May 11, 2376     Two recent incidents with heretofore unknown alien spacecraft have resulted in loss of life and severe damage to a Nebula class starship (the cruiser USS RAMSTEIN, NCC-21001) and the abandonment and subsequent self-destruction of an Obereth class vessel (the research vessel USS Palindrome, NCC-3656). Both incidents occurred in the area adjacent to the Golgol asteroid field, at the border of the Delta Quadrant and Meylon space. In fact, the Meylon Tactical Militia was the primary suspect in the investigation of the confrontations until we learned otherwise in a far more recent, and disturbing event.

All of these incidents, as well as this current investigation, remain under a class 4, Sigma 6 security classification.

Finally, in a mismatch between two Akira class cruisers (USS Khitomer II NCC-16033 and the USS Fargo NCC-16201) and several Federation runabouts, Star Feet Command managed to capture one of these vessels relatively undamaged. A complete failure of the shielding system just after initiating the attack on the Star Fleet craft forced the commander of the ship to surrender both the craft and his crew of 75. It was a complete surprise to discover the people surrendering were our own allies and Federation members, the respected Venturi of the Ventas red giant star system. Most of the Venturi crew were imprisoned, with only a dozen or so critical casualties needing urgent medical support.

Much to the dismay of the sick bay crew and other observers, the severely injured commander of the Venturi ship discreetly initialized a remote transmitter that actuated a device that released instantly fatal quantities of a powerful cholinesterase nerve poison into the bloodstream of each Venturi crewmember-leaving Star Fleet with no one to question. The device also initialized the self destruct sequence on the captured spacecraft, but this was quickly detected by the Khitomer II’s sensors and our computers quickly disabled the self destruct subroutine.

Since none of the Venturi crew were questioned to any significant degree, the mass murder of the crew left Star Fleet and Federation leaders unsure as to the motivations behind the Venturi "hit & run" attacks. Some very high probability scenarios were rapidly developed, however.

The Venturi, a predominantly humanoid race with some reptilian characteristics, have been a predominantly peaceful race, although there has been a great deal of concern in regards to the confirmed astrometric calculations that show the Ventas System’s star, a red giant, will go super-nova within the next fifty years.

About seventy-five years ago, when this data was initially calculated, there were a number of incident’s with Venturi raiders. These small groups of sub-warp speed craft were manned by ten to fifteen crewmembers, and were completely outmatched by the more advanced Federation craft and facility defenses they were encountering at that time. Soon enough, the Venturi government was at the bargaining table, and somehow managed to gain tentative administrative admission into the UFP. Within a decade they filed a successful application and were granted full member status the Federation.

Until these very unfortunate and recent incidents, there had been no major tactical incidents between Star Fleet and the forces of the Venturi.

At about the time of the Federation admission, the level of current technologies of the Venturi was eclipsed at the sub-warp speed level. Their only beam weapons were based on early laser and maser technologies. They were continuing to build and maintain a stockpile of nuclear weapons. Technologically, they were lagging at about 50 to 75 years behind current Federation technologies.

So it was not simply the discovery that these attacks were being orchestrated and carried out by the Venturi that was so shocking, it was the further first hand observation that an incredible and obvious acceleration had been effected in their technological potential. In fact, until very recently the Venturi had evidenced only minor improvements in their own internal technologies. Now, seemingly overnight, these same peoples are working with spacecraft that match, if not exceed, Star Fleet’s most advanced current production weapon’s spec.

DUAL CORE, V LINE WARP ENGINE TECHNOLOGY

Federation attempts at developing a dual core V-line warp drive, as theorized by the Federation warp engine pioneer Zephraim Cochran (2177), have yet to produce a viable prototype. The first problem that has dogged Federation engineers is the difficulties inherent in focusing the dual matter/anti-matter particle flow with a reasonable degree of containment while seeding the active plasma stream with anti-neutrino particles. The second issue has related the seemingly impossible problem of having precise enough control of the plasma flow manifold into the dual core, dual chamber assembly via automated control subroutines. Thousands of attempts with computer models have failed to develop a viable resolution for this tricky engineering challenge.

The Venturi appear to have resolved the focusing issue by seeding the matter/anti-matter source with anti-neutrinos cultivated from the Theta waste radiation that accompanies warp drive operation in all but the most advanced current warp engine designs. By eliminating the need for anti-neutrino injectors in the matter/anti-matter pre-mix chamber of the dual core drive, the Venturi were able to use a bulky combination of magnetic focusing rings and quad-phase generators to both focus and align the plasma streams with absolute precision, increasing warp drive efficiency by a factor of three. Additional EPS manifolds provide another degree of back-up containment.

This method allows for the production of high energy output for engine, life support, tactical and other key support services, with a great deal of additional energy to spare for shoring up structural integrity, defensive shielding and other ship’s systems while effectively converting over 80 percent of the waste Theta radiation for anti-neutrino seeding and conversion to harmless photonic radiation.

Besides the tremendous power distribution capabilities of the warp engines, the design seems easily capable of maintaining a warp factor of 9.9322 for up to six hours, and an optimum cruise speed of warp 8.66.

Warp Technologies are distributed through a series of four nacelles, which are mounted very close to the pressure hull of the vehicle, unlike Federation craft which usually have the nacelles extended away from the ship on durable composite pylons. 

