61 year differential for "The Battle": 2364 = 2303 (1st season: O. Manual)
67 year differential for Data's Academy graduation: 2345 = 2278
65 year differential for ST II, ST III: 2287 = 2222
50 year differential for ST-TMP: 2267 = 2217 (F**A assumes 5 year gap!)
53 year differential for end of 5-year mission: 2265 = 2212
53 year differential for "Journey to Babel": 2262 = 2209
53 year differential for "Errand of Mercy": 2261 = 2208 (1st season, late)
51 year differential for Kirk's command of "Enterprise": 2258 = 2207
52 year differential for The Axanar Peace Mission: 2250 = 2198
52 year differential for "The Cage": 2248 = 2196
52 year differential for The Four Years War: 2246 = 2194 (start & end)
53 year differential for end of Romulan War: 2162 = 2109
44 year differential for start of Romulan War: 2137 = 2093
From this came some general rules:
If FASA date after 2087 (but before 2217) then add 52 years (+/- 1 year).
If FASA date after 2217 then add 50 or 65 years (If before TNG).
If FASA date in TNG Era then add 61 years.
The general 52 year add-on equates nicely with most of the
Chronology's dates. The Romulan War I've keyed the FASA timeline
to, shifting dates up by an additional year. Technological development
seems to match almost perfectly aside from the highly debatable
transporter, and the multitronic computers 1 through 4 were successful
in the FASA universe! The fact that PB-31 and earlier designs
aren't illustrated in the Ship Recognition Manual for even the
earliest of ships launched c. 2240 (corrected date) is logical since the
PB-32 drive was developed in the 2240s which is the earliest drive
type illustrated. To convert dates from FASA's TNG Officers Manual I
simply added 61 years since 3/03 is repeatedly confirmed as being TNG's
first season. This was repeated through the late 23rd Century until they
intersected with the Movie Era dates.
At this point, to prevent any more confusion, I had better explain FASA's reference stardate system. Not to be confused with real stardates, these are based on the old fandom system of dating using the last two digits of the year followed by the month in two digits and the day after the decimal point. This is preceded by a digit, separated from the remainder of the stardate with a slash, representing the century. 1/1403.08, for instance, would be March 8th, 2114. Some more general dates lack the month and day digits (1/14 for 2114) or substitute zeros in the month field. Don't let it confuse you. For continuity with the source materials, I've kept the reference stardates unaltered and in brackets, right behind the corrected Earth date.
The differential jumps up to 65 years for Star Trek II and its
chain of films because FASA assumes an exact 15 year gap between ST
II and "Space Seed." And that's a FIVE year gap between ST-TMP and
ST II because FASA claims another good 5 years passed between the
conclusion of the classsic 5-year mission and the first movie! Fitting
the dates of a 5 year span into a 20 year span is difficult and I only ask
that these dates be taken with a grain of salt... Or more precisely, the
problem of cramming FASA dates 2213 through 2216 into the year 2266!
So, taking the logical approach once again, for the year 2266:
January: 2/1301-04
February: 2/1305-08
March: 2/1309-12
April: 2/1401-04
May: 2/1405-08
June: 2/1409-12
July: 2/1501-04
August: 2/1505-08
September: 2/1509-12
October: 2/1601-04
November: 2/1605-08
December: 2/1609-12
Post-ST II dates were another problem altogether, but a simpler solution
was taken. I divided up the years and continued to log them after ST-TMP
and before ST II. Simply:
2/17 = 2267 (Star Trek-The Motion Picture)
2/18 = 2268
2/19 = 2269
Jump!
2/20 = 2285
2/21 = 2286
2/22 = 2287 (Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan)
This actually works quite well without disrupting continuity for the most part. In 2/18 and 2/19 the maroon uniforms are issued according to Shane Johnson (his Uniform Recognition Manual says 2/18 while his Mr. Scott's Guide To The Enterprise' says 2/19!) but the crux being that they were first issued in the late 2260s not the 2280s which is too late ("Cause And Effect" proved that they were in use by 2278). Also, 2/19 is when the Klingons got their Bird of Prey scouts from the Romulans--logical enough since any later would be too late for the Movie Era novels, many of which feature these ships. The torpedo launcher upgrade mentioned in 'Ships of the Star Fleet' in 2285 is also confirmed in a 2/20 reference here. A 2/21 date confirms the "recent disappearance" of the Organians which we know to be a very recent event later spoken of in the ST VI novelization. The only exception to this is the entry concerning the Kargon Incident which details the destruction of the U.S.S. "Kongo" (which also happens to be one of the few ships whose NCCs actually match up with the FASA uni- verse registries!). Her destruction is dated 2/1803--too early consid- ering that the date converts to 2268, three years before her drydocking and refitting to the "Constitution (II)" specs. In this case, 2/18 was referenced back from the year 2/22, making it 2283.
The late 21st Century view of Trek history in the Spaceflight Chronology introduced another problem spawned by the lack of discrete data on warp drive development. This era is very vague and undefined, resulting in many different timelines, with SFC making things worse. Let's take a look at All the raw data and try to explain the inconsistancies...
