By Richard Woodcock

The USS Fortitude has a long history, in story telling she has been at the fore-front of play in my days writing in Play by Email and in later years I moved the ship and the Character to Star Trek online when it came online many years ago and her and the Captain have Served proudly and I have let my imagination run wild.

In the last year I have rekindled my love of writing stories and thanks to an old friend I have decided to return the fold and start writing the tales of what I fondly think of in my head as “Star Trek: Fortitude”.

So where did the Fortitude begin?

The First Vessel to Enter Service was the USS FORTITUDE NCC-121021 and was commanded by Captain G. Saracen. She was attached to the 21st Marine Tactical Fighter Wing (Later the 21st Marine Support Squadron) Commanded by the then Lt. Col Miles Llewellyn as their carrier support vessel.

Un-happily the vessel was badly damaged and brought out of service and retired after the Battle of Cordra.

After the Battle of Cordra, the then COMSFE RADM. Sara Pritchatt decided to Honour the 21st Marine Support Squadron after the loss of the original Fortitude and her original Captain to commission a new vessel. The USS Fortitude NCC-121021-A.

This vessel was state of the art and was the largest vessel in operation within Starfleet. She was the Hannibal Class Carrier or (Super carrier) as the class in fondly known as.

The vessel was to be commanded by Miles Llewellyn who was now promoted to the rank of Captain. He was Captain to a vessel that contained 250 Typhoon Fighters and carried a light Corvette class vessel. The Ship herself operated within HDF and Carrier Group Three.

However the vessel, only one of four built was seriously damaged after only 3 months of operation during the engagement at the Cordan Expanse and more so during the Battle of Centerpoint Two where the bravery of Carrier Group Three and importantly more so of the crew of the Fortitude helped evacuate all Starfleet people and equipment from Neffen. The vessel was solely responsible of downing many Horvaukan vessels and herself made the retreat to Ansolon-one under her own power.

The Vessel now stands at Ansolon-one where she is to be restored and turned into a shrine to the memory of the people that died during the retreat.

After the Battle of Centerpoint Two and the loss of the Fortitude-A the name Fortitude had become a legend within Starfleet, such as the Enterprise.

It is with that ironic nature of the universe that the new COMSFE Adm. Littleton commissioned the USS Fortitude NCC-121021-B. The reason this is ironic is due to the Fortitude returning to service as a Frigate in the form of a re-fitted old Constitution Class space frame (As is seen in the above picture).

However the technology on this vessel is very much state of the art and is capable of multi-role assignments, such as Escort duty to Minelayer operations.

The vessel is still commanded by Captain Miles Llewelyn and it is hoped that the Fortitude-B will remain in service for some time and continue her famous voyages.

From here time moved on and we had the Churchill Class USS Fortitude, NCC-121021-B

From those writing days we got the USS Fortitude, NCC121021-C. She was a Heinlein Class Starship.

This is where time and you could almost say things get interesting, you could almost say that was one reality and we switched to a new reality and Star Trek online came into play. We moved to the Sovereign class USS Fortitude, NCC-121021-C

The Fortitude continued in a new reality and she served as an Odyssey class years later as the NCC-121021-D when the Odyssey Class Starship was released into Star Trek online and later become a Lexington Class refit after the battle of Sol.

After an intense battle with the mirror Borg and the evacuation of Deep Space Station k-42 the Fortitude while passing  thru the sector for scheduled maintenance intercepted the distress call of the station  and moved to assist despite not being with her Carrier group she and her crew held the line while the evacuation was expedited. The Fortitude tackled three mirror borg cubes with just herself, her carrier wing and 3 Plymouth class Starships that where assigned to the station.

The station was evacuated with minimal losses to civilian life but at great cost. Admiral Llewellyn fought a broadside battle and using her phaser lance and main deflector dish as a particle weapon destroyed two cubes and crippled the third cube. However the explosion of the two cubes meant wreckage collided with the Fortitude ripping her Port side nacelle and wreckage tearing thru the secondary hull and forward saucer.

The Fortitude was deemed to damage to be restored to front line service however the valiant fight and bravery of her crew and Captain earned the Fortitude a place in the Fleet museum.

