Guide:Emissary

Background: Continuing Mission

Written by "Jester" David Gibson for Continuing Mission fan site.

Overview: During the Dominion War, the newest and most advanced ship in the fleet—Star Fleet’s “big gun”—was the Sovereign-class. Designed for exploration, the class was built to defend itself from threats both known and unknown. However, these ships were kept off the front-lines and instead focused on local diplomatic crisis, tasks for which the more spartan ship was less suited. This highlighted a need for dedicated ambassadorial ships assigned to the Star Fleet Diplomatic Corps. A replacement for the aging Ambassador-class of the 2330s.

Following the war, replenishing Star Fleet’s defensive capabilities took priority for the better part of a decade, and the Diplomatic Corps had to make do with upgraded Galaxy-class ships, like the USS Ross. It was not until the early 2380s that work on a dedicated ambassadorial cruiser truly began. The first diplomatic ship was a success, but proved too small to move between systems for extended periods, requiring frequent returns to starbases. As such, these first vessels were unable to really push into the frontier surrounding the Federation. Star Fleet decided to take a risk and build a larger diplomatic vessel, comparable in size to the Sovereign. This became the Emissary-class.

Capabilities: Prior to the 2390s, Star Fleet’s larger deep space exploration vessels were focused on scientific missions. The Emissary-class was an experiment, testing the viability of deep space exploration vessels focused instead on diplomacy rather than science, effectively being a Galaxy-class starship that replaces the research laboratories with diplomatic suites and reception halls. Many Emissary vessels were assigned to patrol the Federation and respond to disputes between members worlds, spending years in space moving between systems, or seeing to first contact with worlds inside the borders of the Federation that were just developing warp travel. Other Emissary vessels were sent into the fringes of the Federation, seeking new life in regions such as the Shackleton Expanse beyond Klingon space, or the newly opened Sabine Expanse on the far side of Cardassian territory.

Because they were required to potentially spend years away from starbases, Emissary class ships had ample recreation facilities, with space for the families of crew to remain on board. Slightly larger than a Galaxy-class, Emissary ships had a crew complement of a 1,000, but could easily house twice that number. The class possessed the most advanced communication system in the fleet, which was unrivalled for several decades and allowed ship to function as a portable subspace relay for other nearby vessels.

Gallery

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Known Ships

• USS

External Links

• Continuing Missions: "Starship Sunday: Emissary"
• Memory Alpha: "Inquiry class"
• Memory Beta: "Inquiry class"
• Star Trek Expanded Universe: "Inquiry class"

Notes

• As intended by Continuing Mission's "Jester" David Gibson, the Star Trek Online's Emissary class star cruiser is depicted as a diplomatic cruiser here.