Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek, nor BSG old or new, nor do I own the Harringtonverse, or any of the dozens of different science fiction literary works, tv series and fanfiction works which I mention and/or use in this my personal work of fiction. More's the pity, I could certainly use the money.

Star Trek: Way of the Battlestar

Preface

Due to the incident between the U.S.S. Kelvin and the mysterious Romulan ship, and after a series of heated deliberations, Starfleet determined their current style of ship design was overly optimistic. Already preoccupied by the early experiences of the NX-01 Enterprise and United Earth's near-destruction at the hands of the Xindi, Starfleet came to the conclusion their ships were unable to meet the challenges the universe continued to present the Federation with and were incapable of protecting the lives of either Starfleet personnel or Federation citizens in any meaningful way. Therefore, in order to correct these deficiencies in design, a project to exponentially improve every facet of Federation ship design and construction was chartered by the Federation Council, Starfleet Command and Starfleet's Office of Shipbuilding.

A general cry went out to all astronautical engineers to come forth and contribute to the next phase in the defense of the Federation.

Inspired by 20^th century military history, specifically by the naval aircraft carriers and super-carriers, and their ability to project a wide radius of dominance around themselves, the project was thus named: Project Carrier. Very soon however, military historians pointed out that while able to project and maintain a wide area of sea-air dominance and threat, these battleships were woefully vulnerable to attack. This prompted project engineers to search for a solution to this apparent weakness while keeping the inherent concepts of asymmetric warfare of the proposed carrier analogs.

One such R&D team came across the early 20^th century television science fiction drama Battlestar Galactica and its 21^st century re-imagination. Intrigued, they continued scavenging ancient audiovisual records and discovered a series of films about a Galactic Empire and its opponent, the Republic Alliance; the members of the research team were awed by the technological wonders imagined by their ancestors and portrayed throughout the films: a form of FTL capable of traversing a galaxy in one day, planetary shields, hyperspace capable space superiority fighters, incredibly powerful weapons, etc.

Fascinated by the concept of the Colonial Battlestars and the Cylon Basestars both for their durability, offensive capacities, space superiority and recon crafts as well as their decidedly unconventional FTL drive and the latter models' production facilities, Starfleet Command pushed for a parallel research project intended to see whether these concepts were viable and whether they could be duplicated (and possibly improved) by Federation technology; for the idea of a Battlestar or Basestar built to modern specifications was incredibly appealing and would mean a quantitative jump in force projection and defensive capabilities for Starfleet.

Curious about what other innovative technologies could be found amongst ancient literary texts and audiovisual records, a great interest developed within the scientific community and more and more science fiction novels and entertainment shows were recovered and scrutinized for any technological “discoveries”. One particular theme, Space Opera, became fertile ground in which to find new lines of research. A series of novels dealing with the space fleet engagements between several warring star nations and empires proposed a truly interesting missile doctrine, with long distance engagements and astronomical yields, which resulted extremely attractive to the strategists within Starfleet. That, along with groundbreaking point defense systems, intel platforms and drones, quickly became a line of research considered worth pursuing.

It took some time at first, but with modern understanding of mathematics and physics, and with all member races contributing to the endeavor, the first fruits of the new research saw the light of day within a few years. New ceramic alloy battle-steel with off-the-charts resistance levels and ablative armor, capable of withstanding weapon yields well above anything being able to be brought to bear by any Federation member or any of its known hostile neighbors.

That one dual engineering breakthrough, achieved thanks to an audiovisual entertainment series more than two hundred years old, was the opening salvo of the technological race which would cause the rebirth of the United Federation of Planets and Starfleet. From that moment on, no idea, however farfetched, was beyond the pale as far as Federation scientists were concerned. After all, it might have been a cheap gimmick in its day, but who would turn their eye away from a ship's engines which could simply be recharged by dipping into the nearest star, with no worry for its passengers for the ship's shields could withstand a star's heat and ignore its magnetic field? It was a free for all, and although for every success there were an exponential amount of failures, by 2258 Starfleet was a whole different animal.

To reflect the Federation's new policy, Starfleet revised its motto:

Αν θα έχουμε ειρήνη, προετοιμαστείτε για πόλεμο. Μίλα απαλά και να φέρουν ένα μεγάλο ραβδί.

{An tha échoume eir-ín-i, proetoimasteíte gia pólemo. Míla apalá kai na féroun éna megálo ravdí.}

(If you would have peace, prepare for war; speak softly and carry a big stick.)

Non-human societies had often commented imagination was humanity's greatest weapon; they were finally using it.