Guide:Bonaventure (testbed)
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| Bonaventure | |
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| Class Overview | |
| Category | dilithium power testbed |
| Operational | 2231-2266 |
| Constructed | 78 |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 237.0 m |
| Beam | 111.1 m |
| Height | 70.0 m |
| Mass | 647,900 tons |
| Performance | |
| Cruise Speed |
* in excess of the 90,000 ton cargo design limit |
| Max Speed | w 6 |
| Endurance | 1.5 years |
| Complement | |
| Officers | 9 |
| Enlisted | 72
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| Cargo | 91,000 tons |
| Tactical Systems | |
| Beam Weapons |
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| Shields |
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| Transporters |
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| Auxiliary Craft |
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| Historical | |
| Ships of Note |
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| Canonicity | |
| Design | STXI/John Eaves |
| Name | Richard Mandel |
| History | own
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In the beginning of the 2220s, Starfleet had faced repeated demands of increased performance of
both its warfleet and exploration forces. The application of third-generation stardrives to new
destroyers, cruisers and scouts was a major effort, and produced some increases in defense
capabilities, but the numbers of new ships stayed low and the performance still only barely on par
with Klingon weapons technology. Even warp 4 cruise speed was too slow for any hope of effective
defense for the far-flung UFP. The doctrine of that time called for last-ditch defenses of the core
worlds and abandoning of colonies in case of an invasion, although this was naturally not made
public.
The low rate of modern ship production was not entirely due to lack of resources, however. The Admiralty knew well that the UFP’s survival thus far was mainly due to pure good fortune, and that no shipbuilding program could save the Federation in case of a massive invasion. What was needed was a miracle – and that is exactly what the Admiralty relied on. ‘Miracle factories’ throughout the Federation were its best chance of survival. Fantastic plans for new weapons and strategies were being created every week, usually to be abandoned as unrealistic after a short briefing.
At the moment of greatest darkness, three miracles did emerge: the phaser, the duotronic computer, and the red coral crystal. The first was the result of slow and tedious perfection and consolidation of subspace, phased particle beam and coherent EM technology into a flexible weapon system on par with Klingon disruptors. The second was the brainchild of a single man, yet thanks to it, centuries of careful studies and bold concepts by multiple races were suddenly blooming into working applications. And the third was a coincidence of literally cosmic scale.
A new mineral first analyzed on the mining hubworld of Deneva, the red coral crystal was at first considered just another alien gemstone of a lot of decorative but little practical value. A thorough inspection performed by Federation Customs Service laboratories in connection with a simple smuggling case soon changed that view of the material: in a few weeks, it became clear that the shard of crystal was a highly complex matrix of mainly lithium, silicon and iron, with the primitive cell formula 2<5>6 dilithium 2<:>1 diallosilicate 1:9:1 heptoferranide – that is, naturally occurring dilithium! Just like its fragile and astronomically expensive semisynthetic form, this crystal was both a sponge of almost all types and frequencies of radiation energy, and an excellent moderator for annihilation reactions. And it could be dug up in quantity from Federation soil!
A starship utilizing this moderator in her power systems would bring about a revolution in the economics and strategy of interstellar war. A technology more reliable and less prone to disaster than the old ‘Archer drive’ naturally had to be developed first, but now that the strategic incentive was there, perfecting the technology was just a matter of appying enough resources, time and expertise. In 2229 Starfleet began to construct an appropriate testbed for warp engines regulated by natural dilithium. The goal was set at creating a scale model of the upcoming heavy cruiser design, to keep the interactions of warp field and hull geometries as true to the ultimate cruiser reality as possible. This placed strict and at times conflicting requirements on the three main elements of the vessel: the warp nacelles that would explore the new field shapes, the secondary hull where the advanced power systems would be housed, and the primary hull which would mainly serve as an impulse engine test mount and representative shape.
