U.S.S. Excelsior, Excelsior class doyen, NCC 2000.


U.S.S. Excelsior, launched 2284 and commissioned stardate 8105.5 at San Francisco orbital fleet yards. Test bed for transwarp drive and other systems for five years between 2285 and 2290. Commissioned as a frontline starship on stardate 8921.5, Excelsior has currently undergone two missions [2287 - 90; 2290 - 2293] and is about to start her third mission.

Excelsior is commanded by Captain Hikaru Sulu, a veteran starfleet officer from the famous five-year mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise 1701. Excelsior has a crew of 510, ranging in experience from Captain Sulu to cadets on their first starship assignment. Commander Dmitri Masoud Valtane is the First Officer of the Excelsior, with Lieutenant Commander Rand as Second Officer. Lieutenant Commander Saavik returns to the fold as the Chief Science Officer aboard. Lieutenant Commander Lojur and Ensign Tuvok are amongst those who remain onboard from the previous mission.

Excelsior is one of two starships considered to be the flagship of the fleet, the other being Titan NCC-1777, Shangri-La class under Captain Saavik. Excelsior gets used for a large number of high profile missions, 'showing the flag' for the Federation. U.S.S. Excelsior also 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. The mission that commenced in 2293 was one of the defining moments for the formation of New Starfleet and its direction in the opening part of the coming century. After the three year mission that had culminated in the explosive shockwave from Praxis and the Battle of Khitomer, Sulu was determined to have a crew and starship that was ready to deal with the aftermath.

In 2294 there needed to be an active attempt to keep the momentum going from Khitomer. There needed to be engagement by Starfleet to keep the dialogue going and to continue dialogue with the Klingon Empire. Sulu sought to meet up with the Klingon commanders he knew best from his days on the Enterprise: Korrd, Klaa, Kang, Kor and Koloth. Korrd was still the old General, out of touch with his younger successors. Klaa was the youthful, aggressive, eager young captain bucking for bigger warships and fleets to command; dreaming of his great House in the Empire. Kang was where Sulu saw something else. Kang had changed since his last encounter, becoming darker and murderous. His heart was on a path of vengeance for the death of his son, a fate of the sons of Kor and Koloth too. Sulu was to find that this act would have consequences reaching far further than he could imagine. Kor took the death of his son in a far different way. Kor was an alcoholic. A drunken ruin of the great captain that he'd been back at the standoff over Organia. This giant of a Klingon commander had become an empty, cruel shell, filled only with bloodwine and venom. Sparks of genius were still visible under the haze of alcohol, but the damage had been done. Koloth seemed to be the same aristocratic, high-born Klingon. Leader of a great House of the Empire and master of all his surveyed. Like Kang, he was seekig out the murderer of his son, but this wasn't blinding him to the future of his House an his own destiny. He spoke of how he had seen friends fall from grace; friends like General Chang were now discommended and their lands handed out like gifts to loyal Houses. Koloth had seen how the Praxis explosion had brought the Empire low; how a Vulcan had asked their Chancellor to meet them, only for humans to murder him. Yet, now humans were treated by the daughter of Gorkon as the potential savious of Qo'noS. Koloth reminded Sulu that humans had only humiliated him. The tribbles beamed onto his warship Gr'oth after the disasterous K-7 mission; more tribbles beamed onto his warship on the next encounter with the Enterprise. Whilst Kirk and his crew had chuckled about the incident, Koloth was shamed. Now the world and Empire he had grown up in to expand, now lay cowed down by Praxis and its carcass pecked over by the Federation in the guise of rendering aid. Sulu thought Koloth a bitter old commander remembering days of past glory. Sulu was wrong.

It didn't take long for the death of Gorkon and the naming of his daughter Azetbur as Chancellor for the Empire to start to crumble. Sulu and the Execelsior crew had met Harcourt Fenton Mudd (junior) working with the Orion Syndicate to bring the blackmarket to the Klingon Empire, as well as selling off some of the products of the Empire for a small profit. The world of Ch'ramak is where the Excelsior had witnessed both the disintergration on the Klingon Empire and the ferocity of the fight-back to save it. It was soon apparent that there was a loss of prestige in the Imperial Klingon Navy as the fragmenting High Council was pulling resources in different directions to both rebuild the home world and also empower rising Houses. The result of this was a Klingon war fleet that couldn't subdue rebelling farmers, who are evolving into something far more dangerous over time. The words of Koloth came back to Sulu as he realised that the explosion of Praxis had exposed a more insidious collapse within the Klingon Empire. Worse was to come. News followed from the Klingon home world; there had been a military coup and Chancellor Azetbur had been overthrown. Probably killed. Her successor was none other than General Koloth.

2295 started in complete contrast to the previous year. General Koloth ruled the Klingon Empire. Sulu and his team had been wrong-footed, missed all the signs. Dismissed them. Just as he was lost of ideas an unannounced arrival gave the answer: the loose cannon Ambassador Curzon Dax. Dax knew the solution was with the other Klingons Kor and Kang. Only Klingons can deal with Klingons. Meanwhile Koloth was finding that the old ways were perhaps in the past. He had spared Azetbur as an act of mercy - he saw no honour in killing her. Other Klingons like Waurg wanted her dead, to kill the traitors to the Empire and to reassert the military might of the Imperial Klingon Navy. Verbal sparring matches between Koloth and Azetbur were common; Koloth reminding Azetbur how he'd fought to expand the Empire and fend off the Federation from destroying their culture and traditions. He spoke to how the Vulcans and Andorians had been tamed by the humans. Even their starships mostly bore human names. The humans had defeated them in the cold war but had mocked them in victory. They had no honour, and Azetbur was inviting them in. Azetbur meanwhile reminded Koloth that Gorkon had given his life to make this work. Waurg was the son of Kesh, slain by Gorkon, who wanted nothing better than to regain the position of Chancellor to restore his House. Koloth reminded Azetbur she became leader of the Klingons in a manner more akin to the heir of a king or emperor, not a chancellor. She never spilt blood in battle; she wasn't a warrior, she was a politician. Azetbur, using the time she had, reminded Koloth how she'd been taught the ways of Kahless by Gorkon; how he'd sent her to Boreth where he'd had his own vision that showed him Praxis. Whilst Gorkon couldn't fulfill his destiny, his daughter could.

The Excelsior worked with Kang to get to Qo'noS with Dax. Dax and Kand managing to get through to Koloth. Waurg was less receptive. A final confrontation was inevitable with Waurg falling to the Dahar Master. Azetbur reassumed her throne and Koloth was exiled in punishment to Boreth, to find his way again. The Khitomer Conference, which became the Khitomer Accords when they were ratified in 2295, did much of the groundwork for co-operation between the two nations. There would be the assistance with the environmental catastrophe on Qo'noS and the dismantling of the Neutral Zone; both projects would take years, potentially decades, to complete. Excelsior had the task of starting the process of dismantling the Neutral Zone and also cateloguing the many Federation and Klingon colonies that had been set up close to the Neutral Zone, some even illegally within it. What was known was that the Imperial Klingon Navy would deploy their own K'T'inga class battlecruisers to do the same from their side. Starfleet Command knew that the Klingons weren't interested in cateloguing their own colonies; only maintaining control over them and being seen to be present by the Excelsior. The Empire wanted Starfleet and the Federation to know they were still in business.

Star Trek: Excelsior crew: 2287 - 2293:

  • Commanding Officer: Captain Hikaru Sulu
  • Executive Officer: Commander Dmitri Masoud Valtane
  • Operations Officer: Lt Commander Janice Rand
  • Chief Science Officer: Lieutenant Saavik
  • Helm: Lt Commander Lojur
  • Navigation: Lieutenant Tiffe
  • Communications: Lieutenant (Christian) Slater
  • Chief Engineer: Commander Terim Azleya (female Denobulan).
  • Chief Security Officer: Lieutenant Leonard James Akaar
  • Chief Medical Officer: Dr. Altos Viger (James Sloyan as a Bolian)
  • Engineering Officer: Lieutenant Commander Devon Gabler
  • Security Operations Officer:
  • Science Officer: Ensign Tuvok

    Star Trek: Excelsior crew: 2293 - 2298:

  • Commanding Officer: Captain Hikaru Sulu
  • Executive & Chief Science Officer: Commander Iliana
  • Operations Officer: Lt Commander (Tellarite male).
  • Science Officer: Ensign Tuvok
  • Helm: Lt - Orion female.
  • Navigation: Ensign Caitian male.
  • Communications: Lieutenant Commander Janice Rand
  • Chief Engineer: Commander Terim Azleya (female Denobulan).
  • Chief Security Officer: Lieutenant Leonard James Akaar
  • Chief Medical Officer: Dr. Altos Viger (James Sloyan as a Bolian)
  • Security Operations Officer: (Andorian female)
  • Chief Special Services Officer: Lieutenant (unjoined Trill female)


    Author's Notes:

    For the crew of the Excelsior for the never-made 1990s Star Trek: Excelsior TV series- updated with information from Star Trek: Picard season 3 - I chose the junior officers from the Star Trek Movies, along with characters established in the Voyager episode 'Flashback' and the novels The Lost Era: The Sundered and Forged in Fire. Additional characters come from Curt Danhauser's excellent Star Trek: Excelsior pages. There'd be the 'Old Guard' characters like Sulu and Rand with decades of experience and the 'New Generation' of Saavik, Gabler and Hawkins that would be New Starfleet with the big new ideas. This is about the juxtaposition of the experience of the old with the fresh ideas of the new. Both have very valid viewpoints, however don't forget the words of Chancellor Gorkon to Kirk when he said "If there is to be a Brave New World, our generation is going to have the hardest time living in it." I'd have loved to have seen the characters of Captain Hikaru Sulu, First Officer Dmitri Masoud Valtane, Science officer Saavik and Rand developed in those roles beyond what we saw in the feature film movies. They had so much potential to show how these background characters had grown into the main cast members that they would be here.