This brings us to the New Fortitude, NCC-121021-E.

Admiral Miles Llewellyn was giving his choice of assignments but true to form he only ever wanted to be a Captain. Before the Fortitude’s untimely end Miles had been reviewing new Starships designs and had a Soft spot for the Exeter Class Starships, which where modern takes on older ships and remind him of the Older Ships names Fortitude.

So forever a dreamer at times Miles took command of a Exeter class Fortitude.

So the voyages of the Fortitude moves unto a new chapter, “let’s see what’s out there!”

The post U.S.S. Fortitude on Station…! appeared first on The Malstrom Expanse.

The namesake of the U.S.S. Shangri-La was introduced in the 2280s as the prototype of the class cruiser that went on to bear its name.

Then in 2399, the eighth and most current starship to bear the name launched as a Constitution III-class exploration cruiser, NCC-2575-G.

She saw several years operating in deep space, scoring several first contacts with newly encountered civilizations in the process while likewise observing / studying several more that were pre-warp and thus direct contact restricted via the Prime Directive.

But then in 2401 she was recalled from deep space and ordered to return to Earth for what ended up becoming another Borg invasion and takeover of the ships of Starfleet itself during that year’s Frontier Day ceremony.

Shangri-La was one among the majority of ships taken over by the Borg, but also one that received only minor damage during the process.

Once repairs were made and the fleet coordination software / systems removed, the Connie III cruiser was released from drydock once more and thrown back out into the depths of space in 2402.

In 2407, the ship was recalled and crew reassigned during as the ship was temporarily removed from active service for overhaul and refit.

Shangri-La G was stripped down only to be built back up with the latest in technology restoring her status to being one of the most advanced exploration ships in the fleet.

A Starfleet officer of mixed Klingon/Human/Romulan heritage, Capt. Hauk Wolfseye, assumed command and oversaw the refit while assembling a new crew for the Connie III’s eventual return to space.

“Not only did the Shangri-La help to survive the Borg on Frontier Day, it also extended our map of known space with many successful first contacts made in the process,” said Wolfseye during an interview prior to ship’s re-launch.

Even before her official re-commissioning, the cruiser was pressed back into service to assist with defending the Alpha/Beta Quadrants from the all out Borg Assault of 2409.

Although this ship was officially re-assigned to Alliance Central Command’s and the Malstrom Expeditionary Force, operating within the Malstrom Expanse, she soon found herself mired down once more into a maelstrom of continuing conflict and war in the form of the Klingon-Federation War, conflicts with the Romulan fight for independence from the Tal Shiar, the Cardassian “True Way” movement and of course the Iconian War and all that followed.

Ship and crew look forward to returning to the Malstrom Expanse and resuming their core mission of exploration and discovery.

The post Welcoming the Shangri-La appeared first on The Malstrom Expanse.

Captain Brigid has officially been given command of the U.S.S. Destiny, NCC-2346-G.

Destiny is a variant of the Justiciar-class command star cruiser line and has been outfitted with a complete suite of Diplomatic facilities not seen since the Ross-class was introduced back in the 2381.

Ship and crew will be assigned to assist with first contact and diplomatic missions within the Malstrom Expanse.

When not performing those missions, they will assist with missions of exploration.

Destiny carries on a proud heritage of ships associated with the name, tracing the origins of the name all the way back to the original Constitution-class heavy cruiser that was first of eight ships to bear the name and registry number.

And as for the ship’s commbadge logo, the design is comprised of the Starfleet Delta overlayed ontop of the design that’s “the strands and web of destiny,” which the Norse refer to as the Wyrd.

The post Introducing the U.S.S. Destiny appeared first on The Malstrom Expanse.

That Sagan-class is one of my favorite ship designs in Star Trek Online … following by the Constitution III and followed by the Odyssey and Excelsior II class starships.

The U.S.S. Blackstar was one of the first ships I looked at with regards to its name being one that stands on its own merit with no history or connections at all … not even connections regarding word.

The post Introducing the U.S.S. Blackstar appeared first on The Malstrom Expanse.