Stardate 11599.5, U.S.S. Cerberus is currently exploring the outer fringes of the Beta Quadrant limits of Federation space. The Cerberus is patrolling the far side of the Nirophian Corridor. Australian Captain Paul Wright has been ordered to escort freighters from the far side of Federation space into Klingon space to assist with the post-Praxis clean-up. The Cerberus has been made aware of Orion activities in the area, including the theft of technology from Dharma Initiative facilities in the Churchill sector region of Federation space. Whilst sister ship Leander and Okinawa class Sheppey and Interceptor are investigating the theft, the Cerberus has been assigned to stay with the freighters.

Since her launch, U.S.S. Cerberus has been forward-deployed to Starbase 77 and the Nirophian Corridor. Her stealth and sensors have been used to disrupt Orion Syndicate activities. In addition she has been used to track immigrants heading towards Federation space, attempting to intercept the new arrivals and guide them to the nearest starbase, before their onward trip to the Gateway Colony. Occasionally the immigrants turn out to be traders, pirates or even Jindarians exercising their cultural rights to cross national borders that they do not recognise.

The Nirophian Corridor allocation of the forward-deployed element of the Second Fleet has over a dozen Apollo class and Okinawa class frigates. These frigates are commanded by leaders such as Phobos class or Miranda class. These frigates are organised and coordinated to best counter the rampant people-trafficking and piracy operations in the region of the Borderland. Starfleet learned the lessons lost by centuries of accountants reviewing naval forces whereby one starship can only be in one place at one time. By this logic, what Starfleet wanted was to have sufficient starships to address issues in the region.

The semi-official motto of the Cerberus is 'Three heads are better than one'.

Apollo class frigate specifics:

Primary Hull:

01 Main Bridge; Captain's Ready Room.

02 Senior Officers' offices; Briefing Room; Shuttle Bay.

03 Officers Quarters; Senior Crew Quarters.

04 Main deck - Navigational Deflector; Sickbay; Transporter Rooms; Crew Quarters; Quartermaster's Office; Impulse Drive; Main Engineering; Security Section.

05 Torpedo bays (fore and aft), Tactical Sensor Arrays; "Snooper" Eavesdropping Sensor Arrays.

06 Navigational Sensor Arrays, Deuterium Tanks.

Length: 210 metres

Beam: 116.21m

Height: 37.55 metres

Crew: 115 [15 officers, 100 enlisted]

Cruising Warp 7 [OCU]

Max Warp 11 [OCU]

Maximum Speed: Warp 9.2 for 12 hours (new scale)

Armament: 21 triple type-7 phaser banks; 4 photon torpedo launchers

Defences: Deflector shields



Author's Notes:

Cerberus was the name of the trimaran frigate design that was being proposed for the Royal Navy in 2001. It was based on the Triton testbed.

Images generated by my good friend Andrew Brown. Copyright © All Rights Reserved.