USS Century
More actions
- "Time is the wisest counselor of all."
- —Pericles - Ship's Dedication Quote
USS Century (NCC-94004) is a Constitution III-class Federation starship currently assigned to Fourth Fleet's Task Force 47 under the command of Captain ___. Commissioned in 2399 with a name that evokes a sense of legacy and a forward-thinking vision, Century is the beginning of a new lineage, part of the first production run of the brand new Constitution III-class of starship.
Over the short period of time she has been in service, Century has already endured great loss, but has seen wonderful success, too. Whether apprehending criminals stealing freighters for their supplies in the Thomar Expanse or defending the Federation against implacable enemies in the Vulcan System, Century has been on the leading edge of some of history’s most recent and defining events. With a new crew at the helm, Century returns to the Expanse as a diplomatic vanguard, exploring uncharted frontiers and encountering exciting scientific phenomena.
Design and Layout
- Main Article: Century Deck Listing
As with the rest of her stablemates, Century resembles Starfleet's return to the San Francisco School of design, with a focus on clean lines, fewer windows and no carpets. Constructed from the dying embers of two significantly older starships, she is an amalgamation of tried and tested components teamed with new, innovative technologies and significant advances in automation. Constructed at Avalon Fleet Yards like most of her class, she is built with a clear focus on her exploration and diplomatic capabilities, but is more than capable of defending herself and the Federation, thanks to her deceptively powerful armaments and high-powered defence systems.
Bridge
A reflection of the time period she was created, the polished steel and cool metal fixtures of the bridge aesthetics bring back memories of years gone by, her design blending modern technological advancements with the nostalgia of eras long gone. It is a functional, yet aesthetically pleasing facility designed in a similar vein to the rest of the ship. Her greatest feature is a wide-angled window which fills the forward bulkhead. This window has holographic projectors built into the rim, giving it the ability to function as a more traditional viewscreen. It can also be used as an emergency evacuation hatch, with force fields being lowered until replaced by a large, external bulkhead.
Dominating the heart of the command center, three leather command chairs sit atop the central platform, colloquially known as the 'Command Deck', surrounded by rails and steps to the lower levels of the bridge. As is tradition, the center seat and its controls are reserved for the commanding officer, or any directly appointed officer in command during their absence. To their right, the executive officer and, to their left, a third seat is generally reserved for the use of the ship's Counsellor, Chief Medical Officer or any official or dignitary the Captain sees fit. All three of the chairs have built-in controls on the armrests, enabling the occupying officers to conduct their duties with unprecedented access to a wide variety of ship systems.
At the foot of the stairs, directly ahead (or to the side) of the command deck, the 'Flight Deck' consists of two angled consoles serving as duty stations for operations (port) and flight operations (starboard). A few feet from each, two stand-alone consoles provide auxiliary station access for any purpose required (such as communications, environmental control, mission operations etc). Ascending the stairs on either side of the command deck, the port side bulkhead is home to three large stations dedicated to tactical operations, providing access to the ship's defensive and offensive systems, whilst the starboard bulkhead is dedicated to the various science departments on the ship.
Aft of the bridge, there are two additional consoles behind the command area designated for medical use (port) and engineering (starboard), allowing the engineer on duty access to the same engineering systems as in main engineering itself, including access to environmental controls, propulsion systems and the warp core. Central to the aft bulkhead, open access is granted to the observation lounge, which is sealable by emergency bulkheads and forcefields.
The Chrono Band
Originally fabricated by a member of the construction team in reference to the time it took to finalise many of the ship’s internal configurations, the Chrono Band is a slim, old-style metallic watchband - minus the actual watch itself. With a faint Starfleet delta etched on one brushed duranium link and the inscription "Hold the Moment." on another, the band now serves as a superstitious yet important piece of Century heritage and belongs to whoever sits upon the seat of power. Usually worn on one’s wrist, belt loop or clipped to the uniform of whoever is in command, Bridge lore claims that removing the Chrono Band from the command center during active duty hours will have serious repercussions, with some even claiming time itself would be broken with its removal, resulting in spatial anomalies, unending bad luck or even a sudden surge of temporal interference. In reality, the band has left the bridge countless times before and was once even misplaced in the mess hall replicator queue, but it mysteriously finds its way home eventually.
Observation Lounge
A beautifully designed room, the observation lounge matches the aesthetic of the rest of the ship, with polished alloys and cool metals as the material of choice during construction. The room is dominated by a large table with holographic controls, which is particularly useful for briefings and has seating for up to 10 officers. The Captain traditionally sits closest to the wall-mounted display on the starboard bulkhead. There are several shelves with ornaments and models of previous ships the commanding officer has served on. An additional door provides access from the port bulkhead.
