This will be an approved sight-seeing tour. No mission objectives are scheduled.
Some of the more notable ships stored at the depot are:
The Starfleet vessel, USS Magellan (Constellation-class), scheduled to begin the scrapping process by the end of the year. The Magellan was commissioned in 2299, and decommissioned in 2359. She has been part of the Starfleet mothball fleet for the past five years.
Also located in the depot is the recently decommissioned Vulcan Mahl’kom Apollo-class transport, T’Pau, which had a long and storied service running people and cargo between Earth, Vulcan, and Alpha Centauri.
You’ll also find three Firefly-class civilian transports, which were built as near-replicas of a fictional old-Earth starship, seen on a 21st Century television show called “Firefly”. They were produced (limited production line) by a starship construction company on Proxima, whose CEO was a fan of the show.
There is also an abandoned K’t’inga-class Klingon cruiser, the K’Rojak, located in the depot.
You’ll also find a few failed prototype vessels from various Federation member planets, including Earth. None of them are of major renown, but it should be interesting to see a few of the many designs that never made it to the production line.
There are also two Cardassian transports, originally captured during the early years of the Cardassian War that were studied, gutted, and relocated to Z15.
In addition to these vessels, there are also old civilian colony ships that were never assigned to any colony missions, as well as a few old Earth transports that are over 200 years old.
And, finally, there are quite a few vessels of unknown origin that have been salvaged, and sold to the depot, including smaller pieces of what was likely once a large spherical ship no one has been able to identify. They were found, without any crew or functioning systems, in deep space -- along the Neutral Zone -- and towed to Depot Z15 for assessment. They aren’t much to look at, but they do boggle the mind when you imagine the size of the ship they once came from.
Most of the larger vessels are parked in space, however, countless smaller vessels – including the Firefly-class transports -- are landed in the expansive ground facility. Our tour does include a visit to the landing fields. I, myself, am eager to set foot on one of those old Firefly ships. I heard about them as a kid, and have been fascinated ever since.
If you are interested in joining our little excursion to the depot, contact my office, and I’ll make sure there’s room for you aboard the Paladin. The Paladin is a runabout, so space is limited. Join me as we explore a world of old starships, most of which have been ignored and forgotten.
-Lieutenant Sam Archer
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August 14, 2365 -- (Original Devron Timeline)