USS Montana (NCC-86431-A)

The USS Montana-A (NCC-86431-A) is a Jupiter class starship commanded by Captain Sanford Armstrong. She was commissioned when her predecessor the Montana class USS Montana was destroyed.

Construction and launch
The Jupiter class Starship Montana was constructed at Starbase 117's Fleet Construction Yards, in the Annex System. Originally, the ship was intended to be named the USS Legacy, but after the prototype Montana Class USS Montana was scrapped, it was rechristened as USS Montana-A. It launched from Starbase 117 on Stardate 59723.1 and is under Command Captain Sanford Armstrong. [ST:Mon - "The Future Begins Again..." ]

Zeta Gelis Cluster Expedition
Its first assignment was a mapping expedition, deep into the Beta Quadrant, that was scheduled as a four month exploratory tour. In Montana 's first week of this tour, they came across the beginnings of a new Star. Montana 's crew were witnesses to its formation, and tagged it as BXNAF-79. Captain Armstrong recommended that Starfleet send a Science Vessel to monitor its continued growth.

By November, half way though the expedition, Montana had also made two first contacts, one with a species called the Omeron, who have holdings over a small region of space, about half a dozen planets, across about the same number of Star Systems. The Omeron were amenable to the idea of holding diplomatic talks with the Federation. The Second Species, the Athon, had just made their first Warp jump when Montana passed through their space. Although the initial shock of the Jupiter class Starships appearance had overwhelmed them, they were quite accepting of the Federation and Starfleet, Montana 's crew in particular. From Captain Armstrong's Log

"They seem a surprisingly advanced race, considering the only recent invention of Warp Drive. There Medicinal techniques are significantly further along the technological scale than Earth was when Cochrane made his Warp jump".

Montana 's crew reported that the Athon were open to further encounters with the Federation. Beyond that however, Montana spent much of those early month - up to November - just mapping relatively empty space. In late November though, Montana picked up a dense pocket of Planetary systems. They set a course for this region, before locating another promising find, an Asteroid region that seemed to have interesting mining properties. Not long after this, Montana 's Sensors detected some unusual readings that corresponded to spacial distortions that are commonly found amongst wormhole regions.

In order to cover more ground, the Montana headed for the distortions, allowing for Montana 's Sensors to get a full clear picture of what was actually causing such distortions. Captain Armstrong also elected to deploy the Runabouts Angel, and Billings, to investigate the other to locations. The Angel conduction a 10 day tour through the Planetary Cluster, and the Billings conducting preliminary Mining Operations in the Asteroid Field.


 * The Runabout Angel encountered two new species, one of which resulted in the beginnings of Official First Contacts, and the other was a Pre-Industrial Civilization. They also used Argo (buggy) Rover Vehicle to conduct several small scale planetary survey's on 7 different worlds.


 * The Billings found naturally occuring deposits of Trilithium in the Asteroids, along with several other properties that initial surveys proved to be promising.

As for Montana herself, when the ship arrived at the co-ordinates of the spacial distortions, rather than a wormhole enriched location, the crew discovered a "Starship Graveyard", per see, hundreds of biologically dead Starships, many centuries old. In an effort to learn about the ships, and the species that spawned them, as well as to learn about what happened to them, Captain Armstrong and the crew conducted several away missions, to investigate.

Whilst Montana was within this "Graveyard", members of the crew began to disappear. Along with members of the crew, even plant and animal life carried aboard Montana began to vanish, seemingly without cause. Things became even more serious when the Bio-neural gel packs began to disappear, causing vital ships systems to fail, including Warp drive, and the Impulse engines. Montana 's crew began to disappear in droves while those remaining worked to figure out what was happening, and to find alternate methods to operate Montana 's other systems.

