USS Aeneas

USS Aeneas (NCC-95507) is a Shenzhou-class surveyor currently assigned to the Apollo Fast Cruiser Division of the Fourth Fleet's Arcturus Wayfinding Squadron. Commissioned in 2403, Aeneas conducts detailed planetary surveys on the frontier, primarily to locate potential colony worlds.

Namesake and Lineage

Aeneas is named for the Roman ancestor-hero Aeneas, whose story is most famously told in the eponymous Aeneid by the Latin poet Vergil, composed in the first century BCE. In the poem, which is written as an aemulatio (a work that goes beyond simply reproducing another and instead competes with it) of the Greeks' Homeric epics, Aeneas is depicted as resourceful on his journey across the Mediterranean from Troy to Italy (akin to Odysseus's eponymous journey) and later becomes a great military leader in Latium (through coalition building rather than the type of raw combat prowess displayed by Achilles in the Iliad), but his primary attribute is a deep sense of duty to the gods—exemplifying the virtue of pietas (not simply piety, but devotion to the gods and the community) which was a foundational trait of the later concept of Romanitas. In many respects less volatile and more resistant to folly than the Greek heroes, Aeneas is a figure of equanimity and caution, as well as an idealized figure of Augustan-era Roman state ideology.

1172 Äneas, named using a variant spelling, is a Jupiter trojan asteroid in the Sol system named for the hero.

Aeneas was the namesake of numerous ocean-going vessels on Earth, notably HMS Aeneas, an Amphion-class submarine in service from 1946 to 1974 wiith the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The current starship Aeneas is the fourth Federation starship to bear the name, which have all been upcycled over the prior two centuries from the same original vessel.

• USS Aeneas (NCC-1207), Walker-class light cruiser
  • Commissioned: 2201
  • Decommissioned 2270
  • Fate: Upcycled into NCC-5507
• USS Aeneas (NCC-5507), Georgiou-class light cruiser
  • Commissioned: 2289
  • Decommissioned: 2370
  • Fate: Upcycled into NCC-75507
• USS Aeneas (NCC-75507), Lancelot-class light cruiser
  • Commissioned: 2373
  • Decommissioned: 2375
  • Fate: Severely damaged during the Dominion War; later upcycled into NCC-95507

The current starship shares some of the original primary structural members of the original starship Aeneas, and other components were recycled into hull panels, but less then 10% of the total mass of the ship is from the three earlier ships.

History

In early 2401, the hulk of the former Lancelot-class USS Aeneas was towed to Olympia Station from a surplus depot on the outskirts of the Persephone system. The wreckage was scrapped and reforged during the construction of the current starship Aeneas over a two-year period. When launched in 2403, Aeneas was the first starship commissioned at Olympia Station. Aeneas relieved Hipparchus on station in the Olympia Sector, which had just completed her first five-year mission under the command of Commander Elizabeth Zhang. Zhang was promoted to captain and assumed command of Aeneas. Given the dangers present on the frontier, the new Shenzhou-class starship is considered better suited by Starfleet Command for the realities of Arcturus Squadron's wayfinding mission.

Notable Crew

Commanding Officers

• 2403 - Present : Captain Elizabeth Zhang