Alternate U.S.S. Valiant

U.S.S. Enterprise, Starfleet had ordered the construction of 30 new Constitution Class starships, and plans were already well underway to design the next series of major refits for the starships, with the hopes of incorporating new and cutting edge technology in these famed starships, keeping them in active service for decades to come. Shortly after the destruction of the original Enterprise over the Genesis planet, design flaws crept up in the Excelsior Class, which put off production of the class for at least a decade, and Starfleet ordered immediate refits and upgrades to the Constitution Class, refits which had barely been designed and had yet to be built. An unfinished space frame was chosen to be the test bed for these new refits, to allow ships already in service to receive minor refits and continue their tours of duty with minimal downtime. Named the U.S.S. Valiant, this prototype refit was hoped to be even more successful than the Enterprise\'s refit. The Valiant used second-generation warp engine designs to create and sustain a stronger warp field to allow for longer durations at faster warp speeds. The added benefits would also provide a 12% increase in power generation, necessary to power some of the new systems installed. The Valiant was the first ship to implement a torpedo turret system, designed to widen the field of fire for photon torpedoes, giving the ship the capability of firing torpedoes at an enemy vessel without having to have a clear line of sight directly ahead. She also had a new rear firing torpedo tube installed in the lower aft section of the secondary hull, as well as recessed phaser banks, to lessen their vulnerability to sniper attacks by enemy vessels trying to disable the phaser systems. The recessed phaser bank design would later be implemented in further refits of the class. During trial runs, design flaws were revealed in the Valiant\'s new torpedo systems as well as some of the new power circuits. The turret required more power than the warp engines could generate for it under battle conditions, and the reloading times were slower than expected. Problems in the new targeting systems also arose, but were readily corrected. The aft firing torpedo system suffered from power circuit overloads, causing the whole system to short out and go offline. Fortunately, these flaws did not affect the main torpedo bays located at the base of the ship\'s connecting neck, which showed increase efficiency under battle conditions. Although in the next refit design these power distribution and generation flaws would be corrected, the aft firing torpedo tube and torpedo turret would not be included in the next design. Not wanting to scrap or mothball the starship, Starfleet decided to place her in active duty, and gave the ship\'s captain strict orders never to use the torpedo turret or aft torpedo tube unless absolutely necessary.
In an alternate universe that closely matched our own, the evolution and service life of the Constitution Class took a slightly different course. After the success of the refits pioneered by the