Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Her continuing mission: to seek out new life and new civilisations. To boldly go where no one has gone before...

U.S.S. Enterprise, keel laid down in 2288, launched 2293 and commissioned stardate 9715.5 at San Francisco orbital fleet yards. After the decommissioning of the Enterprise NCC-1701-A at the beginning of 2293, a new Enterprise was needed for Starfleet. She was laid down to replace the Enterprise-A shortly after the launch of the Hood. Starfleet Command felt that the sentimentality of Kirk with having a new Constitution class starship didn't serve the direction and image of New Starfleet. A new Excelsior class starship was needed. This new variant of Excelsior class would have cutting edge technology across the boad, something befitting the flagship of the Federation. Immediately after her launch, the Enterprise-B gained instant notoriety after her first mission was to rescue the crews of the Robert Fox and Lakul. The Robert Fox was lost with all hands but some of the Lakul crew were saved, as well as the Enterprise, through the heroic sacrifice of legendary Starfleet Captain James T. Kirk.

Enterprise is commanded by Captain John Harriman, a youthful and talented Starfleet officer formerly from the starship Hunley. Enterprise has a crew of 510, ranging in experience from Captain Harriman to cadets on their first starship assignment. Commander Tracy Dane is the First Officer of the Enterprise. Enterprise 1701-B is one of the two flagships of the Starfleet and gets used for a large number of high profile missions, 'showing the flag' for the Federation. U.S.S. Enterprise has some of the finest Starfleet personnel onboard as her crew, some would go as far as to argue that they are the finest crew currently in the Starfleet, representing New Starfleet and the New Generation of Federation exploration. The Enterprise-B is the public relations starship of the Federation. The public face for the last thirty years was James T. Kirk and the aging crew of the starship Enterprise 1701 and 1701-A. This image of an aging starship design and crew needed to be refreshed for the new Century.

The first steps of the new Enterprise were faltering ones. Captain John Harriman, aged 34, was the son of Admiral John Jason "Blackjack" Harriman. Harriman had to contend with the murder of his sister Lynn in 2275, when he was 16. Whilst this had a dreadful impact on his parents' marriage, John Harriman showed the tenacity and focus to apply for, and enter into, the fast-track program at Starfleet Academy in 2276. The young Harriman had excelled at Starfleet Academy, graduating Class Valedictorian in 2279 at an accelerated time of only three years at the age of 20. He had served on the U.S.S. Hunley and had his father's support in building up an impressive career. Harriman was a driven, Starfleet brat. His Ready Room showed many of the awards he'd earned building up towards his Starfleet career, his time at the Academy and his career since graduation. Very little shows about his personal life and the little things, favourite pastimes, no family photos or images of childhood friends or pets. The literature and art only there to further his knowledge for his career, not for personal interest. Harriman's driven nature is somewhere between gifted protigee talent and autistic spectrum. Starfleet felt that they had found their new James T. Kirk. Needless to say, Harriman's career skyrocketed after graduating Starfleet Academy; he averaged a promotion around every two to three years. During his time, Harriman showed that his father, and the Academy, had groomed him for leadership. Whilst other officer graduates have careers around engineering, science and security, Harriman focussed on command and leadership.

His father, Admiral John 'Blackjack' Harriman senior, is 'toxic' to be around. His wife left him due to hs lack of support emotionally when their daughter was murdered in 2275. Old School, terse and mysogynistic. Perfect as a flag officer. Utter garbage as a husband or father. Emotionally stunted beyond anger and drive. Like father, like son. Harriman senior is where Harriman junior gets his command genes, his coaching as a Starfleet brat and the strategic mind. Both generations of Harriman males have the ability to play three-dimensional chess at an expert level, instinctively. After Admiral Harriman passes away in 2311, Captain John Harriman is left with no blood relatives.

When the new Kirk met the original legend, circumstances publically conspired to make him look weak and ineffectual. Kirk died to save the Enterprise one last time. The Enterprise was back in spacedock for nearly six months being repaired. Starfleet Command had to regroup and plan how to relaunch the Enterprise-B, Harriman and New Generation Starfleet without too much embarrassment. Harriman was coached on how not to come across as the victim in interviews. The Enterprise-B was launched for a publicity event and didn;t intend to be involved in a real rescue mission. Kirk was a legend, who instinctively stepped up and sacrificed himself to save the Lakul and the Enterprise. Kirk naturally had far more years' experience of the unknown. Harriman knows he has a lot more to see, experience and learn. Humility and honesty are the tools to get through this. Harriman had to contend with a crew with their faith shaken in him and the anger of a legend, in the form of Hikaru Sulu, when his daughter was apparently killed in one of their first missions out in 2294. The whole drive to get the Enterprise-B relaunched is for Starfleet to have the flagship for their brand as New Generation Starfleet. The Excelsior paved the way for the new class of starship, preparing the way for the true flagship: the Enterprise-B.

Harriman had plenty of time to mull over the loss of Kirk under his command. The Enterprise was in refit for six months following the damage caused by the Lakul rescue in the Nexus. Harriman spent much of the time presiding over the repairs personally, making sure the ship was restored to a condition as good or better than at launch. The rest of the time, Harriman was in his Ready Room, assembling his crew for the mission ahead and debating over his own career. There's no secret that Harriman drafted his own letter of resignation; he spent many months returning to it, as he decided whether the public humiliation was the end of his career in Starfleet or not. The next decision was for a First Officer. A vital decision for any commanding officer so that someone trustworthy would be there as a sounding board, devil's advocate and the voice of the crew.

Through an encounter with Leonard McCoy and General Choroth, Harriman found his feet once again. Captain Harriman wasn't to know,but his specialisation in the Romulan Star Empire at the Academy was to serve him well for the remaining time on the Enterprise. Commander Tracy Dane, distant relative of an American Civil War soldier, added the support to Harriman's command that he needed. The traditionalist First Officer was direct in her approach. Tracy Dane was born in 2261. She came from a long-line of military officers from those who served in the Union armies during the American Civil War right the way into Starfleet. As a result of her upbringing, she believed that Starfleet was a strict military organization and demanded military perfection from the crew of the Enterprise.

