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Challenger Primer


Starfleet Academy Historical Databanks
NX-05 Challenger and the 22nd Century - Introduction
compiled by Prof. Mahnik Oto

In the history of the Alpha Quadrant, no era has seen greater political turmoil than the years leading up to the founding of the Federation, the decade from 2150 to 2160. This age in the history of the UFP was especially pivotal for Humankind. Most are aware of the vital role that Earth played in the formation of the UFP, but common myths ignore the fact that Humans were still relatively new to the interstellar game. They had established a few deep space colonies and set up a minor network of warp ship routes between them, but the original Warp Five ships did not launch until this decade began. Humans still knew very little of the galaxy at large, and all the exciting discoveries and mystifying experiences that tend to go along with deep space travel were still awaiting them.

Popular myths also recognize the NX-01 Enterprise--the pioneer ship of Warp 5 driven, extra-solar travel--and her stalwart crew as the primary (perhaps, in fact, the only) shapers of the Federation and Humanity's future. And, indeed, Enterprise was the spearhead for the rapid changes of the NX era. But, as you will see, the contributions of the NX-05 Challenger during the second half of the decade should not be overlooked. Many scholars more critical of the popular historical viewpoints identify Challenger as the most important starship of the NX line.

These essays will provide an in-depth look at Challenger's historical contributions from the time of her launch to the time of her decommissioning. This Introduction will provide a look at the political and technological landscape of the era, so that students may better understand the challenges that were faced by the pre-Federation crews and the environment in which these challenges were overcome.








Humanity -- Today the Humans are, simply put, the models of responsible space-faring people, models to which the rest of the Federation species continually aspire. In the 22nd Century, they were not so perfect. The NX ships launched only 100 years after Earth's Third World War. And, though this viewpoint will often earn a scholar ridicule from his colleagues, legendary Warp-drive inventor Zephram Cochrane and his companions were no saints. Humans were a people hardened and fouled by centuries of civil strife and largely ignorant of galactic affairs, a condition not helped by the Vulcans so often hampering their development. Even their starship officers tended to be men and women of primitive attitudes and questionable behavior. It took even the great Captain Archer many years of Command to become anything close to the admirable figure history recognizes.

Starfleet -- Starfleet was originally created by the United Earth Government. More non-Humans joined the ranks of Starfleet through the Coalition's Interspecies Exchange Program, but until the founding of the Federation it remained a mostly Human organization.

Prime Directive -- Since they were still struggling to establish their own identity in the galaxy, Humans were hardly experts on alien sociology. While they had their reservations about interfering in the affairs of other species, the Prime Directive did not yet exist to them. Crews had to decide whether or not interference was acceptable in any situation, and Commanding Officers could not be court-martialed for xenocultural taint. In retrospect, we know what sorts of interstellar disasters this ended up causing...








The extent of Humanity's technological capabilities during this time has been a matter of debate. Careful scrutiny will show that the Humans were still technological infants... epecially compared to today, when many officers take for granted the ability to solve almost any problem with some combination or configuration of a starship's equipment. During this era, Humans had to improvise, coming up with more practical solutions that did not rely on the limited resources available to them.

Warp Drive -- While the Warp engine assembly of the NX ships was similar to today's technology (a matter/antimatter reaction feeding a pair of subspace field coils), Challenger was, at her launch, capable of a maximum velocity of only Warp 5 on the pre-Excelsior scale. New developments in starship engineering and Warp physics, fostered mostly by increased cooperation with the other Coalition members, allowed for gradually faster Warp Drive as the years progressed.

Structure -- Challenger was a small ship, measuring only 230 meters from bow to stern and divided into only 7 decks; it was only twice the size of today's Defiant class ships. While today's starship interiors can be divided between their saucer section and engineering section, Challenger only possessed a habitable saucer, its engineering hull containing plasma distribution and a bulky warp field regulator. Despite having a crew complement of just 80, conditions aboard the vessel were quite cramped. Families were, of course, prohibited, and junior officers had to room together. These conditions sometimes contributed to tensions among the crew and sometimes created heightened levels of comraderie.

