Earlier today, Captain Picard took the opportunity to conduct a saucer separation drill. This was a routine maneuver, designed to keep the ship and crew ready for any real emergency separation needs, should they ever arise. The drill went off without a hitch, and the saucer was safely reattached. During the drill, I grabbed a photo of the stardrive section. It really does look odd without the saucer.
You may not know this, but there are actually three stardrive-only Galaxy-class starships operating within Starfleet. All three ships have crews of only 125 personnel, and were commissioned within the past two years. These ships – the USS Leviathan, USS Hercules, and USS Falcon – where constructed without matching saucer sections, so that they could serve as deployment vessels for the new Galaxy-class saucer starbases that are being deploying throughout the Federation.
Deep Space 1 – which we’ve visited a few times – was the first of this line of deployable starbases. In fact, I believe it was originally dropped off, at its current coordinates, by the USS Leviathan two years ago. If DS1 ever needs to be redeployed, one of these three vessels will likely arrive, attach to the starbase, and take it to its new coordinates. It’s an elegant use of the Galaxy-class design, that makes the Galaxy one of the most valuable classes in the fleet.
-Lieutenant Sam Archer
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October 24, 2364 -- (Original Devron Timeline)