Captain John Harriman handpicked her as his first officer over the offer of a Vulcan first officer. He believed he couldn't work well with an emotionally-restricted first officer. He found that Dane kept her emotions tightly in check. This led to arguments between the two in private, most notably, following the "death" of Ensign Demora Sulu following a rescue mission to Askalon V. Dane was to prove herself a loyal and capable First Officer for the five year mission from 2294 - 2299. In many ways, Dane represented the legacy of the Cold War Starfleet of the 70s and 80s and her time, like the militaristic mentality, was coming to an end. Starfleet was changing and she had to either change or move aside. Starfleet Command felt that the flagship of the Fleet ought to reflect the desired traits of Starfleet.

Author's notes:

Dane is a throwback character. By 2294 who would even care if you had relatives from a war 500 years beforehand? And the militaristic attitudes of Dane are not what New Starfleet is about. At all. If it were me, I'd pick an alien and a new kind not Vulcan. Say Deltan or Betazoid or Trill.



Author notes:

This is the redemption of Captain John Harriman after his dreadful appearance in Star Trek: Generations. Alan Ruck cast as a bumbling commanding officer of an ill-equipped starship broke a golden rule for me: never make another character seem inept and hopeless in order to make your hero look good; Kirk is a legend and more than capable of looking epic in a scene without making Harriman out to be worse than a wet cadet in their first class. The novels, comics and graphic novels have Alan Ruck's captain still in charge of the Enterprise-B all the way up to the Tomed Incident in 2311. Eighteen years is more than long enough to redeem himself. Add to this a young crew that is forging the new Starfleet and a few Easter eggs like the son of Original Series villain Harry Mudd and you have the makings of the Star Trek series set after Star Trek VI.

The character of Harriman is a vital one; Starfleet would have been shopping around by the early 2290s for the 'next Captain Kirk' since they knew Kirk would be retiring in 2293, there would be the first Enterprise in 28 years without Kirk and his crew. They needed to find not just a good officer, but the BEST officer in the Fleet to take on the job of commanding the new Flagship of the Fleet. So then we come to Generations. Alan Ruck is a good actor so the inept attitude and hopeless failings of Harriman come from a weak script. In the Interim Years we're dealing with the aftermath of Star Trek VI. I'd very much like to draw a line under Harriman in Generations and look at the competant, professional, skilled New-Starfleet captain that John Harriman will be. Harriman very much encapsulates the New Starfleet image and is the youth and hope for future Starfleet that the aging Sulu on the Excelsior just can't be. Both Star Trek and Starfleet need to start afresh for this era and Harriman with the Enterprise-B is that way forward. What is needed is a youthful, diverse crew and a capable ship. You've got a universe too used to 'Cowboy Diplomacy' and doing things the Kirk Way by breaking or bending rules. It's time for Harriman to show a new way forward.



Having been aboard the REAL Enterprise, HMS Enterprise H88 on 25 July 2018, I was very taken by the calm professionalism shown by the crew. The short voyage to the ammunition buoy was pre-briefed and executed calmly exactly as planned. Commander Harper told me that if everything was trained corrected, if he, the Captain, suddenly died it should almost go unnoticed. Having watched the XO and other crew on the Bridge - I saw what he meant. There is a cool, calm professionalism that Star Trek and Starfleet should both have. Harriman and the Enterprise-B should be that professional team, demonstrating the frontiersman ethic of Kirk was now refined with professional confidence. It cannot be stated enough for the importance of the Enterprise-B. It's the new flagship, it's the symbol of the Federation and Starfleet. After a very rocky start it has an image problem that needs to be repaired. THIS is the name associated with Starfleet, Excelsior was the prototype placeholder with the legendary captain from the old Enterprise-A crew. THIS is the new beginning.

Star Trek: Excelsior - Enterprise crew: 2294 - 2300:

Commanding Officer: Captain John Harriman

Executive Officer: Commander Tracy Dane

Operations Officer: Lt Commander

Chief Science Officer: Lt Maggie Thompson

Helm: Lieutenant (jg) Demora Sulu

Navigation: Lieutenant Magnus

Communications: Commander Mark Tobiaston

Chief Engineer: Commander

Chief Medical Officer: Dr. Metcalfe

Chief Security Officer: Lieutenant Kris Hernandez

Medical Officer: Dr. Rod Michaels

Engineering Officer: Lieutenant Commander

Security Operations Officer:

Science Officer:

Moving former helmsman Lieutenant Commander Demora Sulu into the position of Executive Officer in 2300 gave Harriman a win-win situation: he had both the new Starfleet officer that Starfleet Command wanted and also a close friend that had served by his side for seven years. There was a shuffling of the senior staff as well as the natural attrition that promisions and retirement brought. Starfleet Command wanted the Enterprise-B to reflect the optimism and hope that the end of cold wars with the Romulans and Klingons should bring. After the destruction of Klingon base one-zero-one (los-pagh-los) and the exposing of treachery dating back to Khitomer, Starfleet was eager to have a flagship that could bring peace to the Beta Quadrant through diplomacy.

Starting the peace process was something already done at Camp Khitomer 2293; what was hard was keeping the peace and building upon it into something more. The Klingons treated the Khitomer Accords as exactly what they are: a strategic arms reduction treaty (START), not a peace process. Whilst the Excelsior had done a vaiant effort in the early 2290s with Ambassador Spock, this was the legacy of the cold war. Change could only be achieved by changing the players involved. Ambassador Curzon Dax became involved with the Enterprise. What was needed was a representative who understood Klingons and how they worked. Whilst Spock was a good Starfleet officer for decades, he had much to learn about diplomacy.

Star Trek: Excelsior - Enterprise crew: 2301 - 2311:

Commanding Officer: Captain John Harriman

Executive Officer: Commander Demora Sulu

Operations Officer: Lt Commander

Chief Science Officer: Lt Commander Maggie Thompson

Helm: Lieutenant (jg) Xintal Linojj

Navigation: Lieutenant Magnus

Communications: Lieutenant Ramesh Kanchumurthi

Chief Engineer: Commander

Chief Medical Officer: Dr. Kate Giles

Chief Security Officer: Lieutenant Kris Hernandez

Medical Officer: Dr.