2040 - "Columbus" class fusion ships enter service - including the
U.N.S.S. "Icarus" [SFC].
2042 - Icarus departs for Centauri [SFC]
2048 - Icarus makes contact with Centaurus VII inhabitants [SFC]
2051 - Dr. Zefram Cochrane discovers the space warp at the Centauri
Scientific Institute [Starfleet Dynamics, Line Officers Requirements].
2052 - Warp Drive Principle transmission reaches Earth - Warp Drive
Studies Program is initiated [SFC].
2053 - Cochrane's Factor is discovered [Star Trek Maps}
2054 - Icarus returns from Centauri [SFC]
2055 - First Generation warp drive is developed and tested: WD-1
prototype carries a chimp successfully [SFC & GN 2]
2058 - First warp drive ship, "Bonaventure," undergoes testing [SFC].
2059 - "Bonaventure" begins warp drive era with a voyage to Tau Ceti.
Centauri mission which left Earth in 2054 arrives at Centauri [SFC].
2060 - Warp drive ship U.N.S.S. "Powell" journies to Centauri [SFC].
2061 - Cochrane's first warp engines are developed (CDP and all that
techno-babble) and he relocates to the Centauri colonies, a 4-year
voyage [TNG Tech Manual].
2061 - The return of the "Powell" brings Cochrane to Earth [SFC].
2064 - "Verne" class warp drive ships enter service ("Amity" is of this
class) [SFC].
2064 - Kzinti last attack & final defeat ["The Slaver Weapon" & EOM].
2065 - U.N.S.S. "Amity" rescues a Vulcan ship/first contact [SFC &
GN 2]. The "Bonaventure" encounters Axanar [FASA].
2066 - The "Bonaventure" is lost on her 3rd mission to Sirius [SFC].
2070 - Tau Ceti is explored & the Kaferians are contacted [ST Maps].
Pretty messy, isn't it? And you wondered why I waited and ignored SFC for 13 years... Now we try to clean it up. First off, we must assume that Zefram Cochrane's from Earth not Alpha Centauri. The majority of the data goes along with this, including the Tech Manual and Star Trek Maps, and the novel "Federation." I also assume that while the Centaurians are advanced humanoids transplanted from Earth (the Preservers? Apollo's people? The Sandarans?) they probably were technologically behind Earth and advanced through interstellar trade with Earth. Their home world is Centaurus VII, while Earth people colonized at least two inner planets in the Centauri system, and Zefram Cochrane helped colonized Centauri B II. I also give the SFC dates and data the least priority, exceptions being whenever the novels drew upon this data, predominately GN 2 ("Strangers From The Sky"). The key year in which warp drive was developed given in two reference works is 2051 when, presumably, the first breakthrough in this field occurred at the Alpha Centauri Scientific Institute. What's Cochrane doing there if he's not a native? Possibly he was one of the scientists aboard the "Icarus" (clearly a sublight vessel). With the dur- ation of the voyage being 6 years each way, he probably remained behind on Centaurus and, I speculate, made the breakthrough sharing scientific data with the Centaurian scientists (though the novel "Federation" not only ignores all data on native Centaurians but also 21st Century info from the animated series etc.). I conjecture that from 2051 through 2061 warp drive systems were tested but by all means the SFC dates are too early and most must be dismissed. Somewhere within this decade of experimentation, Cochrane returns to Earth by sublight ship and con- tinues his work. SFC says the warp drive ship "Powell" brought him back. Well, if it did, it had to be a sublight voyage longer than 4 years since warp drive had to come about after 2061. I tend to ignore this entry and side with "Federation's" scenario of Cochrane making the first warp driven interstellar voyage to Centauri B II aboard the "Bonaventure" in about a year, returning to Sol system in 2061. The TNG Technical Manual states that early warp engines (called CDP engines) "were almost immediately incorporated into existing spacecraft designs with surprising ease" and Scott's statement in "The Time Trap," that the "Bonaventure" was the first ship equipped with warp drive, seems to back this up. Other books (TBoT) tend to agree, including "Federation" which nicely jibes with these saying that conversion of sublight ships to warp ships is a fairly simple process given resources and money. Though the TNG manual says that "as early as 2061, Cochrane's team succeeded in producing a prototype field device of massive proportions" which propelled an unmanned vehicle across the light barrier. Spaceflight Chronology, FASA, and The Worlds of the Feder- ation all mention that a monkey was successfully accelerated past warp 1 in 2055, however. I left this entry in because at least 3 sources back it up and it is possible, I suppose, that the craft was a one-shot only deal not intended for further test flights or experimentation. Again, this era could use more substantional sources! Presumably many sublight ships were fitted with these CDP engines quickly enough--making quite a time-saver considering the timeline. The "Bonaventure" may have been one such ship already in service by the 2060s (SFC says she was "Cochrane" class which is peculiar for a lead ship of a class--perhaps a name change after re- ceiving the warp drive units?), and coincidentally she's "Constitution"- like. This holds up surprisingly well in light of the publication of "Federation." The "Bonaventure" is illustrated in the EOM (both versions of the book) and recorded as a "Bonaventure" class galactic survey cruiser. It's not precisely the same as in the episode