USS Mongo (NCC-1785)

The USS Mongo, NCC-1785, was the prototype for the Jefferies variant of the Constitution Class heavy cruiser of the mid-23rd century.

Conception and Construction
The USS Mongo was authorized for construction under the appropriation of 2267 as a Constitution Class, Achernar (MK-XIB) Subtype vessel. The ship’s keel was laid in late 2268 at the Tranquility Shipyards in the orbit of Luna.

With advances in warp systems such as the vertical warp core being developed through the late 2260’s and ready for testing, Starfleet elected to utilize the still under construction Mongo as a testbed for this new technology. The project was assigned to Rear Admiral Matt Jefferies in mid-2269.

Jeffries saw the project as a potential mid-life refit for the existing Constitution Class ships of the time. Therefore, outside of the components required to fit the new technology, such as the flattened warp nacelles, redesigned deflector dish, and reconfigured engineering decks, the plan was to utilize all existing Constitution Class components.

When completed in 2270, the vessel held 23 decks, and stood at a height of 72.6 meters, exactly the same as a standard Constitution. The ship was longer than the standard Constitution due to the reconfiguration of the warp nacelles, adding approximately 12 meters to the original’s 288.6 meters. The ship was outfitted with standard phaser armaments of the time, which had their power boosted by pulling phaser energy from the warp core. Additionally, the front photon torpedo tubes were moved from the underside of the saucer section to a dedicated launcher within the neck of the vessel. Not only did this allow for more advanced and powerful launchers, this also freed up room in the saucer for a more robust sensor suite.

A Disastrous Launch
Brought under tow to the Tellar system by the USS Ibn Daud, the Mongo was prepped for initial trial runs. While the vessel was under the direct command of Admiral Jefferies, the tests were overseen by Chief Engineer Moves-With-Burning-Grace of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers.

The vessel performed admirably during testing of its armaments and sensor suites, showing a vast improvement over the highest recorded scores of the standard Constitution. However, Moves-With-Burning-Grace noted higher than expected hull stresses, particularly in the pylon joints as Mongo moved towards the higher end of its impulse speed capability. The engineer informed Admiral Jefferies of this issue and warned against moving to warp speed at this time. However, those concerns were overruled by Vice-Admiral Chen, Fleet liaison to the project.

The trouble began almost immediately as the warp field was being formed. The newly designed warp engines produced a field power of nearly 273% over previous designs which was accounted for when designing the vessel's hull. However, upon entry to warp, the Mongo's engines produced a power generation of 432.72%. As a result, the field coil was blasted out of alignment, the warp plasma conduit overheated, and the fusion generators very nearly melted down. In addition, the shock severely weakened the anti-deuterium bottle, threatening an anti-matter leak which would have annihilated the ship as well as severely damaged Tellar Prime itself. Of more immediate concern to Engineer Moves-With-Burning-Grace was the fact that the ship was moments away from breaking up due to the unexpected hull stresses. Failure to stabilize the vessel would have caused a misalignment in the warp field, which could rend it and everyone on board into molecule-thick ribbons of matter or worse, push the ship out of phase with this reality entirely. Thinking quickly, Moves-With-Burning-Grace was able to shunt battery power to the structural integrity field to help hold the vessel together. At the same time, he and his staff re-routed the warp power energy back into the system to strengthen the integrity of the anti-deuterium bottle and take the stresses off the fusion generator. The manual "kill switch" on the engine system was pulled, and all that was left was to keep pushing power to deflectors and the SIF while inertial forces eventually slowed the ship to sublight speed.

The Mongo emerged from warp on the outer edges of the Tellar sector. Now crippled, Jefferies dispatches a distress signal to the Ibn Daud, which towed the ship back to the Tellar Prime Yards for examination.

An after action review of the test indicated that at its highest levels, the new warp engines were far too powerful for the spaceframe. It was not determined exactly how the engine came to be pushed at such a high level, but the most likely reason given was pilot error. Moves-With-Burning-Grace was given a commendation for his actions in saving the vessel with only minor crew injuries.