Engineering Officer: Lieutenant Commander

Security Operations Officer:

Science Officer:

Following on from the Tomed Incident, Captain John Harriman relinquished his command to his once former helmsman and then Executive Officer Commander Demora Sulu. After 18 years honing her skills on the Enterprise, and her family legacy, it was fitting that she took over as Captain. Sulu had aided her former captain in putting the launch day failure and loss of legendary Captain James T. Kirk behind him to forge his own legacy as captain of the Enterprise. The Enterprise has been heavily involved in the first stages of diplomatic relations with the Klingons. As flagship of the Fleet, the Enterprise-B carried such dignitaries as the Klingon Chancellor Azetbur, various Federation Presidents, Ambassadors Spock, Sarek and Dax on various missions, as well as some legendary former crew of the Enterprise. With such a front row seat, there was no way that Demora Sulu couldn't pick up on the diplomatic and political aspects of the Federation.

Author's notes:

The crew of the Enterprise-B from 2294 - 2311 is shaped from the novel The Captain's Daughter by Peter David. Although the Haynes Manual on the U.S.S. Enterprise has Harriman replaced as Captain after Generations, I think this doesn't do justice to Harriman. It wasn't his fault the Enterprise-B wasn't ready. And I'm all for a story of redemption. That, and Alan Ruck is best recognised as the Captain of the Enterprise-B in all of the comics and graphic novel stories that have followed. Harriman had a tough career on the Enterprise-B going from the death of Kirk saving the Lakul to Askalon V and shooting Demora Sulu; Spock's visit in 2294, the Klingon battlecruiser Vengeance in the same year and Romulan spies in 2296; all leading up to Tholian and Romulan aggression in the late 2300s leading up to the Tomed Incident.

Star Trek: Excelsior - Enterprise crew: 2311 - :

Commanding Officer: Captain Demora Sulu

Executive Officer: Commander Xintal Linojj

Operations Officer: Lt Commander

Chief Science Officer: Lt

Helm: Lieutenant (jg)

Navigation: Ensign Tolek

Communications: Lieutenant Ramesh Kanchumurthi

Chief Engineer: Commander

Chief Medical Officer: Dr. Uta Morell

Chief Security Officer: Lieutenant Tenger

Medical Officer: Dr.

Engineering Officer: Lieutenant Commander

Security Operations Officer:

Science Officer: Ensign Borona Fenn



Author's Notes:

The Enterprise-B was introduced in Star Trek: Generations. She is the first starship Enterprise to have a youthful, talented crew that represents the new generation of Starfleet. This is a contrast to the previous Enterprise-A that had a crew of older, veteran officers who were still in the same positions that they had held for over twenty years. For the Academy graduates in the late 2280s must have feared that there was no real place for them on the flagship of the fleet.

As an example, Saavik was on the Enterprise 1701 as a student of Spock, giving an air that you could only be accepted as a student of one of the existing veteran crew. Peter Preston (nephew of Scotty) being the other notable example in Star Trek II and Valeris being in Star Trek VI as the apprentice to Spock - he even says in the film that he intends for her to replace him. Nepotism is rife in the Starfleet of the 2280s and early 90s. Director David Carson, either deliberately or by design, had a totally new, youthful crew. The only hint back to the old crew of the daughter of Hikaru Sulu, Demora. This character came onboard as George Takei did not want to have a cameo in which he has gone back to being helmsman. A move that was 100% right to me.





Primary Hull
This consists of 12 decks that can be summarised thus:

1 Main Bridge, Briefing Room, Ready Room

2 Emergency Life Support

3 Senior Officers Standby Quarters

4 Junior Officers Standby Quarters

5 Impulse Engines, Crew Quarters

6 Impulse Engines, Sickbay, Transporters, Crew Quarters

7 Impulse Engines, Crew Quarters, Guest Quarters (outer sections)

8 Impulse Engines, Crew Quarters, Officers Quarters (outer sections)

9 Impulse Engines, Officers Quarters (outer ring), Mess Hall / Lounge (Forward), Recreation Areas, Theatre

10 Brig, Security Office, Armoury

11 Science Labs

12 Sensor Control, Science Labs

Secondary Hull
This consists of 21 decks that can be summarised thus:

13 Warp Core Deuterium Injector

14 Saucer Separation Manual Override

15 Torpedo Storage / loading

16 Torpedo Storage / loading

17 Torpedo Launcher Access, (Aft) Shuttle Bay

18 Deuterium Tank, (Aft) Shuttle Bay

19 Deuterium Tank, Warp Plasma Central Manifold, (Aft) Shuttle Bay

20 Battle Bridge, Engineering, Intermix chamber, (Aft) Cargo Conveyer

21 Engineering, Cargo Bay (aft)

22 Cargo Bay (aft), (Aft) Tractor Beam

23 Aux Deuterium Tank

24 Aux Deuterium Tank, Botanical Gardens, Crew Lounges, Rec. Areas

25 Main Deflector Dish

26 Aft Torpedo Conveyer / Loading

27 Aft Photon Torpedo Launcher

28 Engineering Support Bay, "WorkerBee" Pods

29 Engineering Support Bay

30 Engineering Support Bay, Aux Computer Core

31 Engineering Support Bay, Aft Torpedo Storage / Conveyance

32 Engineering Support Bay, Aft Torpedo Storage / Conveyance

33 Engineering Support Bay, Warp Core Antimatter Injector

34 Antimatter Storage / Loading port

Episodes from the never-written Star Trek: Excelsior series inspired by Flashback and The Undiscovered County: (A glimpse of what we sadly missed).

Season 1 2293 – 2294

1.01 – Tuesday 19th December 2293. Stardate 9790.5. A Tuesday. The quiet relaunch of NCC-1701B

1.02 – Young Minds

1.03 – Fresh Ideas – follow up to the never-written ST: Phase 2 episode Mudd & Son.

1.04 – .

1.05 – Choroth Incident – Enterprise-B with McCoy en route to deal with a plague and stopped by a militant Klingon General.

1.06 –

1.07 - Captain’s Daughter – see novel.

1.08 – Freedom Agenda - Enterprise-B takes the Federation President to meet the Klingon Chancellor, for more talks on the Khitomer Accords, with a new policy that shocks the Empire.

1.09 - Ashes of Eden. Based on the novel.

