USS Pegasus

The USS Pegasus (NCC-53847) was a Federation scout that was in service with Starfleet in the mid-24th century. A prototype vessel, the Pegasus served as a testbed vehicle for various technologies, many of which would later be implemented on the and other designs.

History
In 2358, the Pegasus was commanded by Captain Erik Pressman, and included Ensign William T. Riker, on his first assignment out of the Academy. In that year, the Pegasus was assigned to conduct a test of a phasing cloaking device, in direct violation of the Treaty of Algeron. During the test, an explosion occurred in main engineering, resulting in heavy casualties. Several members of the crew, including the first officer and chief engineer, mutinied in an attempt to shut down the illegal test. Pressman, Riker, and seven other crewmembers fled the ship in an escape pod. Not long after departing, they witnessed a large explosion in space. No wreckage was found, and the vessel was believed to have been destroyed by a warp core breach. In fact, the Pegasus was not destroyed but rather drifted in phased-cloak form until it re-materialized inside asteroid gamma 601, half of it in solid rock, in the Devolin system.

The survivors stated that the accident in engineering had been responsible for the destruction of the Pegasus, and made no mention of the cloak. The Judge Advocate General's inquiry into the incident concluded that the surviving officers had not been entirely truthful in their recounting of the events, and suggested a further investigation. The follow-up investigation never took place, and the inquiry report was quietly buried by Starfleet Intelligence.

In 2370, the Romulan warbird discovered a piece of wreckage from the Pegasus in the Devolin system. Pressman, now an admiral, dispatched the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) to recover the vessel first, aiming to reach the cloaking device before the Romulans discovered the Federation's duplicity. The Enterprise entered the asteroid and found the ship, which was partially phased into solid rock. The illegal events that happened aboard were made public, and Pressman, among others, were court-martialed. The ship itself was not recovered. 

Pegasus personnel

 * See
 * USS Pegasus personnel
 * Unnamed USS Pegasus personnel

Background information
The Pegasus was named after the of Greek mythology. (Star Trek Encyclopedia 2nd ed., p. 352)

The original model of the USS Pegasus (USS Grissom) is now part of ScienceFictionArchives.com collections. 

Design origins
Rick Sternbach designed a new ship type in October 1993 for the Pegasus based on parts from the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-C). Budget limitations forced the re-use of the Grissom studio model from. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion 2nd ed., p. 278) Sternbach himself has noted in this regard, "As far as the Pegasus was concerned, yes, there were a few sketches of a ship done, but to make it easy on the VFX folks it was supposed to be a kitbash of sorts from either a Nebula or an Ambassador (I don't have the sketches handy, so I can't recall exactly). For whatever reason, probably time/money, the Oberth miniature or a copy served as the Pegasus." Though not apparent on his sketch, it appears that this design would have ended up with four nacelles, as an engineering display visible in the final episode shows such a configuration.

Rick Sternbach's original sketch (titled "The Pegasus" Ship Concept Semi-ORIGINAL Sketch) was auctioned off on eBay on December 1, 2009. The relevant part of its description was reproduced below: "This was an 11' &times; 17' semi-original pen and ink and pasteup drawing for a concept for making the U.S.S. Pegasus out of Enterprise-C physical model parts, instead of re-using the model of the U.S.S. Oberth science ship. Drawing is signed in the lower right."

Based on his original design, Sternbach had also produced a detailed master systems display graphic in ink of the design for use in the episode, which ended up unused. Further commenting Sternbach added, "I think the ink drawing assumed Ambassador parts, from what I recall of the general proportions. I don't recall if I did a new systems cutaway for the Oberth-Pegasus."