    I've always been a fan of the Excelsior, ever since I first saw her on VHS video in 1984. I was pleased to see her on the big screen in 1992 with George Takei as Capain Sulu. As the Dundee Star Trek fan club reminded me in 1996, I was still a big fan of the Excelsior for the Voyager Star Trek 30th anniversary episode 'Flashback'. I think I cannot resist putting my character of Hawkins on the Excelsior, if only for a short-term mission. I've met most of the people in the cast list for this never-made series: George Takei, Robin Curtis and Tim Russ. Hawkins would be on as a junior social sciences officer, probably for a specific short-term mission. As a 'Klingon expert', I'd imagine Hawkins would be onboard to advise on their culture beyond warship crews. He'd be one of the 'new generation' of Starfleet officers, sparking off the attitudes of the 'Old Guard'.

    Captain Hikaru Sulu

    Stardate 9602.4. Four months after a successful three-year mission to study gaseous anomolies in the Beta Quadrant, with her dents from multiple battles now repaired at Starbase 12, the U.S.S. Excelsior is ready. After de-briefing, shoreleave, visiting his daughter onboard the nearly-ready Enterprise-B and mission briefings, Captain Hikaru Sulu now has the prospect of a five year mission dealing with the aftermath of the Praxis explosion and the subsequent Khitomer Accords. Sulu must work with his allies in the Empire as well as his friends in Starfleet to keep the peace on-track. In four months, things have changed within the culture at Starfleet. Cowboy Diplomacy and the Kirk rulebook has been firmly thrown out, a new book needs to be written by Captain Sulu and the crew of Excelsior. Taking back from NCC-1777 Titan the role as the Starfleet Flagship, the Excelsior needs to study and bring a new level of understanding to the Imperial Klingon Empire that has never been achieved before.

    Author notes: As with Rand, there's not much canon development been done on the character of Sulu. For five movies he did little except say 'Aye Sir, warp five' or similar. Cut lines in ST II had him promoted to captain - stealing the Enterprise probably delayed that. Trek III had him say 'Don't call me Tiny' which was one of his most memorable lines of the first 5 movies. Star Trek VI showed Sulu - and gave him more lines - as captain of the Excelsior, showing loyalty to his former crew and the line when at maximum warp and told of the stresses to the ship "Fly her apart then!" 'Flashback' developed the character of Captain Sulu more. He said "Don't tell me Vulcans don't have a sense of humour because I know better". A statement bordering on arrogant given Spock is HALF Vulcan, but one showing the confidence of Sulu. Sulu also has dialogue with Michael Ansara's Klingon Kang. The banter between the two suggests this isn't Sulu's first encounter, given Kang's familiarity with Sulu's recent promotion to captain and the familiarity between the two characters in their dialogue; they know each other much more than the TOS episode 'Day of the Dove' would have allowed.

    Commander Dmitri Masoud Valtane

    Lieutenant Commander Boris Lojur

    Captain Saavik

    Returning to Starfleet after medical leave, following the destruction of U.S.S. Grissom, Saavik resumed her Starfleet career having not been implicated in any of the actions by Kirk's crew in the theft of Enterprise. Saavik became the Executive Officer and science officer of U.S.S. Excelsior. Having served earlier on the Enterprise during the classified Mutara Nebula Incident and the subsequent Grissom mission, Saavik was a lieutenant and fulfilling the wishes of her mentor Spock to be one of the best officers in the fleet. Saavik rose quickly to Lieutenant Commander and then Commander. In 2290, Hikaru Sulu recommended Saavik as the captain of brand-new Shangri-La class U.S.S. Titan, NCC-1777. Saavik commanded Titan as Starfeet flagship, addressing the Klingon Neutral issues including the Exo-Port takeover and Horizon Colony rescue.

    Author's Notes: Saavik's history comes from Star Trek: Picard season 3 information on the backstory for Shangri-La class U.S.S. Titan.

    Lieutenant Commander Janice Rand

    Commander Terim Azleya

    Female Denobulan Chief Engineering Officer of the Excelsior.

    Ensign Tuvok

    Ambassador Spock

    The new ambassador. Takin on the role his father has traditionally had, Spock approached Gorkon to meet after the explosion of Praxis. Feeling a measure of responsibility with the Khitomer Accords and Azetbur taking over from her assassinated father, Spock uses his Starfleet knowledge to guide the Federation President and Azetbur towards what Starfleet and the Federtion can do to pick up the pieces on Qo'noS following the explosion. Unlike Sarek with his gold and gem sash of office, Ambassador Spock goes for black and muted markings as Ambassador, preferring to be able to move unseen in the shadows to get his diplomatic work done.

    Author's Notes: It would be interesting to have seen Leonard Nimoy in 1996/7 playing the fledgling Ambassador Spock, finding his feet in a new role having been in Starfleet for forty years. Sarek had the flashy costume whereas Spock would be in a version of the robes he wore in his quarters in ST VI. Spock would be a guide for Azetbur, who has to balance peace with the Federation with factions in her own government.

    Kang

    After the death of his first-born in 2289, Kang swore to Mara that he'd avenge them. He went back to what he does best - killing. Kang is now like a cross between the Terminator and Predator - a merciless killer who coldly slays everyone involved in the death of his firstborn. No matter who and no matter how many. Kang is in a VERY dark place. He's ruthless, heartless and his methodologies are on the very edge of honour. One small step and he'll lose it all and have gone too far. He dresses in black and is the Klingon Grim Reaper personified.

    Author's Notes:

    Each of the original Klingon main characters from TOS needed development and Kang had his extra scene from Voyager 'Flashback' to add to his. I saw in Michael Ansara the murderous warrior of Kang. After the Albino kills his firstborn son, Kang goes all revenge on him. Out of the three original Klingons, Kang is the one you see as the killer. Blood Oath told the story of how he was the Ice Man, all quiet and brooding. Now it's silent assassin, killing and questioning his way towards the Albino. Functional and lethal: that's Kang. Add to that his last encounter with Sulu saw the Excelsior explode sirilium gas around his ship in a nebula, Kang's going to be in a foul mood...

    Kor

    Former hero of the Battle of Klach d'kel Brakt, Dahar Master, hero of Organia. Just some of the titles General Kor had to his name. Throughout the 2260s, 70s and 80s he was at the forefront of the Imperial Klingon Navy, driving the Federation back from the border with the Klingon Empire. Instrumental in creating the Neutral Zone to keep Starfleet at bay, Kor had built up a powerful House and an impressive reputation. That was all to change after he was sent to kill a treacherous renegade Albino. In revenge for Kor coming after him, the Albino killed the firstborn son of Kor.

    Kor took the death of his beloved firstborn child hard. With his wife leaving him, he was now the last member of his House. With no successor and no honour ahead of him, Kor took to drinking. Kor is a drunk, a cruel drunk. He still fulfills his duties, more or less. Less these days. His cruelty has cost him alliances, friendships and prestige In the future, this cruelty will see him stop Martok from becoming an officer because Kor belived his House and bloodlines are not worthy. The Albino may not have killed Kor, but he destroyed him.

    Kor still has his ancient D-5 battlecruiser Klothos. The ship has been modified extensively over the decades; she was one of the first ships modified with a cloaking device, as the Bird of Prey-style copper chin guard and cabling over the aft hull testifies. The sensors, disruptors and torpedo systems have been similarly upgraded. Author's note: like the trialled 1990s upgrade for a T-55 Soviet tank. She may not look pretty with all the modifications, however the Klothos is one of the most advanced D-5 warships in the IKN.

    Author's Notes:

    For the character of Kor I looked at the opening few minutes of DS9 Blood Oath. Kor is the revered Dahar Master who is now a drunkard. We know also from Martok on DS9 that Kor was on the officer selection panel and thought Martok wasn't worthy of being an officer. I wanted each Klingon to be an archetype and different and Kor was the cruel drunk, drowning the sorrow of losing his (last remaining) son and heir to the Albino. Rather than fighting, he's drinking himself to death. The excessive drinking and lack of honourable combat etc. may be why Kor has no wife present - she left this dishonourable loser to find honour elsewhere. Kor is a morality tale of alcohol destroying a reputation as well as destroying the mind and physique of the man. As he's Klingon, he can tae his booze so still can operate semi-normally when we need him to.

    Koloth

    General Koloth. Aristocratic Klingon with imperial blood running through his veins. Koloth has encountered Kirk and crew before twice with tribbles and once in 2287 regarding the prisoners of the late Oberth class starship Gagarin. Koloth has a great House, is a Dahar Master and the mighty K'T'inga class warship Gr'oth. General Koloth presided over the expansion of the Klingon Empire during the cold war, having built up his reputation fighting in the Federation-Klingon war. His high status means that he could count amongst his friends Kang, Kor, Korrd, Gorkon and Chang. They knew that they were fighting to keep the Klingon Empire and its culture free from the pacifying, unifying force that was the United Federation of Planets.

