USS Mogrus
USS Mogrus is a Raven-class multi-mission light vessel operated by the Fourth Fleet.
Design and Layout
Like all Raven-class corvettes, the USS Mogrus is based on the older civilian Aerie-class light surveyor design. The Aerie-class design provided the perfect layout for a wide range of mission types, as well as more comfort than could be available on smaller vessels. With modern technological advancements and a substantial interior redesign, the Raven-class took this already functional platform even farther. With space enough for long-term habitation, defensive and medical facilities to handle most basic emergencies, and the capabilities to field a wide range of scientific and diplomatic mission types, the Raven filled a logical niche in the Starfleet repertoire.
With a standard crew compliment, the Raven-class can handle month-long missions away from their base, but the USS Mogrus operates with a fractional crew at the request of its commanding officer, Allan Alia-Ledgard. His reports highlight the reduced operational costs of a smaller crew, the extended mission times available because of his small crew size (up to three months, with limited in situ resupply), and the adaptability a smaller crew provides for refugee missions and personnel transportation.
Laboratories
These labs are well-suited to handling light to medium intensity scientific inquiries, and have a wide range of automated analysis equipment for missions that don't embark a full science department. These labs are primarily geared toward data and sample collection, rather than independent research, although they could be upgraded and re-specialized in-port for long-term research missions.
Engineering
The USS Mogrus features the Raven-classes simplified hull design, including a network of Jefferies' tubes that allows for extremely easy access to all maintenance areas. On the original Aerie design, where these tubes were intended for light repair work, many of the crucial systems had limited access points for internal maintenance crews. The Raven-class improved upon this by tripling the number of access crawl ways to the external hull, but also to sub-deck junctions. This allows for easy repair to important ships' functions even when other means of access become closed.
Shuttlepod
Like other Raven-class ships, the USS Mogrus has space for a single shuttlepod in the tiny aft shuttlebay. Different mission profiles require the shuttlepod model to alternated, but Allan Alia-Ledgard prefers to host a Type-18 Shuttlepod unless otherwise required. The Type-18 Shuttlepod was originally developed for use alongside the Defiant and Saber class starships, and its hardened defensive functions, maneuverability, and sturdy warp-2 capability make it the obvious choice for a multi-mission corvette.
Tactical
The USS Mogrus features a compliment of Type-IX phaser arrays for full defensive coverage, in addition to a forward torpedo launcher and 10-round torpedo chamber. Additionally, defensive upgrades can be installed at port should the Mogrus be assigned a potential combat mission with foreknowledge.
Shipboard Life
Frequently, crews aboard Raven-class starships change frequently, which makes the USS Mogrus a bit of a blip in the statistics. Allan Alia-Ledgard has commanded the Mogrus for over two years, despite having the option to move on as the XO of two other starships in that time. Given Allan's somewhat unorthodox career thus far, it does seem somehow fitting that he should buck the career-trajectory trend set by his fellows. He knows the Mogrus in and out, and while there's every chance he might eventually move on, it seems likely that he'll only do so when the option for another command arrives, or he's forcibly reassigned.
The Mogrus features a permanently small core crew, hand-selected by Allan. While additional crew come aboard as the needs of a mission dictate, a ship the size of the Mogrus could function with no more than a single person at the helm. To function well under most mission conditions, a stable crew of three suffices, and allows a great deal of leeway for various other mission types. A standard EMH handles any injuries that arise.
This also allows the crew a great deal of freedom and personal space compared to other postings. Privacy is considered a powerful tradition among Starfleet personnel, built into the very technological design principles of Starfleet ships and bases, but rarely are there postings that provide quite so much personal space as the Mogrus. Each crewmember is assigned their own stateroom, which they must share only in times of emergency. Furthermore, the after observation deck, the midships mess (affectionately named "The Kitchen"), and the small holodeck combine to provide a fairly ideal space for a small spaceborn community.
History
Early Service Years
After being comissioned in 2389, the USS Mogrus leapt into action alongsider her sister-ships. Filling an important gap in Starfleet's capabilities, especially with the Fleet's range and scope dramatically extending within and without Member world territory, the Raven-class starships were in high demand. While service on one of these new vessels could not be considered prestigious, they did quickly become a sought-after posting for young officers anxious to work their way up the command chain.
The Mogrus saw many missions during her first few years, from combat encounters, to emergency medical transport runs, to serving as transport for dark-run espionage crews. She received a full refit twice in seven years due to taking extreme wear while on mission, including a partial hull superstructure replacement after a particularly close run-in with Klingon pirates that led the small ship into the center of a gas giant.
