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Description

It's the year 2402, but not the 2402 many who follow the adventures of the Starship Polaris are familiar with. In fact, this is a different timeline, one which is vastly different to the one known as the Polarisverse. As in the main timeline, Line Admiral David Metlesits took his old Pallada class starship home on the 1st of January, 2300, for the last time. After that… the adventures just stopped.

There was no Nestor class starship to take over the Polaris name, and later on no Avante class, nor Maria Boccioni class for that matter. It's not that these classes didn't exist, they have, but none of them, nor any other ship of any class, was named USS Polaris thereafter. Kore Thalassa didn't die at the Tomed incident, Uriah Noah never became a messianistic figure with his sacrifice, and Kirsten Heimann never got the chance to mend Earth's (and the Federation's) relationship with the Tzenkethi. As for the crew of the old NCC-782, they faded into legend, as all good soldiers do, their adventures becoming the subject of a couple reference books and the occasional docu-holo, nothing more.

This is a world where the Borg is what it is, a once powerful race of a mish-mash of technological and biological odds and ends. Certainly not an omnipresent, ageless and unstoppable force of entropy. Mankind's Bane doesn't exist in this world. The Borg has been dealt with, forever.

It's 2402, and the United Earth First Fleet has failed. It has failed to protect Earth back when the Breen attacked during the Dominion War, failed again to protect Mars when the synthetics rose up, and, finally, they failed to protect Earth once again during the Borg takeover of Starfleet the previous year. Earth, Starfleet and the UEFF are in shambles. Not that the Federation as a whole fared any better, with all the unfortunate events occurring in the time after the Dominion War finally ended, leaving it weakened. Old rivals are smelling the blood, and new threats are rising just beyond the horizon. The 25th century opened as an era of uncertainty.

The First Fleet has failed, and it knows. It knows that it must re-think its whole existence, so that it can rise to the challenges of an era in which the Federation has lost its dominance, its defensive forces are a shell of their former selves, and its capital planet is left in ruins and decimated after the events of 2401. There was no Mankind's Bane event in this world, Captain Noah didn't sacrifice himself to ennoble Humanity. The closest of a modern hero the First Fleet has is a relatively obscure figure, by the name of Captain Olivia Saddleford.

Captain Saddleford led the First Fleet's only successful counter-attack when the synths attacked Mars, taking her little Sabre class starship and doing her utmost best to protect all she could. Her ship, the USS Tenacious, held out for five whole minutes, five minutes during which hundreds could flee to their safety on Mars. The Tenacious was lost with all hands aboard, but not forgotten, her sacrifice, and that of her Captain's, became a source of defiant pride to the First Fleet for the years to come.

It's 2402, and the First Fleet looks back to its past for inspiration, even more than Starfleet does. The age of miles-long supercruisers is over, there is no capacity left to build, maintain, or even man them. And if Starfleet's newest USS Enterprise can be a relatively small, retro-style, tried-and-proven little cruiser, well, why can't the First Fleet follow a similar route? Just adapt that ship's basic design to the requirements of classic UEFF strategy. How was it done one-and-a-half century ago? A small engineering hull, underslung nacelle for higher sublight maneuverability, a different weapons layout to counter the interfleet limitations… why does it all sound familiar?

The Saddleford class was born the way basically any ship was in the era: quick and dirty, nothing fancy, nothing new, nothing big, but fast, reliable and radiating an aura of quaintness. And who or what, next to Olivia Saddleford herself, was an inspiration for a starship to be named after? The name "USS Polaris" rings with a different tone in this world, the same way "USS John Basilone" or "USS Coral Sea" might ring to an average person of the 21st century: known by some enthusiasts, but generally obscure. Yet, when looking back to the history of the name, it might inspire something great in the future.

It's 2402, and the first Starship Polaris in over a century is launched. It proudly bears the registry NCC-782-A, keeping the legacy number, unlike the Polarises of another, more known timeline. Captained by a wildcard space vixen and crewed by a group of rag-tag wannabe heroes, survivors and soul-searchers, the Starship Polaris once again sails the stellar sears… boldly going to make a stand.

The Human adventure continues!

