the duties of what on a Star Fleet ship would be the security detail and Marine detachment.) Chief of the Boat: Senior Chief Reactor Technician Lucille Cohen is the crew’s mother hen. She will protect her troops from injustice to the bitter end. She has little tolerance for stupidity and will quickly adjust the attitude of any troop so in need. PROBLEM: The ship has a serious morale problem that can be summed up in two words: Cynthia Harris. She has been described as a Witch with a capital “B”. People who served with Harris in her early years say that she was the nicest person you could even meet. That all changed when she arrived at the Academy, and nobody knows why. What few people know is that she went on a classified special duty assignment just prior to her time as an instructor -- it appears that “something bad” happened during the mission that transformed Harris.
Interesting idea, Sgt_G, in having a "Wild West" region (or would that be "volume"?) I have imagined a core that includes the home planets of the founding species, plus the oldest colonies. Then a larger "Wild West" volume. Then a periphery of surveyed space where civilians have just begun to venture-roughly comparable to mountain men. Beyond that would be space where Starfleet is exploring.
@Tim Walker -- I am using the map from the Star Fleet Battles universe as my starting point. They based theirs off the Franz Joseph Tech Manual, of course. As you can see, there is no unlimited expanse that isn't already occupied. Also, this is relatively early in Federation history (Pike / Kirk era), so there's still a lot of mapping yet to do in the "middle ring" that Star Fleet still treats as fly-over territory while they concentrate missions in the core and rim.
Zora Arkus-Duntov was a Belgian born engineer who was hired by General Motors and became the father of the Corvette.
Because the last story I posted directly to the site was a Concord one, I'll introduce that crew (with pitchers!) Timeframe: 23rd Century, Pike years. Hero ship: USS Concord (NCC-1712) Latest of the Constitution-class space cruisers. Built for both exploration and defense roles. Length: 947 m, Beam: 417 m. Complement: 203. Mounts latest defensive weapons and newest warp engines. Commanding Officer: Captain Martin Rourke Primary Specialty: Tactical Birthplace: Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, Earth Veteran of several skirmishes and a shrewd, analytical tactician, Rourke is one of the most accomplished Academy graduates in Fleet history. Lobbied for command of a Constitution-class as soon as one was available because "those ships are going to make history." First Officer: Lt. Commander Van Jensen Primary Specialty: Tactical Birthplace: Monterey, California, USA, Earth An efficient and capable officer, Jensen rose through the ranks to his current position swiftly, even though some aspects of his personality - like his old-fashioned "girl in every port" manner - might be considered obstacles to advancement. Chief Medical Officer: Doctor Anne Rourke, nee Ashton Primary Specialty: Medical Doctor Birthplace: Overlook Promontory, Vega Colony After graduating with top honors from her prestigious medical school on Vega, Anne Ashton toured the galaxy so that she could do her post-graduate work in some of the best known medical schools in the quadrant. It was during this tour that she met Martin Rourke. She accepted his marriage proposal because "I love the way he loves me for my mind as much as anything else." Science Officer: Doctor Amelie Sarkozy Primary Specialty: Astrophysics Birthplace: Calais, France, Earth Unlike most in her position, Amelie didn't love science from an early age. The daughter of well-to-do industrialists, it wasn't until after she became bored with the socialite lifestyle she'd been living that she found her calling, returning to school and earning her doctorate. Chief Engineer: Lieutenant Joachim Levi Primary Specialty: Space Engineering Birthplace: Ottomwa, Iowa, USA, Earth Though well-versed in all the latest technology, Levi has a nostalgia streak that tends to draw him into the past. He's obsessed with things like steam engines, ENIAC-style computers and early photographic technology. He even wears old-style glasses to correct his vision, eschewing the modern treatments readily available to him. Head Nurse: Abigail Knightley, RN Primary Specialty: Registered Nurse Birthplace: Heroes Ridge, Vega Colony Both best friend and confidante to Dr. Rourke, Abigail's optimism for Concord's mission has never waned, even as many of her duties have become routine. Never an overachiever (she graduated in the middle of her class) she is studious and hardworking and capable of finding innovative solutions to medical problems. With: Navigator: Lieutenant Radha Primary Specialty: Astro-navigation Birthplace: Hyderabad. India, Earth Communicator: Specialist "Sparks" Jordan Primary Specialty: Subspace Communications Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan, USA, Earth
Having the art along with this listing really gave me a feel for the kinds of characters you want to portray, in addition to giving the whole package a serious 60s/TOS feel. Kudos.