The cause of these disappearances turned out to be a Cosmozoan based lifeform, existing in subspace, feeding on Biological Matter. Beyond that, the Montana and her crew did little more to investigate the lifeform, as Montana 's systems came back online, and the crew used that opportunity to escape. Montana 's crew complement was reduced from 1,744, to 651. [ST:Mon - "The Graveyard" Parts One and Two ]

Montana 's exploration continued, as the round trip bought the Jupiter class starship back towards Federation Space. En Route, the Montana was attacked, and the Crew taken by a species called the Zantax. Montana itself was towed into Orbit of one of their facilities, repaired, and left abandoned, waiting for the crew to return. The Zantax themselves were merely attempting to learn about Montana 's crew in their own way. SEE - [ST:Mon - "And Cut..." ]

Breen Border Relief Mission
In February of 2383, after a month's break, the Montana was dispatched to the Breen Border, on a resupply mission. It was suspected that the Breen had been making moves to attack Federation Colonies along the Border. However, with the arrival of Montana and her Convoy, reinforcing the region, the Breen Threat seemed to subside. During this time, Montana 's Second Officer was attacked, and near fatally wounded. If it hadn't been for his Klingon Physiology, Commander Qurn wouldn't have survived.

The ship was later assigned to Station Deep Space Three, moving the ship from its Home Port of Starbase 117.

Hrakert Rift Expedition
In May of 2385, the Montana left Deep Space Three on a mapping Expedition into a region of space known as the Hrakert Rift. This Region of space bore properties similar to the Briar Patch, although lacking in the Metaphasic properties found within the Region.

''-[As Montana entered the Rift, they detected a Temporal anomoly, and upon further investigation, encountered the USS Montana-C, a Saturn class Starship, from the early 25th Century. It's Captain, Captain Armstrong's own son, only considerably older than he had been the last time Sandy Armstrong had seen his son Nathan. Both Montana 's were trapped in a Temporal Bubble, Parallel to the normal timeline, until Montana Science Officers found a way to return the Montana-C to its Original Time, and seal the Rift. When this happened, the meeting of the two Montanas was erased from history, and the meeting never happened.]'' [ST:Mon - "Back to the Future" ]

Much of the Exploration, proved to be fruitless, however, as there was little to discover. An Excerpt from Captain Armstrong's Log.

"We've been in this Hrakert Rift now for almost 3 months, and our mapping expedition is almost complete. I can't say I'm sorry to see the back of it. The most we've actually found, was some odd fungus that was growing on an M Class world about 2 weeks ago. Despite that, this has been a rare excursion. There is a near abundance of M Class worlds in the region. A rarity, considering the Rifts properties, and the fact that some stars with an M Class Planetoid aren't typically found to be capable of supporting such a Planet. Yet here we are. More interestingly, is that none of the Planets we found are inhabited. Starfleet are definately going to have a great deal of options to Consider for future Colonization efforts."

Before the end of the mapping expedition, Montana reached a planet, whose population initially appeared Pre-Industrial, but later actually turned out to be a highly advanced species who had given up their technological advantage, to keep their species hidden and isolated from the rest of the Galaxy. This Species, the Tekran, had at one point held a vast Galactic Empire, using their advanced technology to appear god like to all the primitive culture's they dominated. It was eventually learned that a combination with a symbiont species known as the Tyran's were responsible for the aggresive switch in the species nature.

Amongst the planets held by the Tekran's were Earth, Vulcan, Qo'noS, Andor, Bajor, Annex, and others, spanning an area five times the size of the Federation, covering most of the Galaxy. The Tekran's, who'd overthrown their own oppressors in the Tyran Symbionts, had turned away from their aggressive nature, and back to peace, preferring to keep away from the rest of the Galaxy, hoping not to incur the wrath of the species they'd once subjugated.

T'raQan Union Encounter
In October 2383, the Starbase Deep Space Three was attacked by 6 unknown Starships, and was nearly destroyed. Montana 's arrival, after receiving the stations distress call, prevented the Attack from continuing. After assuring that DS3 would be defended from any further attacks from this new threat, the Starship Montana pursued the aggressors. Despite the battle with the 3 Unknown Hostiles, little was learned about this new threat species, beyond the name - The T'raQan Union.

During the Battle, Montana was severely damaged, requiring extensive Refit. Montana 's Refit and Repair was conducted alongside Deep Space Three's Repairs.