The observation lounge operates an open-door policy and, in the absence of a more traditional ready room attached to the bridge, the Captain often uses the observation lounge as a workspace so that they do not have to return to their quarters.
Continuum Café
Symbolising the ship's role in the space-time continuum, the Continuum Café is perhaps the most spacious of all recreational facilities aboard Century, an elegant facility built across two levels. With dozens of seating areas across both levels, with varying degrees of comfort and privacy, the lounge is a constant hive of activity for anyone and everyone aboard the ship. People come to work in a relaxed, but active environment, or they may come to sit and read while people mill about and conduct their business. Food is obtained from several replicators around the room, while bar snacks and beverages are available at the bar, manned around the clock. The room's most exquisite feature is that of a shimmering spiral of transparent holo-panels suspended from the ceiling and in constant rotation, to echo the continuity of time itself. Each panel displays imagery associated with key moments in Federation history or cultural milestones across the member worlds of crewmates serving aboard ship.
Auxiliary Craft
Three bays across the primary and secondary hulls house some of the most advanced auxiliary craft available to Starfleet vessels. Auxiliary craft aboard Century were replaced at the behest of the new commander following the ship's participation in the defence of Vulcan. All have names that fit with the same temporal theme associated with the rest of the ship.
Shuttlebay 1 - Main Shuttlebay
Shuttlebay 1, or the Upper Shuttlebay, has been modified to house all of the auxiliary craft that make up The Mnemosyne Pact, auxiliary craft named after the Titaness of memory. These auxiliary craft are made up of some of the most advanced small vessel designs ever to serve Starfleet.
Janus, Mnemosyne, Morai, Ouroboros, Saturn, Yaldabaoth
Equinox, Meridian
Shuttlebay 2 - Runabout Landing Bay
Shuttlebay 2 is the smallest of the auxiliary craft facilities on Century and is the permanent home of four runabouts. Due to their size, these vessels cannot be shifted between bays using elevators, so they stay permanently docked in the lower shuttlebay.
Aeon, Chronos, Kairos, Parallax
Shuttlebay 3 - Fighter Hangar Deck
Shuttlebay 3 is on par with the main shuttlebay when it comes to size and is the home of the Temporal Phantoms, the Valkyrie-class Starfighter space superiority squadron assigned to Century after the Vaadwaur assault on the Federation. Consisting of eight starfighters divided into two flights, DAWN and DUSK, consisting of eight pilots, four landing signal officers (LSOs) and fourteen maintenance engineers.
Dawn Flight
- Phantom 1, Squadron Leader: Lieutenant: Tessa Kade (Human) — Call Sign: Phantom
- Phantom 3: Ensign: Nira Vel (Vulcan) — Call Sign: Specter
- Phantom 5: Ensign: Jonah Carr (Human) — Call Sign: Shade
- Phantom 7: Ensign: Rian Thok (Andorian) — Call Sign: Mirage
Dusk Flight
- Phantom 2: Lieutenant Junior Grade: Malik Renner (Trill) — Call Sign: Wraith
- Phantom 4: Ensign: Lian Vok (Bajoran) — Call Sign: Eclipse
- Phantom 6: Ensign: Keera Solis (Human) — Call Sign: Rift
- Phantom 8: Ensign: Toran Mek (Tellarite) — Call Sign: Pulse
Service History
The USS Century, while on patrol along the Federation/Romulan Republic border, intercepted messages and sensor readings that indicated the presence of a Borg vessel of unknown configuration and purpose in their patrol area. The crew spent just over a standard Terran week searching for the vessel without significant results before a transport vessel happened upon what was later identified as a Borg Scout ship. The crew of the transport escaped the Scout vessel without incident, and the USS Century began pursuit and monitoring of the Borg's activities.
Under the Century's surveillance, the Borg vessel raided a derelict relay station, harvesting only a small assortment of seemingly random items before departing the area. This strange behavior from the vessel was inexplicable to the crew, and the purpose for it remains an unsolved mystery. After leaving the relay station behind, the Scout craft entered Romulan Republic space, which the Century also crossed, taking the precaution of warning the local authorities of both their purpose for entering their sovereign territory and of the presence of the Borg threat they were pursuing.
The Borg Scout did not approach or assail any assets within Romulan Republic space, using it only as the fastest means of transit to their actual destination, a well-hidden Romulan installation within a star system just outside of the Velorum Nebula. Given the location sat within the contested region of Romulan space controlled by rivaling warlords, the USS Century was forced to suspend their pursuit of the craft just inside of Republic space. The ship began monitoring the situation via long range sensors, able to witness but not prevent the events that followed.
