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.

History

Dominion War

Commissioned in 2373 during the height of the Dominion War, the USS Black Hawk, under the command of Captain Mitch Bueller, saw plenty of combat. Captain Bueller was an excellent tactician and was given the responsibility of commanding the entire Starfighter Wing for the Third Fleet. Under his direction, the Black Hawk led many successful missions during the war.

Until the Battle of Kalendra, that is.

The Black Hawk led allied forces into the system. 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.

But not the Black Hawk.

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 was 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.

Post-War

Following the war, the Black Hawk was assigned close to Sector 001. She did see some variations of duty, including patrolling the Romulan Neutral Zone in the early 2380's. Before the Hobus Supernova, the Black Hawk was recalled to Earth.

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 (Mission 2 - Pursuit).

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 (Mission 3 - Razmena).

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 (Mission 4 - Boarded).

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 (Mission 5 - Answers).

The Consortium Crisis

See also Season 2

Before long, the starship and crew were misled by The Consortium. Captain Geisler led the crew on one mission after another to curb the Consortium Threat. At long last, the Black Hawk confronted the Consortium at Deep Space 11. While they were successful in uprooting the threat, the Black Hawk was fatally damaged by the USS Sovereign and forced to make a crash landing on the planet below. The ship lost both nacelles and the weapons pod in the process. Starfleet later declared the wreckage to be a total loss.