but far closer than SFC's 'slab ship' which can be explained by refittings I suppose, quite logical for a protoype ship and by "The Time Trap" she's two centuries old. "Federation" uses the name and gives us little else, though it implies that Cochrane made this journey alone. Rather hard to accept considering the size of the ship and its complexity, and the fact that Cochrane's a scientist and not an astronaut, but I'm degressing here... Back to the timeline: shortly after 2061, Cochrane and his team relocate to the Centauri colonies, noted as taking 4 years via CDP drive-- this is undoubtedly first generation warp drive by any other name. It's even possible that he voyaged back there aboard the "Bonaventure"--another speculation on my part. Why back to Centauri? Probably because that's where he started his work in the first place, and engines which employ antimatter are best experimented upon away from Earth. I made these spec- ulations before "Federation" and they fit surprisingly well, though the main reason Cochrane left for Centauri with the "Bonaventure" was to escape Adrik Thorsen and his Earth dictatorship which led to the Post- Atomic Horror. In 2064 SFC tells us that the "Verne" class warp ships enter service. Again I guess they used existing space frames from sub- light ships and needed only to build the warp (or CDP, if you like that silly abbreviation) engines. I don't dismiss this date because a year later is the historic contact with the Vulcans when the "Amity" (of the "Verne" class warp driven ships) occurs and is recorded in GN 2 as well as several other publications (TWF, FASA). To further substantiate warp ships by this time is the last Kzinti attack in 2064 which ends with the Treaty of Sirius when the Kzinti are repelled from Sol system and lose their empire. Earth HAD to have warp ships in service at this stage, and probably the first "Verne" ships saw a great deal of action. I'm not counting ships taken in battle from the Kzinti, which could have given Earth a technological boost. Accepting the 21st Century dates in "Federation," Zefram Cochrane is conveniently on Centauri or voyaging to Centauri during this conflict with the Kzinti. Sirius is 8.6 light years from Earth and said to be the first Terran colony (not counting Centaurus) in StarFleet Dynamics. SFC says the "Bonaventure" was lost in 2066 voyaging to this star (her third and final mission)--quite a distance from the Delta Triangle Region plotted in STM, but perhaps they encountered a wormhole? The "Bonaventure" is also credited with surveying the Tau Ceti system in 2061 after leaving Earth in 2059. This is a tad too far, too early, as Tau Ceti is 11.8 light years from Earth. Again I go along with Star Trek Maps' statement of Tau Ceti's first contact being circa 2070. FASA also credits the "Bonaventure" with making first contact with Axanar in 2065, again too early. Axanar is by far the most distant system and I believe had to be the ship's last stopoff point prior to the Delta Triangle. The EOM credits the S.S. "Cochrane" with making contact with Vulcan on stardate 1135.7 (presumably after 2065's Sol system contact and after 2087 when the stardate system was established--both are credited to GN 2). The question is, is this "Cochrane" the class ship to which the "Bonaventure" was refitted to? We'll never know. Do you care? This is a Star Trek Chronology not James' Fighting Starships. The only point which need be made is that the "Bonaventure"/"Cochrane" class starships were the first with warp drive, the first ships to make contact with other worlds, and were in service in the late 21st Century perhaps for 30 years or more.
Now as for contradictory information from Spaceflight Chronology and FASA which requires some explaining or was simply omitted to save continuity...
1. "The Romulans" supplement from FASA gives a good history of the Romulan race--provided the dates before circa 1700 A.D. are ignored. FASA assumes the Romulan people were Preserver-seeded on Romulus and are not the product of an early Vulcan colonial interstellar exped- ition. This theory is superceded by all the novels and by the two-parter "Unification," especially its novelization. The early dates conflict with the settling of Romulus and go further back than the Vulcan migration as detailed in "Spock's World" and "The Romulan Way." These two novels also note the degeneration of Romulan technology and of how spaceflight and other sciences were lost. The "discovery" and development of spaceflight should therefore be interpreted as "rediscovery." If this data is to be taken as accurate, we must also assume that Remus was a sparcely colonized world and contact was long since severed and for- gotten by 1700 A.D. and later. The 1812 Remus landing is therefore not the first landing, but it is the first landing after the rediscovery of rocketry. Here's what's been omitted:
-29/ The Preservers seed Vulcanoid peoples in the Romulus/Remus system, prev- iously devoid of intelligent life. Seven settlements are established at the sites of the modern city-states of Caranam, Portora, Kanassarum, Labasasz, Dinalla, Pulla'd, and Farrad. -27/ D'Sivas is settled by Farrad on Romulus. -25/ On Romulus, the cities Labasasz and Portora make contact and battle over soft-metal deposits. The results are inconclusive. -22/ The Romulan people continue to disperse. Ranassa is settled by Portora. Timuraasz is settled by Dinalla. -21/ Calanista and Manasan are settled by Caranam, on Romulus.