    With the explosion of Praxis and the assassination of Gorkon, followed by the condemnation and death of his friend Chang, Koloth felt the compass of hs world spinning. He'd only just lost his firstborn son at the hands of the Albino and now the Khitomer Conference was proposing the Federation would send aid to Qo'noS to clean up a mess that the Empire seemed unable to deal with themselves. Add to this that Gorkon's daughter had been namked Chancellor in an act that felt more akin to the last will of a king or emperor, rather than an elected chancellor. The old Klingon Empire that General Koloth knew as big swept away and all that was left was uncertainty and an imminent invasion by Starfleet under the guise of a 'humanitarian aid operation'. Koloth was not impressed. Unfortunately his two closest remaining friends were of little help; Kor was drowning himself in typical style in a vat of bloodwine whilst Kang was still chasing down the Albino. The trail for the Albino may have gone cold, but the trail of blood left by Kang rang long and hot. This left Koloth frustrated. At this point he was visited by the last person he expected or wanted to see: Captain Hikaru Sulu of the U.S.S. Excelsior. Koloth was asked by Sulu about the Klingon Empire and how it fared now that the Neutral Zone was gone and Azetbur was Chancellor. General Koloth hardly expected to be asked to betray the secrets of the Empire in a casual conversation. Koloth spoke in very general terms about the current fleet shortages and played down the damage caused by the Praxis shockwave. Whilst Koloth was polite and cordial, he was in no mood to be humiliated yet again by Starfleet. Kang had told him about the Azure Nebula incident with the Excelsior; Koloth was in no mood for tricks. Once Sulu and the others had gone, his plan went into action. There were other Klingons who felt the same way as Koloth and were prepared to act. Being a Dahar Master, Koloth was the natural choice for leader. The coup went to plan, the hostage he kept did not. Koloth felt it dishonourable to kill the Chancellor in cold blood. He kept her alive and as the two of them talked and discussed Klingon lore, philosophy, literature and politics, so he realised that she was in fact the person best suited for the Empire after all. Times had changed.

    Once the coup had collapsed, with the help of Koloth, Azetbur felt that although he had to be punished, death was too severe. Instead she exhiled him from Qo'noS to the monestary at Boreth. There he was to recquaint himself with the works of Kahless and look into his heart. He had lost his way and Azetbur gave him the punishment of finding his true path once more.

    Author's Notes:

    Koloth is an old school aristocrat. He hates the changes the Empire is making. He is the Klingon who has lost his way in all of this change. Fans may rage at the storyline for William Campbell's character but the important thing is it is a story arc - one with FAR greater depth than Blood Oath had time for. Koloth is needed to make sure Sulu and the Excelsior have a role in the Klingon story arc. And to ensure certain matters about Azetbur are adhered to. Koloth knows Kang, Korrd and Kor; he also knew Chang, Kesh and Gorkon which means seeing Gorkon murdered by humans, only to be told Chang is dead and the Empire relies on the same humans is more than Koloth can bear.

    I wanted to develop the original three Klingon main characters of Kor, Koloth and Kang. For Koloth I looked at both his appearances in TOS: Trouble With Tribbles, TAS More Trouble, More Tribbles and DS9 Blood Oath. I wanted to have a plan for the character over those eighty years that went further than just saying his son was murdered in 2289 and he spent the next eighty years hunting down the Albino. This would be a little single-minded for Koloth and also a little inept. By 2293 Koloth would have been promoted from captain to general, he would be head of his House and a Dahar Master. Quite the resume. Koloth is also resentful of humans. Every time we saw him in TOS and TAS, Kirk and crew would outwit him and Scotty would beam tribbles onto Koloth's ship. Kirk's crew would then laugh and the fade out music would play. I built up from this that Koloth felt humiliated by the two tribble encounters with Kirk. Koloth is an aristocrat, imperial blood of the emperor's lineage pours through his veins and his loyalty is to the Empire. To see friends like Chang treated as traitors and their memories erased from Klingon culture was hard for Koloth; to then see the Federation sending aid and helping the Klingons is too much for Koloth. I wanted him to be the one who takes matters into his own hands to sort the Empire out.

    The result would be a memorable two-parter with Koloth in a coup plot against Azetbur. As an honourable Klingon, he wouldn't kill Azetbur and that allows the two characters to tlan build bridges. We have the time honoured bad-guy-see-error-of-ways and Koloth switches back to support Azetbur after understanding she may be a politician's daugther but she's also fulfilling the vision her father, Gorkon, saw on Boreth. As Koloth spared Azetbur's life, she'll spare his and Koloth will be exiled to study on Boreth as a 'punishment' from Azetbur. This leaves it open for Koloth to return. It also explains why the Albino hunt takes so long. In Blood Oath, Koloth has a medallion on with a half-sphere clasped on. This would represent Qo'noS and display plainly the loyalty of Koloth to the Empire.



    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

    Season 1 Writer's Bible for Star Trek: Excelsior mini-series

    Star Trek: The Interim Years*
    ## *The Excelsior Stories*
    # Season One Bible

    **Season:** One of Five
    **Episodes:** 10
    **Setting:** 2293
    **Primary vessel:** USS *Excelsior*
    **Season span:** Approximately three months after the Khitomer Conference through the crisis at Ch'ramak and Terajun
    **Series horizon:** The roughly fifty-year process that ultimately makes the sacrifice of the *Enterprise-C* politically meaningful

    1. Series Proposition

    *The Excelsior Stories* is not the story of peace between the Federation and Klingon Empire.

    It is the story of **making peace possible**.

    The five-season series chronicles the first years of a political transformation that will take approximately half a century to mature. The old Federation-Klingon confrontation cannot simply be switched off. Too much territory, military doctrine, cultural identity, personal history and economic interest has been constructed around it.

    The *Excelsior* therefore begins a five-year mission whose ostensible purpose is cartographic and diplomatic:

    > **Survey the Federation-Klingon frontier, map its colonies and populations, resolve competing territorial claims and establish the conditions under which the Neutral Zone may eventually be abolished.**

    In practice, this means deciding who owns worlds.

    It means asking Federation citizens to contemplate becoming Klingon subjects.

    It means asking Klingons to surrender territory their families fought to acquire.

    It means confronting indigenous and colonial populations who question why either superpower should decide their future.

    It means discovering that sometimes peace requires **giving something up**.

    Season One solves none of this.

    It lays the first foundation stone.

    2. Season Thesis: Change

    Everything is changing simultaneously.

    Starfleet is changing

    The *Enterprise-A* has been decommissioned.

    The legendary crew who functioned as Starfleet's premier troubleshooting team are dispersing. In our earlier continuity, the *Enterprise-A* was still being called upon precisely because senior Starfleet figures trusted James T. Kirk and his veteran crew with crises where conventional responses were insufficient.

    Now the band has broken up.

    Starfleet has to learn to function without assuming someone can simply send for Kirk.

    Hikaru Sulu is changing

    He is not a newly promoted captain learning diplomacy.

    He has commanded *Excelsior* since 2287 in this continuity.

    Six years.

    Before that came decades watching Kirk, Spock and others deal with Klingons.

    Season One begins the transformation of Hikaru Sulu from an experienced starship captain into one of the principal architects of Federation-Klingon détente.

    Spock is changing

    Captain Spock is becoming Ambassador Spock.

    He must discover that being able to identify the logical solution does not compel sovereign governments to accept it.

    The Federation is changing

    Victory is not the objective.

    Coexistence is.

    But a Federation built around democracy, political equality, individual rights and self-determination discovers that merely expressing those values can destabilise an imperial neighbour.

    The Klingon Empire is changing

    Praxis has ripped out its industrial and demographic heart.

    The Empire survives.

    But for the first time, its survival no longer seems inevitable.

    Azetbur is changing

    She begins the season as Gorkon's daughter.

    She ends it as Chancellor.

    There is a difference.

    3. The Historical Shadow

    Everything happening in 2293 has roots extending backwards.

    The Treaty of Organia was imposed upon the Federation and Klingon Empire in 2267, creating a framework for their rivalry and preventing their conflict from simply proceeding unchecked.

    Then the Organians disappeared.

    The consequences were profound.

    The destruction of the Federation science vessel *Grissom* at Genesis in 2285 becomes one indication that the old safeguards no longer exist. Canonically, the ship was destroyed by Kruge's Klingon Bird-of-Prey despite his intention merely to disable it.

    In this continuity, the *Enterprise-A* subsequently visits abandoned Organia after *Star Trek IV*, a mission already established amongst the ship's pre-Khitomer adventures.

    There is no answer.

    Later comes the Metar War.

    Federation, Klingon and Romulan interests are briefly forced into alignment against something more dangerous than their own rivalries. Advanced Metar artefacts and technologies survive the conflict and become objects of secret study.

    Then Praxis.

    Then Gorkon.

    Then Khitomer.

    The characters see separate events.

    The audience should gradually wonder whether they are witnessing a chain.

    **The Organians knew that friendship was possible.**

    Perhaps they also knew that possibility could never mature while omnipotent beings continued preventing everyone from suffering the consequences of their choices.

    4. The Praxis Condition

    Praxis is not the subject of one episode.

    **Praxis is the condition under which Season One occurs.**

    In this continuity:

    - approximately 50 per cent of Qo'noS has been seared;
    - approximately half the Klingon population of the planet died during the initial catastrophe;
    - enormous numbers of survivors are injured;
    - large regions are contaminated;
    - major ecosystems have been destroyed;
    - the principal industrial region has been devastated;
    - core shipbuilding infrastructure has been crippled;
    - the Imperial fleet and reserves have fallen from roughly 14,000 warships to perhaps 7,000 potentially operational hulls, consistent with the previously established post-Praxis fleet concept.

    The important phrase is **potentially operational**.

    Some ships are old.

    Some are cannibalised.

    Some desperately require dockyard maintenance.

    Some have been pulled from reserve because the Empire needs hulls.

    The Klingon Empire is still a superpower.

    But increasingly it has to **perform superpower strength while rationing the means of maintaining it**.

    This is the Klingon USSR-1986 atmosphere.

    The Empire has not disintegrated.

    Azetbur intends to ensure that it never reaches its equivalent of 1992.

    5. The Biological Crisis

    In *The Interim Years*, the Praxis disaster has also devastated significant Klingon food ecosystems.

    Particularly important are the environments that sustain gagh.

    Gagh isn't treated merely as a cultural delicacy. Klingon physiology depends upon nutritional and enzymatic compounds associated with gagh ecosystems that Klingons cannot efficiently synthesise or retain themselves.

    Praxis has sterilised many of the traditional producing regions.

    Consequently:

    **gagh becomes food security.**

    And food security becomes geopolitics.

    Ch'ramak and Terajun possess environments capable of supporting enormous replacement gagh production.

