The Sim

The Polaris Class Starship Development project began is the late 2380s at Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards. Starfleet was looking for a new starship that would counter the looming Romulan invasion threat after the Battle of the Bassen Rift in 2379. The project took a more peaceful direction after the Hobus Supernova of 2387 when Romulus, the Romulan homeworld, was destroyed. After the event, Starfleet needed more ships to render aid to the Romulans and wanted the new ships to always be ready in a moments notice to render aid in such an event. The Polaris design increased in size rivaling the Galaxy Class, allowing more space to relocate thousands of colonists and more cargo space to assist said races, Saucer separation was needed in case ship was in danger, the occupants would be safe.

Starfleet began installing slipstream drives on their starships in 2381. In 2396, the Daystrom Institute develops a new quantum slipstream device allowing larger starships to traverse subspace. Later that year, the same engine was installed in the Polaris's engineering hull, A new deflector dish, reverse engineered and modified from the USS Dauntless was also installed.

Starfleet underestimated the new slipstream drive. In 2396, early space trails revealed that the slipstream drive could only be used in short intervals to prevent system wide power failures. Standard EPS conduits could not handle the massive power transfer and kept failing. The USS Polaris was sent back to the yards for a year and a half overhaul to replace all the burned out EPS power conduits with ones used on starbases to handle the load. A more powerful warp core was also installed, the same type would also be used during the construction of the Odyssey Class. Whenever the slipstream drive was offline, standard warp speeds were used.

The Polaris Class included large conference rooms and social areas for visitors and crew. The USS Polaris was launched in July 2399 under the command of Selena Ja'karti and became the first in a new line of starships to be constructed on the eve of the 25th century.