Rocketship Voyager Well it's just USS Voyager in a 1950's Robert Heinlein-type setting, but here it is. Timeframe: The far future of the year 2020. The world is finally at peace after three devastating world wars, enforced by the orbiting A-bomb platforms of Spacefleet, yet the pressures that lead to war are still present. Earth is vastly overpopulated with over seven billion people crammed into megacities and not enough arable land to feed them, but the invention of rocketships powered by contraterrene (e.g. anti-matter) has finally enabled widespread colonisation of the Solar System. However the settlement of Venus and Mars has caused tensions with the native inhabitants of those worlds, so the Tri-World Federation has been formed to give all three planets equal political status. The latest action of the Federation is a controversial peace agreement with Jupiter, which requires the forced evacuation of the human colonies of the Asteroid Belt, opposed by the militant faction of Belters known as the Maquis. Location: Despite the fact that faster-than-light travel should be impossible, Voyager has somehow ended up on the far side of the Milky Way on the outer rim of the galaxy. The only sign of intelligent life is the Array, an alien space station orbiting a "black star", a theorized but until now unencountered phenomenon. Hero ship: UNRS Voyager, a thousand-foot tailsitter with fifteen habitable decks. The Computer Deck has been upgraded from vacuum tubes to transistors for increased response time. Engines: variable-thrust Cochrane-model CT-drive, nuclear-auxiliary engines for flying in atmosphere, two thruster rings and a flywheel at the centre of gravity for altering heading. Weapons: psionic-guided weapon system, atom-tipped dirigible torpedoes, automatic cannon (for use against hostile natives when landed on a planetary surface) with power traverse, gunlaying infraradar, and electro-mechanical ballistics predictor. One aeroshuttle for transatmospheric use, and two Type 6 shuttleboats (one currently being scavenged for spare parts) for Outer Space work. Crew of 141 (now reduced to 126) plus a 40-man platoon of space marines (now reduced to a small guard force escorting their 36 prisoners). Crew: Captain Kathryn Janeway. Born on a farm-factory in Indiana, attended the Scholarium on Mars under a Tri-World exchange program, studying archaeology. Joined Spacefleet as a university graduate, facing opposition from the so-called Jetmen Mafia. Charged with mutiny after the UNRS Valkyrie disaster, cleared by board of inquiry. The latest of a long line of female spacers dating back to the first astronauts, now endangered by changing social values. Collects pre-Atomic literature that she has scavenged from the ruins of European cities. Space Commander Chakotay - First Officer. Of Terran-Lakota ancestry, but born in the asteroid mines of Hygiea. Left for Earth on reaching the age of majority but quickly found the bright lights of the megacities paled before their disease, overcrowding and excessive bureaucracy. Joined Spacefleet as an enlisted man and rose to the rank of Space Commander, decorated for his actions during the pacification of Venus and the rescue of the Ares IV expedition. After the destruction of Hygiea Station in a Jovian suicide attack, he resigned his commission in protest against the forced evacuation of the Belt. Served as captain of the atomic rocketship Valjean until it was defeated by Voyager in the Battle of Vesta, and along with his surviving crew of Maquis rebels was being transported to Earth for trial when they found themselves on the other side of the galaxy, whereupon he forced Captain Janeway to return his commission in exchange for Maquis help in getting Voyager up and running again. Tech Lieutenant TuV'k - Tactical Psionics Officer (a recent position formed by the merging of the Gunnery, Missile and ESP sections). A native Martian, he is an Adept in the study of History and Extra-Sensory Perception, and a graduate of the Scholarium, where he met Janeway as a student. Although a long-time friend of Janeway, he joined Spacefleet out of a desire to protect Mars against the increasing cultural