Season 2 – 2295

2.01 – New Starfleet – a new C-in-C is assigned after the treachery of Androvar Drake. Stardate 10000.

2.02 – Ratification – the Khitomer Accords finally come into force and the countdown to the end of the Neutral Zone has begun.

Author's Notes:

I see these “lost ST: Excelsior stories” as being the background to the Interim Years. These are the ships in the Federation News, but it’s missions like the Sheffield that are doing the real research in the background. The early era 2290 – 2298 are more the Excelsior with the experienced Old School Sulu; the later period 2298 – 2311 is more Enterprise-B with the then-experienced John Harriman.

Lots of Klingon Diplomacy with new Ambassador Spock, veteran Sarek and Curzon Dax. The steady dismantling of the Neutral Zone and the ‘rogue Klingon’ attacks. Enterprise-B feud with General Choroth, ex of IKS Vengeance and Sulu encountering Kang or Koloth (more akin to his DS9 persona).

I have a story idea, homage to TOS, with ‘Mudd junior’. Perhaps following on from the Phase 2 episode never written called ‘Mudd and Son’.

Yes, The Interim Years will effectively have a ‘never made Sulu and John Harriman’ series running in the background. Might even knock up season 1 for a laugh. 2294 is the year that Harriman has to come to terms with the title of "the man who killed Captain Kirk". The truth is that Kirk always ran around like he was late for his own funeral and he gave his life to save others in the way he always would have. Harriman presides over six months of repairs of the Enterprise-B, mulling over his own career and whether or not to hand in a letter of resignation; can he live with his perceived mistakes? As I've stated elsewhere, Harriman is the embodiment of New Starfleet. He MUST have been the best of the best for the job, so his epic failure in ST: Generations just doesn't make sense. Poor scriptwriting so that the crew of the Enterprise-A can step in and save the day one last, last time. McCoy may have helped Harriman in the Vengeance Incident, but Harriman already had the skills to succeed. Unlike the Haynes Technical Manual, I'm not throwing out Harriman with the bath water; he may have been on the Enterprise-B when Kirk disappeared, but he is still the Captain.

We’ve a few bits we ‘know’ already, with the Choroth Incident with the graphic novel and the Terajuni Incident. On the back of this we need the Excelsior, fresh from the latter, carrying Ambassador Spock, meeting with the Klingon Ambassador to calms the waters. The Enterprise-B is still in space-dock for months to repair the Nexus damage, so good old NCC-2000 is hauled out.

ST: Excelsior (2000) would have dealt with similar issues that the Interim Years does: change.

The Enterprise-B embodies the New Generation of Starfleet. A young, inexperienced Captain John Harriman and youthful junior crew exemplified by Demora Sulu, contrast with Old Guard XO Commander Tracy Dane, even between Hikaru Sulu and his daughter helmsman from the Enterprise-B. ST: Generations made Captain Kirk look good by making the new Captain of the Enterprise seem inept and helpless; as the next part of this debate goes, this is not the first or last time they do this. Making the New Generation look weak and wrong, to make the old guard 'Cowboy Diplomats' look good, correct and wise.

The Interim Years version of the ST: EXC stories, featuring both of these Excelsior class starships, will have a more diverse crew.





"The above artwork is © Star Trek Fact Files. All rights reserved"











Enterprise-A Legacy - Interim Years Prequels

The Organian Silence - 2286

THE ORGANIAN SILENCE
A Prequel to Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Set in the late 2286, after the Enterprise-A’s troubled launch but before Nimbus III erupts into crisis.

1. Mission Orders — A Ghost from the Past
Starfleet Command assigns the Enterprise-A a politically delicate mission:

Return to Organia. Confirm the Organians’ continued presence. Assess their intentions.

Why now?

Because the galaxy is fraying:

Klingon border raids have increased.
The Empire is overextended by internal crises and frontier rebellions.
Federation colonies are complaining about slow responses and bureaucratic paralysis.
The “peace enforced by godlike beings” feels like a myth from another era.
And the Enterprise-A — still glitching, still unreliable — is sent because no one else wants the assignment. It’s a diplomatic errand disguised as a test flight.

Kirk senses the subtext:
Starfleet wants reassurance that someone out there is still keeping the peace.

2. Arrival — A World Gone Quiet
Organia appears unchanged from orbit.
But the moment the Enterprise scans the surface, the bridge goes still.

No life signs.
No energy signatures.
No trace of the Organian consciousness.

It’s not that they’re hiding.
It’s that they’re simply… gone.

Spock’s analysis is clinical but unsettling:

“Captain, the Organian presence has vacated this plane of existence.”

Kirk feels the floor drop out from under him.
The Organians were the cosmic safety net — the invisible hand that prevented the Federation and the Klingons from tearing each other apart.

If they’re gone, then the galaxy is suddenly honest again.
And honesty is dangerous.

3. The Klingon Interference
A Klingon K’t’inga-class cruiser decloaks in orbit.

Not a diplomatic vessel.
Not a ship of the High Council.
A frontier commander — a hardliner — who sees the Organian disappearance as an opportunity.

He hails Kirk with cold satisfaction:

“The gods who chained us are dead or fled. The Empire will reclaim what was denied.”

He declares Organia a Klingon protectorate and orders the Enterprise-A to withdraw.

Kirk refuses.
Not because he wants a fight — but because retreat would signal Federation weakness at a moment when the Klingons are desperate for signs of strength.

The two ships lock into a tense orbital standoff.

4. The Mystery — Why Did the Organians Leave?
Spock leads an away team to the silent village.

Everything is intact.
Everything is empty.

But the environment itself holds echoes — subspace residues, temporal distortions, faint harmonic patterns. Spock decodes them like archaeological artifacts.

They reveal:

The Organians foresaw rising instability across the quadrant.
They believed imposed peace had become a crutch.
They chose to withdraw so that “lesser species” could grow through struggle.
A final message is embedded in the fabric of the village:

“Peace must be chosen. Not enforced.”

It’s not a warning.
It’s a graduation.

But it feels like abandonment.

5. The Confrontation — A Test Without Gods
The Klingon commander prepares to seize the planet and destroy the Enterprise to prove the Empire’s dominance.

Kirk, realising the Organians won’t intervene, does something bold:

He broadcasts the Organian message directly to the Klingon crew.

