USS Black Hawk (NCC-65334)

USS Black Hawk
Class Information
Assigned System:	Starbase Unity
Class:	Akira-Class
Management
CO:	Captain Harvey Geisler
XO:	Cmdr. Thiago Teixeira
Crew Compliment
Officers:	142
Enlisted:	378
Civilians:	10
Unique Features
325th Fighter Squadron

The USS Black Hawk was in service for fifteen years, beginning in 2373 during the Dominion War and ending in 2388 when it was forcibly crashed on New Bajor during the Battle of Deep Space 11. Her first CO was Captain Mitch Bueller, and her final CO was Captain Harvey Geisler.

Specifications

For a complete overview of the USS Black Hawk's specifications, please review USS Black Hawk Specifications.

For the Akira-class deck listing, please review Deck Listing (Akira-Class).

History

The first USS Black Hawk was commissioned in 2373, the forty-first Akira-Class vessel to launch from Utopia Plantia. At the time, the spaceframe was seventy-percent occupied, allowing it to be assigned to the Third Fleet's fighter wing based out of Starbase 177. A full squadron was deployed aboard the carrier and Captain Mitch Bueller was assigned as the ship's first Commanding Officer. Captain Bueller was an excellent tactician and was given the responsibility of commanding the entire Starfighter Wing for the Third Fleet.

Dominion War

Under Captain Bueller's direction, the Black Hawk led many successful missions during the war, never seeing defeat against the Dominion. In 2375, the Black Hawk joined the battle for the Kalandra sector, the staging ground the Dominion was using to strike Federation worlds such as Betazed and more. The Black Hawk led the allied forces into the system. By this time, Captain Bueller's tactics were on the verge of becoming textbook, a fact that the Dominion was prepared to exploit. The Black Hawk was targeted the moment the battle started. Nearly an entire Jem'hadar attack wing came down on the Black Hawk and her companions. Most of other ships were destroyed or disabled within five minutes.

The Black Hawk was purposely left with power and defenses and vigorously assaulted. Within two minutes, her shields were overwhelmed and the warp drive disabled. Instead of simply destroying the ship, the Jem'hadar boarded the vessel. This battle, it seemed, had become personal. With aid from a couple Miranda-class ships, the crew of the Black Hawk were able to retain control of their vessel, but their spirits were broken. As the Allied Forces declared victory, the Black Hawk was towed back to Andoria for repairs. She sat out most of the war; seeing her next and last bit of action at Cardassia Prime, but without a starfighter squadron to call the Black Hawk home.

Reconstruction

Following the war, life was never the same for the crew of the Black Hawk. Captain Bueller, receiving a promotion to Fleet Captain, remained with the ship for several years. As soon as its role in the reconstruction of Cardassia was complete, the Black Hawk was assigned to the core worlds of the Federation, using its war hero status to bolster morale after a bloody war.

In 2378, the Black Hawk was instrumental in preventing a hostile takeover of the Andorian homeworld by a terrorist faction known as the Deless. Later that year, the Black Hawk aided Yegorah and its native species, the Telino. She was later reassigned to the Romulan border as a border cutter. Not long thereafter, Fleet Captain Bueller left his command, the last of the original crew to depart.

The Black Hawk was assigned close to Sector 001 again in 2382. She did see some variations of duty, including patrolling the Romulan Neutral Zone in the mid 2380's. Shortly before the Hobus Supernova in 2387, the Black Hawk was recalled to the Cardassian border, patrolling its former stomping grounds it frequented during the Dominion War.

Assigned to the Gamma Quadrant

As Task Force 9 expanded deeper into the Gamma Quadrant, the Black Hawk was refitted and reassigned to join the Task Force, accepting Commander Harvey Geisler as the first Commanding Officer to take her into the edge of known space. Commander Geisler assumed command in late 2387. As he led the ship into the far reaches of the Gamma Quadrant, the mystery of the frontier became Harvey's new obsession, wanting to uncover truth and make an impact much like he did as a young lieutenant who worked feverishly to cure disease and pestilence.

Mystery of the Golden Stars

See also Season 1

Undertaking his first assignment, the USS Black Hawk is ordered to the Altair system to complete a scheduled extraction of a scientific research team. The ship arrives, only to find the science team missing in action. An Away Team discovers the encampment vandalized and pillaged, yet there were no signs of a struggle. The investigation continues, and members of the Away Team start disappearing, vanishing completely without notice. Retracing the science team's steps, a massive underground city is discovered, containing a chamber with the abducted science team, Black Hawk crewmen, and some of the pirates who pillaged the camp. The crew work quickly to recover the abducted, whose collective consciousness were being fueled into a tremendous weapon of mass destruction. The weapon destabilizes, destroying the alien installation. Meanwhile, the Black Hawk is visited in orbit by representatives of an organization calling themselves the Golden Stars (Mission 1 - Echoes).

