Protostar Class
The Protostar-class corvette is a long-range exploration vessel employed by Starfleet as a training vessel, scout, and light-duty exploratory starship. First developed in the early 2380s with an experimental and highly dangerous "Proto-Warp Drive," the first two prototypes of this class harnessed a compressed protostar to power a faster-than-warp technology which was abandoned due to the potential for massive damage to subspace that would be created by a protostar detonating. Production on this class was halted abruptly in 2385, when Starfleet cancelled long-range exploratory missions following the destruction of Mars. When the origins of this attack were revealed in 2399, Starfleet restarted production on this class--without its dangerous proto-warp drive--and it is now fielded by the Fourth Fleet as a training vessel for elite cadets and as a general exploratory scout.
Science and Exploration
With their high level of automation and good endurance, Protostar-class starships are useful as exploratory scouts, though their actual scientific facilities are relatively limited. They have a single large lab that can be reconfigured for multiple subjects, and their holodeck can also be useful for scientific inquiries. With the capability to land on a planet's surface, they can go into hostile environments that interfere with transporters, with minimal risks to personnel. A typical exploratory mission for a ship of this class would involve hopping from system to system examining planets and other points of interest, so that Starfleet can optimize the routes for larger exploratory ships and science vessels. The ship's advanced vehicle replicator can also be used to manufacture specialized vehicles for planetary and interstellar surveys.
When Starfleet is particularly interested in a scientific phenomena, a Protostar-class starship can be outfitted with additional scientific equipment pertinent to that mission, which the ship can bring into the field with low personnel overhead. Compared to research cruisers or vessels with multiple labs, Protostar-class vessels are better at data collection than they are analysis. They will bring samples and other information back to starbases or research vessels. The same automation systems that make them easy to fly are also good at preliminary analysis tasks, and their databanks can hold substantial amounts of information.
Fully loaded with supplies, a Protostar-class starship is theoretically capable of a mission of up to five years, but this is unlikely to be tested in the near future.
Diplomacy
Fast but spartan, Protostar-class starships can serve as diplomatic couriers in a pinch. They would be useful for discrete negotiations or moving important people quickly, though they are hardly luxurious. If they were involved in negotiations, they would likely use their holodeck to create a venue, as there are few other venues on the ship. They aren't intended to conduct first contact missions, but are well-suited to covert examinations of new civilizations to see if they meet the requirements for first contact.
Engineering
Outwardly, the Protostar-class corvette resembles other Federation starship types, with a standard primary hull, secondary hull, and warp nacelle arrangement, though at a much smaller scale. Internally, they are extremely advanced and are equipped with a dual warp core assembly that makes them capable of sustained speeds of Warp 9.99, matching any modern capital ship in Starfleet. Many of the ship's systems are designed with regenerative components and a high degree of both redundancy and automation, allowing them to be maintained easily. All of these redundancies create headaches for the shipyards, though, and they require a significant amount of time to construct despite their small size. Like a Swiss watch, they are exemplars of precision and reliability. The prototype designs included an experimental faster-than-warp "Protowarp Drive" but the production models have excluded this system because of its potential to cause system-spanning explosions.
While they do have a forward shuttle bay, Protostar-class starships don't embark any shuttles per se. Instead, they build secondary craft with their vehicle replicator for each particular task, whether that be an underwater shuttle or a ground vehicle. They are capable of building any vehicle that fits within the frame of the replicator, though larger vehicles can take fifteen to twenty minutes to construct. This process is extremely power intensive, so a ship will often retain the vehicle from a previous mission until it's necessary to reconfigure it.
Tactical
Protostar-class vessels are equipped to defend themselves should the need arise, with their tactical systems being described by Starfleet Command as "sufficient." The phasers in service with this class are a variant of the Type-VIII phaser array designed specifically for small starships such as this one, and they are capable of firing both as standard arrays when encountering larger targets or in pulses to ward of smaller attackers. Comprehensive coverage is provided by two long arrays, one each on the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the saucer, and two smaller arrays on the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the stern. This class also carries fore and aft torpedo launchers, each capable of single-firing either photon or quantum torpedoes. Due to the ship's role and small crew, the tactical array can be set to automatic firing mode with the ship's computer intelligently deciding on targets based on Starfleet's tactical protocols. Manual firing modes are also available.
