A SURYA-class frigate, begun during the Four Years War, but with construction halted when the war wound down, was towed back from the "mothball fleet" to the Lockheed-Helium shipyard in Mars orbit to be completed as the first of a projected series of transwarp-equipped derivatives of the MIRANDA class. As she was completed to standards similar to those of the CYANE subgroup of the MIRANDAs, she was sometimes considered a "CYANE-class" vessel. The hull was originally to have been named GALLERY (after Admiral Daniel Vincent Gallery, who, in World War II, masterminded the capture of a German U-boat), but, in the years following the close of the War, that name had been reassigned to another new-construction starship. Instead, this new MIRANDA received the name of a heroine of the Four Years War: YEAGER.
This became, of course, the MIRANDA-class YEAGER about which so much has been written. She was nearly lost during her Builders' Trials due to sabotage by overzealous corporate agents out to discredit the firm that built her transwarp engines. (Ironically, these engines were replaced with uprated versions of standard warp drives, following YEAGER's first 5-year mission.)
Her adventures were the stuff of legends and old space stories, as she found strange worlds and stranger people, fought and won battles, measured strange phenomena, and hopped universes on occasion. She became a focus for the short-lived Veritech program of transformable fighters. She also became a target for the nefarious plots of that Klingon arch-villain, K'Maurg, and for the political schemes of a self-serving faction within the Admiralty itself. She became a part of the legendary BATRON 11. Her name became deeply associated with those of her first two Captains: Jerry Conner and Grin'elle Kriet.
Much of her history after Captain Kriet's first year of command has been deliberately left vague, to give writers more freedom.
It is generally accepted, however, that she had been retired to museum-ship status for some years, when the Borg invaded Federation space in 2367. With a "pick-up" crew, the museum ship's Captain took YEAGER out to join the other thirty-eight Federation ships at Wolf 359 -- and, ultimately, to die there. Many accounts suggest YEAGER was lost with all hands, though one account suggests there were a handful of survivors, in an escape pod, who insist YEAGER fought on for several minutes, by herself, even though all left aboard her were dead. (Some reports suggest one of these survivors practically demanded to be stationed in "the next YEAGER", and, with the launch of the NEBULA-class YEAGER, finally was!) She will be missed, but at least she died in action, rather than being ignominiously towed off to be cut up for scrap!
She lived fast, fought hard, and died well.
Nebula Class Cruiser
Starfleet Registry NCC-61893
After the destruction of the MIRANDA class U.S.S. YEAGER at the battle of Wolf 359, one of the new NEBULA Class cruisers under construction was given the name of the valiant MIRANDA which legends claim fought on after the last of her crew was safely away in escape pods. To further honor her, she was given a hull number which contained the hull number of the last YEAGER- NCC-61893.
Like their predecessors, the MIRANDA class, the NEBULA class uses technology and many of the same actual construction components as the GALAXY class. In addition to cutting construction costs, this allows an easy transition for crews from one class to the other.
There are three major differences between the NEBULA and GALAXY classes. The first, and most obvious is in her physical configuration. The NEBULA class' engines are placed lower on the hull than the GALAXY's, on inverted pylons. Also, her dorsal assembly is attached almost directly to her secondary hull, making her appear to functionally have no dorsal pylon.
Secondly, her auxiliary ship handling facilities, located at the rear of the secondary hull, are much larger, enabling her to easily handle runabouts, and even small starships in the capacious secondary hull hangar. This replaces the two smaller bays on the dorsal of GALAXY class ships. The most obvious difference, however, is the addition of the mission-specific pod on an elongated dorsal attached to the rear of the secondary hull. This pod, easily changed at a Starfleet drydock facility, allows the class to be configured in a number of different ways, with pods which are specialized for the mission desired. Among the pods are a sensor pod, such as carried by USS PHOENIX, and a weapons pod, generally carried as the default pod by most Starfleet ships, including the YEAGER.
This YEAGER was originally commanded by Captain Jack Marshall, a survivor of the Battle of Wolf 359. Though he had no love for battle, he realized that force is often the only alternative in many situations. A human descended from the colonists of a heavy gravity world, he was stocky, solidly built, and slow-moving. This often lead adversaries to think his mental processes slow and his body weak. Neither was the case, as many enemies found out, to their chagrin.
Marshall was recently replaced by Commodore Jerry Conner. Though records state that for this to be the original MIRANDA-class YEAGER's commander, he would have to be well over a century old, his former crewmates claim he is indeed their original commander. Indeed, records show this individual to look essentially the same as the MIRANDA-class YEAGER's commander, except for the addition of a VISOR, similar to the one originally worn by Geordi LaForge. If this is indeed the Captain Conner of over 70 years ago, no one has any clue as to where he has been, how he maintained his youth, why he now wears a VISOR or, most importantly, why he has suddenly returned.
The First Officer of the YEAGER is Commander(Captain) Michael Layne. Layne had been the First Officer of the MIRANDA-class YEAGER until a runabout prototype under his command disappeared into a wormhole early in the YEAGER's second five-year patrol. The runabout, NIMITZ, came out in the Gamma Quadrant, a little over a year before the discovery of the Bajoran Wormhole. Layne managed to keep his crew alive through creativity and courage. After a retraining period in the 24th century, he and many other YEAGER veterans from that mission were assigned to the new cruiser.
Serving as YEAGER's Second Officer and Operations Manager is Commander Paul Slaine, who took an administrative grade reduction from Captain of a smaller ship for duty on this one. Slaine is unusual for two reasons: experimental nanotechnology can enhance his body functions for brief periods, and he is also about as xenophobic as a Starfleet officer can get away with. However, he does not let these feelings interfere with his duties.
The YEAGER's Chief Engineer is Commander Korin, a Federation National of Klingon/Human descent. Korin is the grandson of Kordon britai Neygebh, Chief Engineer of the MIRANDA-class YEAGER.
Numerous artificial intelligences inhabit the YEAGER, including ALEX an incredibly more powerful version of the original MIRANDA-class YEAGER's recreational computer. ALEX is the YEAGER's Recreation Officer, and sees to it that YEAGER's holodecks don't suffer many of the problems which seem to plague other ships equipped with this feature.
There has been little fiction generated so far about this new, Nebula-class YEAGER. She is a blank slate for a new legend to be written upon.