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"The Protostar, named after the early stage in the formation of a star, powered by it; we designed a ship that could explore the far reaches of our understanding in hope of finding others who share our ideals, so that we may create a stronger alliance."

The USS Protostar (NX-76884) was a Protostar-class Federation starship launched by Starfleet during the late 24th century. The Protostar was a prototype, which was approved for production into a full ship class after the ship's destruction in 2384.

Service history[]

Original voyage[]

The Protostar was under the command of Captain Chakotay for a return mission to the Delta Quadrant undertaken in the years after the return of the USS Voyager. (PRO: "Kobayashi", "Asylum") It was equipped with a holographic training advisor known as Hologram Janeway, modeled after Chakotay's former commanding officer, Captain Kathryn Janeway, and holographic projectors in multiple areas of the ship. (PRO: "Lost and Found", et al.)

During the mission, Chakotay sent out a mayday reporting that the Protostar had encountered a temporal anomaly that sent the ship into the future and deposited over the planet Solum after it had already been decimated by the native Vau N'Akat, a species that blamed the Federation for a catastrophic civil war which devastated their homeworld fifty years after the Federation made first contact with them. Chakotay attempted to send a distress call, but the damaged ship was then stormed by Drednoks and Chakotay was captured alongside his first officer Commander Adreek-Hu on the bridge. (PRO: "Preludes")

USS Protostar sent back through temporal anomaly

The Protostar is sent back through the anomaly

The Vau N'Akat now had control of the Protostar and placed blocks in the ship's main computer to conceal information about its original crew and purpose, partially using the Vau N'Akat language as a passcode encryption. One Drednok also gained access to Chakotay's command authorization codes. (PRO: "Kobayashi", "First Con-tact", "Time Amok") They also placed a weapon called the living construct onboard the ship and hid it in a subdeck under the bridge. The weapon was capable of hijacking Federation ship systems and causing them to "turn on themselves... and tear themselves apart." The Vau N'Akat planned to send the Protostar back through the anomaly and use it as a Trojan horse to deploy the weapon in Federation space and destroy Starfleet before they could make first contact with them. However, this plan went awry when Chakotay and Adreek-Hu escaped on the eve of the launch. Unable to disarm the construct or board the ship to escape, Chakotay remotely sent the crewless Protostar back through the anomaly before the plan could be enacted, and the Protostar was lost in the past. Desperate to find the ship so they could utilize the weapon, a Vau N'Akat organization called "The Order" was founded and launched the last of their fleet consisting of one hundred agents each with their own Drednok through the anomaly in search of the Protostar. (PRO: "Dream Catcher", "A Moral Star, Part 2", "Let Sleeping Borg Lie", "Preludes")

By 2366, the lost Protostar was located deep inside Tars Lamora. One agent known as The Diviner spent many years searching for it, establishing the Tars Lamora prison colony to conduct and finance his efforts. (PRO: "Lost and Found", "Kobayashi")

Under the command of Dal R'El and his crew[]

USS Protostar found

Dal and Rok-Tahk find the Protostar

In 2383, it was accidentally discovered by Dal R'El and Rok-Tahk buried in the Northwest Crevasse within the prison colony. (PRO: "Lost and Found")

After escaping Tars Lamora along with Zero, Jankom Pog, Murf and The Diviner's daughter Gwyndala, the ship encountered a binary star system and was almost destroyed after being pulled into the gravity well of an orbiting white dwarf that was in the final moments of tearing apart its red giant companion. (PRO: "Starstruck") Under Janeway's advisement, the crew continued on to investigate a Class M planet located in the Hirogen system, where the ship was nearly consumed by the cilium-like vegetation that inhabited the planet-like superorganism before nearly being captured by The Diviner. (PRO: "Dream Catcher", "Terror Firma")

