Defiant Class

Defiant Class
Affiliation:	Federation Starfleet
Service Period:	24th - 25th Centuries
Dimensions
Length:	170 meters
Width:	134 meters
Height:	30 meters
Mass:	355,000 metric tons
Specifications
Decks:	4
Crew:	50 personnel
Speed:	Warp 9.8
Armament:	Phaser Banks Pulse Phaser Cannons Torpedo Launchers
Defenses:	Ablative Hull Armor Shields
Auxiliary craft:	Starfleet Shuttlecraft

Overview

On Stardate 42761.3 the Galaxy Class starship U.S.S. Enterprise-D was transported to system J-25 by the omnipotent entity known as Q. While working to return to Federation territory, the Enterprise made first contact with the Borg Collective. Outmatched and outgunned, the Enterprise was quickly overwhelmed by the Borg and it was only through the intervention of Q that the flagship survived. Upon their return to Federation territory, Captain Jean-Luc Picard offered a full briefing to Admiral J.P. Hansen of Starfleet Tactical. Realizing the danger presented by the Borg, Starfleet Tactical petitioned for the establishment of the Perimeter Defense Directive from Starfleet Command to begin construction on a new generation of vessels designed equally for combat and exploration. In 2366 the Corps of Engineers began work on their first vessel authorized by this project, a starship that would feature no families, no science labs, no luxuries of any kind, and would exist simply to fight. This was the birth of the Defiant.

While Starfleet rushed to build the first Defiant Class ship for testing, the Borg Collective launched an assault upon the Federation and devastated the fleet during the Battle of Wolf 359. Due to the heavy losses, Starfleet was invigorated to get the Defiant into production as quickly as possible and diverted additional resources into the construction of the craft. Nonetheless, as the threat of the Borg diminished, Starfleet reduced its pressure on Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards and work on the Defiant slowed. Following a devastating shakedown cruise where the Defiant itself was nearly lost, Starfleet decided to postpone to project and returned the ship to drydock. It was only due to first contact with the Dominion, a dangerous adversarial race from the Gamma Quadrant, that Starfleet chose to revisit the Defiant as its first line of defense against its latest enemy.

Capabilities

The exterior silhouette of the Defiant Class is atypical when compared to other Starfleet vessels. Small and compact, the Defiant features a unibody construction where the primary and engineering hulls are merged into one unit with the warp nacelles directly connected to the vessel's body. The design of the Defiant features sloped surfaces and a flattened hull to limit the ability of an enemy to attack the ship, but if they get a weapon's lock the Defiant can normally avoid damage due to its maneuverability. The ship is heavily defended with a layer of ablative armor available to dissipate damage from enemy weapons. In an emergency the front nosecone of the Defiant, which contains the navigational deflector, can separate from the vessel to assist with evacuation, or serve as a last ditch weapon.

The most impressive feature of the Defiant Class is the inclusion of four forward firing Pulse Phaser Cannons. These fire-linked phasers were designed alongside the Defiant Class as a defense against the adaptability of Borg vessels. Operating similar to a standard phaser, the Pulse Phasers utilize a compressed magnetic field to surround the phaser energy, forcing a burst of Phaser energy toward the target. While the Pulse Phaser has less range than a traditional Phaser Array, it has a higher destructive yield than its counterpart. Additionally, the Defiant has been equipped with Quantum Torpedoes. Designed as part of the Perimeter Defense Initiative, Quantum Torpedoes were an evolutionary step above the Photon Torpedo which release a tremendous amount of energy toward their target upon impact.

The Defiant takes the moniker "Tough Little Ship" to heart and has an advanced Class 7 Warp Drive installed; however, its Warp Drive is also one of its most dangerous deficiencies. While the Warp Plasma Conduit runs through the Phaser couplings to provide a 30% more efficient Warp Drive and nearly double Phaser power, the Defiant can literally tear itself apart while traveling at high warp speeds. Starfleet compensated for this by strengthening the structural integrity fields, but it is still not a foolproof solution and the maximum velocity of a Defiant Class ship is routinely limited as the inertial dampeners cannot always overcome the stress upon the crew.

Crew accommodations aboard a Defiant Class ship are as spartan as they come. Aside from the Captain, Defiant Class cabins are shared with as many as four people sharing the same room. Crew amenities are minimalist as a Defiant has no holodecks, lounges, and no accommodations for families or civilians aboard. Recreation was provided through the ship's mess hall, but even this room was not as comfortable as its counterpart on larger vessels. Even replicators aboard the Defiant were programmed with a limited menu to allow the ship's computer systems to focus on military applications.

Refits and Variants

The prototype U.S.S. Defiant was outfitted with a Cloaking Device loaned to the Federation by the Romulan Star Empire; however, no other Defiant Class ship would be outfitted with such a device. Following the Dominion War, the Starfleet Exploratory Division petitioned for an experimental refit to the Defiant to enhance its scientific capabilities. The Shuttlepod Bays were removed and reconfigured to house a general Science Lab and a Stellar Cartography Lab. The sensors were also recalibrated to handle scientific investigations and the computer cores modified to a military/sciences hybrid profile. This gave the Defiant the ability to successfully conduct up to 82% of the routine scientific assignments of other starships.

Mission Profiles

Espionage/Intelligence, Patrol, Tactical Operations. Optimized for tactical performance, vessels of the Defiant Class typically take on law enforcement duties and missions where combat is a likelihood. Officers looking for exploratory assignments rarely, if ever, willingly serve on a Defiant Class ship.

Naming Conventions

Like its Dauntless Class counterparts, Defiant Class ships are usually named after positive traits related to courage and heroism in the languages of Federation Member Worlds.

Notable Starships

U.S.S. Defiant, Class Prototype U.S.S. Defiant (U.S.S. Sao Paulo) U.S.S. Nostromo U.S.S. Resolute U.S.S. Sao Paulo U.S.S. Valiant