COMMAND CREW
Captain Sanford Armstrong Commander Qurn (Aug 2382-Jan 2383)
 * Commanding Officer
 * Executive Officer

Commander Raichle Meriwether (Jan 2383-Oct 2383)

Commander Tim Winfield (Oct 2383-PRESENT) Commander Hugh Johnson (Aug 2382-Jan 2383)
 * Second Officer

Commander Qurn (Jan 2383-Feb 2383)

Commander Valere Rennes (Apr 2383-PRESENT) Commander Thomas Carey (May 2383-Oct 2383)
 * Head of Shipboard Defense Operations

Commander Rick Stryker (Aug 2382-Nov 2382)
 * Strategic Operations Officer

Lieutenant Commander Zachery James (July 2383-Sept 2383) Commander Eric Frasier (Aug 2382-Jan 2383)
 * Starfleet Intelligence Liaison Officer

Commander (SFIC) Gregory Turner (Jan 2383-PRESENT)

FLIGHT CONTROL
Lieutenant N'Vek (ST:M) (Aug 2382-Sept 2382)
 * Chief Flight Controller

Lieutenant Max'amara (Sept 2382-Oct 2383)

Lieutenant Robert Stark (Oct 2383-PRESENT)

SECURITY / TACTICAL
Lieutenant Commander / Commander Thomas Carey (Aug 2382-Feb 2383)
 * Head of Security:

Lieutenant Kalissa Kyler (Feb 2383-May 2383) - ACTING

Lieutenant Robert Stark (Sept 2383-Oct 2383) Lieutenant Commander / Commander Thomas Carey (Sept 2382-Jan 2383)
 * Head of Tactical:

Lieutenant Commander Zachery James (Jan 2383-July 2383)

Lieutenant Robert Stark (July 2383-Sept 2383)

Lieutenant Commander Victor Case (Sept 2383-PRESENT) Lieutenant Kalissa Kyler (Sept 2382-Feb 2383)
 * Assistant Head of Security:

OPERATIONS
Commander Hugh Johnson (Aug 2382-May 2383)
 * Operations Manager:

Lieutenant Commander Elani Zu (May 2383-PRESENT) Lieutenant Aaron Starr (Sept 2382-Jan 2383) - LATER HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS (Jan 2383-May 2383)
 * Assistant Operations Manager:

Lieutenant Commander Elani Zu (Feb 2383-May 2383) Ensign Felicity 'Flick' Hennessey (Jan 2383-May 2383)
 * Operations Officer:

ENGINEERING
Lieutenant / Lieutenant Commander Silverstreak (Aug 2382-PRESENT) Lieutenant JG Dominic Nicholson (Sept 2382-May 2383)
 * Chief Engineer:
 * Assistant Chief Engineer:

Lieutenant JG Chris Henshaw (May 2383-June 2383) - ACTING

Lieutenant (Provisional) Rrrrall’yssch (June 2383-PRESENT) Lieutenant JG Chris Henshaw (Aug 2382-Oct 2383)
 * Engineer:

Ensign Cadence DeBusk (Sept 2382-PRESENT) Senior Chief Petty Officer Andreas Molleena (Aug 2382-PRESENT) Senior Chief Petty Officer John Jacob Jingleheimer "J3" Schmidt (Aug 2382-PRESENT) Chief Petty Officer Adrian Mole (Aug 2382-PRESENT)
 * Chief Petty Officer - Main Engineering
 * Asisstant Chief Petty Officer - Main Engineering
 * Transporter Chief

SCIENCE
Lieutenant Mrrro K'ress (Aug 2382-PRESENT) Civilian Aubri of Borg (Sept 2382-PRESENT)
 * Chief Science Officer
 * Science Officer

MEDICAL
Lieutenant / Lieutenant Commander Juliet Adams-Carey (Aug 2382-Aug 2383)
 * Chief Medical Officer:

Lieutenant Blood Angel (Sept 2383-PRESENT) Lieutenant JG Shea Culhaven Anar (Aug 2382-May 2383)
 * Assistant Chief Medical Officer

Arrain (Lieutenant) K'net-Mauri Shair (Oct 2383-PRESENT)