The Borg Scout arrived in the target system and began an immediate and merciless assault of the installation and its defenders. During the raid, the Century crew was able to determine that the vessel had been seeking some manner of object that was emitting a homing signal the ship had not detected before given the specialist nature of the frequency being used. Once they had this information, the Century scanned their immediate area for another signal of its like, determining that at least within the range of its scan, there were no signals that might draw the Scout back toward Federation or allied space. The Scout soon departed the area, and while the Century's Executive Officer made a plea for the vessel to render aid, the ship did not violate contested space as the Commanding Officer deemed it too great a risk should the Romulans controlling the system see it as an act of aggression.
The USS Century concluded its surveillance mission when the craft departed deeper within the area of space the Federation vessel was unable to pursue it through for diplomatic reasons. The ship instead set a course back toward Federation space to resume the patrol that had been their original mission.
While continuing their patrol along the Romulan border, the USS Century intercepted a general call for aid from a mining colony not far from Gateway Station. According to the report, several autonomous mineral transports had gone missing while on route from the asteroid cluster at the edge of the system and the colony. The Century altered course and made for the system, her crew confident that it would be a fairly swift stop along their way.
Upon their arrival to the mining station, an away team sent to the surface discovered that the cargo transports that had gone missing had been carrying a very rare mineral in their holds, a substance called Chimerium. This mineral, aside from its scarcity, had unique properties that allowed it to scatter particles around it to hide not only itself but other materials around it from sensors, transporters and a host of other detection devices. Armed with this new information, the Century's crew headed for the last known coordinates of the transports before their link to the station had been cut off.
The trail the ship was able to follow led to a dead end, the particle scattering properties of Chimerium having erased any tell-tale signs of where the transports might have gone from the point that they had been hijacked. A full day of searching not just the space around the ship, but the nearby planets yielded no clues as to what had happened or where their targets might have been. The crew began preparing for a thorough planet by planet search of the system when a member of the stellar cartography department stumbled upon a quirk of unrefined Chimerium. The substance didn't so much mask sensor signals as it did disburse them in a way that could actually be traced if one knew what to look for. Thanks to this flash of inspiration, the crew managed to avoid a lengthy and no doubt fruitless search in favor of tracing the missing ships to the fourth planet in the system.
Once in orbit, the USS Century began a targeted scan of the planet surface, looking for any signs of habitation. Their initial search area was a vast swath of nearly 200 kilometers, which would have taken any away team far longer to search than was practical for their situation. While the ship's bridge crew conducted routine search methods, the Operations Chief stumbled on a signal so far down on the spectrum of communication that it was almost overlooked. Low band AM waves appeared to be emanating from a ravine, seemingly coming from far beneath the surface where conventional scans wouldn't reach it. This prompted the crew to dispatch a shuttle to investigate the signal.
When the away team landed in a large cavern that exited into the deep ravine, they discovered a makeshift camp of scavengers toiling away at the missing transports, pulling them apart piece by piece. The members of the team fanned out about the complex, initiating a successful ambush of the thieves without suffering any casualties. One of the scavengers, who was later identified as their leader, had been equipped with a form of suicide device that he managed to activate before capture, making the job of interrogating the mastermind behind the theft far more difficult.
With the thieves safely aboard and sequestered in the USS Century’s Sickbay, Capt. Gar’rath managed to convince one of the captives to divulge details regarding their activities and purpose, though the information received lacked critical details. Using this information, the Century's crew attempted to contact the colony, their transmission being answered not by the administration center but rather from a man claiming to be the mining supervisor. Capt. Gar’rath explained the situation to the man who called himself Vol, though he’d changed critical details in an attempt to ferret out who the Bolian was actually working for.
Not long after the transmission, a vessel of unknown origin intercepted the Century and began making demands of the crew to hand over their prisoners and the cargo they’d retrieved from the surface. In an unusual display of aggression, Capt. Gar’rath ordered the Century to open fire on the craft, crippling it and allowing the crew to board and capture their would-be assailants. Immediately following their encounter, Mr. Vol makes contact with the ship, and is confronted with accusations of collaborating with the thieves. His cover blown, the Bolian ends the transmission and the crew is finally able to contact the actual administrators of the station. The station crew launches a search for Mr. Vol, which ends with the Bolian being found dead in an access corridor, having fallen from a substantial height after a conduit ruptured near him on his climb. Without any further leads, the Century departed the system and brought the prisoners they’d apprehended to Gateway Station for processing.
