USS Fresno
USS Fresno NCC-75574 is a California-class Federation starship currently assigned to Fourth Fleet's Task Force 72. She is currently under the command of Captain Michael Dart. Fresno's primary role is to perform a specialized logistical assignment to her taskforce by responding to engineering specific needs to the ships, stations, or worlds under the purview of Task Force 72.
History
The Fresno was one of many California-class ships to be produced in 2368. Fresno in particular was named after the Earth city of Fresno, California which has long been regarded as a significant agricultural source for that particular region of the world dating as far back as the 19th century. As such, the Fresno was originally constructed to be an engineering variant with even further specialized equipment and personnel that was geared towards supporting the agricultural worlds within the Federation.
The events of Frontier Day in April of 2401, as well as the events involving the Underspace later on that same year led to a loss of many ships in Starfleet. As a result, the Fresno was given over to Task Force 72 and was stripped down of its specialized agricultural equipment in order to fit the profile of a more broad engineering variant of the California-class vessel.
Missions
The Shakedown of USS Fresno and Her Crew
A new Captain and Executive Officer shuttle in to take command. New crew rotate in while some Fresno veterans remain. The Fresno, having just completed the refit that repurposed it from an Agricultural support ship to a more generalized and versatile Engineering variant, prepares to undergo a shakedown cruise of sorts.
But the true shakedown of the Fresno comes with sudden orders to assist the colony world of Pieris IV, a research colony that is studying a native worm to understand the enzymes they secrete and how it makes soil immensely fertile. When the ground sensors they rely on to track the worms begin to inexplicably fail, the Fresno is sent in to help.
They end up flushing out a smuggling operation whose computer virus had meant to burn out orbital sensor arrays to mask their movement. Their virus had the unintended side effect of taking down the research colony's ground sensors as well, derailing the colony's work and exposing the very operations that this smuggling ring had hoped to hide. A Rigelian freighter blasts off from a nearby base on the world, ultimately eluding the Fresno.
Shaken, and Stirred
The Fresno's activities of exposing the smuggling ring on Pieris IV alter their assignment, turning the crew of engineers into ersatz operatives. Hot on the heels of the events surrounding Frontier Day, the Federation is having trouble keeping up with chasing down all of the technology pilfered from Daystrom Station.
The crew of the Fresno discover a slaughter of the smugglers at their base on Pieris IV. Uncertain whether the carnage was either a cover-up or a deal gone sour, Starfleet Command nevertheless feels that the timing of this is simply too convenient to ignore considering that a large amount of the technology stolen from Daystrom Station are currently cropping up on the black market all across the galaxy lately. With Starfleet Intelligence resources spread thin, it is up to the Fourth Fleet to chase down all of these leads.
Intelligence manages to ID the fleeing Rigelian Freighter and tracks it to Freecloud. The crew of the Fresno are inserted covertly onto the world with two tasks; discover exactly what this freighter had been carrying, and determine if this item was being sold at any black market auctions on Freecloud. The mission ultimately ends in failure.
Through a Mirror, Crack'd Darkly
This mission follows the USS Valley Forge as it pursues an experimental ship to the Mirror Universe. The Fresno only plays a very small role in this event's initial start.
Believing the experimental ship known only as Hull-3185 to have finally been apprehended by USS Valley Forge, the Fresno is dispatched to tow it back to Starbase 72. Instead, the Fresno discovers both Hull-3185 and USS Valley Forge missing from the rendezvous site and all they are left with are very odd readings and puzzlement over what could have taken place.
Configuration
The Fresno is currently configured as a standard engineering variant of the California-class. This is most notably marked by the gold colored trim around the hull. She has a more heavily reinforced hull when compared to her counterparts of other variants, and beefed up tractor beam systems to facilitate towing missions. Much of her multipurposed labs have been given over to more engineering based facilities. The crew of the Fresno is heavily skewed to be comprised of engineers, and even those assigned in other roles will have been chosen in favor of a secondary augmentation of engineering experience in one capacity or another.
Support Craft
The shuttles of USS Fresno are all named after lakes and rivers located within the area of its namesake. A current roster is as follows;
- Pine Flat
- Huntington
- Millerton
- Shaver
- Redinger
- Wishon
- Courtright
- Hume
- Avacado
- Balsam
- Kerckhoff
- San Joaquin
- Cottonwood
- Alder
- Sycamore
- Tenmile
- Trimmer Springs
- Burrough Valley