Lieutenant Commander Anjoli D'bari (Oct 2383-PRESENT)
 * Chief Surgeon

Cadet Junior Grade / Cadet Senior Grade Cypher T'rabo (Aug 2382-PRESENT) Petty Officer 3rd Class Eve (Jan 2383-PRESENT)
 * Medical Student / Nurse
 * Nurse:

COUNSELLING
Lieutenant Autumn Eve Demers (Aug 2382-Oct 2383) Lieutenant Gwen Parri (Oct 2383-PRESENT) Lieutenant JG Stephanie Argelian (Aug 2382-May 2383)
 * Chief Counsellor:
 * Counsellor:
 * Counsellor:

Commander Valere Rennes (Apr 2383-PRESENT) - Acting

121st BATTALION, SFMC
Major (SFMC) James Bradshaw (Aug 2382-Nov 2383)
 * Commanding Officer

Colonel (SFMC) Markus Fenix (Nov 2383-PRESENT) 1st Lieutenant (SFMC) T'Mala (Nov 2383-PRESENT) Lieutenant (SFMC) Celestine Avalynn Templar (Aug 2382-Jan 2383)
 * Combat Engineer
 * Intelligence Liaison Officer

Major (SFIC) Sovor (Jan 2383-PRESENT)

FS-371 'MARAUDER SQUADRON', SFSC
Squadron Commander/ Flight Leader/ Marauder One: Major (SFSC) / Commander (SFSC) Erma "Cheshire" Blair
 * FIRST FLIGHT

Marauder Two: Lieutenant (SFSC) Jonathan "Shadow" DarkSky

Marauder Three: Flight Officer Available

Marauder Four: Pilot Officer Available Squadron Executive Officer/ Flight Leader/ Marauder Five: Lieutenant (SFSC) Erys "Nemesis" Smenkath
 * SECOND FLIGHT

Marauder Six: Flight Officer Kyag "Maelstrom"

Marauder Seven: Flight Officer Stanley "The Stud" Lemieux

Marauder Eight: Pilot Officer Available Flight Leader/ Marauder Nine: Lieutenant (SFSC) Jack "Freefall" Boswell
 * THIRD FLIGHT

Marauder Ten: Flight Officer Simon "Blue" Bloor

Marauder Eleven: Flight Officer Gena "Kiss" Kiziwicz

Marauder Twelve: Pilot Officer Debbie "Sapling" Sapsed

21st INTELLIGENCE UNIT, SFIC
Commander (SFIC) Gregory Turner (Jan 2383-PRESENT) Major (SFIC) Sovor (Jan 2383-PRESENT) Major (SFIC) K'Tor (Oct 2383-PRESENT)
 * Commanding Officer
 * Executive Officer
 * Intelligence Officer

Sub-Lieutenant Onix "Oxy" Xexex (Jan 2383-PRESENT) - Intelligence Liaison with Marauder Squadron (Aug 2382-Oct 2383)

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT DIVISION - (May 2383-Oct 2383)
Commander Hugh Johnson

Lieutenant Aaron Starr

Civilian Aubri of Borg

CIVILIANS
Grace Armstrong (Aug 2382-PRESENT)

Nathan Armstrong (Aug 2382-May 2383)

Thomas Black (Aug 2382-PRESENT)

Leon Turner (Jan 2383-PRESENT)

Summer Anna Armstrong (July 2383-PRESENT)

TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Class Specifications - See Jupiter class SPECIFICATIONS

Shuttle Complement

 * Captain's Yacht - Captains Grace
 * 8 Type-16 Shuttle pods
 * 7 Type-18 Shuttle pods
 * 3 Type-7 Personnel Shuttles
 * 3 Type-8 Personnel Shuttles
 * 6 Type-9 Personnel Shuttles
 * 9 Type-10 Cargo Shuttles
 * 1 Mission Scout
 * 3 Danube class Runabouts - Dillon, Hamilton, Polson
 * 1 Warhammer class Runabout - Shelby
 * 1 Flyer class Runabout - Billings
 * 1 Argo class Runabout - Angel