Warp XV Development
Overview
The Development of the Warp XV Engine took several years and has grown to encompass multiple ships, crews, and characters in the furthest corners of the fleet. The development has and will continue to have pitfalls as the engine is fine-tuned, put through its paces, and becomes more widespread.
Beginnings and Confirmation of a Theory
The first inkling that a more efficient warp drive was possible when Oddas Aria was consulting with a colleague on the Argus Array[1]. The colleague, Ensign Houston, had in a moment of desperation written Aria to discuss some anomalous results seen after Houston had performed resource cutting measures. The upgrades had introduced what Houston assumed were noise, but what Aria recognized as extra layers of subspace which had not been seen before.
Armed with her information Aria contacted Roshanara Rahman for verification, or to be disproven. After days of simulation, Rahman offered verification and a road to getting a prototype engine approved.[2]
The Math
First Flight
Nova Aster
The Nova Aster, born the STS-17569-WV12 and rechristened by its crew of Roshanara Rahman and Oddas Aria, was standard Starfleet test sled put together by the Starfleet Corps of Engineers to test the prototype Warp XV Engine, the OR Assembly Mark 1 or Oddas-Rahman Next Gen Warp Propulsion Assembly, a name neither Oddas or Rahman could bring themselves to say.
The vessel itself was part Type 9 shuttlecraft but then loaded with enough monitoring equipment to fill its 120m aft x 40m cylindrical aft compartment. The nacelles of the caft formed a single plane along the craft's body. [3]
All Go
The first flight of the Warp XV Engine, on Stardate 239602.16 - two years after it was postulated as a theory, saw the Nova Aster achieve a newly calibrated speed of Warp 12.4, but a differential formed between along the nacelles, causing the test to be aborted before it could achieve its full rated speed of Warp 13[3]. Despite this, the Corps of Engineers approved the Engine for field testing and for testing of various field testing of specific components and in specific environments.
Shipboard Missions
Completed
Upcoming
- USS Eagle, Testing Deflector Shield in the Vicinity of Specific Subspace anomalies.