Starfleet, the scientific, diplomatic and defensive agency of the United Federation of Planets (the Federation), had been charged with, since its' founding in 2161, “to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.” To perform this task, Starfleet built space vessels that could travel great distances. One particular class of space vessel built by Starfleet in the 2200's was the Constitution-class.
Initially classified
as “Starship-class”, Constitution-class vessels came into
Federation Starfleet service in the mid-2240's. One of these starships, bearing the registry number NCC-1701, was commissioned
USS Enterprise. Between 2245 and 2270, the Enterprise would be commanded by three different officers: Robert
April (2245-50), Christopher Pike (2251-64) and James T. Kirk (2265-70). During the tenure of Christopher Pike as Captain,
the Enterprise and its crew would encounter the Talosians in the Talos Star Group in 2254. This encounter was a
dangerous one as the ship's crew learned of the Talosians powerful telepathic abilities and the brief kidnapping and
imprisonment of Pike, the ship's Executive Officer and Yeoman. The officers were ultimately released and soon after Starfleet
issued General Order 7 which prohibited all travel to the Talos Star Group under penalty of capital punishment (death).
Captain Kirk gave the Enterprise name recognition and placed it in the history books during his first
five-year mission as captain. The ship's adventures and encounters included: crossing the Romulan Neutral Zone in 2266 and
2268, time-travelling to mid-20th Century Earth twice, and the “Doomsday Machine” encounter in star
system L-374. During one of the ship's adventures in 2267, the ship and crew encountered the 20th Century space
vessel Botany Bay and it's geneticlly-engineered crew led by former dictator Khan Noonien Singh. Khan and his crew
attempted to commandeer the Enterprise but were unsuccessful and were settled on Ceti Alpha V by Enterprise's
crew. Later in the year, Enterprise is on the front lines of a very brief war with the Klingons in the Organian System.
The Organians prevent the war by imposing peace against the two combating governments and establish the Federation-Klingon
(Organian) Neutral Zone.
Originally attempted in 2265 under different circumstances, Enterprise became the first Federation
starship to successfully cross the Galactic Barrier, leaving the Milky Way Galaxy in 2268. During that trip, the Enterprise
had been commandeered by an extra-galactic alien species known as the Kelvans, who were from the Andromeda Galaxy. They modified
the ship's warp engines to exceed Warp 14. After concluding successful negotiations between Kirk and the Kelvans, the Kelvans
returned the Enterprise to the Milky Way Galaxy. When the five-year mission under Kirk's command ended in 2270, the
Enterprise returned to Earth and her captain was promoted to Admiral and appointed Chief of Operations at Starfleet Command.
Between 2271 and 2273, Enterprise received an extensive refit, placing it in the forefront of the Federation fleet.
While the Enterprise was still in drydock in 2273, an unknown phenomenon of great power entered Federation space through
Klingon territory, on a direct course for Earth. To encounter the phenomenon before it reached Earth, Admiral Kirk was granted
a rank reduction to Captain and given command of the Enterprise from his hand-picked successor, Willard Decker; to intercept
the threat to Earth. It was determined that the V'Ger phenomenon was actually the NASA probe Voyager 6. Two of the ship's officers,
Commander Willard Decker and Lt. Ilia, were considered missing after the incident. Captain Kirk would command the Enterprise
during another five-year mission. Upon the ship's return in 2278, Kirk would enter into “inactive reserve”; at his request
and the ship's first officer, a Vulcan named Spock, was promoted to Captain and become an instructor at Starfleet Academy. Under his
command, Enterprise served as a training vessel for the academy. After a number of years in “inactive reserve”,
Kirk would to return to Starfleet service in 2284 as an instructor at the Academy with the rank of Admiral.