He speaks plainly:

“They didn’t leave us to fight. They left us to decide.”

The Klingon crew — weary, stretched thin, living through the Empire’s slow decay — hesitate. They’ve seen their empire falter. They know the old ways are failing.

A mutiny brews.
The commander is relieved.
The cruiser withdraws.

Not out of fear.
Out of uncertainty.

The first genuine moment of Klingon-Federation understanding in years happens not at a conference table, but in orbit over a dead-quiet world.

6. Closing — Seeds of Cynicism
Back aboard the Enterprise, Kirk stands with Spock in the observation lounge.

Kirk:
“We counted on them. Maybe too much.”

Spock:
“Dependency is not peace, Captain.”

Kirk looks at the stars — suddenly vast, unregulated, unpredictable.

This mission plants the seed of doubt that will bloom in Star Trek V:

Doubt in godlike beings.
Doubt in cosmic overseers.
Doubt in the idea that someone else will fix the galaxy’s problems.
So when Sybok later claims to know a god waiting at the center of the galaxy…
Kirk’s skepticism is already forged here, on a world where the gods walked away.

The Enterprise-A departs Organia, its systems still glitching, its captain more aware than ever that the universe is not a place of guardians.

It’s a place of choices.

The Klingons post-2286

The Klingon Empire During the Venturi Crisis (2286-2287)
*"An empire that still speaks like it is winning, while privately wondering if it can afford another victory."*

One of the most interesting ways to portray the Venturi Crisis is to make the Klingon Empire resemble the **early 1980s Soviet Union**, years before Praxis detonates.

Not collapsing. Not defeated.

Just increasingly aware that something is wrong.

The Gorkon Problem

By this point Chancellor Gorkon has already been in office for some years.

To Federation observers he appears enlightened.

To many Klingons he appears dangerous.

Gorkon understands several uncomfortable realities:

- The Empire's economy has stagnated.
- Frontier sectors consume enormous resources.
- The fleet is ageing.
- Too many officers are promoted for political reliability instead of competence.
- Subject worlds are becoming restless.
- New conquests would cost more than they would gain.

Most critically:

**The Empire cannot continue expanding forever.**

This is practically heresy.

For centuries imperial expansion has been the solution to every Klingon problem.

Need resources?

Take them.

Need prestige?

Conquer somewhere.

Need political unity?

Find an enemy.

Need a hero?

Start a war.

Gorkon increasingly suspects the Empire has run out of places to conquer while still pretending conquest will solve everything.

The Hardliners

The frontier commanders seen in the Organian mission represent a growing faction inside the Empire.

To them, Gorkon looks alarmingly similar to the sort of reformer who loses empires.

They hear words like:

- cooperation
- negotiation
- coexistence
- economic reform

and it sounds like surrender.

Many of these officers were young captains during the Four Years War era.

They grew up expecting a glorious Federation-Klingon conflict.

Instead they see diplomats, trade talks and budget meetings.

They hate it.

One admiral might describe the Chancellor this way:

> "When a warrior speaks of peace, it is because he has forgotten how to win wars."

Belligerence as Political Theatre

The fascinating part is that the Empire is not actually eager for a full war.

The Empire is too weak for one.

Everybody important knows that.

Instead Klingon behaviour becomes increasingly provocative.

Border incidents increase.

Federation freighters are challenged.

Neutral worlds receive threats.

Minor territorial disputes suddenly become major crises.

Not because the Empire wants war.

Because it wants to **look** strong.

This mirrors the late Brezhnev-era Soviet habit of demonstrating military strength even while economic problems worsened beneath the surface.

The Klingon High Council starts acting like a government that fears appearing weak more than it fears making mistakes.

The Venturi Flashpoints

The Venturi Crisis becomes dangerous because it offers endless opportunities for confrontation.

A patrol vessel disappears.

A mining claim is disputed.

A colony requests protection.

A sensor contact is misidentified.

Each incident is tiny.

Yet every incident becomes a test of prestige.

Klingon commanders repeatedly demand Federation withdrawal from areas neither side particularly wants.

Not because those sectors matter.

Because backing down matters even more.

Kirk gradually recognises a disturbing pattern.

The Empire behaves less like a predator preparing to strike and more like a wounded giant trying desperately to convince everyone that it is still dangerous.

A Generation Raised on Victory

Another problem is generational.

The older generation remembers the Empire's periods of expansion.

The younger generation has only heard stories about them.

Young officers graduate from the Academy expecting adventure and conquest.

Instead they find:

- maintenance shortages
- political infighting
- obsolete equipment
- local insurgencies
- endless patrol assignments

Many become frustrated.

Some seek glory on the frontier.

This helps explain the belligerent captains Kirk repeatedly encounters.

They're not merely aggressive.

They're disappointed.

Their Empire promised them greatness.

Reality has offered paperwork.

What Kirk Sees

Kirk's understanding of the Klingons changes significantly during this period.

In his younger days he saw them as adversaries.

Now he sees something else.

Fear.

Not individual fear.

Civilisational fear.

The Empire fears decline.

It fears irrelevance.

It fears that the future belongs to younger powers.

Most of all, it fears becoming ordinary.

McCoy hates the Klingons too much to admit it.

Many admirals hate them too much to notice it.

But Kirk begins recognising that much of the Empire's aggression comes from insecurity.

That doesn't make it harmless.

In fact it makes it more dangerous.

An enemy confident of its strength may choose restraint.

An empire terrified of weakness often cannot.

Spock's Assessment

Spock reaches a conclusion that becomes increasingly controversial within Starfleet.

He argues that the Federation is making a profound mistake.

Many Federation officials interpret Klingon hostility as evidence that pressure is working.

Spock believes the opposite.

The pressure is destabilising the Empire.

A cornered Klingon Empire might become irrational.

He repeatedly warns:

> "A threatened state often behaves less predictably than a powerful one."

This puts him at odds with many Starfleet officers who believe history is moving in the Federation's favour.

The Organian Legacy

The disappearance of the Organians makes everything worse.

Previously there was always an unspoken assumption:

If matters truly spiralled out of control, somebody would stop them.

Now nobody will.

The Klingon hardliners draw exactly the wrong lesson.