    Their political status therefore acquires existential significance after Praxis.

    For Federation politicians, Ch'ramak may eventually appear to be a self-determination issue.

    For Azetbur, it is also about feeding the survivors of a catastrophe.

    6. The Hidden Praxis Question

    There is something else.

    Praxis may not have been merely conventional industrial negligence.

    The Klingons came out of the Metar conflict possessing fragments of technologies they did not completely understand.

    Throughout Season One there are indications that experimental principles derived from salvaged Metar technology had found their way into Klingon research programmes.

    Possibly Praxis.

    No proof.

    Not yet.

    The mystery must remain unfinished.

    If the Klingon population discovered that the catastrophe which killed half the population of Qo'noS was partly caused by government experimentation with salvaged alien technology, the political consequences could threaten the entire High Council.

    Azetbur did not create this secret.

    She inherited it.

    Like almost everything else.

    7. The Neutral Zone Mission

    The *Excelsior*'s five-year mission provides the structural backbone of the series.

    It proceeds in stages.

    Survey

    Determine what is actually there.

    Not what century-old strategic maps claim is there.

    Population

    Who lives on each world?

    Federation colonists?

    Klingons?

    Mixed communities?

    Indigenous populations?

    Refugees?

    History

    Who colonised it?

    Who conquered it?

    Which treaty supposedly allocated it?

    Do both sides recognise that treaty?

    Economics

    Who owns the mines?

    Where does the food go?

    Which trade routes depend upon it?

    Security

    Which fortifications remain?

    Which military formations protect it?

    Would moving the border expose another settlement?

    Diplomacy

    What compromise could both governments survive politically?

    End state

    Ultimately:

    > **No Neutral Zone.**

    A recognised Federation-Klingon frontier and mechanisms for dealing peacefully with disagreement.

    That could take decades.

    8. The Bitter Pill

    The Federation enters negotiations expecting Klingon concessions.

    Sulu's briefing makes something very clear:

    **The Federation may have to concede territory as well.**

    That means colonies.

    Homes.

    Families.

    The Federation cannot ask Klingons to sacrifice territory for peace while declaring every Federation settlement untouchable.

    Some worlds may become autonomous.

    Others jointly administered.

    Some may remain disputed for years.

    And eventually a Federation colony may fall on the Klingon side of a negotiated frontier.

    That creates one of the saga's defining moral questions:

    > **How much peace is someone else's home worth?**

    Sulu will have to answer that question repeatedly.

    There will never be an entirely satisfactory answer.

    9. Sulu at the Opening of the Season

    Three months after Khitomer, Sulu hasn't been adventuring.

    He's been working.

    Debriefing

    Repeated classified interviews over:

    - Praxis;
    - the intercepted communications;
    - Gorkon's murder;
    - Chang;
    - Khitomer;
    - the conspiracy;
    - the battle.

    Refit

    *Excelsior* undergoes refit for its new five-year deployment.

    Most visibly:

    **an *Enterprise-B*-generation bridge is installed.**

    The ship is familiar but changed.

    Like the era itself.

    Family

    Hikaru Sulu gets precious shore leave with his daughter Demora.

    She is preparing for the new *Enterprise-B*.

    Their subplot gives the season an initially optimistic image of generational transition.

    *Enterprise* is being reborn.

    Starfleet is moving forward.

    We do not yet know what that will cost them.

    Classification

    Then Sulu receives the real briefing.

    The map appears.

    The five-year mission begins.

    10. Ambassador Spock

    Spock serves as a recurring co-lead rather than another member of *Excelsior*'s crew.

    His arc is:

    **Captain ? Ambassador.**

    He must learn:

    - persuasion without command;
    - bureaucratic patience;
    - political ambiguity;
    - compromises whose outcomes cannot be calculated precisely;
    - the difference between equality as a moral principle and equality as foreign policy.

    Spock believes deeply in the Federation.

    Yet the closer he comes to Klingon domestic politics, the more uncomfortable the Federation's ideological problem becomes.

    Can the Federation advocate freedom and political equality whilst supporting the survival of an imperial state?

    Can it avoid supporting the Klingon government when collapse might scatter thousands of armed ships amongst competing Houses?

    There is no Vulcan shortcut through this problem.

    11. Chancellor Azetbur

    Azetbur's season arc is **legitimacy**.

    Her father has been murdered.

    The Empire has experienced catastrophe.

    The peace initiative could collapse.

    She moves rapidly to occupy the throne.

    Reasonably.

    Perhaps necessarily.

    But that decision creates a question which will grow across the five seasons:

    > **Should she actually have been Chancellor?**

    Because there is another claimant.

    12. General Waurg and the Eastern Front

    Waurg is the eldest son of former Chancellor Kesh.

    Continuity establishes that Gorkon killed Kesh honourably, while Waurg later fought through the Metar War, attempted to challenge Gorkon, was defeated by Chang, and was effectively exiled through promotion to the Kinshaya front.

    In previous development, his supporters regard him explicitly as the true heir.

    He has:

    - bloodline;
    - military prestige;
    - House support;
    - personal courage;
    - an army;
    - a plausible claim to the throne.

    Had there been an unrestricted succession contest after Gorkon's death, Waurg might well have won.

    But he wasn't on Qo'noS.

    He was fighting the Kinshaya.

    And when word of Gorkon's murder arrives, Waurg makes the decision that defines him:

    **he stays.**

    The Eastern Front needs him.

    That makes him more dangerous to Azetbur, not less.

    He chose the Empire over his own ambition.

    For now.

    13. The Klingon Frontiers

    Season One must destroy the misconception that Klingon geopolitics revolves entirely around the Federation.

    West

    Federation and Neutral Zone.

    East

    Waurg, House H'vakia and the long Kinshaya conflict.

    South

    Gorn frontier and House Qo'mar.

    Elsewhere

    Romulan pressure.

    The Empire is increasingly looking inward and outward simultaneously.

    This creates the Klingon psychology of **encirclement**.

    14. The Federation Ideological Problem

    Federation policy becomes one of the season's quiet destabilising forces.

    Federation politicians talk naturally about:

    - equality;
    - representative government;
    - individual rights;
    - popular consent;
    - self-determination.

    The Federation does not have to deliberately export revolution.

    People in the Klingon Empire simply have to hear these ideas.

    Azetbur's fear is increasingly:

    > Federation friendship may undermine the very institutions necessary to keep the Empire alive.

    Chang warned precisely about cultural and political dependence.

    The terrible complication is that being murderous did not make every part of his analysis incorrect.

    15. The Romulan Perspective

    The Romulans view the emerging peace with profound concern.

    Federation-Klingon hostility has served Romulan strategic interests.

    If the two rivals no longer concentrate against one another, the regional balance changes.

    The Romulan objective therefore does not need to be renewed war.

    A cleverer objective is:

    > **Make peace expensive.**

    Encourage suspicion.

    Exploit unresolved territorial claims.

    Acquire intelligence.

    Support useful intermediaries.

    Emphasise every Federation betrayal to Klingons and every Klingon atrocity to the Federation.

    The pre-existing *Interim Years* setting already envisages active Starfleet/Tal Shiar intelligence competition around this period.

    Season One merely begins revealing this layer.

    16. The Orion Syndicate

    The Orion Syndicate provides an entirely different perspective.

    It does not care whether histories eventually call 2293 the beginning of peace.

    It sees:

    - broken supply networks;
    - refugees;
    - disputed jurisdictions;
    - demobilised soldiers;
    - food scarcity;
    - smuggling opportunities;
    - political asylum;
    - forged documents;
    - abandoned military installations;
    - desperate colonists.

    In other words:

    **markets.**

    The Syndicate becomes strongest precisely where neither Federation nor Klingon authority is clear.

    Peace threatens some criminal enterprises.

    Transition creates many more.

    17. Season One Episode Guide

    1.01 – **Brave New World, Part I**

    Dramatic function
    Launch the new era.

    Three months after Khitomer, Sulu has undergone extensive debriefing while supervising *Excelsior*'s refit.

    The new *Enterprise-B*-generation bridge is being installed.

    Hikaru Sulu spends shore leave with Demora Sulu, who is preparing for the *Enterprise-B*.

    The scenes should feel optimistic.

    New ship.

    New bridge.

    New generation.

    But Starfleet is awkwardly discovering that the old *Enterprise* crew no longer exists as a single emergency problem-solving institution.

    Spock is now an Ambassador.

    Sulu has his own command.

    Kirk has no *Enterprise*.

    Then Sulu receives the classified briefing.

    A vast frontier map appears.

    His five-year mission:

    > **Survey. Map. Negotiate. Demilitarise. Resolve.**

    And, ultimately:

    > **abolish the Neutral Zone.**

    The sting comes when he is told that Federation territorial concessions may be required.

    The map suddenly looks different.

    These aren't stars.

    They're people's homes.

    Meanwhile Azetbur struggles with the ruined Klingon homeworld, while distant Waurg learns that she has assumed the throne.

    1.02 – **Brave New World, Part II**

    Dramatic function
    Demonstrate why the five-year mission may be impossible.

    *Excelsior* reaches its first disputed system.

    Federation records demonstrate Federation ownership.

    Klingon records demonstrate Klingon ownership.

    The inhabitants have their own opinion.

    The Federation colonial government refuses to become a bargaining chip.

    Suddenly Sulu finds himself negotiating as hard with Federation citizens as Klingons.

    The Organians are discussed.

    Spock remembers the earlier voyage of the *Enterprise-A* to an abandoned Organia, already part of the preceding continuity.

    They were once the referees.

    They're gone.

    Sulu reaches the first temporary solution:

    **freeze sovereignty, remove heavy weapons, protect the population, negotiate later.**

    Nothing is settled.

    Nobody dies.

    Success.

    1.03 – **The Balance of Honour**

    Dramatic function
    Break Klingon political consensus.

    Chang's blood-oath confession reaches the High Council.

