| abstract | - In, 2367, recently promoted Captain Jack Gore took control of the Sovereign Project. Several changes occurred to the design including the offensive and defensive technologies that were to be used. The original yield for the Mark VII Photon Torpedo was 220 Megatons, not enough for what was required of the project's goals. Thus the yield was increased by another 56 Megatons to 276 Megatons. That however, still wasn't enough, so they started working on a newer type of torpedo capable of much higher yields. The new torpedo used zero point energy drawn from subspace. It was dubbed the Quantum Torpedo. The next problem that needed to be overcome was the Regenerative Shields used onboard the Sovereign. Several trials showed that there wasn't enough power going to the shields to adequately power it. The shield generator was shot to hell several weeks later during a live fire test when the shields were impacted by a few photon torpedoes. The enhanced deflector was the biggest problem as it required extreme fractions of the ship's power generation thus causing the Sovereign's cruising speed to be reduced to Warp 3 and the Maximum down to Warp 5. The solution was to build a much more powerful warp core to facilitate the power requirements. By mid 2370, most of the problems had been solved and all that was need was a new design for the regenerative shields. Research took a few years and the Sovereign remained in the mothballs during that time receiving upgrades to test its abilities. Jack Gore was later transferred to the USS Bellerophon in 2371. Several captains then temporarily were placed in command of the Sovereign until 2378. From 2372 through 2375, Captain Montgomery Scott served as the vessel's chief engineer, part of that time under Captain George Sanders. The ship's chaplain during this time was named Blackwell. (SCE eBook: The Future Begins) The Sovereign's blueprints and schematics were incorporated into the USS Enterprise-E's computer systems. Unfortunately, many of the systems used aboard the Sovereign and Enterprise were different, especially offensive and defensive capabilities. (TNG eBook: A Sea of Troubles) When the Sovereign was tested, the prototype regenerative shields failed. However, the Sovereign became the baseline for 2 anti-Borg design technologies: The regerative shields on the Prometheus class and the Defiant class ablative armor. In late 2373, the Sovereign received a new shield generator that had a modified version of the regenerative shield module employed on the USS Prometheus. Some tests were done and the Sovereign was officially comissioned. The Sovereign was assigned to the Maelstrom in 2374 for research. In 2378, she was slated for a massive refit with an escort of 2 Klingon Bird-of-Preys. She was attacked by Romulan Warbirds who mistakenly believed that the destruction of the Vesuvi Star was the test-firing of a Federation weapon and that the two Sovereign class ships were part of a Starfleet effort to claim the Maelstrom. During the attack, the Sovereign sufferred minor damage but was saved by the USS Dauntless. She was later escorted to Starbase 12 by the USS Zhukov (NCC-26136). Following the refit, the crew of the Dauntless was transferred to the Sovereign and helped by turning down the Cardassian rebellion. During the conflict, the Sovereign made first contact with the Kessok race and manged to destroy numerous Cardassian Galor class and Keldon class starships, as well as the Nor class Station, Litvok Nor. The Sovereign was part of the joint Federation-Klingon-Romulan-Kessok task force that launched an assault on the Cardassian controlled system Omega Draconis. After destroying multiple Cardassian Hybrid ships, and successfully contacting the Kessok colony on Omega Draconis III. She later pursued Legate Matans Keldon into a Solar orbit where she disabled his remaining Star-Destroying Probe and, later destroyed Matan's ship. She was assigned to the Maelstrom until the present. (ST video game: Bridge Commander) During the Borg Invasion of 2381, the Sovereign led a fleet of ships against 234 Borg Cubes that were invading the Beta Rigel system. During the battle, the Sovereign lost shields and as boarded by the drones of one of the exploding Cubes. The drones quickly started to slaughter the crew. Of the crew that escaped included Lieutenant Commander Byron Fantomos and Ensign Kiska LoMar as well as 38 other crewmembers. After the invasion, the Dauntless went back to Beta Rigel and took it to Starbase 22. In 2381, the Sovereign was docked at Starbase 22 following the Borg Invasion of 2381 for its overhaul. (ST novel: A Singular Destiny) The refit took fourteen months to complete and was plagued by few problems. Many of the new technologies of the Vesta-class were integrated into the refit blueprints increasing the ship's capablilites by over 40 percent. After the refit, the Sovereign set out to pick up several crewmembers that were at different locations in the Federation. Later, the Sovereign was ordered to rescue captured operative Commander Laura Bates who was imprisoned on the Kinshaya homeworld. After rescuing her, she was made the XO of the Sovereign. In May of 2382, the Sovereign escorted a fleet of cargo ships with construction materials to Xarantine to rebuild the orbital facilities that were damaged or destroyed by the Borg during their final invasion. Afterwords the Sovereign transported terraforming equipment to Deneva so that the planet could be restored to its former pristine state. Afterwords, the USS Sovereign began a mission of exploration heading towards the Gamma Quadrant apeture of the Bajoran Wormhole via normal warp travel.
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