During a routine inspection of his old command one year later, Admiral Kirk received a message from the director
of Project Genesis, Dr. Carol Marcus. Dr. Marcus was not only a former intimate partner of the Admiral's but was also the mother
of his child, Dr. David Marcus. Carol Marcus was attempting to confirm an order she received to deliver all material regarding her
project over to USS Reliant. Reliant was supposed to be at the disposal of Marcus and her team at the Regula I space
station. Unknown to them and the rest of Starfleet, one of Kirk's old nemeses, Khan Noonien Singh and his followers successfully
commandeered the Reliant. Learning of Genesis, Khan used it and the science team as bait to lure Kirk out to seek his revenge.
Kirk unknowingly took the bait through the message from Dr. Carol Marcus. Since Kirk was the senior officer on board and the ship
was going on “actual duty”, Spock gave Kirk command of the Enterprise and the ship departed for Regula I at Warp 5.
While on route Enterprise would encounter, and be attacked by, the hijacked Reliant. Kirk learned who was commanding
the ship and successfully fought back, disabling Khan's ship and then continued on to Regula.
After the Enterprise arrived at Regula I; Admiral Kirk, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Leonard McCoy and Lt. Savvik
located Reliant's captain, Clark Terrell, and first officer Pavel Chekov, the remaining members of the Genesis project team and
the Genesis Device. Believing that the Enterprise would not have main power for six days and using Chekov and Terrell as
mind-controlled pawns, Khan beamed the Genesis Device up to his ship but not before Terrell committed suicide while attempting to follow
orders to kill Kirk.
After only a few hours in the Genesis cave on Regula I, Kirk and the others returned to the Enterprise which
main power had been partially restored. Kirk ordered the ship into the Mutara Nebula to elude Khan and his followers. Once both vessels
entered the nebula, a cat-and-mouse game took place with the Enterprise causing severe damage to the Reliant. Khan, however,
still had a card to play. He activated the Genesis Device, which was set to detonate in four minutes. When this was discovered by the
Enterprise's crew, Kirk tried to contact Chief Engineer Commander Montgomery Scott in Enginneering, but received no response.
While Kirk attempted to contact Scott no one saw Captain Spock leave his station and head for the Engine Room. As Dr. McCoy treated injuries
to personnel in Engineering, Spock used his nerve pinch on the doctor then melded with him, transferring his katra or soul to the doctor.
Spock successfully restored main power to full capacity and reactivating the ship's warp drive but not before receiving a lethal dose of
radiation. Kirk orders helm officer Commander Hikaru Sulu to take the ship to warp mere seconds before the Reliant explodes. Kirk
contacts the engine room to congratulate Mr. Scott but is told by Dr. McCoy that he should get there quickly. With McCoy and Scott present,
Kirk speaks with his dying friend and stays until his passing. Captain Spock receives a military funeral in the torpedo room and his torpedo
casket is launched and eventually lands on the surface of the new Genesis planet. The Enterprise departs the planet for Ceti Alpha V
to pick up the crew of the Reliant and then for Earth.
Upon returning home to Earth, the ship and crew were met by Admiral Morrow, Starfleet's Commander-in-Chief. Morrow granted
extended shore leave to all Enterprise personnel except Chief Engineer Scott who was immediately transferred to the experimental
USS Excelsior as Captain of Engineering. Days later at Admiral Kirk's San Francisco apartment, Kirk would be met by Spock's father,
Ambassador Sarek, concerning Spock and his katra. This meeting lead to a meeting with Morrow in an attempt to regain command of Enterprise
and locate Spock's body and return it to Vulcan. Morrow told Kirk that Genesis was off limits. Kirk and his crew went ahead with stealing
the Enterprise from Spacedock to retrieve the body of Captain Spock. The Enterprise was pursued, unsuccessfully, by Excelsior,
which had been sabotaged by Captain Scott.
