USS Reliant
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Image:Miranda USS Reliant01.jpg In the fictional Star Trek universe, the USS Reliant was a Miranda class starship with the registry number of NCC-1864. The Reliant was the first Miranda class starship to be seen on screen, and she was also the first non-Constitution class starship to be shown on-screen.
Little is known of the vessel prior to its introduction in The Wrath of Khan. For example, the age of the vessel in 2285 has not been revealed.
The bridge of the Reliant as seen in The Wrath of Khan was similar in configuration to that of the Constitution class Enterprise. Some of the major stations, such as science, helm, navigation, and weapons were positioned the same as on Constitution class bridges. There were some differences though - the bridge was serviced by one turbolift that was situated directly behind the captain's chair, and some of the stations were configured differently.
Image:ClarkTerrell2285.jpg Circa stardate 8130.4 in 2285, while under the command of Captain Clark Terrell, the Reliant was assigned to scan the surface of Ceti Alpha VI as a possible test site for the Genesis Project. While on the surface investigating a possible life sign (which would have eliminated the planet as a test site), Captain Terrell and First Officer Pavel Chekov were captured by the genetically-enhanced 20th-century tyrant Khan Noonien Singh, exiled by then-Captain James Kirk on Ceti Alpha V fifteen years before. It turned out Ceti Alpha VI had exploded shortly after they were exiled, and had shifted the orbit of Ceti Alpha V, rendering it nearly uninhabitable.
Under the influence of the native Ceti eels, Captain Terrell and Commander Chekov divulged their reasons for being there, and allowed Khan to hijack the Reliant for use in a vendetta against Admiral Kirk, whose flag was on Enterprise for a training voyage.
Khan soon found the Enterprise. The Reliant refused to answer the hails from the Enterprise. Kirk chose to ignore regulations calling on him to assume a more defensive posture when communications had not been established. As a result, the Reliant was able to come alongside the Enterprise and lock its phasers on the engineering section. Kirk ordered the shields to be raised, but it was too late. The Reliant was able to score several direct hits in the engineering section of the Enterprise, which crippled the power systems of the Enterprise. A photon torpedo fired by the Reliant hit Enterprise, which did further damage. At that point Kirk's ship was at the mercy of Reliant.
Khan then hailed the Enterprise so that Kirk would know who had defeated him. Khan then demanded that the Enterprise turn over all data on the Genesis Project, and gave them a minute to do so. Under the guise of looking up the data on the Genesis Project, Kirk and Spock called up the command codes for the Defiant. They were then able to use Reliant's prefix code to drop the shields on Reliant, and Enterprise hit Khan's ship with several well placed phaser shots. The Reliant suffered damage to the photon torpedo control, as well as the warp drive. The damage was such that Khan was forced to withdraw.
When Khan's first attempt to destroy the Enterprise failed, he stole the Genesis device for his own purposes of galactic domination. When Khan tried to force Captain Terrell to kill Admiral Kirk, the moral pressure was too great on the captain that he turned his phaser on himself.
Spock and the crew of the Enterprise were able to repair a good part of the damage that Khan had done to their ship. After beaming Kirk, the rest of the landing party, and the survivors of the Regula I station aboard, it was discovered that the Reliant was still nearby. Furthermore it was discovered that the Reliant could still outrun and outgun the Enterprise. Spock recommended that the Enterprise then head into the nearby Mutara Nebula. Lt. Saavik reported that the shields would not work, nor would the sensors. However both Kirk and Spock knew that Khan would follow them into the nebula, and neturalize the Reliant's advantage.
Kirk ordered the Enterprise into the nebula. As predicted, Khan followed the Enterprise into the nebula, even though his second in command Jochaim advised against doing so. The Reliant and the Enterprise circled each other. Initally both ships tried to fire at each other and missed. The Reliant was then able to score a direct hit on the Enterprise, damaging one of the torpedo bays. Enterprise returned fire, causing some damage to the bridge of Reliant, and killing several of Khan's followers in the process.
Image:Pavelchekov001.jpg At that point Chekov came to the bridge. Still slightly weak from his ordeal with the Ceti eel, Chekov asked if Kirk could use another hand. Kirk told him to man the weapons console. Kirk knew that Khan would be back, and asked Spock the most likely direction the attack would come from. Spock had deduced by then that Khan was intelligent but not experienced in space combat - that Khan was thinking in two dimensional terms. Realizing this Kirk had Sulu bring the ship to a full stop, and take the ship down along its Z-axis for 10,000 meters. Kirk also ordered the crew to stand by on photon torpedos.
While Khan was searching the nebula, the Enterprise was able to sneak up behind the Reliant. Once behind the Reliant, Kirk had Chekov fire a torpedo - which destroyed the photon torpedo pod. Next phasers were fired at one of the warp nacelles, severely damaging the nacelle and killing Khan's men in engineering. Another photon torpedo was fired by the Enterprise, which blew the damaged nacelle clear of the Reliant and killed everyone on board except for Khan.
Kirk ordered Reliant to stand down and prepare to be boarded. A dying Khan chose to initiate the Genesis device detonation sequence, which would destroy the nebula and both ships. The Enterprise would not have survived had Captain Spock not sacrificed himself to save the ship, which warped out just in time. The Genesis Wave destroyed the Reliant, and formed a new habitable solar system out of the matter in the nebula. The Enterprise, after the space burial of Spock over the new planet, went to retrieve the Reliant's crew marooned on Ceti Alpha V. Chekov rejoined the Enterprise crew following the destruction of the Reliant.