U.S.S. Noam Chomsky, NCC 4279.

Mission: Xythis IV - Poseidon Base.

Poseidon Base was a feat of underwater engineering unparalleled for sectors. Starfleet Corps. of Engineering took two years to build the structure. Poseidon is designed to allow the Federation Archeology Council access to the ruins discovered on the sea floor. The ruins, discovered in the late 2280s, suggested an advanced civilisation once existed on the planet. Some natural - or unnatural - disaster had overtaken the planet, drowning the cities under hundreds of metres of water. At first the ruins were thought to be natural formations, then they were found to be more extensive.

A shanty town colony had been set up on several islands of the archipelagoes on Xythis IV. The town was unaware of the ruins and Starfleet now tries to keep the locals away "to prevent cultural contamination of the site". The Noam Chomsky was assigned to the ruin complex once the Poseidon Base was established and commissioned. The Noam Chomsky arrived in late 2292 under the command of Cmdr. Alana Travis. Travis was assigned to break the linguistic aspect of the ruins and to use that knowledge for identification of buildings and cultural understanding of the civilisation that built them. Amongst the mission parameters was an instruction for all the crew not to discuss the ruins, findings or any aspect of the Poseidon Base with any non-Starfleet personnel.

The Noam Chomsky crew was comprised of forty-seven of starfleet's finest linguistic experts, alongside a team of social scientists and archeologists. Amongst the crew was the young Ensign Kara Fox, fresh out from Starfleet Academy. Fox was much of a loner at this stage of her career, with few friends standing by her moodswings and apparently infallible memory and language skills. The situation was compounded by Kara having very few pre-Academy memories - her past was a mystery even to herself due to an accidental head injury as an adolescent. Ensign Fox was assigned to lead the linguistics team. Fox was the ideal choice - her focus on the mission and excess of self-discretion meant that the criteria of secrecy stood the maximum chance of success. For the young Ensign it was also a chance to prove herself as a graduate officer, something which occasionally put her at odds with members of her team.

The Noam Chomsky mission was a success, in part at least. The ruins were known to be vast however one of the discoveries was a map with sugested locations of other dwellings - a whole civilisation of cities, towns and villages. This discovery, along with others made on this mission, would shape the future of the Nirophia Corridor forever.

Crew:

Officers: 12

N.C.O.'s: 35

Cruising Warp: 5.

Maximum warp: 7.

Starship primary mission: Planetary Exploration. [Usually probe follow-up missions].

Oberth class arrangement

Deck 1 Bridge, conference room, officer quarters, mess hall, lounge.

Deck 2 Shuttlebay upper deck. Enlisted crew quarters, gym, laundry, cargo bay.

Deck 3 Shuttlebay main deck, cargo bays, escape pod access, cryogenic tankage.

Deck 4 Sickbay, life sciences, transporter, main engineering, computer core, life support, waste recycling.

Deck 5 Deuterium tankage, jeffries tube to secondary hull

Deck 6 Deuterium tankage, jeffries tube to secondary hull, plasma flush vent

Deck 7 Deuterium tankage, jeffries tube to secondary hull, deflector generator, structural integrity.

Deck 8 Science/cartography sensor array, science labs, communication buoy magazine.

Deck 9 Science/cartography sensor array, science sensor processing compartment, buoy/torpedo/probe workshop,

Deck 10 Science/cartography sensor array, aft sensor compartment, life support, batteries.

Deck 11 Science/cartography sensor array, batteries.