The Decks were labelled by letter rather than number, from A Deck down to G Deck. The Bridge comprised A Deck, and Main Engineering was a two story complex occupying both D and E decks. E deck was the central deck, the one occupying the breadth of the saucer, and it contained most of the crew amenities and workplaces--Sickbay, the Science Labs, the Armory, the Mess Hall, the Greenhouse, and the Shuttle Launch Bay.

The Cargo Bay was quite a departure from today's setup. Two gravity-free shafts ran vertically from the dorsal end of the saucer to the ventral. Grappling arms would pull cargo into these shafts, where it would be mechanically transferred to one of six storage areas accessible by the crew.

Challenger possessed only one lift which ran down the axis of the saucer, from the Bridge through Main Engineering to the Torpedo Launch Bay on G Deck. Transfer between decks was often best accomplished through use of the ladders in the maintenance shafts. This was a neccessity in alert conditions, when the lift was restricted to Bridge personnel.

Transport -- The transporters aboard the NX vessels were the first to be frequently used on biological subjects. The system was not without its risks, however. While subjects could be transported safely through open space, attempts to transport through barriers, into hazardous environments, while in motion, or without solid sensor locks commonly resulted in accidents.

The shuttle pod was the safest method of crew transport under such circumstances. The pods were not Warp capable and they did not have the sensory and tactical capabilities common to today's shuttles. Their purpose was often limited to simply transferring away teams to their mission sites. Their use had to be carefully managed--Challenger possessed only four shuttle pods, two ready for launch at any given time. The launch bay was small, so launch and retrieval were achieved through use of a mechanical docking arm which extended outside the ship.

Tactical -- One of the key tactical concerns of the time was the lack of deflector shield technology. Challenger's only form of protection was a process of molecular polarization that could be called upon to strengthen the hull plating, making it more resistant to weapon fire. Though the system could buy the crew more time in a firefight, it reduced the ship's maneuverability and it was not impervious to hostile transport beams.

The ship's armament was a combination of spatial torpedoes utilizing a fusion reaction, pulse cannons which fired bolts of superheated plasma, and an early form of the phaser--the phase cannon. The phase cannon was Challenger's most powerful and accurate form of attack, but also her riskiest. Firing the phase cannon even for a relatively quick burst both heavily drained the ship's power and ran the risk of EPS overloads. Its scope was also limited--fit just under the nose of the saucer, it could only be fired straight ahead of the ship. Her sister ships were constructed with superior tactical capabilities, but Challenger, a symbol of peace throughout her operational phase, maintained a limited armament.

Without tractor beams, the crew had to settle for the mechanical grappler--simply, a clamp on the end of a cord. It was useful for simple towing and retrieving of objects no larger than the shuttle pods, but it could serve none of the miracle purposes to which today's tractor technology has been utilized... moving small moons for instance.

The ship's armory was stocked with phase pistols and phase rifles, predecessors to our phasers. They could fire on no more than two settings--Stun and Kill. Furthermore, the Stun setting was not quite as delicate, running the risk of causing nerve damage to a target, and the Kill setting was not quite as clean, inconveniently leaving behind a body.

Deflector Dish -- Once upon a time, the deflector dish did just what the name implies--it deflected. It couldn't be used to fire all sorts of wonderful energy pulses that could calm down just about any spatial phenomenon the crew encountered. They had to be a bit more clever at dealing with such problems.

Communications -- The ability to send video-audio feeds between the stars at almost Warp 10 has never been a problem for any intelligent race. Aided by cleverly placed subspace amplifiers, Challenger's crew could make real-time contact with Earth, quite a stress-reliever. Contact between crew members was not as convenient. Obviously, commbadges are a relatively recent invention. Challenger's crew used handheld communicators to keep in touch; they were easier to misplace, misuse, or damage. On board the ship, they could also use the computer consoles to send messages to one another.

First contact with alien species was often difficult. The universal translator had been invented, but it was still in a very early stage of development. Whenever a new species was encountered, the translator required a human operator well-versed in linguistics and with sufficient time to study the language. The main translator was stored in the ship's computer, but portable translators were available for field use.

