Starship: USS Gemini
Registry Number: NCC-22349-B
Ship Class: Sovereign.
Type / Role: Enhanced Deterrence Explorer.
Commissioned: February 26th, 2400 
Bridge Plaque: "We will not go silently into the night, we will not surrender without a fight."
 

Length: 685 meters.
Beam: Dish: 250 meters Nacelles: 214 meters.
Draft: 80 meters.
Number of Decks: 24
Mass: 3,205,000 metric tons.
Cargo Capacity: 18,000 metric tons.
 

Standard Crew: Officers: 170 NCOs: 530
Maximum Capacity: 4000
Standard Quarters: 90 square meters per officer.
Senior Staff Quarters: 130 square meters per senior officer.
 

Type: Bioneural Gel Pack Computer System Network.
Data Transfer Rate: 5000 kilo quads/second. 
Standard Core Memory: 2.1 Million Kilo quads.
Backup Core: 725,000 kilo quads.

Warp Reactor M/ARA Mark VI
Normal Cruise Speed: Warp 11
Maximum Cruise Speed: Warp 14
Emergency Speed: Warp 18.
Fuel (MRI) Supercritical Cryogenic Deuterium.
Fuel (ARI) Supercritical Cryogenic Anti Hydrogen.
M/A Reaction Moderating Element: Second-phase Crystalline Dilithium.
Emergency Fuel Replenishment: Bussard Ramscoop.
 

 Fuel: Slush Cryogenic Dueterium and Slush Cryogenic He3.
Impulse Reactors: 18
Drive Coil Assemblies: 8
Vectored Exhaust Direc.(VED): 8

Phasers: Type XII, Segment Power: 8.2 MW.
Location: 2 arrays: upper/lower, 14 banks: secondary hull.
Teryon Beam: 3 arrays: upper/lower/secondary hull.
Torpedoes Launchers: 5: 1 Rapid-fire Quantum torpedo turret, 4 Burst-fire Photon torpedo tubes.
Maximum Spread: 6 per second.
Torpedo Load: 500 Quantum, 200 Mark VI Photon, 100 Cluster, 50 Graviton.
 

Type: Auto-modulation Shield System.
Capacity: 6400 MW.
Hull:  Heavy Duratanium/ Carbotanium Double Hull with Tritanium/ Carbon Composite Reinforcements and inner hull sealant layer.
Armor: 10cm Ablative armor, 10cm Force-2 hull armor.
Miscellaneous: Storm Class Cloak.
Saucer Separation Capable.
Complement of Spider Work Drones.
 

Navigational Sensors: Standard: 2 primary, 3 secondary
Basic Lateral Sensors: Forward/Port/Starboard/Aft Array.
Setup includes 160 sensor pallets: 60 upper, 60 lower and 40 middle.
High Resolution: 7 light-years range
Medium and Low Resolution: 21 light-years range
Advanced Sensors: Wide angle EM radiation imaging scanner
Quark population analysis counter
Z-range particulate spectrometry sensor
High energy proton spectrometry cluster
Gravimetric distortion mapping scanner
Magnetic interferometry scanner
Low frequency EM-flux scanner
Localized subspace field stress sensor
Parametric subspace field stress sensor
Alpha X-ray multi-spectrum scanner
Variable band optical imagine cluster
Real-aperture graviton flux spectrometer
High resolution graviton flux spectrometer,
Low-resolution graviton spin polarimeter
Passive imaging high-energy photon sensor
Low-level thermal imaging sensor
Fixed angle gamma frequency counter
Virtual particle mapping camera
Transwarp-based high focus particle imaging array
Probe Load out: Full complement of Class I to Class IX probes

Intraship Transmissions: Voice & Data
Personal Communicator Range: 800km
Ship to Ground Range: 42,000 - 100,000km
Communications Speed: 18.5 Kilo quads/ second
Subspace Speed: Warp 9.9997
 

Personnel Transporters: 6 6-person
Cargo Transporters: 4 15,000-metric ton
Emergency Transporters: 12 20-person
 

 Main Shuttle bays: 1
Auxiliary Shuttle bays: 2
Shuttle Load out: 3 Type 12 shuttle pods
3 Type 7 shuttlecraft
2 Type 9 shuttlecraft
3 Sphinx Type M1 work bees
Spider Work Drones
1 Targa Class Runabout
Runabout Scorpio
 

Main Holodecks: 6
Holographic Programs: 1 Emergency Medical Holographic Program
1 LMH
1 Emergency Engineering Hologram

The origins of the Sovereign class date back as far as 2338. At this time relationships between the Confederation and the Klingon empire had degraded significantly, to the point where war was considered by many to be imminent. The President ordered Starfleet to place a design proposal for a new class of starship with very much greater military capability than current designs. This project was in the advanced planning stage when the loss of the Enterprise-C during the Narendra III incident eased tensions considerably. The warship project was initially to be scrapped, but Starfleet was instead asked to continue the project on a research basis only. Dubbed the Sovereign project it became a theoretical Starfleet battle cruiser designed only as a computer model, with specimen hardware occasionally produced to test the design principles. The intention was to create a design that could be put into production with no delay, should a future crisis present itself.