After the transfer was complete, the Century's crew received word that they were to prepare for deep space exploration operations in the unexplored space beyond the Thomar Expanse.
The USS Century and her crew make the long journey from Federation space out beyond the Thomar Expanse. This acts as a bridge story in which the crew explores daily life aboard the Century as they prepare for a long duration deep space expedition.
The USS Century begins her deep space exploration mission beyond the Thomar Expanse, primarily mapping and exploring star systems that the Federation has yet to catalogue. Several planetary systems were visited by the Century before the crew encountered a low band radio frequency while en route to another target of interest. This signal, just strong enough to overcome the background radio signals common in deep space drives the decision to alter course and investigate what could potentially turn into a First Contact scenario.
Captain Gar'rath orders the Century to undertake a cautious approach to investigating the suspected civilization, his stance being that risking contamination of a still developing world was unacceptable. The crew was, at that time, on board with such a stance and carried out their observations with all due precautions. That would later change when the crew began to collect more information regarding the emergent culture they had discovered.
Several hours of observation at the outer edge of the planetary system brought about a startling discovery. Almost at once, all of the radio transmissions from the planet cut off, and the Century's sensors were later able to ascertain why. Whatever civilization that had arose on the surface had, like many young cultures had before them, discovered nuclear technology and had used it in some sort of conflict that had brought about a mass extinction-level event.
Armed with this new information, the Century's Chief Science Officer, Lieutenant Brian James, petitioned for the cataloguing and archiving of what remained in a sort preservation effort. This request was predicated on the assumption that the dominant civilization on the surface had all perished, and their efforts would not directly influence their culture or development. Captain Gar'rath allowed a non-intrusive effort to be made, but with the stipulation that no samples would be collected from the surface and only sensor sweeps were to be used.
Several days eclipsed before the Century was confronted with another revelation, this one the most morally complicated of all of them. Radio transmissions from the surface began to emerge from the ruins of the radioactive wastelands that had once been cities. With the dominant civilization still alive, Captain Gar'rath ordered all efforts to be suspended lest they risk violating the Prime Directive, even inadvertently. His decisions were met with a great deal of objections, both moral and practical. These objections, while noted, were summarily dismissed by the Captain, and the USS Century was ordered to depart the system. This left the inhabitants to fend for themselves, to either survive the horrors of their own making or succumb to them, without ever knowing the someone else had been watching.
The USS Century, freshly returned to the heart of the Federation for a refit cycle after a little over a year in deep space, made preparations to depart the 40 Eridani A Construction Yards. Many of the crew had departed during the preceding months for some well earned shore leave, leaving the ship manned by a greatly reduced compliment. During their ramp-up to return to deep space, Commander Abigail Peters reported an issue with communicating with their departed crew, though the cause at that time was still unknown.
Not long after the Century departed from the dry dock it had been moored in for repairs, the Vulcan system was beset by a sudden assault by Vaadwaur vessels, their appearance sudden and their motives unclear. The USS Century was ordered to lead and coordinate Starfleet's response to this sudden incursion, and engaged the Vaadwaur vessels with eight other combat capable starships, including the USS Pulsar. During the assault, the USS Century was boarded, and several key locations were heavily damaged; most notably the computer core and the bridge. Many of the Century's crew were injured in the attack, but security forces were able to repel the attackers and prevent Main Engineering and Sickbay from being taken out in the multi-pronged boarding action.
Following the Vaadwaur's retreat back into Underspace, the Century crew rushed to repair the damage caused in both the space battle and the boarding action, necessitating the complete replacement of the bridge during the brief pause in hostilities. With less than a week elapsing between the initial engagement and the discovery of the Blackout Station that was responsible for cutting the Vulcan system off from the rest of the Federation, the USS Century was pressed into service once more to lead the combined task force of both Starfleet and Vulcan defense force vessel into the Underspace corridors in an attempt to destroy the station.
The battle that ensued cost the Federation forces a great many lives, but they were eventually able to bring down the Blackout Station and subvert the Vaadwaur's plans for the Vulcan system. Pursuit of the remaining Vaadwaur vessels proved impossible as the destruction of the station seemed to also have a destabilizing effect on the Underspace corridors, and escape back to normal space became the fleet's priority. The USS Century suffered the lion's share of damage in the counteroffensive, returning with whole sections of the outer hull damaged or destroyed. Repair efforts were undertaken almost immediately upon the vessel's return to the 40 Eridani A Construction Yards.