They succeed at escaping the REV-12 when the ship's protostar drive was engaged, and the ship was hurdled nearly 4,000 light years to the Gamma Quadrant in a matter of minutes. Around this time, Murf discovered the ship's holodeck, which included such holoprograms as Andoria IV, Ceti Alpha V skydiving, kal-if-fee gladiator match, Count Dracula, 1885 Deadwood South Dakota, Paxau Resort, Janeway Lambda One, and the Kobayashi Maru scenario. (PRO: "Kobayashi")

The Protostar visited the Cymari homeworld and made first contact with the Cymari. (PRO: "First Con-tact")

The Protostar then flew through a tachyon storm, which fractured the ship into several parallel realities moving at variable speeds and nearly caused a warp core breach. The crew was forced work together across these fractured realities, guided by Hologram Janeway, to make the repairs to restore it to normal time and prevent the ship's destruction. (PRO: "Time Amok")

Eventually, the crew of the Protostar were given an ultimatum by The Diviner that forced them to return to Tars Lamora and surrender the ship. However, they removed the exotic matter dilithium matrix, preventing the ship from going to proto-warp and allowing the crew to rescue the miners and reclaim the Protostar. (PRO: "A Moral Star, Part 1")

When the Protostar left from Tars Lamora, its proto-warp signature was detected by the USS Dauntless for the third time. The Dauntless' commander, Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway used the signals to track the ship, on a rescue mission to find its former captain, Chakotay. (PRO: "A Moral Star, Part 2")

Being chased by the USS Dauntless[]

Weeks after leaving Tars Lamora, the crew reached the remote Starfleet communication relay station CR-721 where they attempted to seek asylum. Unfortunately, thanks to the living construct weapon, which was onboard the ship, as soon as Lieutenant jg Barniss Frex attempted to upload the Protostar's logs into the station's computer, the computer systems on the station suddenly went haywire and turn its phasers on itself and destroying the station. (PRO: "Asylum") Soon after, Gwyn remembered her father telling her that the weapon's purpose was to destroy Starfleet from within. Though the crew found the weapon hidden in a subdeck on the bridge, they were unable to remove it or deactivate it. (PRO: "Let Sleeping Borg Lie")

Next, the crew traveled to the Denaxi Depot, hoping to bury the Protostar and seek transport to the Federation. Unfortunately, realizing that Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway considered them criminals for stealing the Protostar and destroying the relay station, they unearthed the buried Protostar and fled into the Romulan Neutral Zone, with the Dauntless unable to pursue since entry into the Zone was forbidden. (PRO: "Crossroads", "Masquerade")

Later, the Dauntless resumed its pursuit and was able to merge its warp field with the Protostar's. The Dauntless shot several phaser shots at the Protostar but were unable to penetrate its shield. However, it caused Zero to inadvertently switch consciousness between Admiral Janeway and R'El when he tried to establish a telepathic link. Janeway and R'El were able to switch back to their bodies before they were stopped by a Starfleet armada in the heart of Federation space. During this time, Ensign Asencia, of the Dauntless revealed herself to be a Vau N'Akat known as "The Vindicator" and boarded the Protostar along with the Diviner. After subduing the crew, Ascencia contacted the Dauntless and activated the living construct. The construct was able to infect the Dauntless and the armada forcing all ships to fire at each other. The Dauntless' universal translators were also taken offline by the construct as it spread to the rest of the armada. Fortunately, the Dauntless and other ships were freed from the construct's corruption when Holo Janeway destroyed the Protostar. (PRO: "Mindwalk", "Supernova, Part 1", "Supernova, Part 2")

List of first contacts[]

Personnel[]

Original crew

See also: USS Protostar personnel

Replacement crew
USS Protostar bridge, 2384

The crew of the Protostar under the command of Gwyndala in 2384

Appendices[]

Appearances[]

Background information[]

According to Star Trek: Prodigy producer and screenwriter Aaron Waltke, the ship's NX registry is derived from his birthday of 8 August 1984. [1]

External links[]

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