Since the Organians are gone, perhaps the ancient restraints are gone too.

Perhaps destiny has finally reopened the conflict.

The moderates draw the opposite lesson.

Without cosmic intervention, every mistake is now permanent.

Every war will be real.

Every casualty will be real.

Every escalation will be humanity's, Vulcan's, and Klingon's responsibility alone.

Leading Into Star Trek VI

By the end of the *Metar* era, Gorkon increasingly resembles a science-fiction version of Gorbachev before perestroika becomes public policy.

He has not yet transformed the Empire.

He is barely holding it together.

Hardliners question him.

Admirals obstruct him.

Regional commanders ignore him.

The fleet remains powerful, but the cracks are visible.

Then Praxis explodes.

And suddenly all the problems that could previously be concealed behind military parades, patriotic speeches and frontier confrontations become impossible to hide.

The Venturi years therefore become the tragic final act of the old Klingon Empire:

an empire still roaring like a lion, while quietly discovering that age, economics and history are stronger opponents than any Starfleet vessel.

Including the Enterprise-A.

Cosmic Thoughts About Venturi

The observation lounge was unusually quiet.

Outside the great windows, Venturi Prime filled half the sky. White storms swirled across entire continents. Sensor displays glowed overhead, tracking crop failures, collapsing fisheries, and refugee movements. Along one wall, footage from the capital showed tens of thousands of rain-soaked Venturi demonstrators facing lines of government security forces beneath towering cathedral spires.

Kirk stood with his hands clasped behind his back.

Spock sat at the conference table, reviewing reports.

McCoy paced.

Which usually meant trouble was coming. "Jim, I still don't understand why we're even debating this."
McCoy stopped and stabbed a finger toward the display.

On the screen, soaked Venturi protesters carried signs through torrential rain.

"Their crops are failing."

He pointed again.

"Their seas are acidifying."

Another jab.

"And half their government keeps saying the whole thing is a spiritual test."

Kirk sighed.

"Bones..."

"No, Jim, don't 'Bones' me."

McCoy resumed pacing.

"I've spent three hours in refugee camps today. Children are showing protein deficiency. Entire farming regions have collapsed."

He looked from Kirk to Spock.

"And meanwhile priests are standing in marble cathedrals saying suffering builds character."

Spock folded his hands.

"That is not a complete representation of the situation, Doctor."

McCoy rolled his eyes.

"Here we go."

"Numerous Faith scholars advocate immediate intervention."

Spock consulted a padd.

"Approximately forty-three percent of the senior clergy have publicly endorsed emergency aid measures."

"Only forty-three percent?"

McCoy replied.

"That isn't helping your argument."

"On the contrary, Doctor. It demonstrates the issue is not one of faith versus science. It is a conflict between competing interpretations of the same faith."

Kirk nodded.

"He's got a point."

McCoy dropped heavily into a chair.

"I hate it when he has a point."

Spock activated a display.

A Venturi religious symbol appeared above the table.

"The central doctrine teaches resilience through adversity."

"Wonderful," McCoy muttered.

"However, historical records indicate the doctrine originally referred to collective response rather than passive acceptance."

Kirk leaned forward.

"What are you saying?"

"I am saying, Captain, that the conservative factions may be misunderstanding their own theological tradition."

McCoy laughed.

"Spock, did you just accuse an entire priesthood of not reading the manual?"

"It seemed the most concise description."

Kirk smiled despite himself.

Then his expression faded.

"Let's assume you're right. It doesn't solve our problem."

The image changed to refugee statistics.

Millions displaced.

Food reserves falling.

Storm frequencies rising.

The room grew quiet.

"The Venturi government doesn't want large-scale Federation aid."

Kirk looked at both officers.

"The reformists do."

He pointed toward the demonstration footage.

"The protesters do."

Then toward another image showing the Grand Synod.

"The traditionalists don't."

McCoy shook his head.

"You know what bothers me?"

"Oh my."

Spock raised an eyebrow.

McCoy ignored him.

"Maybe some of those priests really believe this is a test."

He stared out the window at the planet.

"Fine."

His voice softened.

"Every culture's got questions it asks itself."

He looked back.

"But those people down there aren't arguing philosophy."

On the screen, rain hammered against a crowd of Venturi demonstrators.

"They're hungry."

The room fell silent.

"And when somebody's hungry enough, Captain, theology starts sounding like a luxury."

Spock considered this.

"You are making an emotional argument."

"Damn right I am."

"Yet emotional arguments are not necessarily incorrect."

McCoy blinked.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I merely observe that starvation remains biologically harmful whether interpreted spiritually or scientifically."

Kirk laughed.

"Bones, I think that's the Vulcan equivalent of agreeing with you."

McCoy looked suspicious.

"Well, he's doing it wrong."

Spock stood and approached the viewport.

"Doctor, a question."

"That sounds dangerous."

"If this crisis were resolved tomorrow through technological intervention, would the Venturi cease requiring meaning?"

McCoy frowned.

"No."

"So their faith would remain relevant."

"Of course."

Spock turned.

"Then perhaps the true issue is not whether the Faith is valuable."

He indicated the protest footage.

"Perhaps it is whether the Faith encourages action or resignation."

Kirk's eyes narrowed.

"Now that's the real argument."

For several moments nobody spoke.

Rainstorms rolled across the planet below.

Entire weather systems glimmered in the sunlight.

Finally Kirk broke the silence.

"When I was at the protest today, one of the demonstrators said something."

"What?"

McCoy asked.

Kirk looked out at the planet.

"He told me that some priests say the climate collapse is a test from God."

"Not surprising."

McCoy replied.

Kirk nodded.

"Then he said maybe the test isn't for ordinary people."

Spock tilted his head.

"What did he mean?"

Kirk smiled faintly.

"He said maybe the test is for the people with the power to help."

Even McCoy stopped talking.

Which was rare.

Spock considered the statement.

"An interesting interpretation."

McCoy leaned back.

"I'll tell you something, Spock."

"Yes, Doctor?"

"If that's what their religion actually means, then those protesters understand it better than their leaders."

Spock nodded once.

"A logical possibility."

McCoy smirked.

"You know, one day you're going to give a straight answer."

"I find that unlikely."

Kirk looked between them.

His physician.

