SUMMARY

This starship type served notice that it would quickly eclipse the Galaxy-class soon after the launch of the prototype USS Sovereign in 2372. Said vessel performed beyond her designers’ expectations, and even hopes; four more were commissioned, with the second, USS Enterprise-E, awarded the title of flagship even as her class claimed queen of the fleet. Her enhanced tactical capabilities stand her in good stead during these troubled times, and while she is marvelously equipped for both exploration and scientific research, the Sovereign-class also stands as Starfleet’s most prominent and formidable ship-of-the-line—more than a match for anything in her tonnage range thus far produced by the Great Powers.

PROPULSION

Liberty’s warp drive is state-of-the-art, permitting her to cruise effortlessly at speeds exceeding warp 9.9, and even maintain a velocity of warp 9.98 for extended periods. The vessel’s top speed remains classified, but it is known that her chief engineer (and those aboard the other Sovereign-class vessels) has continued to increase that number upward, in the process reclaiming the title of “fastest ship in the fleet” from the Prometheus-class.

The impulse engines and thrusters are a product of long-familiar and reliable technology, quite similar to those employed for some decades on capital starships—though incremental advances in structural integrity fields and inertial dampeners aid in providing an impressive maneuverability for a vessel her size.

TACTICAL

Liberty’s main weapons system is the type-XII A phaser array, the largest in place on any capital starship, and even surpassing many station-based emplacements. The designation “A” refers to the beam itself being jacketed in an annular confinement field, allowing it to circumvent Einsteinian limitations on light-speed weaponry and thus permitting certain usages even at high warp.

The vessel is armed with multiple projectile launchers, placed (as with the phaser arrays) to allow a 720-degree field of fire. Additionally, a rapid-discharge turret placed near the conjunction of the primary and secondary hulls on the ventral side allows for a massive expression of destructive force, should such become necessary. Liberty’s standard munitions load-out consists of both the long-employed photon torpedo and a full complement of the newer quantum torpedoes, thus allowing for additional tactical options as required. It is speculated that Sovereign-class starships also carry tri-cobalt and perhaps even trilithium devices, but there is thus far no empirical evidence to verify this.

Liberty’s shield generators are the most advanced in Starfleet, employing the new regenerative system first fielded in the experimental Prometheus-class attack cruiser. Ablative armor of the sort employed on vessels of the new Perimeter Defense Initiative coats the entire ship’s surface, and is layered heavily over critical and particularly vulnerable areas.

SUPPORT CRAFT

Liberty carries in its latest configuration a trio of Danube-class runabouts, along with a pair of Valkyrie-class attack fighters, to augment the standard shuttle layout of a starship its size. At any time she is, in addition, host to a number of experimental craft—such as the multi-purpose small starship USS Griffin, brain child of resident “super-genius” Sera MacLeod.

VESSEL HISTORY

This vessel was only the third of her class commissioned, after Sovereign and Enterprise-E.

Even while she'd still been nestled in her drydock construction frame, though, Liberty had found herself squarely in harm's way: Maquis terrorists, in one of their most aggressively anti-Federation actions, had planted a series of bombs aboard her—with the intention of demonstrating that no Starfleet ship or facility was proof against their reprisals. It was only the prompt, heroic action of Vice Admiral T'Kara (who, in a fortunate quirk of fate, had been aboard the near-empty vessel on an unscheduled tour) and Lieutenant (junior grade) Sito Jaxa that spared the new starship from a horrible fate.

Their efforts resulted in the neutralization of two explosive devices; the third unfortunately detonated, heavily damaging Liberty. Thus, the great lady remained in dry-dock for another seven months undergoing repairs until, finally, she was launched in September 2373.*

Liberty barely had time for a proper shakedown cruise before she was caught behind enemy lines during the opening days of the Dominion War. She, along with other Federation and Klingon starships, were assembled by her captain, the legendary Luciano Mantovanni, into the “13th Fleet,” defying the old Earth naval tradition that claimed this number to be unlucky.

The newly formed assemblage of ships proved that wrong, to be sure: over the next few months, they were a persistent thorn in the enemy's side, attacking vital Cardassian shipping lanes and preventing the Dominion from concentrating its forces along the border for fear of leaving a strategically vital rear area unprotected. This small collection of vessels relieved an immense amount of pressure from the Allied battle fleets, allowing them just enough strategic leeway to retake Deep Space Nine six months after it had been lost.

With the Romulan entry into the conflict, Liberty's role changed dramatically: no longer could she be on the front lines, since her captain was so despised by the Federation's new allies. Liberty was instead set to the task of, as Vice Admiral Alexander Pierce so succinctly put it, "...stamping out fires for the Federation."

And so she did. The recapture of the experimental attack cruiser USS Prometheus… the treaty of alliance with the Arellian Kingdom… these and many other missions were successfully concluded by Liberty and her crew in this period. She has, in her brief existence, become one of the Federation's most famous vessels.

* - In the meantime, however, a complication had arisen: USS Argus had already been in space for nearly two months. As a gesture of respect to a vessel that had survived a trial by fire even before setting out on her first mission, Liberty was retroactively commissioned to the day before her sister ship. Thus, despite her misfortune, she retains the honor of having been the third Sovereign-class starship.