TREKCORE > DEEP SPACE NINE > SHIPS & STATIONS > Bajoran Solar Sailing Ship

For hundreds of years the Bajorans travel through space in solar sailing ships, but the details of their journeys are lost - until Commander Sisko decides to build a replica of one of these ancient vessels, and take to the stars.

HISTORY

The Bajoran solar sailing ship is a small and relatively simple craft. It has no engines whatsoever, and relies entirely on solar winds to propel it through space. Legends say that the Bajorans used these solar sailing ships to explore their sector of the galaxy 800 years ago, before human beings had even invented the combustion engine. Some stories say that solar sailing ships managed interstellar journeys, travelling as far as Cardassia.

RECONSTRUCTION

Plans for the solar sailing ships survive in the Bajoran central archives, along with star charts that show the paths of the solar winds. Commander Sisko decides to build an exact replica of the craft using only the same technologies that would have been available to the ancient Bajorans. Timber is brought to his workshop on the station, where he makes the ship by hand. Over the next few weeks, he painstakingly recreates the vessel in exact detail, determined to discover if the design is spaceworthy. Sisko's only compromise in the construction is the installation of a gravity net.

After looking at the designs, Deep Space Nine's Chief of Operations, Miles O'Brien, believes that the ship is not capable of making serious journeys through space. The construction is flimsy, and the vessel is so small that it could not carry enough atmosphere or supplies to make the interstellar journey to Cardassia. This position is supported by the Cardassians, who claim to have no record of Bajoran visitors. Nevertheless, Sisko thinks that there may be more to the tiny vessel than meets the eye, and takes the ship to the Denorios Belt.

The sails of the craft are arranged in a butterfly wing pattern, and controlled by manually cranked winches. With the wings folded, the vessel resembles a giant moth; but, with the huge, graceful wings unfurled, the ship transforms into a beautiful golden butterfly. The living area inside the ship is small and functional. The original crew slept in zero-grav hammocks, used a kind of sextant to navigate, and probably survived on basic rations.

During the journey it appears that the fragile construction will prove fatal: solar winds snap off the port mainsail, and then the jib. However, even after jettisoning a sail, the ship is capable of continuing its voyage.

LIGHT SPEED

An extraordinary discovery is made when the ship is caught in a tachyon eddy. The light construction and the large surface area of the wings mean that the tachyons accelerate the ship to warp, enabling it to make an interstellar journey in a matter of minutes. Sisko's ship comes to rest near Cardassia, confirming the reports in the ancient stories. It becomes apparent that markings on Sisko's star charts show the paths of various tachyon eddies, the equivalent of 'trade winds.'

Faced with the evidence of Sisko's successful journey, the Cardassians uncover a crash site, proving that the Bajorans had indeed reached the Cardassian homeworld.

Source: The Official STAR TREK Fact Files
Published by GE FABBRI Ltd
Produced by Aerospace Publishing Ltd