His science officer.

As different as two people could be.

Yet both staring at the same world.

Both seeing the same suffering.

Both wanting the same outcome.

Just arriving by different roads.

"All right," Kirk said.

"Let's figure out how to save a civilisation before those two factions tear it apart."

McCoy stood.

"Now that's the first sensible thing anybody's said all day."

"Fascinating."

"Spock."

"Doctor."

And for a brief moment, despite the crisis unfolding below, the observation lounge felt reassuringly like home.

Enterprise-A Beholder Mission 2291

Operation Mirrorfall (2291)

USS Enterprise-A — Captain James T. Kirk commanding

Recovery of the Metar Beholder Shard

1. The Call

The Enterprise-A was limping through post-Sha Ka Ree refit trials when Starfleet Intelligence intercepted a fractured Taubat distress call. The message contained:

- A set of unstable coordinates
- A harmonic signature unlike anything in Federation records
- A single translated word: “Shard.”

Kirk stood on the bridge, arms folded, brow furrowed.

Kirk: “We just got the ship back in one piece, and now Command wants us to chase ghosts.”
Spock: “The signal is not a ghost, Captain. It is… an invitation.”
McCoy: “Wonderful. Last time we followed an invitation, we met God.”
Kirk: “Bones, that wasn’t God.”
McCoy: “Tell that to my blood pressure.”

Kirk ordered the course set.

He didn’t trust Starfleet Intelligence.
But he trusted Spock’s instincts.

2. The Derelict

The coordinates led to a Taubat skiff half-phased into a subspace fissure, flickering like a candle in a storm. The ship looked grown, not built — organic, wounded, and dying.

Kirk insisted on leading the away team.

Spock: “Captain, regulations require—”
Kirk: “Spock, you died once. I’m not letting you do it again.”
Spock: “I assure you, Captain, I have no intention of repeating the experience.”
McCoy: “And I have no intention of patching either of you up if you get yourselves killed.”

Inside, the skiff was silent. The walls pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat slowed to a crawl. Three Taubat clones lay dead, their bodies twisted in fear.

At the centre of the chamber floated a crystalline sliver — the Beholder shard.

It pulsed when Kirk entered.
It brightened when Spock approached.

3. The Shard Reacts

The shard’s resonance hit the away team like a pressure wave.

Chekov staggered.
Sulu felt a spike of dread.
Uhura whispered, “It’s… singing.”

But Spock stood perfectly still.

The shard’s pulse shifted — harmonizing with him.

Kirk noticed immediately.

Kirk: “Spock… it likes you.”
Spock: “I do not believe it is capable of liking, Captain.”
McCoy: “Then why is it staring at you like a hungry tribble?”
Spock: “Doctor, tribbles do not stare.”
McCoy: “You know what I mean!”

The shard wasn’t attacking.
It was recognising.

Spock’s hybrid mind — Vulcan discipline and human emotional depth — produced a resonance pattern the shard had no category for.

To the shard, Spock was an anomaly.
A puzzle.
A bridge.

4. The Vision

The shard pulled Spock into a deeper psychic resonance.

He saw:

- A crystalline sea stretching into infinity
- An eye beneath the surface, vast and unblinking
- The Taubat as engineered children
- The Metar as architects of emotion and memory
- The shard itself as a severed organ, cut off from its whole

Kirk watched Spock’s face tighten — not in fear, but in understanding.

Kirk: “Spock! Talk to me.”
Spock: “Fascinating.”
McCoy: “That’s not reassuring!”

Spock reached out and placed his hand on the shard.

The resonance stopped.

The shard went still.

5. Spock’s Insight

Back aboard the Enterprise, Spock explained:

“The shard is not a weapon.
It is a fragment of a larger consciousness — a judge of emotional coherence.
It is… lonely.”

Kirk blinked.

Kirk: “Lonely?”
Spock: “Separated from its origin. Confused. Seeking purpose.”
McCoy: “Great. We’ve adopted a psychic puppy.”
Spock: “Doctor, your metaphor is imprecise.”
McCoy: “It’s also accurate.”

Spock’s dual nature allowed him to stabilize the shard in a way no other being could.

His Vulcan side shielded him.
His human side connected with it.

The shard recognised both.

6. Extraction

Kirk ordered the shard secured in a level-10 containment field.

Kirk: “Spock, you’re the only one it responds to. You’re in charge of it.”
Spock: “A logical assignment.”
McCoy: “Logical? Jim, he just mind-melded with a crystal eyeball from a dead civilization!”
Kirk: “Bones, Spock’s been mind-melding with strange things since the day I met him.”
Spock: “Indeed.”

The shard was transferred to Starfleet Intelligence and eventually to Station Hurley One.

It remained the most stable Beholder fragment ever recovered.

7. Kirk’s Log

“Captain’s Log, Stardate 8991.4.
We’ve recovered something extraordinary — and dangerous.
Spock believes it’s a question, not a threat.
I trust him.
I always have.
But I can’t shake the feeling that whatever this shard is…
it wasn’t meant for us.”

The Enterprise-A Legacy Summary

The Enterprise-A Era
Opening: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
The story begins with Kirk and his crew returning from their extraordinary mission to 1986 and facing judgement for the theft and destruction of the original Enterprise.

Instead of losing his career, Kirk is reduced from admiral to captain and given command of the newly commissioned USS Enterprise-A.

It is a triumphant ending, but our expanded continuity makes the punchline about the malfunctioning ship important. The Enterprise-A is not yet the polished vessel later remembered by history. She is temperamental, inadequately shaken down and full of systems that do not quite work.

And Kirk's reunited crew suddenly have a starship again.

So begins their final era.

Season One: The Shakedown Years
The first missions of the Enterprise-A occur between Star Trek IV and Star Trek V.

The crew are legends, but their ship isn't.

Scotty spends an almost comical amount of time trying to make the Enterprise behave. Doors fail. Sensors disagree with one another. Automation produces unexpected results. Starfleet would probably prefer several months of trials.

Kirk would prefer a mission.

He gets one.

The Organian Silence
The Enterprise-A is ordered back to Organia, scene of one of the defining confrontations between the Federation and Klingon Empire.

Starfleet wants to know whether the Organians are still there.

They aren't.

The villages remain.

