Launched shortly after the initial wave of Miranda-Class cruisers, the USS Valjean (Original registry number NCC-2460, Re-Registered after Akira Refit experiment), the USS Valjean served a notable career as a light patrol cruiser, particularly around the Romulan and Klingon Neutral Zones. Participating in a number of minor standoffs in the 2290s with the Romulans, the Valjean earned several accolades.
For the reasons of a strong captain and excellent history, it was decided in 2315 that the Valjean would make an excellent ship to handle the malcontents of Starfleet: the officers that, while their personalities and actions were not enough to earn court martial, they were deemed problematic by their commanding officers. It was hoped that if put in the same situation with a strong captain, their eccentricities would either be ironed out or put to good use.
However naive the reasoning, the current history of the Valjean begins in the 2316 refit when the first crew members were assigned. Over the next few years, the experiment seemed to work, until some crew members’ personalities began to clash wildly, causing a near fatal accident in 2320 when a near-mutiny occurred, sending the ship out of control towards Sol itself.
Even though the muniteering crew were court-martialed, some hard-liner admirals saw the experiment of the Valjean as rehabilitation as failed. Eventually the ship was unofficially written off as a dumping ground, described as a pariah ship, and nicknamed by some as “The Black Hole of Starfleet”.
Most recently, the Valjean was used in 2367-8 as a housing of several experimental components as part of the Akira project. While the components worked, they overtaxed the systems of the Valjean, and were scaled down to work for the ship. This is noted as the only major upgrade to the ship’s technologies since the initial major refit in 2315.
Since then, the ship had been retrofitted only as necessary, with only notable examples of crewmembers “escaping” by proving beyond their situation. These "escapees", however are exceptions to the hard and fast rule of the Valjean: the only way off is to resign, be court-martialed, or step outside the airlock.
Welcome to the bridge of the USS Valjean. It may very well be the last you see.
This is the site for information about the USS Valjean. This ship is different from most fan-created ships, in that it's not the top of the line, with the brightest stars of Starfleet. The Valjean is a rusting, one phaser blast away from breaching, bucket. Commonly referred to as the Black Hole of Starfleet, the ship is the Starfleet equivalent of McHale's Navy. The crew is full of misanthropes, insubordinates, black cats, slackers, and outright grifters.
But even this crew has a story to tell and a part to play.
The current timeline takes place 6 months before the outbreak of the Dominion War; things are getting tense, and even the worst ship in the fleet may be needed to help in the inevitable fight. Will the Valjean live up to its pariah status or transcend it? Only time will tell.