The Black Hawk is soon assigned to patrol duty in a nearby system. In one day, the Black Hawk responds to two distress calls, arriving too late to help in the first call, and just in time on the second. The ship lends repairs to the damaged freighter, only to find the cargo hold locked and filled with individuals. Commander Geisler orders an investigation and arrests the freighter's Captain, D'rimo. The investigation reveals that each of the persons in the cargo hold willingly submitted themselves into indentured servitude in order to escape a hellish lifestyle. Geisler does not agree with this, but is bound by the Prime Directive to not get involved in their affairs, especially since person has a family that would suffer by accepting Federation asylum. Hoping to learn more, Geisler releases D'rimo and the freighter, but sends a covert Away Team, led by the ship's new XO, Lieutenant Commander Kos, with the freighter to learn more once the freighter reaches its destination (Pursuit (Mission)).

Geisler keeps the Black Hawk close to the freighter, detouring only at the last second to study a nearby collapsing star in order to keep within response range to the Away Team. The freighter arrives at a small station called Razmena. Commander Kos and the Away Team disembark and begin to explore the station, stumbling upon a private auction involving stolen Federation technology, including a replicator and subspace transceiver. They observe the sale, only to be detained by individuals with a separate interest. The team manages to escape, and is quickly rescued by the Black Hawk (Razmena (Mission)).

The ship refits, resupplies, and replaces several crewmembers before heading out to a nearby nebula where all of the clues regarding the mysterious Golden Stars are pointing. Geisler is also promoted to Captain shortly before shipping out. After a couple days in the nebula, the Black Hawk is struck by an energy surge and is disabled, losing all power. She is boarded by a group calling themselves The Syndicate who quickly capture Captain Geisler. This effort was aided by Geisler's yeoman, Petty Officer Emily Carter. The Syndicate is also successful in gaining control of the ship, intending to use it as their flagship for its strength and massive amounts of cargo space. The ship's senior staff manage to escape, regroup, and resist, capturing Petty Officer Carter in the process. They are barely able to retake the ship and begin to commit repairs (Boarded (Mission)).

An Away Team, aboard the Runabout Tigris, is sent to Nestene IX in a nearby star system where the Golden Stars are rumored to originate, only to be captured by The Syndicate on arrival. Meanwhile, the Black Hawk finishes its repairs, aided by D'rimo and Richard Carter, Emily's father and leader of the Golden Stars. Emily confesses that she had joined The Syndicate to find her family as she herself had been trafficked by them. She also reveals that the Golden Stars were a family operation, one interested in protecting the less fortunate, but was being smeared by the more powerful Syndicate in hopes of vanquishing the Stars. The Black Hawk arrives at Nestene IX in time to retrieve the Away Team, rescue what was left of the Golden Stars and retreat to Federation-controlled space (Answers (Mission)).

The Consortium Crisis

See also Season 2

Following their pursuit of the Golden Stars, the Black Hawk receives its much needed repairs at Deep Space 11. The crew, however, are not permitted to rest for long as they are called back into action to escort a medical convoy to Gavara IV. Other convoys had travelled to the planet, only to be plundered by Starfleet rebels known as The Consortium. Commodore Juliana Terlexa reveals in a private briefing to Captain Geisler that these attacks were being conducted by the USS O'Carroll under the command of Harvey's former roommate Commodore Zachary O'Connell. As expected, the O'Carroll shows up to attack the convoy, and the Black Hawk quickly intercepts and forces the O'Carroll to surrender. Captain Geisler is surprised to learn that Zachary isn't on the O'Carroll, but his very pregnant wife instead. As the crew of the Black Hawk tries to sort things out, the crew slowly figure out that their ignorance was abused. Zachary and the O'Carroll are revealed to actually be loyal to Starfleet, and Terlexa to be the real head of the Consortium. An inspection of the medical convoy reveals that there were more weapons aboard than medicine and foodstuffs, and that it was bound for a Consortium cell to be used for an attack on Starfleet assets. The cargo is confiscated, and the Black Hawk and the O'Carroll set course for Starbase Unity (Mission 6 - Rude Awakening]]).