The Mongo was returned to the Tranquility Shipyard for repair and further updates to correct the faults exposed by the test.

Closing The Project
After the near-disastrous test of the Mongo, Starfleet elected to end the Jefferies refit project in favor of a competing refit program developed by Commodore Andrew Probert and carried out on USS Enterprise (NCC-1701). Despite some technical issues of its own, this design performed admirably in the resolution of the V'Ger crisis of 2271.

As the Probert design was less a refit and more a complete reconstruction from the basic frame, Starfleet felt that the majority of vessels utilizing the Probert design going forward will be newly constructed vessels to save on time and expense. As a result, Mongo was not upgraded to the Probert standard and was instead moved to the Beta Antares shipyard and consigned to the mothball fleet later that year.

In Storage
As fleet doctrine dictated the retention of deactivated vessels for utilization in case of armed conflict beyond the capability of the active fleet, Mongo received periodic maintenance to maintain readiness while being held at Beta Antares. By the 2300's, the ship became more of a curiosity amongst the fleet admirals as it was remembered as spectacularly failed experiment. They began to hold an affectionate view of the old ship, which is why it was held in the mothball fleet for so long after it outlived its functional usefulness.

The Cardassian War
In 2347, forces from the Cardassian Union launched a strike on Setlik III, igniting the Federation-Cardassian War. By 2360, in anticipation of a potential widening of the conflict, several vessels from the mothball fleet were upgraded to the mid-24th century standard and prepped for deployment, Mongo among them.

In 2363, Mongo was dispatched under the command of Commander Hashnarsh Glaach to serve as a supply vessel, moving goods and personnel between Federation bases. The Mongo did not see any battle during these missions, and was removed from active duty with the Armistice of 2367. Finally, it was returned to the mothball fleet with the final passage of a Federation-Cardassian treaty in 2370.

The Dominion War
The outbreak of hostilities with the Dominion in 2373 presented the Federation with a crisis the likes of which it has not seen since the Klingon Wars of the early 23rd Century. After the defeat of the Seventh Fleet in early 2374, which saw 98 ships destroyed within a few hours of combat, Starfleet elected to return every available functioning ship within the mothball fleet to active status.

Mongo was assigned to Captain Rachel Jame within a few days of the disaster at the Tyra System, and was dispatched to patrol the Romulan border. There, several skirmishes were fought against Jem'Hadar and Cardassian raiders passing through Romulan territory intent on disrupting Federation shipping. Most notably, the Mongo fought off three Hideki-class Cardassian vessels in the Gamma Hydra system in late 2374.

With the entry of the Romulan Star Empire into the war, the Mongo was ordered to monitor the Romulan invasion of Benzar.

For the remainder of the war, the Mongo patrolled the Federation borders, performing supply and enforcement duties. After the signing of the Treaty of Bajor in late 2375, Mongo was placed in active reserve at Starbase 47.

The Klingon-Federation War
The Mongo was slated for decommissioning when hostilities with the Klingon Empire broke out in 2405. In mid 2409, Mongo was assigned to the command of then-Commander Keith Bowerman and began a series of reconnaissance and border enforcement missions.

The Mongo served with distinction in conflicts with the Borg, Undine, Klingons, Voth, Romulans and Elachi.

Destruction
The Mongo participated in actions to end the Omega Particle threat posed by what came to be known as the Solanae Dyson Sphere. After shutdown of the station was achieved, Mongo passed through a gateway to what is now called the Jenolan Dyson Sphere. There, the Mongo, USS Dyson, USS Enterprise, USS Gold, IKS Bortasqu', and the RRW Lleiset came under fire by Voth and Undine antagonists. Critically damaged, Mongo was set to self-destruct and abandoned during the fighting. Casualties, fortunately, were minimal.

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