    He admits responsibility for Gorkon's assassination.

    He identifies himself not as an innocent man, but as a guilty Klingon who believed dishonour was necessary to preserve the Empire.

    He intended afterwards to perform Mauk-to'Vor, not to redeem himself, but to protect the honour of his House.

    He believed himself damned.

    He accepted it.

    The *Excelsior*'s arrival at Khitomer upset his intended end.

    The revelation splits the Council.

    Koloth becomes the voice of the disturbing middle ground: Chang was wrong to murder his Chancellor, but that does not automatically mean his fears about Federation influence were wrong.

    The border mission becomes hostage to Klingon domestic politics.

    Waurg's name enters the conversation.

    1.04 – Deterrance - A look back to the Kzinti Cold War from 2155 onwards. The way the Archer dealt with first contact and then after the Romulan War, how the fledgling UFP used restraint and wisdom to build a wall and let the Kzinti carry on unmolested behind it. They avoided the Thucydide's Trap.

    Federation story

    USS **Goliath NCC-7851**, the newest Ulysses-class super-dreadnought, begins politically controversial operational trials while *Excelsior* surveys a Cold War-era Federation defence installation in the former Neutral Zone.

    Klingon story

    Azetbur's government has to decide whether *Goliath* represents ordinary Federation prudence, an unacceptable breach of the spirit of Khitomer, or proof that Starfleet never truly intended to relinquish its ability to overwhelm the Empire.

    Theme

    > **If the purpose of the weapon is never to use it, how powerful must it be before possessing it becomes immoral?**

    Why *Goliath*, rather than *Ulysses*

    This makes the story work much better.

    *Ulysses* is the prototype. The political debate over a prototype can always be dismissed as:

    > “It is an experiment.”

    **Goliath proves there is going to be a class.**

    That's psychologically different.

    The page establishes that five Ulysses-class ships were originally authorised and that *Goliath* follows *Ulysses* in the registry sequence.

    So *Goliath* becomes the moment the argument changes from:

    > **Should Starfleet test this capability?**

    to:

    > **Are we building a fleet of these things?**

    Perfect for the episode.

    The name is politically terrible

    Which is precisely why I'd keep it.

    **Goliath.**

    Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the spacedock can put that name on their placards.

    Not:

    > PEACE NOT WAR

    Something sharper:

    > **WHO IS GOLIATH'S DAVID?**

    Or:

    > **GOLIATH IS NOT EXPLORATION**

    Or simply:

    > **NO MORE GOLIATHS**

    That gives the Federation storyline the CND/Faslane atmosphere you want. Historically, Faslane became a longstanding focus of protest against Britain's strategic deterrent, including opposition surrounding Polaris and later Trident.

    The Federation equivalent protests outside Jupiter Station/Spacedock while the enormous *Goliath* is prepared for trials.

    And *Goliath* should look magnificent.

    That's important.

    The audience ought to understand why an admiral would want one.

    Admiral Lawrence Buckingham

    *Goliath* is given to Admiral Lawrence Buckingham

    Make Buckingham the Federation intellectual counterweight to Sulu.

    Not a bloodthirsty hawk.

    Not General Chang in a Starfleet uniform.

    Buckingham is thoughtful, cultivated and absolutely convinced that **deterrence is one of the reasons the Federation has survived long enough to possess pacifist ideals**.

    That's much harder for Sulu to dismiss.

    His argument:

    > “Diplomacy is not an alternative to strength, Captain.”
    >
    > “Strength creates the circumstances in which diplomacy can succeed.”

    Sulu:

    > “And when does strength become provocation?”

    Buckingham:

    > **“Usually when the other side possesses less of it.”**

    That's the episode in miniature.

    What makes *Goliath* frightening

    The important design philosophy should be:

    *Goliath* doesn't carry exotic doomsday weapons.

    That's too easy.

    It carries ordinary Starfleet technology at an extraordinary **scale, redundancy and concentration**.

    Photon torpedoes aren't controversial.

    *Excelsior* carries them.

    Phasers aren't controversial.

    Every cruiser has them.

    The moral problem is that *Goliath* possesses enough survivability, fire-control capacity and sustained combat endurance that it changes the strategic calculation of confronting Starfleet.

    That's what makes it deterrence.

    A Klingon intelligence officer might put it beautifully:

    > “There is nothing aboard that vessel we have not seen before.”
    >
    > Azetbur:
    >
    > “Then why does it concern you?”
    >
    > **“Because there is so much of it.”**

    And tell the history through three ships

    This gives 1.04 a lovely historical structure.

    Nimitz class*, 2256

    Federation doctrine before the war: a powerful fleet-command ship attempting diplomacy.

    Canon establishes that Nimitz-class flagship commanded by Admiral Brett Anderson and was destroyed after a cloaked Klingon vessel rammed it at the Battle of the Binary Stars.

    Lesson:

    > **Command capability wasn't enough.**

    Earlier Federation dreadnoughts

    The response to repeated strategic threats.

    The Kzinti example provides historical justification, Kzinti history has Starfleet assigning dreadnoughts to the region specifically to deter renewed Kzinti aggression while simultaneously deploying vessels intended to study them and support negotiation.

    Lesson:

    > **Visible strength can prevent attack.**

    USS *Goliath*, 2290s

    The doctrine reaches its logical extreme.

    Lesson:

    > **If some deterrence works, how much deterrence is enough?**

    And nobody has a comfortable answer.

    The Klingon response makes the episode work

    Azetbur looks at *Goliath* and sees a threat.

    Koloth looks at it and sees **vindication**.

    That's important groundwork for later seasons.

    Koloth can say:

    > “Kirk speaks of peace.”
    >
    > “Spock speaks of peace.”
    >
    > “Sulu maps the peace.”
    >
    > Koloth indicates the intelligence image of *Goliath*.
    >
    > **“And this is how Humans prepare for it.”**

    Azetbur cannot easily answer because **he has a point**.

    But Azetbur can respond:

    > “And how many K't'ingas would you have me build?”
    >
    > “As many as necessary.”
    >
    > **“Necessary for what?”**
    >
    > “To deter them.”
    >
    > **“And when they build another Goliath?”**

    Silence.

    That's the arms race.

    Sulu should tour *Goliath*

    This gives us our Federation equivalent.

    *Excelsior* docks alongside.

    Suddenly ***Excelsior looks small***.

    Sulu goes aboard expecting some militarised horror.

    Instead:

    Starfleet officers.

    Scientists.

    Engineers.

    Medical facilities.

    Exploration equipment.

    A perfectly normal Federation crew.

    That's more unsettling.

    The people who operate the deterrent aren't monsters.

    They joined Starfleet for precisely the same reasons Sulu did.

    One young officer perhaps tells Sulu:

    > “My grandfather died in the Klingon War.”
    >
    > “I'm here so my children don't have to.”

    How does Sulu argue against that?

    He can't simply call them warmongers.

    And Buckingham gets the best pro-deterrence line

    Sulu finally asks:

    > “Do you actually believe this ship will prevent another war?”

    Buckingham:

    > “No.”

    That surprises him.

    Then:

    > **“I believe someone on the other side must wonder whether it might.”**

    That's genuine deterrence theory.

    The weapon doesn't need to guarantee peace.

    It needs to introduce enough uncertainty into an aggressor's calculation that **not attacking becomes the more rational choice**.

    But the protesters get equally good material

    A Federation protest leader can say:

    > “You keep telling us the ship exists so that nobody will ever have to use it.”
    >
    > “Yes.”
    >
    > **“Then you have built the most powerful ship in Starfleet for a mission you pray it never performs.”**

    And later:

    > **“At what point does preparing for the failure of peace become refusing to believe in it?”**

    That should bother Sulu.

    Because Sulu himself commands an enormously capable warship while performing a mission intended to dismantle a military frontier.

    He's already living the contradiction.

    Which makes *Excelsior* the perfect middle ground

    That's possibly the strongest thing about making this an *Excelsior* story.

    USS *Excelsior* is:

    - exploratory;
    - diplomatic;
    - scientific;
    - fast;
    - technologically advanced;
    - heavily armed;
    - capable of serious combat.

    It represents the classic Starfleet compromise.

    **Capable of war but built for more than war.**

    *Goliath* forces Sulu to ask whether there is a point at which that balance tips.

    Perhaps Sulu says:

    > “Excelsior can fight.”

    Buckingham:

    > “Yes.”

    > “Goliath exists to fight.”

    Buckingham:

    > **“No, Captain. Goliath exists so that Excelsior doesn't have to.”**

    And annoyingly...

    **that's a very good argument.**

    Keep *Goliath* in the background afterwards

    Don't destroy it.

    Don't reveal some design flaw.

    Don't have the Federation cancel the project after Sulu makes a moral speech.

    Your existing class history explicitly frames Ulysses as something Starfleet possesses because, in the setting's argument, it believes it **needs** the capability rather than wanting it, amid continuing internal controversy.

    So *Goliath* survives 1.04.

    That makes it more useful.

    Occasionally we hear:

    > *Goliath* deployed to the Tholian frontier.

    Or:

    > *Goliath* involved in exercises.

    Or:

    > Klingon intelligence tracked *Goliath* leaving spacedock.

    Its very existence keeps exerting political pressure without firing a shot.

    Which is, of course, **exactly what a deterrent is supposed to do**.

    And that makes the revised title **“Deterrence”** much stronger than *Old Enemies*. The enemy in the episode isn't really the Klingons, Kzinti or Federation hawks.

    It's the paradox both powers are trapped inside:

    > **Peace requires trust.**
    >
    > **Deterrence assumes distrust.**
    >
    > **Yet distrust may be one of the things keeping the peace alive.**

    That is precisely the sort of moral contradiction *The Interim Years* should be built around.

    1.06 – **Ascension**

    Dramatic function
    Introduce the wider Empire and Azetbur's coalition.

    The story moves towards the southern frontier.

