Inquiry Class – Heavy Cruiser

Specifications

General

Class:	Inquiry
Category:	Heavy Cruiser

Dimensions

Length:	631m
Width:	201m
Height:	117m
Decks:	28

Personnel

Officers:	110
Crew:	400
Marines:	96
Passengers	96

Speed

Cruising Warp:	8.0
Maximum Warp:	9.8
Emergency Warp:	9.975
QSD:	REFIT

Weapons and Defensive Systems

Defensive:	Auto-modulating shielding Ablative Armor
Weapons:	Type XIII Phasers: 10 Type XII Phaser Cannons: 4 Burstfire Turret – 2 Forward – 1 Aft

Auxiliary Craft

Shuttles:	Type 8 Shuttle: 3 Type 9 Shuttle: 8 Type 11 Shuttle: 3
Runabouts:	Aero Class Runabout: 3
Fighters:	Gryphon fighter-bombers: 8

Naming Convention:

Famous Naval Commanders

History

In the years following the Dominion War, Starfleet began a phase of structured and ensured rebuilding. This involved the intention to finish the run of vessels currently under production, and roll out a new series of ship designs that would share a design philosophy. In a similar vein to the Starfleet of the 23rd Century, the Fleet wanted to return to a series of easy blue print ships to begin production of, that would be able to field a wild array of roles for the Fleet. Referred to internally and in design orders as “Starfleet Design Order Forvitni” the intent was to return to an era of standardized ship design. This program was to create a single base platform, that could be built at just about any Fleetyard in all of the Federation. Most importantly, these ships were to be able to fulfill any mission profile within the Fleet, while still given the opportunity to act and operate as a warship, should the need arise. 

After the attack on Mars in 2385, and the destruction of one of the Federations foremost dockyards, this program was moved up in priority, and the design firm was selected, with ships required to begin entering service no later than 2390. The firm that won provided two primary designs, the Inquiry and the Curiosity classes. The Federation ordered development of both ships, with the Curiosity to be deployed first as the Light Cruiser variant, and the Inquiry to come out later as the Heavy Cruiser. 

With heavy advancements in the field of holographic modeling and the use of artificial intelligence (though limited in comparison to the newly illegal synths) the firm set to work with designs. While the Vesta Program had originally produced a system failure, room for the currently experimental Quantum Slipstream Drive was left for future refit. Computers went to work designing the two easy to produce ships that would be the new cornerstone of the Fleet. 

The Inquiry was complete as of 2387, with the test keel laid that year. Production, slowed as it was by the sudden lack of the original testing yards, was done at San Francisco Fleet Yards over Earth, under the watchful eye of both the Federation and Starfleet. By 2388 NX-88000 was completed, and system checks were given permission to begin. 

Noted by engineers was the computer’s reliance on two oversized impulse engines in both designs, which seemed to be far larger than necessary. The computer, having been fed information around vessels successful in the Dominion War, had pushed out two ships that were faster and slightly more maneuverable in normal operation, relying on a more compacted design. Further, rather than the convention of placing the shuttle bay to the rear of the craft, instead it was moved to the front of the ship, with the pulse phasers just below it. Taking cues from the success of most Alpha and Beta quadrant powers, the use of the pulsed weapons from the Defiant class were used. This allowed the Inquiry to use it’s powerful bow mounted weapons to project power if needed. 

Taking from the success of the Sovereign, the Inquiry featured two drop down torpedo launchers just forward of the deflector dish. This allowed them to remain protected inside the ships dense armor while not in combat, sliding out when needed. These do not facilitate the deployment of probes, which are instead left to the rear launcher. Due to the front line nature of the launcher, the ship can deploy either probes from it, or double as a minelayer. 

The nacelles and deflector followed a different take, with the nacelles actually being easily detached and replaced in the event of damage. This also meant that, should a Curiosity or Inquiry be refitted for a QSD, a new set could be easily installed. Further, if they were damaged, they could be replaced with ease. The deflector, famously a weakness of Federation ships, was given a layer of protection, with a closeable grill back across the front that would open during jumps to warp. This would protect it from attacks while not under power.

The ship was not without its usual Starfleet facilities, with a powerful array of scientific suites, medical facilities, and access to industrial replication facilities to allow for supporting colonies and humanitarian missions. This made the Inquiry a well rounded vessel, designed to easily fill the role of a Heavy Cruiser vessel, while still aligning with the Federation’s goal for Starfleet to be a scientific element as well. 

With the larger shuttle bay afforded to the Inquiry, a single squadron of Fighters were allowed to be stationed onboard, and as such six Gryphon fighter-bomber units were assigned to the vessel. 

The Inquiry was delayed in production, not undergoing trials until 2390 due to the Vesta project reaching its conclusion that year. The Inquiry, like its little sister, handled the trials far above what was expected, and was able to show itself as a solid combat vessel. Deep space tests were conducted, and by 2391 the vessel was considered a success, and given certification for production, with an immediate twenty ordered by the Fleet.

Another innovation was the extensive use of holographic crew. Starfleet had been experimenting with holographic crew since at least the 2360s, the first major use of the technology was the Emergency Medical Hologram program.  The EMH program was a surprising success leading to the expansion of the program under Dr Lewis Zimmerman.  The Emergency Hologram Program was expanded to cover more branches of the service, with this expansion the EHP aimed to provide more resilience to Starfleet crews under extreme circumstances.  

As emergency holograms proliferated and became more established systems in Starfleet, their use then spread to civilian ships in Federation space.  Certain groups in Starfleet began to consider expanding the deployment of holograms aboard ships beyond emergencies and thus, Project Thesan was born.  Project Thesan aimed to create an entire holographic ship’s crew which would then be overseen by (non-holographic) officers.  While recruitment for Starfleet Academy and its satellite schools had been increased, finding people with the right talents and drive to serve as non-officer crew had become more of a bottleneck following the loss of institutional memory incurred from the Dominion War and the Borg Incursion.

Starfleet knew that many of its personnel would be reluctant to accept a holographic crew, so Project Thesan was only able to try small-scale trials of its technology primarily on older ships retrofitted with holoemitters and used on support missions.  The efficiency was acceptable but the living crew expressed reservations about working with holograms not because they could not do the job but because they did not provide a sense of comradery and the crew reported a greater sense of alienation and isolation the fewer living crew were assigned.  This was partly counter-acted by having the holograms appear as a wider range of Federation member species but as the computers of the older ships did not have the capacities to run personality simulations, the holograms remained off-putting to many.

But then the expansion of the fleet was authorized with the Inquiry-class as its backbone, built around the most powerful computer core assigned to a standard ship design and with integrated holoemitters throughout the ship, it was the perfect test bed to expand Project Thesan, and as Starfleet found itself lacking enlisted crew to serve on the rapidly expanded fleet, its hand was forced and the primarily holographic crew became standard on the Inquiry-class ships, pleasing almost no one apart from Project Thesan.

Deck Listing

*Captain’s Yacht has its own private access, and is recessed into a roofing section of the Hangar, allowing it to be separated from the rest of the auxiliary craft.