2. For the 1990 and 2003 entries on Kahless epetai-Riskadh it must be assumed that this is not the same Kahless The Unforgettable from "The Savage Curtain" and "Rightful Heir." This TNG episode clearly establishes that Kahless ruled the Klingons long before spaceflight was developed. I speculate that this Kahless is another Klingon with an identical name, possibly a descendant. Hey, it worked for Colonel Worf in ST VI and Lt. Worf in TNG, didn't it? The information on the perfection of warp drive in the 1990s fits considering that the Klingons got warp drive from the Karsid Empire in 1800. And warp drive systems are hardly developed over night, especially by a warrior race.
3. Spaceflight Chronology and FASA give different years for the commis- sioning of the Solar Fleet in the 21st Century. I made a logical choice between the two...
4. Here are the deleted SFC/FASA dates for Earth's development of warp drive which ended up as being too early. The specs for the "Bonaventure" also happen to apply to the ship illustrated in SFC which bears no re- lationship to the vessel seen in "The Time Trap." Cochrane disappears decades later, also:
0/5507-5909 The first experimental warp-driven ships are tested by Terran and Alpha Centaurian research teams. The United Nations Space Ship "Bonaventure", the first of the new ships, is commissioned. The First of the "Cochrane" class, the "Bonaventure", is well-armed with monochromatic high-intensity lasers, powered by the ship's fusion sublight engine [SFC, FASA]. 2059 The "Bonaventure" begins Terra's Warp Drive Era with a voyage to the Tau Ceti star system twelve light-years away. These "Cochrane" class starships have a ship's complement of 45, warp celestial guidance, and fusion engines to generate the warp field effect. They are armed with 2 forward lasers, have warp 2.5 capacity, and employ 75:1 matter to antimatter fuel. The commander of the "Bonaventure" is Captain Hadrian Huckleby and her chief engineer is Ian Macgregor [SFC]. 2060 The warp drive ship U.N.S.S. "Powell" journeys to Alpha Centauri and is hailed as a remarkable achievement [FASA]. 2061 The "Powell" returns to Terra, bringing Zefram Cochrane. He is accorded all the pomp and pageantry any native Terran hero would receive [FASA]. Captain Hadrian Huckleby, commander of the U.N.S.S. "Bonaventure," brings the ship into the Tau Ceti system [SFC]. Trade between Earth and Alpha Centauri begins in earnest with first generation warp drive ships [SFC]. Zefram Cochrane disappears. 2065, 19 July [reference stardate 0/6507.19] While on an exploratory mission, the U.N.S.S. "Bonaventure" discovers Axanar and its intelligent but non-spacefaring Humanoid race. The discovery of this race further substantiates Hodgkins' Law, now indisputably accepted as valid [FASA]. [reference stardate 0/6602] The "Bonaventure" is unaccountably lost on its third mission.
5. A common gripe with Spaceflight Chronology which even FASA went on to correct was Vulcan's sun. It's 40 Eridani not Epsilon Eridani. Other erroneous stellar names were later ignored, except in cases where no common primary name was available. FASA's "The Federation" game supplement provided an abundance of information on stellar primaries-- but botched them up so badly that they weren't even consistent with themselves. One would think that Cochrane I was the first planet orbiting this star, but look again under Position in System, it's different! And then under the alternate stellar name!
6. The first Terran contact with the Andorians is dated 2075. There's no further data in other sources as to when first contact was achieved, with the exception of "Spock's World." The novel mentions that Earth had contacted the Andorians before the Vulcans. Since this is the only contradictory source, with no date whatsoever, I'm willing to dismiss it until something more substantial is produced, so I kept the FASA date.
7. The U.F.P.'s founding in 2087 is a key erroneous date in SFC/FASA. This marks the point where dates are shifted up approximately 52 years. All dates dates referenced from this point onwards will be approximated dates based upon this.
8. The approximated year is 2141 for the first deployment of space buoys "to improve navigation and security within Federation boundaries." Line Officers Requirements/Starfleet Dynamics gives 2150 but emphasizes "commercial and private interstellar craft." I'm assuming different beacons, perhaps the latter forming the space lane networks.
