U.S.S. EXCALIBUR VESSEL HISTORY

The Excalibur RPG campaign started shortly after the start of the fifth season of Star Trek: Next Generation. The choice of the USS Excalibur as the vessel for the game was inspired by that ship's brief appearance in the Season 5 premiere episode (Redemption Part 2). Little was discernible about the vessel so I took the liberty to design it as I saw fit for the game. As later details emerged about the "true" USS Excalibur, such as it being an Ambassador class ship, I made some effort to retcon this information into the game. After the campaign had ended the Star Trek: New Frontier series of novels by Peter David started to get released so I again made some effort to reflect the events of those books in the timeline presented here. It is not a perfect fit but when it comes to the adventures of the USS Excalibur in the 24^th Century, I was there first.

The campaign ran for four years, which I split into "seasons" to mimic the television format. I kept detailed logs of the adventures for the first two seasons, but sadly I never had the time to do so for the last two so the logs here are depresingly incomplete. It has been so long since the games that any hope of recovering details, short of some miraculous discovery of long-lost notes, is nigh-impossible. The character bio writeups in the Command Crew section have the major story elements as they pertain to individual characters, but for the individual "episodes" all that remains are the adventure titles and the Stardate they were set in (where applicable).

Timeline

Stardate 43997.1: A force of 40 Federation starships confront a single Borg vessel at Wolf 359 to prevent the Borg from reaching Sector 001. 39 vessels and 11,000 lives are lost in the attempt.
Stardate 44004.3: Starfleet Command forms a special task force to bring the fleet back to its pre-Wolf 359 strength. The task force is commanded by Commander Elizabeth Shelby.
Stardate 44093.7: The Starfleet Special Task Force unveils Project: Rebirth, a plan to refit several decommissioned Ambassador Class vessels with the latest technology.
Stardate 44153.9: The refitting of the first two Ambassador Class starships, USS Tiberius (NCC-19907) and USS Excalibur (NCC-26517), begins at Earth Station McKinley Fleet Yards.
Stardate 44837.5: In the rush to have the USS Tiberius ready for her scheduled launch date an error is made in the repainting of the primary hull, the last digit is left off of the hull registry. With many Federation and Starfleet VIPs present at the ceremony the Task Force covers up the mistake by announcing that the extensive nature of the refit warrants the naming of a new class of vessel. So the USS Tiberius is commissioned as the first Tiberius Class cruiser, hull registry NCC-1990. Following suit the USS Excalibur is also given a new hull registry: NCC-1991.
Stardate 45003.9: The USS Excalibur is commissioned at Earth Station McKinley Fleet Yards.
Stardate 45021.5: The Excalibur is undergoing warp trials in the Gamma Hydra sector when she is diverted to Klingon space to participate in the blockade of the Romulan border during the Klingon Civil War. Commander William Riker is given temporary command of the vessel. Though she has already been commissioned, the Excalibur is still in the final stages of the refit and her primary hull still bears her original registry at this time.
Stardate 45027.9: Captain Robert McCabe assumes command of the USS Excalibur.
Stardate 45362.7: Starfleet Command decides to relegate multi-mission duties to Galaxy Class explorers and the existing Ambassador Class cruisers and focus its construction efforts on mission-specific vessels like the Nebula Class. Work on the refitting of the next two Ambassador Class cruisers into Tiberius Class ships is halted and the project is discontinued.
Stardate 45367.5: The USS Tiberius is destroyed during a second attempt by the parasitic aliens to subvert the Federation. The attempt is thwarted by the crew of the USS Excalibur but the destruction of the USS Tiberius leaves the USS Excalibur unique as the only Tiberius Class cruiser in service in Starfleet.
Stardate 45875.1: Following Captain McCabe's promotion the Excalibur's First Officer, Commander Jack Briggan, is promoted to Captain and given command of the vessel.
Stardate 48231.4: For medical reasons, Captain Briggan resigns from active field duty and accepts a position at Starfleet Headquarters. His First Officer, Commander Seth, is promoted to Captain and assumes command of the Excalibur.
Stardate 48903.5: The USS Excalibur returns to drydock for another refit. Starfleet command decides to restore the ship's original designation and hull registry. The current crew is rotated out and replaced by a new one. The new commander of the Ambassador Class USS Excalibur (NCC-26517) is Captain Morgan Korsmo and his executive officer is Commander Elizabeth Shelby.
Stardate 50893.5: The Excalibur is badly damaged during the second Borg invasion of Sector 001. Captain Korsmo is killed in the battle.
Stardate 50922.1: Captain McKenzie Calhoun is given command of the USS Excalibur as she begins an extended mission in Sector 221-G.
Stardate 532xx: (2376) The Excalibur is destroyed by a malevolent computer virus. Captain Calhoun is presumed dead. Six months later Calhoun returns and assumes command of the newly commissioned Galaxy-class U.S.S. Excalibur.

U.S.S. Excalibur