Compared to larger starships, Protostar-class starships are lightly armed. They can punch their way out of a situation when necessary and even handle smaller raiders on their own, but their primary roles as an exploratory scout and as a training ship generally call for them to use their high top speed to escape from threat vessels. A clever captain could take down a significantly larger vessel if they were able to use the ship's superior handling characteristics well, but this ship is not intended to be purposefully sent on tactical missions.
Shipboard Life
Since the restart of production on this class, the Protostar has most often been used for small, elite teams for scouting missions or as a training vessel. They have a high degree of automation, which means that their crew of up to 20 can be biased towards the ship's mission rather than operations roles such as engineers and pilots. They are capable of routine operations with a crew as small as eight. Other than the captain who has a private captain (which doubles as a ready room) the crew bunk together in a dormitory with bunkbeds and take their meals together in a mess hall. There is a small sickbay with a few biobeds that is more suited to stabilizing patients for treatment at a hospital than for major medical procedures. The holodeck on this ship is oversized and quite powerful, in order to make up for the lack of other entertainment options, but there are viewing galleries on both sides of the primary hull that allow for quiet contemplation, reading, and studying. Despite being small, there are plenty of places on the ship to find solace and to be alone with one's thoughts, which helps avoid a feeling of being too cramped. This is also the design philosophy behind the corridors, bridge, and many other compartments, as they are, strictly speaking, bigger than they absolutely need to be. With a design inspired by a class like the Defiant, for instance, much more "stuff" could be squeezed inside the design, but Starfleet chose to give Protostar crews more room to breathe instead.
All Protostar-class starships come equipped with a standard assortment of emergency holograms, including medical, flight control, tactical, counseling, engineering, and hospitality to supplement their biological crews. In addition, they have a combination long-term command hologram and training hologram, which is intended either to mentor young crewmembers or to bring the ship home should a crisis occur.
Protostar Class History
The Protostar-class starship was developed during the late 2370s as a prototype for a new form of faster-than-warp propulsion using the harnessed potential of a protostar core to propel the ship to fantastic speeds. This project was intended to provide a way of bringing Voyager home. As it happened, though, Voyager returned before the project was completed. Starfleet continued the project to allow for re-exploration of the Delta Quadrant, however. Protostar herself was launched on a mission to explore the Delta Quadrant under Captain Chakotay in 2382. After being sucked into a temporal anomaly, the Protostar was later discovered in 2384 by a new crew, but was later destroyed in 2384. In 2384, a second Protostar-class vessel was constructed, dubbed the Prodigy. Prodigy was nearly scrapped in 2385 when Starfleet put a halt to all exploratory programs, but it was saved as a special training vessel under Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway. While Prodigy was equipped with a protostar drive, the destruction of the original prototype showed the danger of this technology, as an exploding protostar would devastate an entire system. Because of this, and because of the continued focus on defense-related starship construction, no further Protostar-class starships were ordered and the program was quietly shelved.
In 2399, the Starfleet began to resume long-range exploratory missions. As part of this process, the Fourth Fleet ordered a group of Raven-class corvettes to carry small mission teams and serve as training vessels for up-and-coming officers to staff an enlarged exploratory fleet. This was only a stop-gap measure while other construction programs commenced, including a revised version of the Protostar-class corvette. The new version removed the protowarp drive, leaving Starfleet with a versatile, advanced vessel that far exceeded the Raven in speed, range, comfort, and utility, while remaining at a crew size of 20 or fewer. The first of this new wave of Protostar-class vessels entered service at the end of 2401. These ships were intended to serve both as long-range exploratory scouts and as training vessels.
The Protostar Class In-Play
- Protostar-class starships are small but versatile, serving as a good platform for all manner of exploratory missions. Unlike a Raven, which is only intended to transport mission teams from starbases to their worksites, a Protostar-class ship is capable of independent exploration.
- This class of ship is still extremely rare, as none were built in the decades between Star Trek: Prodigy and our current canon.
- As a training ship, an experienced officer could command a crew of midshipmen or cadets, or the captain could be relatively junior and be mentored by a training hologram.
- As an exploratory ship, a Protostar might be commanded by an officer of almost any rank, as we saw on screen that this ranged from a full captain to ensigns, depending on the mission needs.