encroachment of Terra. Tech Lieutenant Joseph Carey - Chief Engineer. Born in Belfast, United Ireland. Child refugee to the United Megacities of America during World War Three. Placed in command of the 'Glowing Gang' after the death of the previous Chief Engineer. Space Lieutenant Thomas Paris - Chief Helmsman. Son of a WWIII ace made redundant after the US Air Force become obsolete thanks to the orbital platforms of Spacefleet. Raised in the Unemployment Barracks of Great Lakes Megacity, arrested on several occasions for anti-social interaction and possession of fantastic literature. Stowed away on a rocketship as a teenager and worked as a rockrider and space jockey in the Asteroid Belt before joining Spacefleet. Currently facing court-martial for negligent homicide involving the misuse of a torchship on Deimos, inquiry postponed due to an urgent need for qualified pilots in the evacuation of the Belt colonies. Ensign Hyun Kim - Operations Officer. Born Pyongyang, North Korea. Promoted to current position after the previous Ops Officer was killed in a riot during the evacuation of Pallasport. Enthusiastic but accident-prone. B'Elanna Torres. Venerian-Brazilian half-caste. Abandoned by her Terran father and raised in a Catholic convent until her fifteenth birthday when she was abducted by her mother, an Amazon warrior from the Vepaja Morass. Survived three years of tribal warfare until she could stow away on a rocket-freighter to Brazil, where a government charity enrolled her in a special education program and an asteroid-mining corporation sponsored her degree in spatial engineering at the University of San Paulo. Served as Chief Engineer on the Valjean. She is literally a rocket scientist, but doesn't always act like one. Practicing Catholic. Agritech Keshari - Air tender and hydroponics gardener. Born in Chandigarh, India, and suffering advanced radiation poisoning after that city was A-bombed by a Spacefleet orbital platform to end the genocidal intentions of Khan Noonien Singh. Life expectancy of only eight or nine years, even in null-gee conditions. Has a gentle personality that makes her the unofficial confident of the crew. Tech Lieutenant Annika Hansen - Astrogator. Daughter of famous Norwegian explorers Magnus and Erin Hansen, born on the first deep space expedition to the outer worlds of the Solar System. She is one of the Spaceborn, whose bodies have been modified by artificial prosthetics to survive in Outer Space. Despite being the proverbial blonde Nordic beauty she is well-known as an ice queen, not only on her behalf but to fend off amorous spacemen from the famous beauties of the Astrogation department. Seska Pamyatnykh - Computer Programmer First Class. Communist agitator and suspected intelligence operative of the Soviet MGB. Born in the polar city of New Leningrad, studied cybernetics and was exiled to the Asteroid Belt after submitting a politically-controversial paper on the increasing influence of the Electronic Minds. Served as intelligence officer on the Valjean. Former lover of Chakotay. Dr. Lewis Zimmerman - Chief Science Officer. Attached to Voyager to study light rays and electromagnetic fields and is not happy when anything takes him away from this, like the mundane tasks needed to get a rocketship up and running. Sergeant Peter VanBuskirk, United Nations Space Marines. Born on the New Holland colony on Venus of Terran-Dutch ancestry. Detached from his unit to command the squad of space marines guarding the Maquis prisoners. The Autodoc. Surgical robot designed to supplement Voyager's medical team, programmed with Turing personality for patient interaction. Three Laws Compliant, but with Zeroth exceptions as guided by its compassion-protection algorithms. "Nee'Lix" (closest approximation, name unpronounceable). A sentient life-form with an uncanny resemblance to an oversized rodent, he is a native of the forest moon of Rynax. He was the only survivor of his extensive litter after his homeworld was destroyed by hostile terraforming, and along with others of his species ekes out a living on the fringes of society, acting as guide, trader, scavenger, thief and grifter as the need arises.