    The Gorn become a living geopolitical reality.

    House Qo'mar enters the series.

    These Klingons have been shaped by fighting Gorn, not Humans.

    Azetbur begins promoting powerful peripheral Houses into national politics as older Houses are destroyed, weakened or disgraced.

    House Qo'mar's previous development explicitly places it amongst the beneficiaries of this new political arrangement.

    Azetbur has stopped merely inheriting Gorkon's government.

    She is constructing an **Azetbur government**.

    1.07 – **Encirclement**

    ### Dramatic function
    Show everybody else's map.

    The central conceit is geographical perspective.

    Klingons believe themselves surrounded by:

    Federation.

    Romulans.

    Gorn.

    Kinshaya.

    Internal separatism.

    Colonial populations believe themselves surrounded by:

    Klingon governors.

    Klingon ships.

    Klingon troops.

    Klingon taxes.

    Klingon law.

    Everyone thinks they are defending themselves.

    Nobody thinks they are the encircling power.

    The Romulan perspective becomes increasingly visible.

    A lasting Federation-Klingon détente threatens the strategic balance.

    Ch'ramak and Terajun begin asking whether Federation concepts of political consent should apply to them.

    1.08 – **Gateway**

    Dramatic function
    Put faces on geopolitics.

    The maps disappear.

    People arrive.

    Refugees.

    Displaced colonists.

    Klingon dissidents.

    Ch'ramaki.

    Terajuni.

    Families from disputed worlds.

    Starfleet patrol ships struggle with trafficking and refugee movements, connecting with the later established *USS Sheppey* patrol environment around Gateway.

    The Orion Syndicate emerges more visibly.

    Sulu encounters people adversely affected by the diplomatic process.

    A colonist asks the question nobody in the negotiation room wants to answer:

    > **“How much peace is my home worth?”**

    There is no satisfactory response.

    1.09 – **Independence Day**

    Dramatic function
    Allow the heroes to succeed and make everything worse.

    Sulu and Spock help achieve the season's biggest diplomatic success.

    A major section of the Neutral Zone receives a workable provisional political settlement.

    Both sides concede something.

    Possible mechanisms include:

    - autonomous colonies;
    - recognised sovereignty;
    - joint economic areas;
    - demilitarised transit zones;
    - arbitration regions.

    This is real progress.

    Then Ch'ramak invokes exactly the same political principles.

    **Self-determination.**

    Terajun follows.

    Suddenly Federation policy has provided Klingon subject worlds with political language for independence.

    Azetbur sees the chain reaction immediately.

    The Federation sees people demanding political rights.

    The Klingon government sees the possible beginning of disintegration.

    Both are correct.

    1.10 – **Fracture**

    Dramatic function
    Force Azetbur to choose.

    Ch'ramak openly rejects Imperial authority.

    Terajun threatens to follow.

    The Federation Council urges restraint.

    Spock argues that coercion may destroy the possibility of negotiated reconciliation.

    Federation politicians increasingly ask whether their government can morally assist a repressive response.

    Azetbur looks at a different problem.

    Praxis.

    Food security.

    Gagh production.

    Other subject worlds watching.

    Great Houses watching.

    Waurg's supporters watching.

    The possibility that Imperial authority could begin disappearing system by system.

    And the Federation has misunderstood something fundamental.

    Azetbur wanted friendship.

    She did not ask to become a Federation client.

    She stops appeasing them.

    > **“The Federation may advise the Chancellor of the Klingon Empire. It does not command her.”**

    She orders the Imperial fleet to move.

    The same détente which reduced forces along the Federation frontier has given her ships to deploy elsewhere.

    **Send in the fleet.**

    Cut to credits.

    18. Post-Credits Sequence

    Quiet.

    *Excelsior*.

    Sulu receives a PADD.

    He reads.

    Stops.

    The PADD falls from his fingers.

    The audience can make out:

    > **USS ENTERPRISE NCC-1701-B**
    > **INCIDENT REPORT**
    > **CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK**
    > **MISSING**
    > **PRESUMED DEAD**

    Black.

    The great geopolitical story ends with something intensely personal.

    The old age has finally gone.

    19. What Season One Resolves

    Very little.

    That is deliberate.

    The season establishes that:

    - trade is possible;
    - negotiation is possible;
    - territorial compromise is possible;
    - Klingon and Federation officers can cooperate;
    - there are diplomatic procedures which did not exist previously;
    - neither civilisation actually requires the Organians to prevent every confrontation;
    - Sulu can speak to Klingons and be heard;
    - Spock can speak to Federation politicians and Klingons without being merely a Starfleet officer;
    - Azetbur can survive her first months as Chancellor.

    Those are the foundation stones.

    20. What Season One Deliberately Leaves Unresolved

    The Neutral Zone

    Most of it still exists.

    The border

    Still disputed.

    Federation colonies

    Some face possible sacrifice in future negotiations.

    Klingon subject worlds

    Now increasingly aware of Federation ideas about political consent.

    Ch'ramak and Terajun

    The crisis has only begun.

    Waurg

    Still on the Eastern Front.

    Still potentially the stronger traditional claimant to the throne.

    Still coming home eventually.

    Praxis

    The official account contains unanswered questions.

    Metar technology

    There are indications that somebody experimented with technology they didn't fully understand.

    The Romulans

    Observing.

    Calculating.

    The Orion Syndicate

    Profiting.

    The Federation-Klingon ideological conflict

    Entirely unresolved.

    21. Season One Character End States

    Hikaru Sulu

    Begins as an experienced captain given an extraordinary mission.

    Ends realising that his greatest challenges will not be tactical.

    He has spent his career protecting Federation worlds.

    His new mission may eventually require him to tell Federation citizens that preserving peace means giving one up.

    Spock

    Begins as a Starfleet legend changing careers.

    Ends as an Ambassador beginning to understand that diplomacy isn't the application of logic to irrational governments.

    It is the management of contradictory legitimate interests.

    Azetbur

    Begins as Gorkon's rapidly installed successor.

    Ends by demonstrating that she will use military power independently of Federation wishes.

    She has started becoming Chancellor in her own right.

    Waurg

    Begins as a distant potential claimant.

    Ends more politically dangerous despite spending the entire season fighting rather than scheming.

    He has behaved exactly as a Klingon warrior ought to behave.

    Eventually he is coming home.

    The Excelsior

    Begins as the celebrated ship which helped save Khitomer.

    Ends becoming something historically more consequential:

    **the ship attempting to make Khitomer work.**

    22. Five-Season Series Promise

    Season One is merely the starting point.

    Over five seasons the series can progressively engage with:

    - dismantling the Neutral Zone;
    - disputed Federation colonies;
    - Klingon colonies and subject peoples;
    - Waurg's return;
    - Azetbur's legitimacy;
    - House Qo'mar;
    - Kinshaya;
    - Gorn;
    - Romulan strategic interference;
    - Orion criminal exploitation;
    - Klingon reconstruction;
    - Federation political divisions;
    - Praxis scientific secrets;
    - Metar technology;
    - the transformation of Spock into a statesman;
    - Sulu's emergence as one of Starfleet's great diplomatic captains;
    - the creation of formal structures which survive the people who invented them.

    The destination is not a Federation-Klingon alliance.

    Not yet.

    It is something subtler.

    By the end of the *Excelsior Stories*, enough foundations exist that later generations can continue the work.

    Then, roughly half a century after these first conversations, the *Enterprise-C* makes its sacrifice.

    A Federation crew dies defending Klingons.

    And Klingons recognise what that sacrifice means.

    That moment cannot exist without everything that comes before it.

    23. The Organian Question

    This should remain unanswered across the series.

    The Organians knew that Klingons and the Federation **could** become friends.

    They disappeared.

    Afterwards came catastrophe, war, extraordinary cooperation, Praxis, Khitomer and everything that follows.

    Perhaps they saw those precise events.

    Perhaps not.

    Perhaps what they understood was simply probability.

    They could force the Federation and Klingons not to fight.

    They could not force them to respect one another.

    The latter could only emerge through choices.

    Through mistakes.

    Through compromise.

    Through sacrifice.

    Through people like Sulu and Spock being there when history unexpectedly required exactly what they had become.

    Season One therefore ends nowhere near peace.

    But for the first time, there exists **a road towards it**.

    And somewhere, decades beyond the horizon, lies the Enterprise-C.

    Episodes from Star Trek: Excelsior mini-series inspired by Flashback and The Undiscovered County:

    1.01 and 1.02 – Brave New World

    1.03 – The Balance of Honour - The revelation of General Chang; a blood oath document was delivered to the High Council shortly after Azetbur had attended the Khitomer talks, in the document, Chang confesses that he was behind the assassination of Chancellor Gorkon. The document was there as an admission of guilt, an honourable man who felt he had to do a dishonourable act to save the Empire. He went further to explain that he had always planned to carry out Mauk-to'Vor, not to redeem himself but to save the honour of his House. Chang knew he was damned to Grethor and was prepared to accept this burden to save the Empire. Chang had never planned for the Excelsior to have been there to stop him. He was denied honourable suicide. Chang, as a young lieutenant, had been on one of the warships approaching Earth in 2257. They had been called away from victory at the last moment by L'rell. Mother. Chang felt dishonoured and denied glorious victory. Gorkon was about to surrender to Federation aid; Chang felt he had no other honourable choice than to murder his friend Gorkon, and anyone else who attempted to befriend the true enemy of the Klingon people. The conspiracy was to maintain the status quo. hang sent this last message as he wanted to show his face to his enemy, as a true Klingon should. Chang had made General, was Chief of Staff and friend of Gorkon, then-Chancellor of the High Council. The murders and loss of personal honour were a worthwhile cost for the greater good.

    1.04 – Old Enemies - A look back to the Kzinti Cold War from 2155 onwards. The way the Archwer dealt with first contact and then after the Romulan War, how the fledgling UFP used restraint and wisdom to build a wall and let the Kzinti carry on unmolested behind it. They avoided the Thucydide's Trap.