9. 2145 marks the year of the "Horizon" class entering service. Now here is a problem... Heavy Cruiser Evolution Blueprints and other Tech Fandom publications have thoroughly covered the construction history of the "Horizon"/"Archon" class, placing them in the last decade of the 22nd Century. SFC assumes an almost exact 100 year differential for the loss of the "Horizon" (and later "Archon" though not credited as being of the same class). SFC credits these ships as being the first U.F.P.-sponsored class and stresses their wide production and importance. The more sub- stantial "Horizon"/"Archon" is based on the pre-production drawings from "The Making of Star Trek" and bears no resemblance to SFC's "Horizon" ships! The SFC "Horizon" is a box-like affair with multiple laser banks, particle beam cannons, and torpedoes. Tech Fandom's "Horizon"/"Archon" ships are more warp dynamic, faster, and "Constitution"-like. Their only armaments, being non-militaristic cruisers, are two forward laser banks. Taking all this into consideration (and that the SFC "Horizon" class is decommissioned some 4 years prior to the launch of the Tech Fandom "Horizon" cruisers), I have assumed that these are two very different starship classes with the same name. I was tempted to name them "Horizon (I)" and "Horizon (II)" classes, but decided against it since there has been too many liberties taken in other Trek timelines. Thus, the SFC dates given for the loss of the "Horizon" and "Archon" were ignored in favor of the more popular HCE and SotF dates.
10. There's some confusion as to When the Romulan War began. SFC makes it clear that the Romulans began their assault and were mistaken for space pirates for many years. This explains the discrepancies, with "The Romulan Way" dating the start of the Romulan attacks as far back as 25 years. The actual war, with ships from both fleets mobilized, didn't begin until the late 2150s/early 2160s.
11. One rare exception to the dating shift scheme is the opening of the Arcturus Test Range. It would have been in the early 2200s but the "Durance" class cargo/tug includes several records of ships of this class being destroyed in this region in the mid-2160s. This ship class would later be acknowledged in more sophisticated Tech Fandom works such as the Size Comparison Chart II, so the ship histories Do fit this Chron- ology and the SFC date is therefore Correct for a change.
12. The TNG Technical Manual describes the development of modern photon torpedoes, dating back to the early 23rd Century. SFC, on the other hand, lists them among the armaments of many a Star Fleet ship in the 22nd Century alongside fusion torpedoes. I speculate that these were the simplest of antimatter torpedoes, perhaps erroneously referred to as photon torpedoes. It certainly doesn't take much technology to develop a magnetic bottle capable of holding antimatter, not when they've got warp driven starships. A good analogy is the warp factor ratings ap- plied to ships decades before the Quantum II warp drive system introduced in 2161 (Star Trek Maps) when warp factors were first invented. Speaking of warp drives, I haven't altered the SFC Generations of warp drive even though they conflict with Technical Fandom's. Simply because 2nd Generat- ion warp drive was incorporated into ships a few years before the estab- lished date does not imply that they were of the same superior design and capabilities.
13. The establishment of Memory Alpha was in the 23rd Century, not the 22nd according to Star Trek Maps. I deleted all references to it from SFC therefore, although I did acknowledge that the "Horizon (I)" was placed there.
14. The "Horizon" leads us to the problem of subspace radio, SFC's "Declaration" class, and the Prime Directive. The "Horizon" didn't have subspace radio in "A Piece of the Action" yet subspace radio was used to negotiate the original Romulan-U.F.P. Treaty. The "Horizon" is from the 2190s and the War ended in the early 2160s. One could interpret this as meaning that early subspace radio had been developed by the 2160s and it wasn't until after the 2190s that so sophisticated a communications system could be miniaturized and installed aboard starships. It sounds logical, so I dropped this SFC entry:
2174 [reference stardate 1/22]Shortly after this, the "Declaration" class starliners enter service, the first ships with subspace radio. Problem: long before the 2190s and our "Horizon." I simply acknowledged that this class would be the first to have subspace radio installed, guessing that it would be decades later on down the road. The "Declaration" class would be in service till 2217 when the "Constitution" class would be launched. What is most unsettling about the "Declaration" class is its history. SFC says one such ship of this class was named the "Enterprise." This tidbit comes from the information alcove painting of an ambiguous space vessel "Enterprise" in ST-TMP. Un- fortunately, like the "Bonaventure," she doesn't look quite the same as the source. But unlike the "Bonaventure," she's not a decade early, but is over a century Late. The Making of ST-TMP credits her as being the first ship to Alpha Centauri in the early 21st Century. Star Trek Maps supplies the date as being 2039 and a more accurate line drawing rendering of this early interstellar vessel. Even The Worlds of the Federation acknowledges her and this date. Since we know there isn't another "Enterprise" this SFC ship has been ignored. If there is any doubt over this, study her design. The wheel-shaped hub was constructed to provide centrifugal spin gravity for the crew's comfort. True artificial gravity came about, presumably, when warp drive was developed. Of course, there is the flying belt found in the stasis box ("The Slaver Weapon") and the case of the S.S. "Botany Bay" having gravity (or were they walking with magnatomic adhesion soles?) but in any case, she's a primitive ship. The judge in the Post Atomic Horror court of 2079 glided in on an antigrav chair in "Encounter At Farpoint." Data did say the court was an exact duplicate so we should assume that the chair wasn't one of Q's extra touches. As with subspace radio, the "Horizon" also lacked the Prime Directive. General Order Number One went into affect after her contact with Sigma Iotia II (or at the very least, after she left port). So the following First Violation of the Prime Directive entries were dropped, since they're clearly undefined as to when G.O. #1 went into effect. From "Prime Directive" we get the date of the first publication of the Richter Scale of Culture around 2203, which would later be used to determine when G.O. #1 would apply to certain critical civilizations. Yet we still have no idea of when it was instituted, though General Order 7 was made law apparently right after "The Cage" around 2248.