At the newly formed, yet unstable Genesis planet in the Mutara sector, Enterprise, and its very small crew, encountered
a small Klingon Bird-of-Prey scout ship with an ambitious commander named Kruge. The Bird-of-Prey destroyed the Oberth-class science
vessel USS Grissom with virtually all hands. However two of the Grissom's crew, Lieutenant Saavik and Kirk's son, Dr. David Marcus,
survived on the surface of the Genesis planet. Marcus and Saavik had beamed down to the surface to investigate a lifeform the Grissom's
sensors detected from orbit. They would discover that Captain Spock's body had been regenerated and was rapidly growing. The three of them
would be captured by Klingon landing party lead by Kruge just prior to the arrival of the Enterprise.
After Enterprise's arrival Kruge returned to his ship, a brief scuffle took place between the two ships and both were
disabled. Kirk requested “a truce to confer” and during that conversation, Kirk and his crew learned that Saavik, Marcus and a certain
Vulcan of his aquaintance were on the surface. Kruge ordered the death of any one of the prisoners. Forfieting his life, David Marcus saved Saavik
and Spock from death delivered by a Klingon dagger.
Distraught over the death of his son, Kirk surrendered his ship to Kruge, but only as a ruse. With Scott and Commander Pavel
Chekov, Kirk set the ship's auto destruct sequence. He and his crew transported down to the Genesis surface as the Klingon boarding party beamed
on board the ship. As the ship destroyed herself, the boarding party was killed on the bridge. As Kirk and his crew looked for Saavik and Spock
the planet began its' deaththrows. Kirk would kill the last member of the Klingon landing party and pay final respects to his dead son. Dr. McCoy
examined the unconscious Spock, determining that he was suffering from rapid ageing. Kirk located a Klingon communicator and spoke to Kruge.
Kruge beamed down, confronting Kirk and his crew. Kruge ordered everyone transported up to his ship except Kirk and Spock. As the Genesis planet
tore itself apart, Kirk and the Klingon commander fought in hand-to-hand combat with Kirk winning. He would beam up with Spock to the Bird-of-Prey.
Just as Genesis was destroying itself, he and his company left the planet and the Mutara Sector for Vulcan. After arriving on Vulcan, Spock's
katra was transferred from McCoy to Spock's body, leading to his “rebirth”.
With the loss of the original
Enterprise and a three month exile on Vulcan, Adm. Kirk and his crew departed to face trial on Earth for “eight violations of Starfleet
regulations”. While on route to Earth in their stolen Klingon vessel, an interstellar probe visited the planet, disabling Starfleet assets
and causing environmental havoc. Kirk's crew, along with a restored Spock, determined that the message being sent by the probe was in fact whale
song, specifically humpback whale song. Unfortunately the species was extinct on Earth and did not exist on any other inhabited planet. In order
to locate humpback whales and save Earth in the process the crew would have to go back in time to the 20th Century.
After making the journey back to the 20th Century, Enterprise's former communications officer, Commander Uhura,
located whale song in San Fransisco Bay. Sulu successfully landed the Bird-of-Prey in Golden Gate Park. Captain Scott informed Kirk that the dilithium
crystals of their ship's warp drive had begun to drain and there was no known way to reenergize them. Spock theorized that atomic particles from
fission reactors would reenergize the crystals and the reactors could be found on naval vessels. Uhura and Chekov would “procure” the
necessary atomic particles to re-energize the dilithium crystals from the naval vessel USS Enterprise while Scott, McCoy & Sulu assisted
by Spock, build the holding tanks for the humpback whales. With the Bird-of-Prey restored to full power, the crew retrieve two humpback whales and
return to their own time, crash-landing in San Francisco Bay. The whales answer the “call” of the probe, saving Earth. Due to the crew's
selfless deed, the Federation Council (governing body of the Federation) dismiss seven of the charges against Kirk and his crew. The sole charge of
disobeying a superior officer was solely against Admiral Kirk. His punishment was reduction in rank to Captain, thus allowing him to command a starship
again. By the end of 2286, He and his crew were assigned to another Constitution-class vessel bearing the registry number NCC-1701-A and
commissioned as USS Enterprise.