The basic design was to be updated every five years so as to incorporate technology advances as they occurred. Initially the Sovereign design was a simple re-working of the Ambassador class, emphasizing weapons rather than exploratory and diplomatic capabilities. In the design updates of 2350, 55 and 60 much of the technology being developed for the Galaxy class project was incorporated, especially in the nacelle and warp core design. The re-establishing of relations with the Romulans in 2364 led to a major revision in the 2365 update, and many elements of the Sovereign went into low rate production in order to establish a stockpile ready for rapid assembly.

In mid 2365 first contact was also made with the Borg. The Sovereign project was activated and construction began on the first four ships of the class. However, it was apparent that much of the Sovereigns weaponry was based on that of the Galaxy class - a vessel which had proven ineffective against the Borg during that first encounter. New weapons were in preparation for the next design update due in 2370, but these were not going to be available in the immediate future. It was clear that despite the engineers best intentions, the Sovereign project was not going to meet it's primary goal - to get a warship into service fast enough to meet the crisis now looming.

The answer Starfleet settled on was to continue construction of the hull, propulsion, computer, and sensor systems of the ships already under construction but to suspend work on the shield, phaser and photon torpedo systems for three years. Instead, a crash development project was begun to field a small, very easily produced warship incorporating the new weapons - essentially a replay of the Sovereign project in miniature. To cut size - and therefore design and build time - to a minimum the new vessel would only be capable of short duration missions. The vessel would be very maintenance intensive, but would carry only limited stocks of non-replicatable spares. Combined with limited accommodation standards and small fuel reserves the new class would be capable of maintaining full readiness for only six to eight weeks during independent operations, far less than had been envisaged for the Sovereign. An important secondary role of this Defiant class was as a development test bed for the the technology which would be worked into the Sovereign project as soon as it was ready.

Construction continued on the Sovereigns throughout the late 2360's. With the destruction of the Borg cube in 2366, Starfleet deemed that the threat had reduced to a level which would allow the Sovereigns to enter service before any renewed offensive. The Defiant class was therefore suspended, although the prototype was put into storage rather than scrapped. The lessons learned with the Defiant were incorporated into the Sovereign when work resumed on her weapons, a process which continued after the USS Defiant was reactivated for use at DS9. The switch from photon to quantum torpedoes and the inclusion of ablative armor are prime examples of this process. In addition, the bio-neural computer system pioneered by the Intrepid class was also included. The first of the class was was launched in 2371 as the USS Sovereign, with the USS Honorious due to follow six months later. The loss of the USS Enterprise in that year led to a last minute re-christening of the Honorious as the USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-E.

The Sovereign class has emerged from the dockyards as Starfleet's most sophisticated and comprehensively armed vessel. The vessel is equipped with a new variant of the Type XII phaser array - formerly known as the 'Type X+' for security reasons - which equips the Confederations most powerful Starbases and deep space facilities. The type twelve has a raw beam power output some 60% more powerful than the Type ten arrays installed on the Galaxy class. In addition the type twelve has a shorter recharge time and can fire a longer sustained burst, giving each bank a combat effectiveness 79.4% greater than a type ten array. Since the Sovereign carries fourteen arrays compared to Galaxies twelve, this gives the ship an overall 92.6% increase in phaser capability.

The torpedo armament is similarly impressive. The large quantum torpedo turret forward of the deflector dish is capable of firing five rounds per second, a greater overall rate of fire than the two main ten round burst photon torpedo tubes of the Galaxy class combined. Rearward quantum torpedo coverage is provided by an identical tube above the main shuttle bay. Backup to the quantum torpedoes is provided by four photon tubes; these are located at the base of the engineering section in pairs which face forward and aft and are also capable of twelve round bursts. This gives the Sovereign class the most powerful torpedo armament of any vessel in Starfleet service.

The shield system of the Sovereign class is similarly the most powerful of any Starfleet ship; the design was modified just prior to installation in order to increase effectiveness against both high energy tractor beams and phased polaron particles, measures clearly aimed at the Borg and Dominion respectively. Under normal operation the shield modulation frequencies are under the control of the ships computer system, which continually evaluates incoming weapons fire and automatically re-modulates the shields to give the most effective possible defense. It is thought - hoped - that this system will also enable the Sovereign class shield system to prevent beam-through by Borg transporter technology.

The warp engines of the Sovereign are of a new design which eliminates subspace distortion effects inherent to standard warp drives, a feature now becoming common on most Starfleet ships. The Sovereign class is currently the fastest vessel in Starfleet, with a maximum cruise speed of Warp 9.9 and a top speed of Warp 9.99 for up to thirty-six hours. The very high cruise speed is intended to allow the ship to deploy as rapidly as possible to potential trouble spots. Her Impulse drive system is the most sophisticated model in production, giving the Sovereign class a maneuverability equal to that of a vessel one quarter its size.

Since then, the need for Sovereign Class starships has risen with the increased amount of first contacts and interstellar conflicts. The enhanced deterrence explorer type battle cruiser was developed in the Sovereign class. The Christening of the USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-F in late 2394 marks the beginning of this vessel's history.