Subspace Radio is introduced in the U.F.P. This breakthrough has an immediate and far-reaching impact on galactic security, trade and travel with its warp 15 transmission speed--a breakthrough in transtator physics [SFC].
2180 [reference stardate 1/2803]
Captain James Gunther Smithson enters orbit around Vega Proxima where two rival power blocs are about to start a nuclear world war. Smithson intervenes by directing his ship's lasers to intercept and neutralize a missile. He is relieved of command [SFC, FASA].
2182 [reference stardate 1/30]
Captain James Smithson is dishonorably discharged from Star Fleet in the first violation of the Prime Directive. He is court martialed at Starbase 11, Star Fleet Strategic Space Station, commanded by Commodore Thaddeau Stoner, for preventing a world war [SFC].
In the "Mirror" universe: The first major execution of the Prime Instigation Directive occurs when Captain James Smithson intervenes to promote a nuclear conflict on Vega Proxima [TBoT #14].
15. In view of how starbases seem to change, are redesignated, and tend to be destroyed, I've kept the bizarre history of Starbase 12 intact. Never before has there been a starbase which is active, is incomplete a couple decades later, is active over half a century later, then is said to be active a few years after that. You can interpret this any way you'd like. I wash my hands of it.
16. The list of Federation Presidents is nearly impossible to integrate without chucking some names out or leaving incredible gaps. This is again because FASA prefers to Invent than Research. Noted U.F.P. presidents not in their history include the one who christened the Enterprise (Star Trek Log 7) and the negotiator who signed the Romulan Peace Treaty (Star Fleet Technical Manual)--though in this second case I've left his name in. Perhaps Governor of the Federation Council and Council President are two different positions?
17. General Orders 1 through 24 listed in FASA's Federation booklet have not been included since they tend to conflict with the General Orders presented in the live action and animated series, dates and all. I recommend the General Orders given in the original U.S.S. Enterprise Officers Manual over these. However, General Orders 25 and beyond are otherwise undefined outside of FASA and have therefore been included. These are from FASA's TNG Officers Manual.
18. Some of the chronological data in "The Final Reflection" contradicts SFC/FASA. Because this novel is such a milestone in Klingon history, I've given its dates priority. So therefore the first Klingon contact was shifted to 2207 and not the year 2203 given in SFC/FASA.
19. FASA's Klingon-whatever fusion race references are not to be found here. Whenever possible, I'm tried to keep what I could of the entries intact. They are different Klingon races/nationalities and I've left it at that.
20. Poor Richard Daystrom really got screwed by SFC/FASA. He's given the wrong date of birth (even Okuda's Chronology didn't botch this!) and resultingly all later dates tied into his creative genius fall apart. These include his breakthrough at age 10 in 2222, his Nobel Prize for Duo- tronics in 2237, the development of the universal translator from it a year later in 2238, and eventually the M-1. Fortunately there's a logical pattern here and the dates only lag by 14 years. 14 years added on fixes them.
21. The entry on the invention of the transporter from FASA and SFC I decided to leave intact because it's so ambiguous and because it is packed with info. Perhaps until this point in history it had always been the property of Star Fleet and not the Federation? Was the technology lost and rediscovered? You decide.
22. Other wacko dates, dates contradicted by Treknical sources like Star Trek Maps, were not included. These include the oddball U.F.P. member already recorded, the establishment of Wrigley's Pleasure Planet, and a couple of colonizations from FASA. FASA also gave two conflicting dates for the Orion slave trade ban. I selected the more popular of the two.