Under Command of Allan Alia-Ledgard
Allan Alia-Ledgard took command of the USS Mogrus in 2398 as her seventh captain. With years of experience as a noncom prior to his entering the Academy, followed by experience as an instructor at the Academy and service as an XO aboard the USS Montmouth, most assumed that the USS Mogrus would be a minor stepping stone between Allan and his own full-scale command. That did not turn out to be the case.
Allan brought aboard Maria Matsumoto, whom he had met while stationed as an instructor for the Academy on Earth, as his first-officer and chief of engineering. He then went through a list of promising pilots on the likely track for their own command and hit upon Shavar Ward, who he also recruited. Then, he stopped. Drawing an oddly firm line, Allan refused to take on more permanent crew, and would go on to command the Mogrus for over seventeen missions without any hint of leaving his little ship behind. This despite receiving two compelling opportunities to serve as Executive Officer aboard ships of some repute. It seemed to those watching his career that he was either intent on staying out of the big leagues, or else wanted to jump straight from the Mogrus to his own full command. A pity if the former, a risk if the latter—or it would have been, if Allan's service record as CO of the Mogrus had been anything but superb.
The following are but four of the highest-profile missions undertaken between 2398 and 2400.
The Cammerian Incident (2398)
The Excelsior-class starship Cammerian was stolen from the junkyard at Svandas 7. Though outdated and not scheduled for a refit, she was a fully-functional cruiser once powered up with fresh dilithium, and therefore a major risk in the wrong hands. Six Raven-class starships were dispatched from the shipyard, including the Mogrus to try and locate the Cammerian before she could get too far away. While two larger vessels stationed nearby would wait a strategic distance from the search pattern so as to jump in at high warp as soon as the stolen cruiser was found. The only problem? The Cammerian found their pursuers first. The man who commandeered it, a ruthless Anti-Federationalist named Jamal Blyson, had used black-market contacts to outfit the old ship with more than a power source. Romulan Torpedoes made short work of the lightly-armed corvettes tracking it down. But the Mogrus fared better. During a deadly game of cat and mouse, the Mogrus led the larger ship directly into an ion-storm, disabling it. Starfleet was then able to swoop in and take custody of the pirates.
The Goldsmith Theory (2398)
Dr. Athena Goldsmith's theory of quantum-particle-wave resonance proved to be one of the most innovative attempts to understand the inherent principles of dilithium-antimatter energetic growth potential. Given that any deeper understanding of the tenuously understood manner in which dilithium acts to provide such extreme control, and inverted energy curve of, antimatter, Dr. Goldsmith's new theory made a lot of heads turn. She was assigned to the USS Mogrus for a two-month preliminary exploration of her theory, with the little ship's two labs completely refitted to allow of highly-classified deep space experiments. Her experiments proved successful in the end, but not before her experiment caused a dangerous fissure in time and space between realities. It was later shown that an undetected weak spot in the dimensional fabric of spacetime near to where the experiments were conducted had been exacerbated by the tests. If not for the crew of the Mogrus' taking swift action, it's likely that the things living in the alternate universe would have plowed through to this one, causing who-knows what sort of harm.
Bajoran Weapons (2399)
A Bajoran weapon smuggler named Davan Alamor wanted revenge on the Cardassians who murdered his grandparents, and he saw the best way to achieve his goals by selling weapons to the Cardassians that included a nasty secret: a hidden bomb. By rigging the weapons he sold on the black market, Alamor caused a swath of destruction to occur, killing both his buyers and a large number of Cardassian civilians. The services of the USS Mogrus were loaned to Cardassian authorities as a diplomatic effort between the two governments, and the crew aided the Cardassian authorities in tracking down Alamor... and seeing him properly extradited to Bajor for his crimes, rather than torn apart by the Cardassian penal system.
The Felstaff II Pox Relief Mission (2399)
A horrible plague known only as "The Pox" struck Felstaff II in the late months of 2399. The colony, large and prosperous, boasted a population of some seventeen-million, and the Pox, highly virulent and extremely deadly, threatened them all. Alongside fifteen other Raven-class starships and a host of larger ships assigned to relief efforts, the USS Mogrus first aided in the delivery of crucial supplies to the colony. Later, the Mogrus crew worked to alleviate riots sparked by terrified people, including one that would have caused the destruction of an extremely important medical research facility that was close to developing a cure.