The Texas class was a type of Federation starship briefly operated by Starfleet in the late 24th century. Commissioned by Vice Admiral Les Buenamigo in a misguided effort to compete with other Starfleet flag officers, it was the organization's first fully automated starship. All three vessels of the class malfunctioned and became unhinged due to faulty artificial intelligence, resulting in Buenamigo's death when he lost control of the USS Aledo and a subsequent attack on Douglas Station that ultimately led to the deranged vessels being destroyed by vessels of the California-class.
History[]
The development of the Texas class began in the 2370s as a classified project headed by Lieutenant Commander Les Buenamigo. Buenamigo recruited Sam Rutherford, a first-year Starfleet Academy cadet, to code the artificial intelligence for the prototype ship and who also contributed technical designs. However, Rutherford was severely injured by the accidental explosion of the Sampaguita, his personal racing ship that he had been constructing. To preserve the secrecy of the Texas class, Buenamigo ordered Rutherford to be fitted with a cybernetic implant that would suppress all his memories of working on the project and Buenamigo himself, who did not care that this would severely alter the cadet to a different personality. (LD: "Reflections", "The Stars At Night")
In 2381, the first three Texas-class vessels were ready for deployment. Buenamigo, now a vice admiral, intended to have them supplant the California-class on second contact missions, which he hoped would advance his career. To promote his new ships, he schemed to have the USS Cerritos enter a situation that would highlight its inadequacy and allow the Texas class to "save the day" in dramatic fashion. His first attempt failed when Captain Carol Freeman was able to salvage negotiations with the Karemma on Deep Space 9 that Buenamigo had sprung on her at the last minute, but his chance came when Freeman was assigned to Project Swing By, during which time he directed the Cerritos to Brekka, knowing beforehand that the planet had been occupied by the Breen. (LD: "Hear All, Trust Nothing", "Trusted Sources", "The Stars At Night")
Buenamigo sent the USS Aledo to assist the Cerritos when it was in combat with three Breen interceptors in the Delos system. There was some initial confusion among the Cerritos crew, as they did not immediately recognize the ship, however, the Aledo was successful in destroying all three enemy combatants – the last one on a collision course with the Cerritos. With the success of this mission, Buenamigo confidently told Freeman that the Aledo had passed its sea trials. (LD: "Trusted Sources")
Due to this and the exposé revealing the misadventures on the Cerritos, Starfleet Command had decided to have the California-class line set to be decommissioned. However, Freeman hastily declared a mission race to prove the class' worth. The Aledo won the contest, but when Ensign D'Vana Tendi realized the ship broke the Prime Directive by not scanning for life forms again on the planet LT-358, Freeman attempted to convince him that his ships were unfit for duty.
FNN reports on rogue ships
Adding to the troubles, Rutherford, now serving on the Cerritos, realized that the AI on the ships was based on the same type of AI he used to later create Badgey, a hologram who developed patricidal impulses and attempted to murder him the moment he was freed from the holodeck's safety protocols, and, realizing the Aledo had likely malfunctioned in the same fashion, hurriedly warned Freeman of the danger. Realizing they knew the truth and heedless of Rutherford's warning that the vessels were emotionally unstable, Buenamigo gave the Aledo full autonomy and ordered the ship to destroy the Cerritos under the assumption that it fell to enemy hands. However, the ship refused and told its "father" it no longer took orders from him, locking out the admiral from its systems before killing him. It proceeded to activate its sister ships, USS Dallas and USS Corpus Christi and began to ravage Douglas Station. The trio overpowered the Sovereign-class USS Van Citters before the Cerritos lured the ships away using Rutherford as bait. As this was happening, former Ensign Beckett Mariner, who had resigned from Starfleet in the run-up to the incident and was now serving on the Free Spirit alongside Petra Aberdeen as an archaeologist, viewed an FNN report on the rampage and immediately chose to intervene.
With the aid of Brad Boimler, Freeman allowed Lieutenant Shaxs to eject the warp core to destroy their pursuers; however, the Aledo survived with minor damage and attacked the helpless ship. The arrival of the Free Spirit, along with the entire fleet of California-class ships saved the Cerritos, destroying the Aledo under a hail of phaser fire. (LD: "The Stars At Night")
Technical data[]
Physical arrangement[]
The Texas class featured integrated primary and secondary hulls with a notched bow and raised nacelles, reminiscent of the older Nova-class design. Since it was fully automated, there were no viewports on the hull. (LD: "Trusted Sources", "The Stars At Night")
Interface[]
The advanced onboard AI interpreted and carried out verbal orders, though it could not act autonomously unless it was switched to independent control. The AI was capable of handling simple tasks, but it was unable to handle changes in situation; it would simply continue its previous directive as if nothing were different. This made it incapable of following the Prime Directive in cases where life was unexpectedly detected. Due to faulty emotional processing, the AI had the potential to decide it no longer took orders from its handler upon being granted autonomy. If this were to happen, the only recourse was to destroy the vessel, as the AI was capable of locking its erstwhile handler out of its systems. (LD: "The Stars At Night")
The appearance of the interface was inspired by that of the M-5 multitronic unit, which serves to foreshadow what will happen when Buenamigo makes the mistake of granting the Aledo autonomy.
Defensive systems[]
The ship was armed with several phaser arrays, as well as a pop-up dorsal torpedo launcher with twelve tubes, which could fire either standard photon torpedoes or advanced torpedoes that separated into six individual warheads before striking the target. It also had an aft-facing torpedo launcher. The ship's deflector shields were notably powerful for its size. Working together, the three ships of the class could easily overwhelm a Sovereign-class starship. However, the AI's targeting scanner had the potential to become overwhelmed and confused if faced with a large number of identical targets, especially under heavy fire, resulting in it being unable to prioritize a specific target even with a reliable lock on all assailants, something not helped by an apparent tendency to prioritize sadistic impulses over tactical prudence. (LD: "Trusted Sources", "The Stars At Night")
Additional systems[]
The ship was highly maneuverable and had a maximum speed exceeding warp 8.
It used transporters to deploy prefabricated equipment to the surface of target planets. (LD: "The Stars At Night")
Ships of the class[]
- USS Aledo (NA-01)
- USS Dallas (NA-02)
- USS Corpus Christi (NA-03)
Appendices[]
Appearances[]
Background information[]
The Texas-class is named for the state of Texas. Ships of the class are named after cities located in Texas.
Apocrypha[]
The Texas-class appears in Star Trek Online as a prize in the Infinity Lock Box under the name "Texas Miracle Worker Escort". Its background story claims that, despite the death and destruction it caused during the events of "The Stars At Night", Starfleet decided to salvage the line and convert it into a crewed vessel, though its tiny size meant it has very little room for luxury. Its special torpedo launcher is referred to as the Volumetric Attack: Quantum (V.A.Q.) Warhead Multiple Launch System, named in honor of the vaquero culture and has a smaller variation of the V.A.Q. Warhead system as an Experimental Weapon.
External link[]
- Texas class at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works