23. FASA's dating of the "Constitution" class' launch I've dismissed for reasons already stated. FASA's whole list of vessels in this class are erroneous (at least as far as mainstream Technical Fandom goes), notably their NCCs. There are uncountable numbers of other FASA ship anomalies for their own, original ships even. In their universe, it's not uncommon for Star Fleet to build a hundred ships or more of each class, as opposed to a dozen or so in Technical Fandom's universe. I'm warning you right now. You'll also note that I left out listing the number of phaser emplacements for most FASA ships. The reason for this is that FASA can't count their own phasers per ship! A typical movie era ship has 12 phaser emplacements on her primary hull (3 pairs topside, 3 pairs bottomside). FASA scales their ships down, for gaming simplicity, giving only a couple banks per ship--even though you can easily count these "missing" banks on their own ship illustrations! This gets rather confusing and rather than wasting time extrapolating how many phasers are actually present on each ship (no easy task considering that not all views are presented for each and the lower hull need not always mirror the upper hull) I simply left out listing the ships' ordnance in some cases. Ships which I have intention- ally igonored are the "Constitution," "Enterprise," and "Reliant" classes which have all been thoroughly (and need I say more accurately?) covered here by non-gaming technical references. However, due to several references to "Reliant class cruisers," and the fact that FASA numbers all but 9 of them in the 26xxx range (which does not conflict with any known ship registries) I have decided to include the history of these vessels (accept them as "Avenger" class offshoots if you'd like). The "Constitution" and "Enterprise" classes are unsalvagable. I've also steered away from using their Class system which seems to be confused with the traditional Model classification system (to FASA, "Constitution" and "Enterprise" class heavy cruisers are Class XI ships rather than Class I ships of the line). I'm also somewhat doubtful over their ships Complement and Emergency Speed records. Crew and Passengers are split, which is fine for the "Constitution" class (Crew: 430, Passengers: 60 or so they say) but not for the "Enterprise" class (Crew: 416, Passengers: 60). For Ship's (Total) Complement should the two be summed? I've just noted the Crew as listed in the Ship Recognition Manual, nothing more in each case. The same source states the "Enterprise" class has a cruising velocity of warp 8 and an emergency speed of warp 10--though almost all other sources give her a maximum speed of warp 12, with warp 10 being classified as Flank Speed. In the Chronology I have simply recorded the emergency speed for the warp capacity in each case. This thing's a Chronology anyway, you can analyze each source independently for more detailed information--if you consider them "legitimate" to begin with. It's interesting to see how the Mk I, Mk II, and Mk III "Constitution Class XI Cruiser" ships' service dates almost match up to the "Constitution," "Bonhomme Richard," and "Achernar" classes when altered... The "Enterprise" class similarly in FASA has three Mark subclasses which shouldn't be compared. Again, this information hasn't be incorporated for continuity's sake, as there's quite enough confusion without incorporating the different Model number systems.
24. I've done my best to hop around using FASA's designations for technical hardware models. FWG-1 (Federation Warp drive G, lookup 1 in the chart), FIC-2 (Federation Impulse drive C, lookup 2 in the chart), FSC (Federation deflector Shield C), KD-2 (Klingon Dis- ruptor type 2) and so on. Doesn't look very realistic does it? Again because it's for role playing game purposes.
25. Shane Johnson's contributions fit right into the FASA universe, as it's his primary source of information. Since I included FASA I had to include some of his non-conflicting info (which isn't much!). He calls a devistating, yet short-lived, war between the U.F.P. and the Klingons shortly before any sort of peaceful negotiations the Swift War in his Worlds of the Federation (a pity he made up the coordinates for systems not pre-plotted in Star Trek Maps and are terribly erroneous). I am assuming that this was the war which the "T'Ong" was prepared for in "The Emissary." Johnson is known to contradict even his own pub- lications. The dates for the approval and issuing of the ST II uniforms are shifted by a year in his Star Fleet Uniform Recognition Manual and his Mister Scott's Guide to the "Enterprise" book. I went with the later dates in the latter source since the ST-TMP uniforms have an incredibly short service life, yet we know the ST II uniforms were in use by the late 2270s ("Cause And Effect"). The Recognition Manual's issue dates for the classic uniforms were dismissed and only the approval dates accepted (after the usual 50+ year shift was applied, of course) because they're a few months too early going by the more substantial and accurate Federation Reference Series dates (which is by far a better guide to pre- ST II uniforms).
26. The TNG Officers Manual gives some radically different histories and data for the "Enterprises" (-B and -C) and can't even give the correct class for each ship. All has been ignored since the dates (any way you would like to interpret them) don't jibe. The "Excelsior" class I managed to fit provisionally, shifting dates up by 65 rather than 61 years since most were built in the late 23rd/early 24th Centuries. They follow logically from the movie era although I warn you that TNG era "reference stardates" will be off by about 4 years. I did this to preserve the cont- inuity of the ships' service records. In order to accept these "Excelsior" class starships, other factors must be assumed: that the NCCs of some ships were later changed (the "Hood" and "Intrepid" come to mind), and that the "built" dates given are actually the dates when the vessels' frames were laid down--Not when they were launched and/or commissioned. This second assumption is needed to justify the statements in the Ships of the Star Fleet manual (February, 2290) regarding the non-production status of "Excelsior" class space control ships: frames were laid down for vessels, nothing more. This also explains the experimental designation for the first 4 hulls in the class (NX-2000-NX-2003). Other oddities in- clude NX-2001 being called the "Proxima" rather than "Ingram"--I am assuming she had a name change when Star Fleet Command decided to turn the hull into an "Excelsior" class offshoot. And the curious case of the U.S.S. "Jenolen" (NCC-2010) "Sydney" class transport which was lost in 2294. The U.S.S. "Ajax II" was laid down the same year with the same NCC! Well, obviously the "Jenolen" was listed as lost, presumed destroyed, and this made the NCC available to the "Excelsior" class starship a few months later. Jackill's third Reference Manual solves the "Sydney" class probem rather abruptly by simply adding an 'S' prefix to all NCCs in the class. Now as to the "Constellation" class starships, I've excluded FASA's info on the "Stargazer" and "Constellation" class ship, and went with the normal 61 year add-on. Later ships in FASA's universe launched in the TNG era I've also included, though not necessarily their NCCs. My favorite is the U.S.S. "Peter Preston" (NCC-6027) "Decker" class transwarp destroyer. If FASA had survived a few more years, there might've even been a U.S.S. "Spot." The "Sagan" class science ships (clearly supposed to represent the "Oberth" class) I decided to include on the basis that they are offshoots of the "Oberth" class, though I've omitted FASA's "Tsiolkovsky" (NCC-20001) entry. FASA's "Ambassador" class heavy cruisers differ drastically from the "Abassador" class we are accustomed to. They are not the same class. FASA's lead ship of this class is the "Ambassador Hardin" so I've therefore referred to them as the "Ambassador Hardin" class rather than just "Ambassador" class. The "Paine" class frigates are another problem. An Okudagram appearing in TNG Magazine provides the NCC of the U.S.S. "Thomas Paine" appearing in "Conspiracy" and also notes it as a "New Orleans" class frigate. The number and nominal class don't match, I've nevertheless included all ships and you can interpret them any way you wish. An upgrade to a new class and change of registry or another ship entirely?