The planet remains.

The Enterprise-A scans again.

Nothing.

The beings who once effortlessly prevented Federation-Klingon war have disappeared.

The consequences are enormous.

For decades, somewhere beneath Federation and Klingon strategic thinking has been the knowledge that if things became bad enough, the Organians might intervene again.

Now everyone discovers the truth simultaneously:

There is nobody coming to stop them.

A Klingon cruiser arrives.

Its captain reaches exactly the opposite conclusion to Kirk:

“Then we may do as we wish.”

The crisis becomes the Enterprise-A's first great test. Kirk cannot rely on superior strength, Starfleet reinforcements or benevolent super-beings. Peace survives because Federation and Klingon officers choose not to start a war.

The Organians' absence consequently becomes one of the great unspoken facts of the period.

The galaxy has grown up.

Whether it was ready to do so is another question.

Season Two: The Venturi Crisis
The next period becomes the Venturi story, and this is where the Enterprise-A series really finds its identity.

The Venturi are not simply another civilisation encountered on Tuesday and forgotten by Wednesday. Their story unfolds across multiple missions.

They expose uncomfortable weaknesses in the post-Organian political order.

Kirk increasingly discovers that maintaining peace is considerably messier when there isn't an omnipotent civilisation capable of imposing it.

The Enterprise moves between diplomatic missions, frontier interventions, intelligence work and increasingly ambiguous confrontations with Klingon forces.

And the Klingons themselves cease to be a monolith.

Some genuinely want war.

Some recognise that the Empire cannot continue indefinitely as it has.

Others simply want to survive.

The Venturi crisis therefore becomes less about defeating an enemy and more about preventing several frightened powers from convincing themselves that war is inevitable.

This is perhaps the quintessential Enterprise-A story.

Kirk is older.

Spock is more diplomatic.

McCoy is increasingly suspicious of everybody claiming to possess an elegant solution.

Scotty is nursing an ageing design through increasingly unreasonable circumstances.

Chekov and Sulu are visibly becoming command officers in their own right.

Uhura has evolved into one of the ship's most important diplomatic and intelligence figures.

The original crew are no longer learning how to explore the galaxy.

They are discovering how difficult it is to keep the galaxy they helped create from falling apart.

Feature Event: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Then comes Nimbus III.

Seen in this continuity, Star Trek V no longer arrives in isolation.

Kirk has already gone to Organia and discovered that the gods have left.

He has already watched ordinary governments struggle with the consequences.

He has already encountered people desperately looking for certainty.

Then Sybok arrives promising exactly that.

Not metaphorical gods.

Not political ideals.

God.

And Kirk, of all people, has reason to be sceptical.

He has stood on the empty world where godlike beings once imposed peace.

So his response to the entity beyond the Great Barrier becomes thematically perfect:

“What does God need with a starship?”

The Organian mission retrospectively gives that moment another dimension.

Kirk isn't merely being irreverent.

He has learnt to distrust anyone, mortal or otherwise, who demands that people surrender responsibility to a higher power.

Season Three: Star Trek: Metar
Season Three then becomes the mature culmination of the television-style Enterprise-A adventures.

The stories are darker without becoming cynical.

This is still Star Trek, but it is a Federation entering middle age.

The Enterprise encounters the consequences of previous decades of exploration. Old alliances have changed. Former adversaries have become possible negotiating partners. Civilisations once regarded as stable are undergoing political change.

And the Klingon question hangs over everything.

The Organians aren't coming back.

The Federation therefore has to answer an uncomfortable question:

Can it make peace with the Klingons because peace is intrinsically worthwhile, rather than because an overwhelmingly powerful third party demands it?

That gives Season Three its larger arc.

Individual adventures gradually reveal an Empire under strain and a Federation divided over how to respond.

Some Starfleet officers see an opportunity.

Kirk increasingly sees a danger.

If the Federation treats Klingon weakness as victory, eventually somebody will attempt to exploit it.

Spock reaches a more radical conclusion.

Perhaps the Federation's greatest strategic achievement would be not defeating the Klingon Empire, but ensuring that it doesn't need to be defeated.

That idea puts the pieces in place for the final film.

Finale: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Then Praxis explodes.

Suddenly everything the Enterprise-A era has been discussing becomes real.

The Klingon Empire faces catastrophe.

Starfleet's old guard sees opportunity.

The Klingon old guard sees humiliation.

Kirk himself must confront the hatred created by the death of David.

And Spock takes the philosophical argument running through the entire Enterprise-A period to its conclusion.

On Organia they discovered:

Nobody will force us to live together.

In the Venturi crisis they learnt:

Peace requires compromises that nobody particularly enjoys.

In Star Trek V Kirk learnt:

You cannot surrender moral responsibility to gods.

In Metar the crew discovered:

Yesterday's enemy does not have to be tomorrow's enemy.

And in The Undiscovered Country, they finally have to act upon all of it.

There is no Organian intervention.

No omnipotent being freezes the conspirators in place.

No cosmic voice declares peace.

Just people.

Humans and Klingons have to save the peace themselves.

The Enterprise-A Saga Chronologically, continuity is:

2286 | Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Kirk receives the Enterprise-A.

Season One | Enterprise-A shakedown adventures
The new ship and reunited crew find their feet.

The Organian Silence
The Enterprise returns to Organia and discovers the Organians have disappeared. The Federation and Klingons realise that their future is genuinely their own.

Season Two | The Venturi Arc
A major political and exploratory crisis tests the new post-Organian balance of power.

2287 | Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Sybok's search for God challenges everything Kirk has recently learnt about dependence upon supposedly higher beings.

Season Three | Star Trek: Metar
The Enterprise's mature period. Political change, frontier instability and the evolving Klingon relationship dominate, with the season gradually moving towards the end of the Cold War.
2293 | Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Praxis, Gorkon, Khitomer and the final voyage of Kirk's Enterprise.

And that gives the Enterprise-A itself a proper narrative lifespan.

She begins as a barely functioning prize handed to Kirk after saving Earth.

She spends her career in a galaxy newly deprived of its Organian safety net.

And she ends by helping achieve the very thing the Organians once had to impose by force:

peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, freely chosen.

That makes the Enterprise-A arguably the peace ship of Kirk's career.