Starbase Unity, a former Dominion outpost, has become the new home for Task Force 9's operations while The Consortium control most of Starfleet's assets in the Gamma Quadrant, including the wormhole and Deep Space 11, the true headquarters. The Black Hawk is immediately pressed into service and sent to Yolvanda II to obtain as many supplies as possible for Starfleet's efforts. While there, a massive and deadly virus breaks out, gripping the planet and the crew. The Black Hawk's Doctor Kij manages to find a cure, but not before there are a few deaths on the planet and ship. Lieutenant Di Pasquale, Security Chief, leads an investigation and uncovers that the virus was a Consortium plot to infect all of Starfleet. Had the Black Hawk not lingered at Yolvanda a couple days for shore leave, the Consortium might have been successful (Outbreak (Mission)).

The Black Hawk delivers the supplies to Unity, but is retasked with a special assignment. Intelligence reveals that two Consortium ships, the USS Chimera and USS Cochrane, were dispatched to the Hadyn Nebula in hunt of a rumored Romulan Valdore equipped with a thalaron weapon. The threat is too great to ignore, and the Black Hawk is ordered to intercept and prevent the Consortium from finding the weapon. The nebula features many Mutara-like qualities, leaving all three ships absolutely blind. After a couple days, the Black Hawk stumbles upon the two ships. A firefight ensues, and both ships are subdued and retaken, thanks to the individual efforts of Lieutenants Corwin and Cooper. Unfortunately, the Black Hawk had arrived too late. The Consortium had indeed found the Valdore and had started to repair the vessel. The Thalaron generator is activated, but quickly proves itself to be unstable. The Black Hawk, Chimera, and Cochrane engage the Valdore, which is unable to stop bursts of radiation from spiking from itself, instantly killing many aboard the three Starfleet vessels. The Black Hawk uses a tri cobalt torpedo to destroy the Valdore. The combination of the torpedo, nebula, thalaron radiation, and the Valdore's artificial quantum singularity creates a rift in the space-time continuum and sucks in the three starships (Risky Business (Mission)).

As the smoke clears, it becomes evident that the Chimera is damaged beyond repair. Anything of value is stripped from the vessel and the crews divided among the Cochrane and the Black Hawk before the Chimera is scuttled. The Black Hawk's XO, Commander Teixeira, is assigned to temporarily command the Cochrane. Both surviving vessels depart the nebula, only to be intercepted by a group calling themselves The Confederation and led by D'rimo. D'rimo does not recall Harvey, and the Confederation disables the Cochrane. The Black Hawk manages to escape. The Cochrane's crew is tortured for information, especially about how to use the Federation ship in their custody. The Black Hawk, meanwhile, enlists several unlikely allies and tracks down where the Cochrane and its crew was taken. By the time they arrive, the crew of the Cochrane manages to initiate their own escape plan, enlisting the Black Hawk to help them finish the process. Both ships quickly make way for the Hadyn Nebula (Mission 9 - Click Three Times]]).

The Confederation chases the ships back to the nebula. Captain Geisler sacrifices the Runabout Tigris to close the spatial rift that brought them to this alternate universe just as the Black Hawk and Cochrane return to their native time and space. Both ships vacate the nebula only to again be intercepted, this time by a joint Federation-Dominion Task Force led by Commodore Zachary O'Connell. The alliance had been stuck in the Black Hawk's absence, allowing the Federation to mount an attack on Deep Space 11 in hopes of dethroning The Consortium. The Black Hawk's senior staff members that were loaned to the Cochrane were returned, and both ships join the alliance. The Battle of Deep Space 11 begins days later. Heavy losses are suffered on both sides. The Black Hawk herself becomes one of the last casualties, losing a catamaran and a nacelle at the hands of the USS Sovereign. Unable to control herself, the Black Hawk tumbles towards New Bajor's surface. The crew evacuates, and Captain Geisler and Commander Teixeira wait to the last possible minute before leaving, making sure the Black Hawk wouldn't hit any inhabited areas. The ship crashes on the surface, losing her remaining nacelle. Starfleet later declares the wreckage a total loss, and the battle a victory (Endgame (Mission)).

Starfleet reinforcements arrive from the Alpha Quadrant and lock down the Gamma Quadrant until the Consortium threat is confirmed to be purged. The crew of the Black Hawk is released on shore leave until new assignments can be found for them (Shore Leave (Mission)).

Preservation

As rebuilding begins, the Federation decide to turn the Black Hawk's resting place into a monument to remember the tragedy that had gripped the Gamma Quadrant. The Black Hawk is stripped of all weapons and hazardous materials and salvaged, leaving behind the ship's vacant hull to become a permanent fixture on the planet. The name, however, would see use again as the USS Black Hawk-A would be commissioned in October 2388.