Sickbay -- Ah, back when medicine wasn't for the squeamish. The most part of today's wave of rapidly-acting, hands-off medical devices had not been invented. Lasel scalpels and hyposprays were available, eliminating two of the largest contamination concerns. But a lack of cellular regeneration and stimulation devices often necesitated more old-fashioned surgical techniques. Greater care was required of the physicians to preserve lives in critical cases, and surgical tools needed to be either rigorously sterilized or disposed entirely.

Humans' knowledge of xenobiology was understandably limited at the time. Providing care to alien life forms (especially newly encountered ones) was a difficult and risky endeavour. A technique that could prove helpful to a Human patient could very well end up killing a patient of another species. Careful study of an alien's physiology was required before safe and reliable medical care could be administered.

A key technology missing from Challenger was advanced biofiltration, both in the air recyclers and the transporters. To maintain a sterile environment on board the ship, any team returning from field duty was required to report immediately to Sickbay's decontamination chamber. Inside the decon chamber, special gels, vapors, and radiation were used to purge the body of any foreign microbes picked up off ship. A popular Academy myth hold that the decon chamber was often the site of... intimate encounters among NX crews. Such infantile nonsense is typically perpetrated by the first year students and can be safely disregarded; the Humans weren't *that* primitive.

Science Systems -- At the time, Humans were still using "keyboards"-- flat button-based control panels hooked up to display monitors, a system used by Humans since some time before their Third World War--to access the ships' computers. They were still a few years away from evolving enough intellectually to utilize blinking buttons, knobs, and lights effectively.

The crew possessed scanners, similar to the tricorder but without quite the versatility of functions. In a way, they were like the deflector dish... they served the purpose they were meant to serve, but they could not be greatly modified to perform a wide range of "miracle" tasks.

Challenger's sensor arrays could scan on about the same scope of frequencies as today's models, but the technology was far from perfect. Objects at longer ranges could not be scanned as accurately, but basic probes could be fashioned easily enough from the ship's torpedo complement. In addition, active scans often had difficulty penetrating barriers such as starship hulls. When such scans proved to be inconclusive, crews often had to take more direct approaches to gathering information.

Crew Support -- As if life was not difficult and dangerous enough for Challenger's crew, there were several amenities they had to do without.

Holodeck technology was still far off, but a gym was provided for the fitness of the crew, a small firing range was included in the armory for security training, and the greenhouse and mess hall were, as in any era, great places for crew socialization and entertainment.

Without replicators, the crew could not simply convert the ship's energy into any food thinkable. They had to settle for protein resenquencers, which converted raw materials held in storage into a variety of simple meal items. A mess hall chef kept a private store of ingredients for preparing fresh, ship-cooked meals, but these were in short supply and often were reserved for special occasions.

Voice access to the ship's systems was limited due to security considerations. Instructions given to any ship system (even the doors and lifts) had to be relayed through the computer consoles and access panels. Log recording and comm access were the only systems that utilized any kind of voice interface.








The Coalition -- Before there was the Federation, there was the Coalition of Planets, a loose alliance of what would soon be the core worlds of the Federation. They shared trade, technology, and aid in times of crisis, but they all governed themselves independently and followed their own separate codes of conduct. The Coalition included at its formation only the Humans, Vulcans, Tellarites, Andorians, Rigellians, and Coridanites. The Caitians, only having just made First Contact with the Humans, did not join until several months later.

Vulcans -- The Great Reformation of Vulcan government and policy occured soon after Challenger's launch, with the dismissal of the High Command and corrupt administrator V'Las by the Syrrannites, staunch advocates of the Surak philosophies. Syrrannite leader T'Pau, upon becoming High Minister of Vulcan, took steps to greatly reduce both Vulcan's military capabilities and its interference with Human development. But the political turmoil continued even after the Syrrannite coup. T'Pau's rule was disputed by old supporters of the High Command, and their methods of opposition ranged from protest in Council to assassination attempts. Between these internal issues and the fleet dismissals ordered by Minister T'Pau, Vulcan's status as a major military power gradually diminished, which put greater pressure on her allies to defend the Coalition territories. The Syrrannites (and, as Surak's teachings spread, the majority of Vulcans) were little different from today's Vulcans--unemotional, even-tempered, and pragmatic to an extreme.