    1.05 – Praxis- The story of the Klingon Chernobyl. The full details of the damage caused by the explosion of Praxis and the Delta Radiation and subspace wave sent out.

    1.06 – Ascension - House of J'tal and General Qo'mar story.

    1.07 – Encirclement - seeing the Trek universe from a Klingon-centric viewpoint.

    1.08 – Gateway The human story of the refugees crossing the Neutral Zone.

    1.09 – Independence Day Sulu and Spock help achieve the season's biggest diplomatic success. This then leads to perhaps triggering the beginning of the collapse of the Klingon Empire.

    1.10 – Fracture - Ch'ramak and Terajun.



    Season 2 – 2294

    2.01 – Echoes of Tian Nan Men - Azetbur sends in the fleet. Klingon version of Prague Spring.

    2.02 – Fallen Hero. The Excelsior catches up with Kor, a hero who's fallen into a bottle after his firstborn son was murdered. Archetype number 2 for the Klingons: the alcoholic. Alcoholism is prevalent in the former Soviet Union and modern-day Russia. This is also the case in the Klingon Empire with Blood Wine a staple of TNG, VOY and especially DS9. In the DS9 season 5 opener, Apocalypse Rising, the Order of the Batleth induction process is seen and drinking is a massive part, even promoted. Some Klingons will take this too far. Kor is also seen in DS9 Blood Oath opening part as a drunk. This is perfect for this episode where Kor show himself to be a drunk after the death of his son. A cruel drunk. A morality tale of how alcoholism destroys people and their families. Star Trek does this occasionally and this time it's a Klingon's tale.

    Kor still has his ancient D-5 battlecruiser Klothos. The ship has been modified extensively over the decades; she was one of the first ships modified with a cloaking device, as the Bird of Prey-style copper chin guard and cabling over the aft hull testifies. The sensors, disruptors and torpedo systems have been similarly upgraded. Author's note: like the trialled 1990s upgrade for a T-55 Soviet tank. She may not look pretty with all the modifications, however the Klothos is one of the most advanced D-5 warships in the IKN.



    2.03 – Organia – revisiting the world that foresaw the Khitomer Accords... I hate god-type beings. They are lazy story devices and our heroes cannot really defeat people like Trelane, Organians, Excalbians and Q. Dull. But for the story point here, important to show the Organians have left. This is why Kruge could attack the Grissom etc.

    2.04 – Our Generation – Sulu meets up with Koloth, who's not happy with the Khitomer Accords. The third Klingon archetype: the honourable noble. Koloth is what Kor evolved into in DS9, a noble who was descended from the blood of Kahless. William Campbell came across both in Trouble with Tribbles and Blood Oath as the aristocratic Klingon. The political beast who has connections through blood and his House. He knew Kang and Kor, but also was in with Kesh, Gorkon, Korrd and Chang. Why would he trust humans over these Klingons he's known for years when all Kirk did was put Tribbles onto his ship and humiliated him? The title comes from Gorkon's line "If there is to be a Brave New World, our generation is going to have the hardest time living in it". This story acts as a primer for what happens next...

    2.05 - Ch'ramak - The collapse of the Empire, as predicted by Spock, has begun! The fall of the Warsaw Pact and Soviet Union in 1992 preceded civil wars in Georgia and many of the 'stans countries. Chechnya was a warzone twice in the 1990s and early 2000s. This is the Afghanistan and Chechnya of the Klingon Empire and reflects what has happened after Praxis has brought the Empire low. Spock predicted the break-up of the Klingon Empire and this is where is really starts.

    2.06 – Destinies - Sulu and the U.S.S. Excelsior pick up Ambassador Spock for a meeting on Qo'noS with Chancellor Azetbur. There is a coup on the Klingon Empire. And it is led by Koloth! Cliffhanger ending. I wanted people to be invested in who topples Azetbur in a coup. It couldn't be a new character introduced for the job, it HAD to be someone we knew and wouldn't totally expect. Koloth fit the bill as a proud, loyal Klingon that doesn't want the Empire to surrender. He saw Chang as a loyal Klingon and quite frankly everything seems to be benefitting the Federation, not the Empire. And Azetbur being crowned like a Klingon Queen Elizabeth makes Gorkon feel more like the Klingon Henry VIII than Abraham Lincoln. This also had to have some reason for the Excelsior crew to both know the culprit and also have a way out of this one.





    Author notes:

    Season 1 of Star Trek: Excelsior or ST: The Interim Years would have to grab the attention of the viewer or reader. As with modern CBS productions like ST: Discovery, the story should adhere to canon until canon gets in the way of a good story. The starting point for the mini-series would be where we left off in the Undiscovered Country - Excelsior flew off into the sunset and the Khitomer Accords were drafted. But not signed yet. The next step was the return of Mudd via his son - and the Orion Syndicate. Then it's guest star of the week as we alternate from Starfleet to Klingon Empire - much in the style of Star Trek: Discovery. The three Klingons from DS9: Blood Oath would be the focal points; indeed, Blood Oath provides the plot and character points for each of these former TOS Klingons as the Albino had killed their firstborn children four years earlier in 2293. Now, each Klingon dealt with that loss and pain differently. Kang does what he does best and gives in to his cool rage, slaughtering his way towards the Albino. At any cost and any body count. Kor has fallen into the bottle. As the last of his House, he sees no continuation of his line and no honour. He becomes a cruel drunk, as he will be with Martok by denying him a path to being an officer just because Kor sees his lineage and bloodline as being unworthy. Finally Koloth. This one I took the approach of no guts no glory, no risk no prize. I wanted the arc to be the kidnap of Gorbachev in 1990 by those scared of his reforms. If we had a new Klingon, no one would care - as with Saavik becoming Valeris in TUC. The Klingon I wanted to use was Koloth. He's aristocracy in the Empire and he's friends with Kor, Kang, Gorkon and Chang way before Praxis and the Albino. Now there's a murdered Gorkon and Azetbur wants to be friends with the humans that killed him(!) This is all too much for Koloth. He likes the honour of the old ways. And he wants them back... This ends with a cliffhanger of Koloth looming out of the shadows of the High Council chambers to confront Azetbur in a cliffhanger summer worthy of the end of Best of Both Worlds.





    Author notes:

    Season Two of Star Trek: Excelsior, the earliest Interim Years stories, builds on the cliffhanger of the first season. My thoughts are that the character of Koloth has to redeem himself enough to not be executed for his treason. Still, got sixty years for redemption before DS9 Blood Oath. 2295 is also the year of the Plasma Plague outbreak on Oby V mentioned in TNG. As a series that would have been filmed in the Nineties, the conflict in the Balkan countries of Bosnia, Serbia etc. - remnants of the break-up of Yugoslavia would have influenced Star Trek: Excelsior in no small way. As with the conflict in ex-Yugoslavia, that split up US thoughts from the Europeans, the Federation Council would face dilemmas with their tactical fleet and its future role and size, the break-up of the Klingon Empire along the borders would create brushfires. The option is to let them burn themselves out - the Yellowstone Option. The other option is diplomacy and interference for peace.

    The Khitomer Accords and Starfleet Review of Stardate 10000 are all in 2295. Change is in the air and very much the theme of Star Trek: The Interim Years. This is where momentous changes would be proposed. Starfleet has a defensive element, as well as the exploration, diplomatic and science elements. With the cessation of hostilities with the Klingons, the justification for dreadnoughts, carriers and assault ships has to be made in other ways, or they will be mothballs and scrapped. This is the classic political battles of hawks and doves. The peace dividend is on Starfleet, yet the dangers are still there, perhaps in new and different forms.

    As with the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom from 1989 onwards, where I witnessed the changes firsthand, Starfleet has to evolve away from the Cold War to a period of bush fires and peacekeeping. Exploration, science and diplomacy are the mainstay of the 2290s. Captain Sulu finds his niche as a diplomat and explorer, finding a new path for the Federation.





    Season 3 – 2296

    3.01 – – .

    3.02 – – .

    3.03 – – .

    3.04 – –

    3.05 – – .

    3.06 – – .

    3.07 – – .

    3.08 – – .



    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 loose cannon 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). TNG pointed out that the peace process with the Klingon Empire was lengthy. Very lengthy. Sarek, Spock, Dax and Riva all were involved in a process that took around fifty years to come to fruition in the time of the loss of the Enterprise-C. As with Russia 1991 - today, things got worse - MUCH worse initially before they got better. Tanks fired on the Russian White House, the economy crashed in 1998 and wars raged in Chechnya. All of this would be reflected in Star Trek: Excelsior and the opening chapters of the Interim Years. Klingon Academy had civil war before Praxis; I definitely see in-fighting after the Khitomer Accords are signed. Peace certainly does scare some people and some Klingons. And they'll go to any length not to surrender to the Federation - which is EXACTLY what it feels like to some of the great Houses.

    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.

    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.

     Author's Notes:

    In "Flashback", it is Ensign Tuvok who embodies the New Generation attitudes, captured in the confrontation with Captain Sulu aot going throug the Azure Nebula to rescue his friends Kirk and McCoy. In that scene, Tuvok is shown to have only TWO MONTHS experience out of the Academy. Why the hell do you join a deep space mission two months from its end? This scene makes Sulu look good by making Tuvok look weak. A good scene has a STRONG counterargument countered by an equally STRONG argument; at least make Tuvok have three YEARS experience. Tuvok quits after only four years at the Academy and two MONTHS in the field from unpleasant experiences with humans. What the hell does this say about Starfleet? It seems being at the forefront of change serves the Old Guard to put down the new as 'stupid' or 'wrong'.

