USS Erebus

The original Nebula had a modified fixed Galaxy saucer section with an interchangeable mission pod suspended over the rear of the ship, and the warp nacelles, again, modified from the Galaxy class, low-slung off the sides. This configuration proved both rugged, reliable and flexible.

The Nebula IIs had the same basic layout, except with a separable saucer section. If the engineering/battle hull was damaged, the crew could be moved to the saucer and get away from the engineering hull. The saucer could then be placed on another engineering hull. In theory, this was a good idea, since all things told, the saucer section of modern warships was equally expensive as the engineering hulls. In practice, this functionality was limited due to idiosyncrasies of the the systems routing between hull and saucer. This limited the ship to only being able to use Nebula II saucers, and not Galaxy's or any of the newer designs of detachable saucers.

The Nebula IIIs were designed with complex universal connectors between the hull and saucer and he hull and warp nacelles. The engineering hull has dedicated systems to provide an optimal resolution of conflicts from the potential mix and match systems. During demonstrations, a Nebula III hull was mated with a mothballed Constitution saucer, one Galaxy warp nacelle and one Excelsior nacelle. The result wasn't pretty, but it worked. The nacelles were operated at a lower output levels to project a surprisingly clean warp bubble. The emulation of the older saucer's computer system in the hull was automatically instantiated and allowed the correct operation of the resultant freak of stellar navigation.

The mounting raiser of this class was also changed to mount weapons and sensor pods that can safely, and quickly be disconnected, and reconnected, at speed. Shortly after the Nebula III was debuted, a new 'pod' was developed by a group of up and coming ship designers. This pod had much of the capability of the standard mixed weapon and sensor pod, but also had it's own impulse engine and command bridge. This means that, after being detached, it can operate and engage targets independently of the saucer and engineering hull. Like the saucer, it is not warp capable, but it is much more agile than either of the other components. Additionally, this attack pod is fully capable of operating in an atmosphere, including landing and liftoff.

This class found widespread acceptance because of the new weapons 'pod' which made it more powerful than any ship currently in the Federation fleet. Added to that was the fact that the newest ship design, the Sovereign, though more powerful, was running very much over budget, and would cost, on a unit-by-unit basis, nearly twice that of a Nebula III with little benefit, other than a larger internal volume for cargo and marines. The decision was to use the Sovereign saucers on the Nebula IIIs.

The Erebus is the third ship of the class and was on a standard perimeter patrol along the new neutral zone on the Klingon border when the Crossing occurs.

Crossing and Contact