-=> Quoting Zorch Frezberg to Christopher Tarana <=-
 ZF> Close.  Make it 
 ZF> 
 ZF> Capt Robert April     Launch to +2 - Shakedown/'Sea Trials'
 ZF> Capt Chris Pike           +2 to +7 - First Five Year
 ZF> Mission 
 ZF> and add 2 years to each of the dates, and you'd about have it right.
        Actually my first draft had Capt April doing a 5 year mission and
a refit just to give a possible worst-case scenario. I dropped it in favor
of the approach I took so that even the hardline B's & C's of Trek Canon
couldn't argue too much.  Your approach is a good compromise.
 ZF> While April's service on the "E" is largely undocumented, it would
 ZF> probably be likely that his command was not considered a "true mission"
 ZF> in light of what Pike and Kirk went through since it would be
 ZF> 'officially' recorded as being part of 'testing'.
        I agree.  I can't recall any decent reference to April except
the Pocket novel, and you know how much mileage they get!  :-)
 ZF> The likely reality would be that since the "E" was the most 'reliably
 ZF> tested' of the spaceframes, it was routinely sent on 'special missions'
 ZF> as a part of the testing process.
        It's reasonable to assume that the Constitution itself may have been
held in Quadrant zero not only as a control to the experiments that 
nterprise
was conducting, but as a rescue vessel in case something short of a total
warp breach occured.  Especially with the advanced Duotronic computers 
board,
it's not something you abandon and leave for the Romulans or Klingons.
 CT> This might also explain why the Queen of Starfleet was being used as a
 CT> training vessel, ferrying around cadets instead of patrolling the outer 
 CT> reaches of the Federation.  (Personally, I think Nogura and Spock cut a 
 CT> deal to keep Spock on the Enterprise because Nogura owed Kirk after the 
 CT> Vger Crisis!)
 ZF> You've got a pretty good analysis here...I'd disagree with the time
 ZF> frames, but not terribly so, as indicated above.
        :-)  The Canon Factor Strikes Again!  Nogura couldn't face the
possibilty of Kirk and Spock resigning at the same time, so he cuts a deal
that Spock commands the Enterprise in Zero Quadrant while Kirk is "in 
Absentia"
at Starfleet Command and Spock uses the Enterprise for a training vessel.  
This
gives Nogura an out he can use to pressure Kirk into going back upstairs 
hile
making Kirk believe he's not giving up the Enterprise permanently.  The age
shouldn't matter as far as the spaceframe goes, one would assume that by that
century, we would be able to refit a vessel to fairly exacting standards. Its
all a matter of raising the credits and allocating the time for a refit.
        Funny thing about Admiral Morrow's comment about the Enterprise's age
is that it seems to ignore the vast amount of changes that Enterprise 
underwent
during her refit to Constitution Class - Flight 2, He doesn't realize 
Enterprise
is NOT the same vessel that April and Pike commisioned.  It's a more 
fficient
design all around.
        (The way I solve the class conflict is to call the Enterprise 
(NCC-1701)
after the refit a Constitution Class - Flight 2 vessel (or just Constitution
Class for the lay person.) and call NEW builds using the refit blueprints the
Enterprise Class cruisers.  The Navy did the same thing with their Los 
ngeles
(688) SSNs (Attack Subs).  All the boats from 688-718 were Flight 1 boats,
and after a redesign that updated the reactor systems, and added Vertical 
Launch
Tomahawk missile tubes, Los Angeles class boats from 719-750 were called
Flight 2 boats.)
 > But you're right...especially with respect to the adventures that the
 ZF> "E" went through, as an engineer, I'd *really* like to see the effects
 ZF> on the ship of being in "null space" ("The Immunity Syndrome"), going
 ZF> through interstitial space ("The Tholian Web"), time travel (you name
 ZF> it), and being hit with temporal waves ("City on the Edge of Forever").
        I'm positive Scotty must have made a fortune on the Lecture circuit,
especially after Piccard picked him off that Dyson Sphere!  I can't see him
retiring.  Teaching, yes - Retiring, no.
 ZF> No wonder Kirk was at a desk for over two years...it took that long to
 ZF> de-brief the entire crew on the missions!
        Actually he would have debriefed the crew and Fleet the first year of
the "refit".  The second eighteen months he was working undercover with 
Admiral
Ciana. :-)
                Christopher
... Backup not found: (A)bort (R)etry (S)lap nearest innocent bystander.
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