Jack of Harts

The original Shang strikes on Yosemite Yards and Washington D.C. did not unduly anger the Great Families of the New England Federation. The District of Columbia was full of self-delusional fools who thought themselves more powerful than they really were. They were no great loss to America or humanity. And while the western reaches of the Federation’s flyover country were valuable for the food production and vacation destinations, the Great Families did not generally give a care about the people who lived there. They were replaceable. The Great Families still took advantage of the situation though. They loudly denounced the attacks and offered their support in teaching the Aliens a lesson. It was a time to stand united with their fellow Americans, and their other Western Allies. It was time to show them all what the Federation was capable of.

The Federation-class exploration cruiser is the measuring stick all other explorer ships are compared to. It is the pride of the New England Federation Starfleet, and can be found throughout the outer rim of human expansion and exploration. One of the defining features of the class is the detachable survey saucer that can fly down to a planet to perform greater study while the starship core continues exploring the star system. During the infamous “Test that assumption at your convenience” incident, the captain detached the survey saucer to hold the Shang’s attention, launched armed small craft to protect it, and fired a volley of missiles and long-range laser fire. He then performed a dangerous short-range hyperspace transit that brought them out on the other side of the foe for a perfect crossfire scenario. They lost the hyperdrive but won a victory that changed our history.

The New England Federation built and maintained the NASA rockets that pressed the frontier of explored space further outward until NASA itself ceased to exist. The Federation Starfleet took over most of NASA’s old mission after that, and became the standard all other exploration programs are measured against. Federation exploration cruisers are the best equipped and prepared exploration ships in known space. Their missile launchers can send out all manners of probes and their laser arrays can test any material to find out what they are looking at. They were never built with heavy gravitic weapons since they were not warships, but their shields and armor are the very best, and their lasers and missiles are perfectly capable of defending them from those with less noble goals. Do not underestimate them.