***

Model by me

Description

It's the year 2402, but not the 2402 many who follow the adventures of the Starship Polaris are familiar with. In fact, this is a different timeline, one which is vastly different to the one known as the Polarisverse. As in the main timeline, Line Admiral David Metlesits took his old Pallada class starship home on the 1st of January, 2300, for the last time. After that… the adventures just stopped.

There was no Nestor class starship to take over the Polaris name, and later on no Avante class, nor Maria Boccioni class for that matter. It's not that these classes didn't exist, they have, but none of them, nor any other ship of any class, was named USS Polaris thereafter. Kore Thalassa didn't die at the Tomed incident, Uriah Noah never became a messianistic figure with his sacrifice, and Kirsten Heimann never got the chance to mend Earth's (and the Federation's) relationship with the Tzenkethi. As for the crew of the old NCC-782, they faded into legend, as all good soldiers do, their adventures becoming the subject of a couple reference books and the occasional docu-holo, nothing more.

This is a world where the Borg is what it is, a once powerful race of a mish-mash of technological and biological odds and ends. Certainly not an omnipresent, ageless and unstoppable force of entropy. Mankind's Bane doesn't exist in this world. The Borg has been dealt with, forever.

It's 2402, and the United Earth First Fleet has failed. It has failed to protect Earth back when the Breen attacked during the Dominion War, failed again to protect Mars when the synthetics rose up, and, finally, they failed to protect Earth once again during the Borg takeover of Starfleet the previous year. Earth, Starfleet and the UEFF are in shambles. Not that the Federation as a whole fared any better, with all the unfortunate events occurring in the time after the Dominion War finally ended, leaving it weakened. Old rivals are smelling the blood, and new threats are rising just beyond the horizon. The 25th century opened as an era of uncertainty.

The First Fleet has failed, and it knows. It knows that it must re-think its whole existence, so that it can rise to the challenges of an era in which the Federation has lost its dominance, its defensive forces are a shell of their former selves, and its capital planet is left in ruins and decimated after the events of 2401. There was no Mankind's Bane event in this world, Captain Noah didn't sacrifice himself to ennoble Humanity. The closest of a modern hero the First Fleet has is a relatively obscure figure, by the name of Captain Olivia Saddleford.

Captain Saddleford led the First Fleet's only successful counter-attack when the synths attacked Mars, taking her little Sabre class starship and doing her utmost best to protect all she could. Her ship, the USS Tenacious, held out for five whole minutes, five minutes during which hundreds could flee to their safety on Mars. The Tenacious was lost with all hands aboard, but not forgotten, her sacrifice, and that of her Captain's, became a source of defiant pride to the First Fleet for the years to come.

It's 2402, and the First Fleet looks back to its past for inspiration, even more than Starfleet does. The age of miles-long supercruisers is over, there is no capacity left to build, maintain, or even man them. And if Starfleet's newest USS Enterprise can be a relatively small, retro-style, tried-and-proven little cruiser, well, why can't the First Fleet follow a similar route? Just adapt that ship's basic design to the requirements of classic UEFF strategy. How was it done one-and-a-half century ago? A small engineering hull, underslung nacelle for higher sublight maneuverability, a different weapons layout to counter the interfleet limitations… why does it all sound familiar?

The Saddleford class was born the way basically any ship was in the era: quick and dirty, nothing fancy, nothing new, nothing big, but fast, reliable and radiating an aura of quaintness. And who or what, next to Olivia Saddleford herself, was an inspiration for a starship to be named after? The name "USS Polaris" rings with a different tone in this world, the same way "USS John Basilone" or "USS Coral Sea" might ring to an average person of the 21st century: known by some enthusiasts, but generally obscure. Yet, when looking back to the history of the name, it might inspire something great in the future.

It's 2402, and the first Starship Polaris in over a century is launched. It proudly bears the registry NCC-782-A, keeping the legacy number, unlike the Polarises of another, more known timeline. Captained by a wildcard space vixen and crewed by a group of rag-tag wannabe heroes, survivors and soul-searchers, the Starship Polaris once again sails the stellar sears… boldly going to make a stand.

The Human adventure continues!

***

Model by me