5.0 Voyages of the Enterprise

Of the intragalactic starships currently in use, the Constitution class (MK—IX/01 model) is the most sophisticated and certainly the most versatile; no other vessel is capable of crossing the Federation in less than a month, or carries thirteen science labs along with the armament to destroy an entire planet. Starships like the U.S.S. Enterprise have been probing the outer regions of our galaxy for over five decades, and have dealt with navigation problems that range from the simple to the extraordinarily complex. They can provide many practical examples of the procedures outlined in this manual.

The first example involves a simple course calculation. On stardate 3013.2, General Order Seven was temporarily suspended when the Enterprise traveled from Star Base 11 (where it had been berthed for routine maintenance following an ion storm) to planet four in the Talos star group. Since there were no obstructions between the base and Talos, a direct course was plotted. The bearing to reach Talos IV was determined by taking the position of the star base (−90.00, 0.00, 0.00) and that of the star system (−119.45, −43.73, −24.00) and applying the equations in figure 3.4. The result is a distance to Talos IV of 57.93 parsecs, on a bearing of −27.47 mark 236.04. The Enterprise accelerated to warp factor six and reached the Talos system in about six hours.

A course that includes a waypoint is only slightly more complex than a direct one. The Enterprise was directed on star date 1704.2 to collect data on the break-up of planet Psi 2000. It had just completed a survey of Alfa 177, and was ready for its next assignment. The direct course to Psi 2000 from Alfa 177 is 38.6 mark 112.6, with a distance of 46.4 parsecs. Unfortunately this course was unusable; it would cause the Enterprise to pass much too close to a recently discovered black hole located at (−44.3, −33.9, 46.1). To avoid the black hole, the navigator established a waypoint outside of its influence. Normally the actual location of a waypoint is somewhat arbitrary. Any point in space that would take the course of the ship sufficiently far from the hole would be adequate. However, this time the navigator had another constraint to worry about; the route had to be as short as possible, so that the maximum amount of data on Psi 2000 could be collected. Taking all of these factors into account, the waypoint was positioned at (−43.00, −33.0, −44.0), just beyond the influence of the hole. The first leg of the revised course ran from Alfa 177 on a bearing of 31.5 mark 108.9 for a distance of 24.3 parsecs to the waypoint. The second leg, from the waypoint to Psi 2000, had a bearing of 25.8 mark 116.4 and a distance of 22.2 parsecs. This course had a slightly longer distance, 46.5 parsecs, than the direct course, but it did avoid the black hole and got the Enterprise to its destination in time to record the breakup. What happened to the ship and its crew after it reached Psi 2000 had nothing to do with navigation.

Since the Enterprise normally patrols the outer regions of the Federation, it does not ordinarily use the space lanes. However, on stardate 3372.7, the Enterprise was en route to Altair VI to attend the inauguration of the new system president when it became necessary to detour to Vulcan. Since the region between Altair and Vulcan has a high traffic density, the space lanes provided the fastest route. The Enterprise entered the space lane system at the UAZ beacon, taking space lane SL—488 to the YTP beacon. At that beacon, it transferred to space lane SL—107 and followed it to the VLN beacon, which is the closest point to the 40 Eridani system. Since 40 Eridani is a class 4 system, the Enterprise requested an approach course from Vulcan Space Central. Approach was authorized, and the Enterprise automatically guided by the approach position system into a synchronous parking orbit around Vulcan.

Starships spend the majority of their time traveling between star systems. Very seldom is there any extensive travel among the planets of a system. However, since the Enterprise has undertaken a wide variety of missions, such travel has at times been necessary. One example occurred on stardate 4842.6, when the mission of the Enterprise was to divert the course of an asteroid. The asteroid was on a hyperbolic trajectory toward UFC—3222877. Its path would take it into the system, around the star on a comet-like approach, then back into deep space. However, as the asteroid approached the orbit of the third planet, Amerind, it would find the planet directly in its path. The resulting collision would devastate Amerind, destroying its humanoid culture. It was therefore planned to have the Enterprise use its deflectors to push the asteroid into a new trajectory which would cause it to pass the star at a greater distance, missing Amerind in the process. Unfortunately events did not work out as planned. Delayed by attempts to locate its missing captain, the Enterprise was forced to use a higher than recommended speed to reach the calculated deflection point in time. This caused its engines to become seriously stressed. The acting commander still tried to alter the course of the asteroid, but succeeded only in causing a power overload which rendered the warp drive inoperative. The Enterprise then fell back on its impulse power for propulsion. Under impulse power a starship behaves like a sublight interplanetary spacecraft. The navigator plotted a return course to Amerind which took into account the position of the Enterprise, the orbit of Amerind, and the limited speed available. The resulting course turned out to be the same as that of