Captain Chakotay. A spit and polish starship commanding officer, constantly irritated by the lax bunch of civilian scientists he has been tasked with conveying around the delta quadrant. Unaware that the civilians refer to him as "chipotle" behind his back. Lt. Commander Two-box. First Officer, from a mystical planet of completely logical beings. Has seeming convinced himself that the civilians aboard the ship don't exist. LT (jg) Torreze. Chief engineer, repeatedly busted in rank (assault and battery), most resently to lieutenant junior grade. A Klingon-Tellarite mix, she spends most of her free time in the holo-rama engaged in her private Vulcan Love Slave programs, starring the first officer. Ensign Lawn Suder. Engineer and homocidial manic, it is he who keeps altering the safety protocols on all the holo-rama programs. Ensign Paris. Pilot. Graduated bottom of his class at the academy, imfamous for taking Voyager to the wrong planet and then lying about it. Kate Janeway (PhD). Scientific mission leader, coffee addict and schizophenic manic-depressive, Her vast scientific knowledge is only exceded by the size of her mood swings. Keeps insisting that the ship take "little side trips" that add years to the ship's voyage. Seven of Eleven. (PhD) Doctor of Astrometrics, and irritating know it all. Doc Zim repeatedly reprograms her replicator to produce clothing that's two sizes too small. Doc Zim (DVM). Ship's veterinarian, after the ship's original medical doctor was killed in a tragic air lock accident, he (kicking and screaming) stepped in to the duties as ship's physician. Knee-licks. Ship's cook and expert on anything he can bluff his way though. Kes. Botany grad student and ship's drug connection. You want it and she'll grow it. Specializes in death sticks. Object of Knee-licks passion. "Harry" Kim. Ship's puppy.
Also better than Voyager. I'd better stop saying that before the Voyager fans descend and take me to task.
I mentioned that in my stories, Commander Weatherford is captain of a police cutter that will be a floater, something of a squadron leader, able to go anywhere within the precinct as needed. There will be five or six other cutters in the squadron, each with a set patrol zone. Obviously, a cutter might cross over into another patrol sector as back-up to assist the one stationed there. Of course, that leaves their sector unprotected, and while the cat's away the mice will play. I have possible names for the other cutters in the squadron: H.H. Boon, Frank Eaton, Bernard Connelley, Adam Nighthorse, T'Kel, Victoria LaFayette. Some of these are named for real historical characters; others are made-up names. I don't have names for the command staff for any of these ships yet. I have decided a few things: All of these ships. will have crews that are 95+% Human / near-human (e.g., Alpha Centaurian). All of the commanders will be Humans save one might be Rigelian or something. The captain of the Frank Eaton is a recently-divorced woman with twelve years in service. She was just promoted to LtCmdr and assumed command of the Eaton after being the Exec on the Connelley. This opened the slot for a LT with 13 years of service to transfer up from a ground station ... her ex-husband. At least they're not on the same ship. While I don't have any specific stories in mind, I think this is an interesting hook I can use. There's one more ship in the squadron, a support Frigate, the Sir Francis Bacon. This is a modified Burke-class frigate with additional capabilities (i.e., long-range sensors, a hundred extra combat troops, larger sickbay, etc, etc). These modifications come at a price: the ship has no Photon Torpedo. Officially, the frigate is the squadron leader; in practice, it rarely leaves dock, and will have one or two cutters to escort it when it does so. It's too valuable and too vulnerable to patrol on its own. The frigate's captain is also the de-facto precinct vice-commander. Weatherford was supposed to take command of the Bacon, but he was away at school earning his Masters Degree in Criminal Justice when his protegee Susan Lang, the Bacon's Exec officer, received an early promotion to CMDR. The timing could not have been worse for Weatherford. Due to a Commodore's sudden retirement and the resulting cascade of openings, the precinct commander and the Bacon's captain was both moved up to new jobs. As Weatherford still had months to go before graduating, HQ decided to give Lang the center seat.
Starfleet cut its losses in 2289 and gifted the ship to the Border Service, where she went through an extensive refit that made her far better suited to SAR-Ops, interdiction and patrol.
Are you embellishing Sgt.G's entry or making your own? If it's the latter there doesn't seem to be enough information.