Brought into service in the year 2380, and originally intended as a test-bed for experimental
technologies, the Vesta Class Multi-Mission Explorer is one of the fastest and most technologically
advanced starships ever to serve in the Federation Starfleet.
Combining the functionality of many vessels that came before it, the Vesta is incredibly
versatile and highly valuable in a wide variety of scenarios, ranging from heavy combat to
humanitarian support and long-range exploration.
672 Meters in length and 195 meters across, the Vesta’s sleek frame serves as a natural
evolution upon the designs of the earlier Sovereign and Luna class Starships, and helps
to provide maximum efficiency for the vessel’s state of the art Quantum Slipstream Drive.
The Vesta is the first federation starship designed to carry a slipstream drive since
the technology was discovered by the USS Voyager in 2374, and the narrow frame of the class
provides a sizeable increase in drive efficiency.
This is because the slipstream corridor which the QSD projects ahead of its host vessel,
needs only be slightly wider than the vessel itself, and by extension a narrow frame results
in substantially less power consumption.
In addition to the Vesta’s standard complement of phaser arrays and photon tubes, the vessel
also carries a pair of prototype Mk 12 Phaser Cannons laid into the ventral saucer section,
as well a complement of quantum warheads and in some rare instances, Transphasic torpedoes.
The ship’s shields were also highly advanced, and the craft was equipped with twenty separate
transporter sites, including four industrial cargo transporters.
The Vesta’s sensors and utility systems were equally advanced, including a quantum
field focus controller, which allowed for 100% communication and sensor functionality
during slipstream travel, as well as serving as a power relay for phaser energy, allowing
a beam to be fired from the ship’s deflector dish, consuming huge amounts of power, but
inflicting substantial damage.
In addition to their complements of conventional shuttles, ships of the Vesta Class also carry
Danube and Yellowstone Class Runabouts, ships that are most often stored only on Spacedock
facilities or other fixed installations.
These Runabouts boast far greater range and utility than conventional shuttles, and provide
the Vesta Class with a serious advantage when surveying areas, performing reconnaissance
or transporting passengers.
The first wave of Vesta class starships to be constructed after the original prototype,
were each named after one of the seven hills of Rome, and no doubt the most well-known
among them was the USS Aventine NCC-82602.
The Aventine was originally commanded by Captain Dexar, but when he was killed in the Battle
of Acamar, the ship’s second officer Commander Ezri Dax received a battlefield commission
and a promotion to the rank of captain, assuming command of the Aventine.
During her long tenure as the Aventine’s CO, Dax earned a place among Starfleet’s
most legendary captains, playing a critical role in the Federation’s survival during
the borg invasion of 2381, and surviving numerous encounters with the powerful Typhon Pact.
Easily one of the most advanced and versatile starships ever to serve in Starfleet, and
having played a vital part in the Federation’s very survival, the Vesta Class Multimission
Explorer represents a groundbreaking accomplishment in Federation Starship design, and would not
only continue to serve well into the 25th century, but would also inspire several subvarients
and refits, continuing the Vessel’s legacy even farther.