XTB Reflex NX-71138
OMBR Spoilsport OMBR 56356

History of the Spoilsport:

The concept of an Orion Blockade Runner is a craft with high speed and small payload (think of the Republic Blockade Runner from Star Wars: Same concept). The Spoilsport is one such BR, although the original designer and owner, Rogue Orion Trader U'Dup Aht'Nab, created the interior with comfort and space in mind. The effect is of a lightly armed, high speed luxury yacht.

History of The Reflex:

In 2295 Starfleet R&D appropriated the OMBR Spoilsport (impounded after Aht'Nab's arrest for smuggling) to use as a testbed for experimental propulsion systems. Re-christened the XTB Reflex, she was chosen for the FFIX (Full-Field Impulse Experiment) because of her highly efficient and reliable warp/impulse systems.

Although little about the Spoilsport was changed, in addition to being refitted with the FFIX engine she was also given a sensor ablative coating. The Project team was sorry to have to ruin her original color scheme, but the coating was mandatory for all SFRD testbeds: They were quite paranoid about long-range scans being made by Klingonand Romulan spies into the test complex and proving grounds.

The theory behind the FFIX program was that an impulse field that envelops the entire craft will no longer be subject to the stresses that accompany high-speed maneuvering with standard impulse engines. A heavier set of impulse coils were integrated into the system (mounted in the third nacelle), but the project was later scrapped due to the fact that sustaining such a large impulse field used as much energy as a warp engine at sublight speeds did. The findings of the FFIX Project would later be incorporated into more efficient SIF generators, and would be a key component in the development of the impulse engines for the Defiant Class Destroyers.

She would be taken out of mothballs in 2299 by Starfleet Intelligence to be used in operation Ballroom Blitz, the investigation of Orion Pirate involvement in the Nom'Taj Crisis of the same year. Her new name "Reflex" was chosen after the Agent in charge had a sampling of her handling ability. That, and he happened to be a Duran Duran fan... ;)

During the operation, the Reflex was required to hunt down a ship that was suspected to be capable of transwarp, however when the 'Blitz team attempted to modify her engines to generate a transwarp interphase they found she wasn't capable of generating a multi-frequency warp field. Since this was nessecary to generate the interphase, and the team hadn't the time or the resources to appropriate another capable ship, they mounted a fourth nacelle onto one of the cargo pods. Although non-propulsive, this generator not only was used to slip into the interphase, but it was found to be useful as a makeshift cloaking device as well.

Following Ballroom Blitz she was handed over to the Akidaa to help bolster their fleet, and was still in service with them by 2380.

Mod Info:

These mods may seem familiar to Macross II fans: They're a kitbash from the Valkarie II's Fastpack. After building the kit I was rather disappointed by how it turned out, but the backpack looked like it would make a cool looking ship on it's own...

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