USS Nye

USS Nye
General Information
Registry	NCC-72381
Class & Type	Nova-class Surveyor
Affiliation	United Federation of Planets
Status	Active
Assignment
Task Force	Task Force 47
Role	Surveyor
Key Personnel
Commanding Officer	Captain Alan Driverson
Executive Officer	Commander T'Lask
Template:Starship

"Every question leads to new answers, new discoveries, and new, smarter questions."

    —Bill Nye

Design and layout

The USS Nye is a Nova-class starship assigned to Task Force 47 to undertake initial surveys and exploratory reconnaissance as part of the Fourth Fleet's pathfinding mandate. Recently re-assigned from emergency support duties following Frontier Day, she now operates throughout known space undertaking scientific surveys of the myriad planets and planetary systems that make up the Federation. Though not as fast or glamorous as some newer classes of ship, Nye's robust design and excitable crew of scientists have become a regular and welcome feature throughout the Fourth Fleet's field of operations and aboard Deep Space 47.

Service History

Originally slated to be part of the second wave of the class in the early 2370s, Nyes order form spent several months on the proverbial shelf whilst Starfleet examined the class's design, following the tragic disappearance of the USS Equinox. Satisfied that the vessel wasn't lost due to a design fault, construction of the class was due to resume when the Dominion War broke out. Eventually, in 2380, almost a decade after she was first ordered, Nye slipped free of the Utopia Planitia yards and set out on her lifelong voyage of discovery.

Following the war, she spent her first decade in service exploring the former demilitarised zone, now fully accessible to the Federation as a result of the Treaty of Bajor, exploring systems and anomalies previously under Cardassian control. During this time she achieved some note under long term scientist turned commander, Captain K. Fredrickson, who led the crew to the discovery of a giant avian species previously considered a myth, as well as an unexpected rescue mission utilising inflatable balloons to evacuate homesteaders on Tessel IV.

Late in 2390, Nye was reassigned to the Fourth Fleet, as part of their initiative to secure and explore the politically tense region beyond the Badlands now known as the Thomar Expanse. Nye's small size and robust construction made the ship perfectly suited to independent follow-up missions both within the region, allowing the Federation to begin comprehensively mapping the Thomar Expanse during the construction of Deep Space 47. Alongside other assets of the Fourth Fleet, Nye has charted and surveyed a substantial portion of the expanse whilst flying the Federation's flag in a region where larger vessels may inflame political tensions, highlighting Starfleet's commitment to peaceful exploration. As the Fourth Fleet's mandate continues to expand alongside the Federation's borders Nye has become a regular feature across the quadrants, turning over every rock and looking behind every tree.

Configuration and Design

Building on the robust and rugged design of the Nova class, Nye has had several upgrades in line with her sister ships following the return of the USS Voyager and the review of logs from the USS Equinox. This has included several improvements in the modularity of the ship's internal systems, allowing her crews to quickly tailor their scientific capabilities before departing to their next survey mission, as well as improvements to her deflector and SI systems to accommodate the dangers of the unknown frontiers.

Following its move to TF47, Nye has also received a number of upgrades to its auxiliary assets, including the addition of several modular land buggies and hover bikes held in dedicated transport buffers, to improve the crew's surface exploration capabilities. The waverider shuttle Russell has also seen several upgrades to its sensor arrays and long-range communication systems to facilitate multi-pronged charting and surveying of planetary systems.

Crew of the Nye

Captain Alan Driverson

A middle-aged human commander who has recently returned to frontline service after several years working alongside the Starfleet Auxiliary's cartographic department. He's a competent commander but suffers from a wide-eyed wanderlust and a blinkered commitment to exploration. A confident leader for the crew, he embodies the Federation's ideals in exploration and adventure, believing that there is something interesting under every rock.

Owing to his history working within the Federation's borders, Nye's commanding officer is somewhat tactically inexperienced. Though he has all the training and experience that comes with a commanding officer, he has had little reason to use it over the years and will often advocate retreat over engagement, even against minor foes.

Driverson fully believes in the Starfleet exploratory ideals and despite regulations is often found off-ship alongside his survey and exploration team. Whilst the risk associated with Nye's missions is often low, this can mean that the crew find themselves without their leader in times of crisis.

Commander T'Lask

Relatively young by Vulcan standards at only 60 years, T'Lask has already collected an impressive number of postgraduate qualifications, recognitions and awards, usually from the safety of his lab. Though he would never admit it out loud, the stoic young Vulcan suffers slightly with agoraphobia and prefers to witness the wonders of the universe from the safety of the ship, rarely stepping foot off the vessel unless there is no other choice.

Having grown up with travelling deep space researchers as parents T'Lask is very comfortable amongst the multi-cultural backdrop of Starfleet and is quite happy dabbling in the idioms and exploring non-Vulcan pursuits. His positively cheery disposition compliments his enthusiasm for scientific discovery, some crew members swear they've even seen a grin.

T'Lask has served with Captain Driverson since his reactivation several years ago and the two have created a positive, if unorthodox, working relationship that allows both men to spend time in their preferred environments. Whilst Driverson spends time off ship leading away teams, T'Lask remains aboard providing expert support to the science and engineering teams that are working through the incoming data.

In Play

• The Nova-class is the spiritual inheritor of the Oberth-class and Nye' reflects this in her long service to Starflet. With a hull age of over 20 years, she is not the most advanced vessel in the region but her robust design means she is likely to find herself in more dangerous scenarios than basic science ships.
• Whilst Nye' is equipped with a variety of scientific facilities, space is at a premium aboard these small vessels and mission packages are planned in advance for the ship to undertake research over a longer period of time. Unfortunately, this means that the ship can find itself under-resourced when things take unexpected turns and other vessels in the task force will definitely find themselves called for aid to unravel an unexpected mystery.
• The frontiers of the Federation are politically delicate regions, not officially under any one government's jurisdiction and thus Starfleet undertakes a balancing act with several other governments. As a smaller science ship Nye can investigate anomalies and provide limited support where a larger vessel may inflame tensions.