The NX Columbia

[Methos]

We know the Columbia was launched in late 2154... and one of it's earliest missions involved helping The Enterprise with the augment storyline and finding Doctor Phlox...

And in 2156, in battle with a Romulan Warbird, the ship and crew were pretty much decimated, leaving The Columbia to travel to the nearest planet at full impulse... pushing their impulse drives past the safety limits and arriving at some point in 2168, though because of them pushing the impulse drives to far, relativity got involved, and only 60 odd days passed for the crew...

Then after a battle with the Caeliar, the Columbia entered a subspace tunnel, where its remaining thirty-one human and one Denobulan crewmembers were incinerated by the hyperphasic radiation, before the Columbia crashed somewhere in the Gamma Quadrant...

So we know the beginning and end of The Columbia storyline, but i was wondering if there was any books or episodes that dealt with the first 2 years, when The Columbia was in active service alongside the Enterprise...

What sort of missions it had, what areas of space it explored before the Romulan war...

Anyone got any ideas?

M

 

[Kemaiku]

After Columbia aided the Enterprise in season 4 she would obviously have been patrolling sectors of space within the Coalition, all the areas Enterprise wasn't covering.

Unfortunately since she was given very similar assignments to Enterprise, we'd probably end up with stories that are too similar to the ones already written.

It might be interesting to see how the Columbia helped in the Coalition peace talks, the ferrying/escorting of diplomats and their vessels, the earlier engagements of the Romulan conflict, but still, another NX ship, same events, might not be different enough.

 

[Methos]

possibly...

Was wondering really which areas she would have explored...

I doubt they'd have just sent The Columbia out in the same direction The Enterprise had gone... If The Enterprise covered say the north right quadrant out from Earth, then it'd name sense for The Columbia to be sent to the south west quadrant for example...

I remember it being mentioned that The Columbia had a larger MACO contingent on board, not to mention upgraded weapons and hull...

M

 

[Timo]

On the other hand, we could observe that Archer's ship was uniquely capable of several types of mission: nobody else could do long range exploration because nobody else had warp five engines, and nobody else could do rapid military interdiction for the same reason. Archer faced conflicting mission demands as a consequence during the four seasons of the TV show.

Starfleet might have decided to resolve the situation by giving Archer one set of missions and Hernandez another. Perhaps NX-01 subsequently only explored, and NX-02 only fought, unless situation absolutely warranted otherwise? That would give sufficient dramatic distinction to write two different lines of stories.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

My favorite part about this ship..



And the Destiny trilogy rocks

 

[F. King Daniel]

My favourite bit of the ship is those ridiculous glowing columns on the bridge. How distracting must that be when you're trying to type "fire phasers" into your console and they're going GLOW! and WHUUM! out the corner of your eye?

No one let JJ Abrams see those episodes!!

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Those columns.. WTH are they for. Seriously.

If I was captain I would be requisitioning a curtain.

 

[REDrake]

Those columns.. WTH are they for. Seriously.

If I was captain I would be requisitioning a curtain.

This Star Trek. They must be some sort of positronic conductors.

 

[Kemaiku]

The large gold dome on the Enterprises bridge was identified as a sensor platform in some older schematics, maybe Columbia was rushed out without time to have a new larger plasma load to it installed and had to basically "run cables" through the bridge, removing them later. Or a new polarised dome to protect the bridge that Enterprise didn't have.

I'd have that dropped in any future fic, they weren't mentioned in Destiny either.

My advice is find the starcharts book or scans of it, find where Enterprise patrolled and just have Columbia patrol the other sectors.

She has a bluer, more silver coloured hull compared to Enterprise's redder goldish hull. Her main deflector is larger, square and has two prongs instead of one.

She is ever so slightly faster and streamlined, probably a bit more reactor output and faster/better weapon responce having had all her tech installed properly from scratch.

Enterprise was their "flagship" or rather the one with the reputation and therefore sent out on more diplomatic missions, Columbia was newer and shinier with more weapons, so Timo's idea that she was the muscle ship isn't far off. Have her closer to the Coalition worlds acting as an interstellar bouncer for a while.

 

[Sci]

So we know the beginning and end of The Columbia storyline, but i was wondering if there was any books or episodes that dealt with the first 2 years, when The Columbia was in active service alongside the Enterprise...

The ENT novels The Good That Men Do, Kobayashi Maru, and The Romulan War: Beneath the Raptor's Wing are all set during this period, and feature Columbia NX-02 in a supporting role.

 

[Methos]

Cheers Sci, i'll hunt them down

M

 

[Leathco]

First off, I LOVE Enterprise, I really do.

But I always thought it funny to think of Columbia trailing Enterprise fixing some of Archers screwups.

Hey, sorry that other ship destroyed your whole colony by igniting the atmosphere.
Hey, sorry the captain took his dog planetside and it releived itself on your plants.
Hey, sorry the doctor on that other ship found a cure for your plague but kept it from you. If it makes you feel better, centuries later our race will do it again to the Andorians.

 

[T'Girl]

... found a cure for your plague but kept it from you

Yes, please have the Columbia find the time to swing by the Valakian planet and drop off that cure.

 

[Gaith]

Those columns.. WTH are they for. Seriously.

The writers evidently thought the audience was too dumb to tell that bridge apart from the Enterprise's without 'em.

 

[Kemaiku]

Those columns.. WTH are they for. Seriously.

The writers evidently thought the audience was too dumb to tell that bridge apart from the Enterprise's without 'em.

I know, the whole other set of people, the different software running on the screens visibly, slightly altered sound effects, the use of more blue around the bridge really didn't set it apart enough apparently.

 

[Timo]

...If we want to, we can use this to compensate for a somewhat opposite phenomenon. That is, on another occasion the Columbia was said to differ from the Enterprise, but this was not shown: she was supposed to have dorsal torpedo launchers. So, new features on the upper inside of the ship - related to new features on the upper inside of the ship?

Not that I could figure out how the new launchers could be on the roof of the bridge, or how the launchers would need these glowing conduit things if they were not on top of the bridge...

Perhaps they are aft-facing tubes just behind the bridge? The Enterprise only had two aft tubes for the forward four in the lower saucer (plus the tube in the aft pod as see in "The Expanse"); it might have been felt that the Columbia needed a more balanced suite.

Timo Saloniemi