    Excelsior in The Undiscovered Country, Flashback and the ST: Excelsior Writers Guide (2001) is a very White-human-heavy starship, with only Asian-American Sulu, the Eastern European Lojur, and the alien Rotciv and Tuvok as the non-Whites on the Bridge. The Enterprise-B also suffers from a white-heavy case with only Demora Sulu, the Chief Engineer played by Tim Russ and the Science Officer played by Jeanette Goldstein as the non-whites on the Bridge.

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

    Excelsior's bridge [production model 1]


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


    Thanks to Curt Danhauser and the Excelsior website team for their Excelsior enthusiasm and bridge station guidance.




    Author's notes:

    This is an alternative 1996 where the backdoor pilot episode for a Captain Sulu series is filmed as the ST: Voyager episode "Flashback". The backdoor pilot is a success and a proper pilot for the miniseries is ordered. A proper series was unlikely due to the presence of both DS9 and VOY till at least 2000 and Paramount didn't have the staff or resources to film three full 26-episode series. In this alternative 1996, the stars from that era are called to reprise their roles for a series mirroring ther events in Eastern Europe and the former-Soviet Union; this is a series about hope following the breaking up of the Klingon Empire and following-up on some of the more popular characters and events of the original cast Star Trek TV series and movies. People from Leonard Nimoy and De Forest Kelley to Rosanna DeSoto, Michael Ansara and Robin Curtis are asked to reprise their roles for the miniseries. What George Takei referred to at the time as "The Adventures of Captain Sulu" is branded "Star Trek: Excelsior" and soon becomes the precursor for my own Star Trek: The Interim Years.



    Whereas the Interim Years deals with a number of starships and a lengthy historical period through flashbacks and memories, Star Trek: Excelsior focussed on the titular starship, using the Bridge set now not needed from the end of the original series movies. This set existed as it was used up to Star Trek: Nemesis as the Bridge of the Romulan Warbird Valdore. The rest of the sets came from "Flashback" and would be built upon as necessary or use redressed sets from Voyager. The episodes would be the standard 45 minute teaser and three act formula that had been pioneered with TNG. The feel of the miniseries would very much try to capture the feel of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country both in terms of the music and the costumes and sets. In an ideal alternative-1990s scenario, the people involved in the original movies would be brought in to help with this miniseries, to both keep the 'feel' correct and as Jeri Taylor and TV proction staff would be too busy filming DS9 and VOY.



    Star Trek: Excelsior starts from where the Undiscovered Country leaves off; the Enterprise-A has retired and the crew who saved the day for 28 years are finally disbanded and broken up. A new Enterprise-B is nearing completion at San Francisco orbital fleet yards and Starfleet has to have a flagship to deal with the Klingons without Kirk to call on. The man who steps up for this role is Kirk's legitimate protigee Hikaru Sulu. Both men served together for 25 years on two ships named Enterprise, risked their lives for each other and even travelled across time to save the universe a couple of times. Sulu picks his best friend from the TV show, Walter Koenig's Pavel Chekov, to be his First Officer, replacing the character of Commander Dimitri Valtane who was killed in the Azure Nebula Incident shown in "Flashback". Robin Curtis returns to wear the Vulcan rubber ear pieces as the science officer Saavik, a role that she played in Star Trek III and IV. The rumour mill runs for a short time that the original Saavik, Kirsty Alley, will reprise her role but that falls through with her other TV demands.



    Star Trek: Excelsior had a proper pilot episode released in 1997 after the success of "Flashback". With storylines written by Nicholas Meyer, Leonard Nimoy and Harve Bennett, the miniseries kept the feel of the Wrath of Khan movies, satisfying the almost rabid Star Trek fans who had argued on the fledgling internet that this was the 'real' Star Trek coming back (yes, amazing isn't it that the anti-ST: Discovery arguments all over the 'net today are the same tired old "not my Star Trek" debates that have cropped up in the 80s with TNG, 90s with DS9 and VOY and 2000 with ENT and now 2017 with DSC). With storylines on the internet, the economic collapse of the Soviet Union, the civil wars of Yugoslavia, Georgia and the 'stans regions, Star Trek: Excelsior stayed topical and relevant - the factor that was amongst those that made Star Trek IV and VI so popular with the general public, as much as the fans.



    The look and feel of Star Trek: Excelsior is very inspired from the movie that highlighted this starship: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Cliff Eidelman is brought back to do the theme for Star Trek: Excelsior, which is a shortened version of the theme from Star Trek VI (itself inspired by the opening for Stravinsky's "The Firebird"). Rick Sternbach and Mike Okuda work on the sets and props for the series, with the Bridge set designed by Herman Zimmermann. The phaser, communicator and tricorder props all come from the last two classic Star Trek cast movies V and VI. The uniforms are from the Wrath of Khan movies, although the complicated system of divisions gets simplified for TV use to mirroring the command, science and engineering colours. The exception is the medical uniform that gets pulled out for Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, reprising her role as Christine Chapel, now the Chief Medical Officer of the Excelsior. Tim Russ ocasionally guest stars in ST: Excelsior during breaks from filming Voyager; this is an opportunity for him to change costumes and meet some of the legendary actors that have been in the various series and movies since 1966.



    Star Trek: Excelsior deals with many of the issues arising from the break-up of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact; armies that no longer have a purpose or even food to eat, weapon systems allowed to rust and are even compromised and stolen. The infrastructure of the Klingon Empire is looked at as an economy built upon war and the people have lived in poverty as a result. As with the Soviet Union, the Klingon Empire could not keep up with the advanced intellectually and technology-driven economy of the Federation. (unlike the Interm Years, this is pre-ST: Discovery and the Klingons were just an analogy of the Soviets, with the development of Viking and biker gang culture from Ron Moore on TNG, DS9 and VOY. Big hair and bumpy heads. Storylines about the son of the rascal Harry Mudd prove popular, as do the return of popular Klingons Kang, Kor and Koloth played by Michael Ansara, John Colicos (the original Klingon) and William Campbell respectively. Unlike in ST: Enterprise, the Klingon forehead issue is never addressed, the audience of the time accepting that this is how Klingons always were supposed to look.



    Star Trek: Excelsior, like Star Trek: Discovery, also would deal with the Khitomr Accords and Praxis afternath from the Klingon side. The three classic Klingon characters would also deal with the Albino who has just killed their sons in 2289. Kang (Michael Ansara) would be the 'Ice Man', a calm cool killer who would be working his way toward finding the Albino and killing him. Koloth (William Campbell) was the aristocratic Klingon who sought honourable one-on-one combat to resolve the Albino issue. The Albino cared little for honour. Finally Kor (John Colicos), also from an aristocratic background like Koloth who lost his son and heir and has no means of producing another (perhaps wife dead or through personal injury it is impossible to father a new heir). Kor descends into an alcoholic rage, losing everything in the pursuit of vengeance. ST: Excelsior would freature this story as well, putting a face on the Klingons rather than baddie of the week.





    As with Star Trek: Discovery today, Star Trek: Excelsior in the 1990s would have developed the Klingon Empire in more detail than ever before. Storylines about the wars in the fragenting Yugoslavia, Georgia and the 'stans regions helped to inform the colony worlds of the Klingon Empire. Spock talked of the fall of Kronos from the environmental damage of Praxis' explosion, Admiral Cartwright spoke of Klingons becoming the alien trash of the galaxy; ST: Excelsior helped to flesh out how Praxis caused this, that there was political upheaval in the Empire that ran far deeper than was previously known. The Soviet Union-analogy was kept for simplicity and the Empire was depicted as being kept together by fear of Imperial Intelligence and the might of the Red Army-analogous Imperial Klingon Navy. As with the novel "Cast No Shadow" by James Swallow, there are occupied territories and colonies that fight against the oppression of the Klingon Empire. After Gorkon dies and the explosion of Praxis, this is taken as an opportunity to declare independence. Star Trek: Excelsior deals with these colonies and their relationship with the home world, Kronos.



    The Klingons would be flavoured by the political developments in the collapsing Soviet empire and former Warsaw Pact. The fear was the Klingons would become the Alien Mercenaries of the Galaxy - a HUGE army for hire with trillions of trained warrior Klingons, with the weapons and the warships to conquer anyone else. As with the former Soviet Pacific Fleet in the 1990s, the Klingon fleet would be more interested in getting resources and materials to better their House, not the Empire that had deserted them. Why serve a weak female who spouted the words of her dead father when you had the mouths of your family to feed? An army that has lost its leadership is at risk of disintergration, drink, drugs and worse. Dreadful weapons that are nuclear, biological and chemical are open for sale to the highest bidder. A Pandora's Box that once open is impossible to close.



    Like the original Star Trek TV series, Star Trek: Excelsior runs for about three to five short seasons of ten episodes, finally coming to the end of its run in the early 2000s. The audience gets a fitting send-off for the original cast of actors, as well as a series that does commentary on a period of change in the world. As Star Trek: Excelsior would have been running in 2001, perhaps there could have been a revival and change in direction about terrorism; the voices and demands of those who'd been ignored, underfoot or used as pawns for the time during the Cold War. Perhaps something that happened in the Star Trek universe as well. In this alternative 1996 - 2000s miniseries, you see how Star Trek: Excelsior would have been a very different beast to my own Interim Years. I regret that we'll never get to see the adventures of the Excelsior; perhaps in a way I can have those adventures here on this website instead...

    Building the original Excelsior bridge for Star Trek VI in 1991.












    Excelsior Legacy




    Excelsior image by John Eaves. Text used with consent. From Star Trek: Picard s2.01 The Stargazer.



    Season 2 and 3 of ST: Picard confirmed that NCC-2000 was commissioned from 2285 to 2320, commanded by Hikaru Sulu from 2287 to 2320. Excelsior was then retired to the Fleet Museum, to join both Enterprise-A and Kronos One to tell the story of the beginning of the peace process with the Klingons. Given her history established in season 3 Picard, if she survives, surely NCC-1777 U.S.S.Titan, Shangri-La class, should also be in the museum?

    Starfleet Academy Guide to Excelsior class starships Click here to go back to the Index