Shortly after the shakedown cruise of the Enterprise-A in 2287, she was sent to the Nimbus III, “Planet of Galactic Peace”, to free hostages from unknown persons. The assault team, lead by Kirk, was captured in the only settlement on the planet. The leader of the group was a Vulcan named Sybok. Kirk, with most of his command crew, return to the Enterprise with Sybok and the former hostages (now Sybok followers) via a shuttlecraft, which was nearly hit by a torpedo from a Klingon vessel. Sybok hijacks the Enterprise by “freeing” the minds of Sulu, Uhura, and Chekov. While the ship travels at high warp to the center of the galaxy to find the planet Sha-Ka-Ree; Kirk, Spock and Dr. McCoy were placed in the brig. As the trio sat in the brig Spock reveals that Sybok is his half brother. They eventually escape with the assistance of the Chief Engineer Scott. The Enterprise passes through the “Great Barrier” unharmed and reaches the center; discovering a planet there. Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Sybok travel to the planet's surface by shuttlecraft and encounter a supernatural entity on the surface Sybok is killed during the encounter and the entity is destroyed by the Klingon vessel that attacked the shuttle and Enterprise at Nimbus III. Enterprise and the Klingon vessel return home to their respective spaces.
While traveling through the Beta Quadrant in 2293, USS Excelsior (NCC-2000), under the command of Captain Hikaru Sulu, is hit
by a shockwave generated from the explosion of the Klingon moon Praxis. Because of the destruction of the Praxis, Kirk and his crew are thrown into
intergalactic politics when the Enterprise is ordered to escort Gorkon, Chancellor of the Klingon High Council, and his staff to Earth for peace
negotiations. En route, the chancellor's ship, Kronos 1, is fired upon and damaged. Aboard the vessel, the chancellor and members of his staff are
assassinated. After transporting over to Kronos 1 in an attempt to help, Kirk and McCoy are arrested for the assassination of the chancellor. They
are taken to Qo'noS, the Klingon homeworld, and put on trial for the assassination. Kirk and McCoy are found guilty however, instead of being sentenced to
death, they are sent to the “...dilithium mines of the penal asteroid of Rura Penthe. There to spend the rest of your natural lives”. Rura
Penthe was “known throughout the galaxy as the aliens' graveyard”.
Kirk and McCoy escape the penal colony and are picked up by the Enterprise and it is determined that members of Starfleet Command
and the Klingon High Command were conspiring together to prevent peace. It was also determined that the Klingons have a vessel that could fire torpedoes
while it was cloaked. With assistance from Captain Sulu of the Excelsior on the location of the peace conference, the Enterprise travels at
high warp to Camp Khitomer, near the Romulan border, to prevent another assassination. Upon arrival, the Enterprise is attacked by the “fire
while cloaked” Klingon vessel. The ship suffers heavy damage, including a hull breach. Enterprise and Excelsior destroy the Klingon
ship and crew members from both ships prevent the assassination of the Federation President. Enterprise would eventually return to Earth, not for
repairs, but to be decommissioned.
Later that same year, Starfleet commissioned and
launched the Excelsior-class Enterprise (NCC-1701-B), making it the third vessel to bear the name
with John Harriman as her commanding officer. On the ship's maiden voyage, Captains James T. Kirk, Montgomery Scott and Commander Pavel Chekov of the
1st and 2nd Enterprise are on board as honored guests and “living legends”. During the voyage, Enterprise-B
receives a distress signal from the Lakul, an El-Aurian refugee vessel. It and another similar vessel were caught in a energy ribbon. This energy
ribbon eventually destroys both vessels but not before the Enterprise saves 47 passengers from the Lakul. Enterprise herself is caught
in the ribbon and is severely damaged by it. Captain James T. Kirk is presumed killed saving the ship from destruction. Following the repairs conducted after
the incident, Enterprise would go on to serve Starfleet with distinction; charting 142 star systems and making first contact with 17 civilizations
over the course of its service.