Andorians -- The Andorian Empire waged a cold war with Vulcan for many years leading up to the Vulcan Reformation. They mostly viewed the change of Vulcan government favorably, but some wounds from the conflict would not so easily heal and many within the upper ranks of the Imperial Guard still bore grudges against the Vulcans for many years to come. The Andorians have always been a militaristic race, and as Vulcan's military might faded the Imperial Guard became the Coalition's premier defensive power. With local alliances only just beginning to bloom, the Andorians of this time remained untrusting of their neighbors for years to come. Their innate paranoia would be tempered eventually, but it would be a gradual, almost reluctant, process.

Tellarites -- The porcinoid Tellarites were prominent in the galaxy at this time as a major commercial power. They boasted widespread mining and trading operations and their cargo freighters were constructed with the same kind of care that other races devoted to their warships and explorers. These operations often lead to disputes with neighboring powers, however. The Tellarite-Andorian trade dispute of 2154 is the most historically significant, for it was in the wake of this dispute that peace between the two races was forged. Tellarites have always loved to complain and argue, so they played an increasingly vital role in Coalition politics and the shaping of Federation doctrines.

Caitians -- The felinoid Caitians were extremely reclusive prior to their First Contact with humans, initiated by Challenger's crew. Their reclusive nature was likely a method to protect their extremely pacifist ideologies as the Andorians, Vulcans, and Tellarites came to blows around them. Humanity convinced them that a broad alliance of worlds was possible, and they brought their sage advice and technological advents to the Coalition table. They were a mysterious people in these early years. They always seemed to know far more than they would admit about local affairs. Scholars today continue to analyze the validity of the "Caitian Prophecies," subtle warnings issued by their elders that seemed innocent at the time but had tremendous implications in retrospect.

Orions -- History's most infamous criminal syndicate was only just getting started during this era. At the time, the Orion Syndicate was the legitimate political body of the green-skinned Orions themselves--the brutish male giants that provided the iron fist and the exotic alluring females that provided the velvet glove (though whether the fist really controlled the glove is still a matter of debate). But as the Coalition tightened clamps on interstellar trade, more demand for criminal enterprises arose and the Syndicate's unlawful elements required more diverse membership. Gradually, membership widened to include more of the Coalition races. It was still called the Orion Syndicate, but your Human or Andorian friend could have been a member; the Syndicate became a more subtle (and, thus, dangerous) entity. Smuggling of drugs and weapons, piracy of trade routes, and slave racketeering were all on their docket, but the shifting political landscape of the decade immersed them in the role that earned them their modern reputation--black operation freelances.

Klingons -- Though popular belief maintains that our First Contact with the Klingons started the Klingon War of the 23rd century, there was some prior contact with the Empire. This contact was heavily covered up at the request of the Klingons (a request accepted in the interests of continued non-aggression), hence the resulting confusion. Years of peace with the Klingons have shed these covers. We now know that it was not entirely uncommon for NX vessels to encounter Klingon warships near the border, particularly as Orion involvement in Coalition affairs increased. Often, such encounters involved the Human ships being warned away. The Klingons claim that their ancestors viewed the Coalition (and, later, Federation) members as "weak" and would not drag themselves down by having any involvement in Coalition affairs. Scholars contend that the Klingons were actually threatened by the alliance and what it would mean for their identity as a people. In either case, their attitude remained cold throughout the 22nd century.

Romulans -- We know little about the Romulans even to this day, as diplomats work to bring down the barriers between the Federation and the Star Empire. We still maintain only suspicions of the extent of their efforts to disrupt peace during the NX era. They were suspected of attempting to precipitate a Vulcan-Andorian battle in the Sol system during Challenger's construction. It is believed that they constantly sought to turn the Klingons to conflict with Humanity. And they were the alleged culprits behind the "Chameleon Probe" operation during the Tellarite-Andorian peace talks. Scholars hold that the formation of the Coalition threw them into virtual panic. But there was much more to it, as the Challenger essays will show. Their ways were subtle to an extreme, such that no Human had seen a Romulan's face until late in the 23rd century. They utilized intricate spy networks to manipulate whole worlds from behind their veils of secrecy. But, in the process, they fed the very beast that they feared the most and played a vital, albeit indirect role in the formation of the United Federation of Planets...