USS Mercury
| USS Mercury | ||
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 INACTIVE STATUS | ||
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The USS Mercury is an Oracle-class starship currently missing somewhere in the Menthar Corridor. It had been deactivated from active service after incurring extensive damage during the Gateway Crisis of 2390. Following most of her crew's transfer to the USS Garuda, she left Deep Space 10 under a warp tow, heading back to Federation space for extensive repairs. A few weeks into her journey, the tow’s tractor beam systems failed during a massive passing ion storm. The tow itself barely made it out of the storm in one piece, limping on a single maneuvering thruster. Fleet operations dispatched a ship to retrieve the tow and the Mercury, but the storm continued to interfere with sensors in the area, making retrieval impossible. The last sensor scans taken when the Mercury broke free from the tow indicated that the science ship was still hurtling away at full speed in a decaying drift, traveling with the storm.
As an Oracle-class ship, the USS Mercury was a deep space science ship designed to run missions for long periods of time without returning to a starbase for refuel, resupply, or support if necessary. The lower section of the ship was a sensor module, which contained a wealth of cutting edge sensor technology, as well as enhanced scientific facilities. This module was ejected by the crew in her final mission while she was hiding in the corona of one of the Nygel system's two stars as part of a ruse to distract a rogue Cardassian warship that had been pursuing her, making the Cardassians think she was destroyed. Fortunately, the Garuda and two Cardassian Galor class vessels sent directly by the Cardassian government came to assist the Mercury, and the rogue warship fled from the scene.
The Mercury had been assigned to the Menthar Corridor, a region of space between the Cardassian Union, Breen Confederacy and Tholian Assembly, via special arrangement with the Cardassian Detapa Consul. Its primary mission was to explore space poorly known to the Federation and explore the farthest bounds of the Alpha Quadrant. The Mercury's final commanding officer Captain Aron Kells was assigned to her upon the retirement of her previous COs, Captain Tallis Rhul on stardate 238904.22 and Commander Miles Unum a few weeks later. Unlike most of his crew who had been reassigned to the Garuda, Captain Kells resigned and disappeared in a shuttlecraft to parts unknown.
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