MULTIPARSED LIMITED DISPERSION LONG RANGE DISRUPTER BASED WEAPONS

Current Klingon and Romulan disrupter designs have a upper power output limit of approximately 5000 TQD, which is roughly the equivalent destructive force of a Federation starship phaser bank of 2.6 million Terra-watts, the standard on Galaxy class starships. However, because of the unique dispersal properties of the focused high inertia plasma that is the conductor of energy in this particular technology, the tactical range of the high end disrupter cannon is approximately 150,000 kilometers versus the nearly 500,000 kilometer range of the Federation phaser design. Both weapons systems require approximately the same amount of power to operate at these maximum ranges.

The commitment to disrupter based particle beam technologies, however, is very high on the part of numerous military organizations. This is due to the intense pulse wave energy contained within the disrupter carrier wave. A .6 second full burst on a Class 5 starship tactical & navigational shielding system in the 5000 TQD can reduce it’s power levels to 40%. Simultaneous bursts of even shorter duration from multiple sources converging on a single target can very quickly annihilate an opponents shields and inflict heavy, if not fatal, damage to the vessel and it’s interior.

Comparatively, a .6 second burst from a single point 2.6 Terra-Watt phaser would only be about 35% to 60% as effective, dependent on a variety of variables. So for the Klingon pilots, especially those in B’rel and Vorch’a class warships, the advantages of the disrupter are ideal for the kind of close in ship-to-ship fighting they have always preferred. For Star Fleet ships with their superior targeting, tracking and lock-on systems; the phaser technology is vastly superior.

On the Venturi Corvette however, we see a disrupter technology that is vastly superior to the current state-of-the-art as produced by the Federation and it’s allies. Not only is it capable of a reactive range of effect quite uncommon for subatomic disruption technology, it is capable of ranges closer to 400,000 kilometers-possibly more with  emergency power support.

The enhanced capability of the Venturi disrupter system is probably due in great part to the trioximide crystal based active emitter. Trioxinimide crystal has been utilized as an active emitter in Federation and Klingon R&D laboratories, however, the unstable nature of the crystalline matrix made it impossible to use in deep space applications.

Again, the Venturi scientists have uniquely managed to overcome the material limitations of Trioxinimide by re-fusing the crystalline lattice with a highly refined carbon based optically pure adhesive. Although we did detect clear evidence of subatomic deterioration in the output chambers of the weapon, we were rather surprised to detect some signs of damage as a result of component overheating. This system had a very powerful cooling system yet the weapon itself seems to have sustained a fair amount of heat damage. This has lead to conjecture that this ship may be running a prototype or early production model of an advanced Venturi weapons system design that still requires a good deal of refinement.

In any case, the weapon has caused a good deal of consternation among the senior ranks of Star Fleet Command. As much as 1.2% of current Star Fleet R&D resources are devoted to further development of particle beam weapons. These findings should no doubt add a great deal of impetus to the section devoted to disrupter based technologies. Ideally, we could begin retro-fitting the larger Federation starships with additional disrupter technologies to augment the current weapons systems, in a soon as four years.

Based on our initial testing, we can easily envision how one of these Venturi ships equipped with these weapons could provide a great deal of trouble for a larger Star Fleet based system.

LIVE VIEW AUTOMATED CONTROL COCKPIT AND INTERIOR BRIDGE DESIGN UNIQUE IN LARGER STAR SHIP TYPE VESSELS

Another interesting aspect to the Venturi Havoc class corvette is it’s apparently unique exterior cockpit, which is at the front of, and on top of the bridge view screen. Apparently, like the pilots of smaller runabouts and shuttle craft, the Venturi pilots prefer a windowed cockpit, equipped with high definition monochromatic HUD data systems. This is a testament to the maneuverability of the ship, one reason such a "live view" might be preferable to the command pilot.

The HUD systems incorporate a holographic display design that is similar to that found on many commercial and smaller tactical craft throughout the quadrant. All data processing and information systems utilize current isolinear chip designs, the new Federation neural gel pack non-isolinear technologies still classified and apparently remaining unique to Star Fleet and the Federation.

Still, the cockpit design is quite interesting, and it offers the pilot a feel for the ship’s flight characteristics, whether in atmospheric or non-atmospheric conditions. The spread wing design is reminiscent of a butterfly, or a bird, but the cockpit configuration offers an excellent view of both the ship and the immediate area. Additional shield force-field projectors are mounted immediately above the cockpit area to reinforce the integrity of the protective field around it’s occupants, and those in the bridge. In addition, there are several redundant structural integrity field systems surrounding the bridge and cockpit areas.

MULTI-PHASE CRAFT SHIELDING SUPPLEMENTED BY CURRENT SHIELD TECHNOLOGIES

There are a number of shield emission output generators located throughout the exterior of the ship. Again, in a rather unique design variation, the craft has two separate shielding systems. One is very similar to Borg based multi-phase shielding now being retrofitted on Federation warships, adding support to the theory that the Venturi have had some contact with the Borg, although they have never informed the Federation if such an encounter did take place, and if so if an incident ensued. If this is true, how did the Venturi manage to avoid the assimilation of their entire race? This and many other pertinent questions remain unanswered at the time of this writing.

The multi-phase system is further supported by a more traditional shielding system, that operates with complete autonomy from the other shielding technologies. Our testing shows that the harmonic combination of these two shield technologies appears to result in significantly higher levels of protection than either system alone.

ENHANCED MULTI-MODALITY FULL SPECTRUM SENSOR PALLETS

The Venturi have developed a sensory system that seems to provide the Havoc crew with a added degree of sensor data that a warship of such power should be able to attain. Although the ship is roughly one sixth the size of a Galaxy class starship, it has sensor systems capable of an equally diverse range of sensory data and similar sensor range of such a massive starship and the enormous warp drive system it requires for propulsion and power. This is further supportable by the high power output profile of the dual core warp engines installed in the mid section of the ship.

SUMMARY