27. The Best of Trek #14 published a Mirror Universe Chronology directly based upon the Spaceflight Chronology, using the same dates. Intrigued by it, I also incorporated it using the same rules above. It's a bit odd how both universes pretty much feature the same events and characters over the period of three centuries, but that's the Mirror Universe for you. Diane Duane's new novel "Dark Mirror" seems to support this timeline. However, I was forced to eliminate some entries which were inconsistent with the episode "Mirror, Mirror" itself! These include the rise of Captain Pike to Emperor-- Kirk's service record stated that Kirk assassinated the former captain and thereby attained command of the "Enterprise." A few entries go on about how Emperor Pike bred the flying para- sites of "Operation: Annihilate!" and continued on ruling the U.F.P. past the time of the five-year mission. These were obviously dropped. Another oddity is Emperor Joaquin's assassination in 2177 (originally 2125). Assuming he was born in the 1990s (not of selective breeding) he'd be over 135 years old! That's over 187 with the 52 year shift! Of course, these are Eugenics supermen with increased life-spans and I suppose being the emperor he had the best of medical care at his disposal... And through organ transplants, cybernetics, and life- extension drugs, who-knows-what he had evolved into by the time he got what was coming to him... Might've looked like Davros or Vader! With the large differences in years I also assume that "Colonel" Patrick Green was in actuality the father of the "real" Colonel Green who never was born and/or never came to power in the "Mirror" universe. Another interesting addition is that a Colonel Green is mentioned as having aided Khan in his invasion of Australia in the novel "Debtors Planet." This cannot have been later than 1996 so I am again assuming that this is another Colonel Green, again probably the father of the Colonel Green of the 2030s campaign.
28. FASA's early history of the Klingons seems to hold up quite well, however there are discontinuities which can't be explained. Line Officers Requirements Supplement, for example, states that the Klingons FTL drive system was developed c. 1800--a century before the development of spaceflight according to the FASA timeline. We know nothing about this early warp drive development and since LOR tends to be a more reliable source I left it intact in the Chronology. Possibly the Karsids gave the technology to the Klingons c. 1800? Possibly the technology was lost in battle for a century? We don't know. History is erratic at times. To add to the confusion is the novel "Mindshadow" which introduces us to a Klingonoid character from a world settled by Klingons c. 1264 A.D. With the different names attributed to the homeworld (Kazh, Klinzhai, Kronos) it's possible that we're dealing with one or more worlds seeded by the Preservers at different technological levels. This could even account for the multiple Klingon races...
29. SFC gives a date in the 2180s for subspace radio reaching the trans- mission speed of warp 30 (27,000 times the speed of light) and a later entry in the SFC states that the starship "Enterprise" was launched with this most sophisticated subspace radio. The problem lies in the later publications LOR and SFD contradicting this, clearly stating that warp 20.3 (8,365 times the speed of light) is the maximum speed attainable. The corrected date for the SFC entry would be 2239--too early for warp 30 subspace radio, since LOR and SFD are 2280s/2290s publications. The NTM, concentrating on 2360s technology, on the other hand states that subspace radio has been perfected to (TNG scale) warp 9.9997 (something on the order of 100,000 times lightspeed). The SFC entry doesn't jibe with this data so it has been omitted.
30. The final touch to enhace the Spaceflight Chronology/FASA/Johnson additions comes from Lawrence Miller in his (perhaps worst) work yet: "Star Fleet Tactical Database Series 2" blueprints. I lost all respect for this man with what he did to the Spaceflight Chronology's ship draw- ings here: ignoring and changing their names (hospital ships to armed out- posts?), switching ships around (DY-series), and providing new and often conflicting specs (with totally wrong scales). However, I managed to sal- vage what I could out of this mess including warp engine types and marg- inally expanded histories. But these prints leave much to be desired and most drawings are inferior to the originals.