Material technology improvements made possible the mounting of heavy experimental nacelles on long, spindly pylons, quite unlike the broad-chord structures of the previous century. Four different configurations of steadily increasing pylon length were established, expanding the asymmetry envelope to its very limits. The engine of choice for these initial tests was a minimally modified PB- 14, or the ‘099 engine’. On the fourth and final pylon configuration, three sets of novel warp coil layouts were to be tested, but the ‘moderately safe, moderately performing’ phase two or ‘101’ engine was dropped from the program in 2231, and a direct leap made to the ‘102’ high-risk venture. The distinguishing external feature of this engine, its bloated aft section, held an oversized off-axis field controller that would make possible emulation of the heavier field loads and stress patterns a full-size starship would encounter. In time, Starfleet hoped to introduce such flexibility into its service engines as well, but the technological solutions of the 2230s remained prohibitively expensive.
Dilithium-controlled annihilation called for a reactor assembly with an extremely compact actual reaction area yet extensive and expansive support systems. The configuration chosen for the experiments featured four parallel reactor tubes; a direct growth version was to be adopted for Project Starship, although some fundamental changes would eventually be made. All secondary mission systems save the shuttle hangar were omitted from the secondary hull to give room for the new powerplant and its ventrally mounted antimatter containment pods. The hull was provided with multiply redundant sliding/blowaway panels, ejectors and purge mechanisms for rapid and efficient jettisoning of the systems saturated with the volatile fuel.
A navigational deflector of significant power was added late in the design process, to allow for testing at full speed range in case the engines did work as planned. Its fitting into a cylindrar protrusion of the secondary hull bow was not free of problems, but end result still represented a level of aesthetics unseen in prior testbeds.
Testing of the Starship impulse system at representative scale required a bulky aft extension to the command saucer. The trapezoid shape, forming some 35% of overall primary hull volume, held all the basic elements of the SBA engine: twin fusion reaction chambers, advanced exhaust accelerators, integrated driver coils and dechargers, and fully vectoring nozzle fields. An exceptionally robust connector neck box extended through the impulse decks, curving to blend with the command superstructures at the upper end, and welded to secondary hull upper and lower surfaces and central keel box. In addition to deuterium tanks, the structure also held plasma conduits for feeding primary annihilation power to the impulse driver coils. This system would play a major role in future ship types, but in the test rig it was a deliberately underpowered proof-of-concept showpiece only. The minimum operating crew of 81 was already at risk from the high-power systems running through the interiors, and from working in the still poorly known emission environment of the annihilator assembly. Cabins were provided for most of the crew in the relative safety of the primary saucer, but some crew quarters were necessarily located in the secondary hull as well.
Commissioning ceremonies were performed in early January 2233. The ship was given the registry NCC-B1, and the name Bonaventure as a good omen for future achievements. The outsized nacelles, the distorted saucer and the undercut secondary hull all added up to a somewhat comical appearance. Many of the observers of the closely guarded ceremony later remarked that their first impression had been one of watching a baby starship, her rounded features only faintly suggesting the sleek lines of cruisers to come. The baby face belied the abilities of the ship: in her maiden warp flight, the Bonaventure managed to accelerate from zero to warp three in 11.9 seconds and maintain warp 5.2 for sixteen hours. The immediate success of the design gained the vessel a permanent commission in April, and operational warp engine development status in May.
Three long performance evaluation cruises were performed between May and September 2231. The test program was cut short, however, when contact with the ship was lost just outside Deltan space. Subsequent searches by cruiser Savannah revealed no debris or ion trails, nor the antimatter residue characteristic of the vented plasma of the experimental ship. All 89 persons aboard were declared missing, and considered lost three years thereafter. However, the antimatter powerplant development program continued at full pace and several Baton Rouges, Saladins and Hermeses began conversion to this powerplant type.
In 2269, heavy cruiser Enterprise (NCC-1701) accidentally entered an interspatial anomaly in the Delta Triangle region. Inside the anomaly, the cruiser located the derelict Bonaventure among hundreds of other lost spacecraft of varying origin. Joint efforts by the Enterprise and IKV Klothos enabled the cruisers to escape the anomaly, but very little information was gathered on the actual fate of the Bonaventure. Her crew is believed to have survived inside the anomaly essentially unharmed and unaltered by the passage of time, as had the crews of various other vessels. However, the Enterprise was unable to establish contact with representatives from the Bonaventure. Further excursions into the anomaly have ended in failure – apparently, the interspace portal changes position and characteristics rapidly and unpredictably.