Questor class

Inscription on commissioning plaque:
"I have more than enough answers. What I seek is questions."

-- Taekieh, Vulcan Philosopher

Armaments: One type X phaser, one aft quantum torpedo launcher.

Type: Scientific scout.

Status: 17 in service at this time. Questor production is in temporary hiatus, as all available facilities have converted to Impudent production (see the Impudent, below). Production is expected to resume as soon as additional capacity is added to the Utopia Planitia facility.

About Ship: Just prior to the discovery of the Borg threat, Starfleet had begun a review of the venerable Oberth class exploration vessels, with an eye towards upgrading or replacing the class with a more modern vessel. After a simulated "fly-off" between several proposed designs, the Questor class was ordered into limited production based on its superior capabilities.

The Questor has two modular mission pallets (MMPs) in the forward hull, flanking the science labs. Each MMP has a number of scientific mission modules that can be added or deleted to tailor the vessel's capabilities to specific mission profiles. The main sensor pod between the tail booms is designed to accept mission-specific instrument packages, as well. The main sensor pod housing contains not only the main sensors and navigational deflector, but the aft quantum torpedo launcher.

The benefits of the ability to quickly reconfigure this vessel were demonstrated during the hours immediately following the Borg incursion at Wolf 359. Two prototypes were reconfigured to emergency rescue and medevac configuration and dispatched to assist in recovering personnel from life pods and damaged vessels in under 4 hours . The laboratories were converted to emergency sick bays, and additional medical supplies were stored in the MMPs.

The phaser is coupled to three phaser emitter strips, one forward and one mounted outboard on each tailboom, for an unobstructed field of fire. The Queator's offensive armaments are nowhere near the power of a front-line warship, but is designed to provide the Questor with the ability to fend off an attecker while attempting to escape. The Questor is much faster than the Oberth class. This feature is a realistic response to the greater distance of the Federation's present frontiers.

Impudent class

Inscription on commissioning plaque:
"Of course you realize - THIS means WAR!"

-- Bugs Bunny

Armaments: Four phaser cannon of classified output, three quantum torpedo launchers (2 fwd, 1 aft).

Type: Frigate

About Ship: During the Dominion War, it became apparent that there was a need for a vessel to supplement the Defiant class, but on a smaller scale. The Impudent is intended to exploit the advantages of the Defiant's design philosophy in such a smaller package.

Rather than design such a vessel from scratch, the Impudent uses the space frame of the Questor class science vessel, augmented with uprated warp drives with slightly longer nacelles, improved power generation and distribution systems, uprated shields, and ablative armor. The modular mission pallets are reconfigured as quantum torpedo magazines holding a classified quantity of torpedoes. This allows the Impudent to be quickly re-armed at any starbase or starship with MMPs and quantum torpedoes, by the simple expedient of detatching the empty modules and installing the loaded ones.

The phaser cannon are coupled to the three emitter strips, as before, but these emitters are uprated to handle the power of all four phasers emitted as a single beam. The area formerly devoted to laboratory space now houses the two forward quantum torpedo launchers.

At approximately one-eighth the mass of a Defiant, the Impudent requires significantly fewer resources to construct and support. Though it has fewer armaments than the Defiant, this does not constitute a liability, since the Impudent is only expected to supplement the Defiant class, not supplant it.