Editing The Chimera Directive (section)

== 1.0	CHIMERA DIRECTIVE INTRODUCTION ==


[[Image: Rosenante-Alt-1up.jpg|thumb|500px|The Rosenante Class Starship]]


'''1.1 MISSION OBJECTIVES FOR ROSENANTÉ CLASS PROJECT'''

Starfleet has long been charged with a broad spectrum of responsibilities to the citizens of the Federation and to the lifeforms of the Galaxy at large. As the volume of explored space continues to grow, and with it the Federation itself, so do Starfleet's duties. 

These duties range from relatively mundane domestic and civil missions, to cultural contact and diplomacy, to defense, to our primary mission of exploration and research. Many of these responsibilities are best carried out with relatively small, specialized ships. Yet there continues to be an ongoing need for an even narrower role vessel to protect the Federation against enemies that would use espionage and subversion to wage war against the Federation.

This particular threat to Federation security is further complicated by political and economic restraints placed upon the Federation caused by the demands of maintaining an active war first against the Cardassian Union and then a Civil War between Doenitz Loyalists and 52nd Fleet seditionists. The Federation had suddenly found itself pressed on many fronts at various levels of engagement, often ill-prepared or incapable of information gathering against potential interior and exterior threats to the continued existence of the Federation.

In response to the alarming number of intelligence related activities conducted against Federation projects, personnel, and equipment by exterior Intelligence Organizations, such as the Tal Shiar, the Dominion Shapeshifters, and The Cardassian Obsidian Order, Starfleet Intelligence has found itself grossly outnumbered, and under-appreciated by Starfleet Command. This lack of interdepartmental cooperation was only strengthened by Starfleet Intelligence's inability to detect and detain several pro-Revolutionary agents that had managed to infiltrate Starfleet Command, the Council of the President, and several other critical posts within the governmental structure of the Federation. The agents proved to be the first signs of the coming Civil war that would shake the foundations of the United Federation of Planets over the next several years.

These breeches of critical security protocol within the government provided the critics of Starfleet Intelligence with ammunition to pressure Starfleet Command to tighten its control on the Intelligence Department. In late 2390s, with the Cardassian Union pressing their offensive against the Federation, Starfleet Intelligence learned of other threats to the Federation's continuing existence, as reports began to come into Starfleet Intelligence's Romulan desk reporting a large number of Romulan Infiltrators had somehow managed to concentrate themselves on the Federation Starships patrolling the Neutral Zone. With reports indicating that the Tal Shiar compromised a large majority of Starships patrolling the Neutral Zone, and with SFI fearing a Romulan Invasion, a massive counter Intelligence operation began. This operation, dubbed Sword and Shield, inserted several dozen Starfleet counterintelligence Specialists onboard the suspected Starships. For the better part of a year, these operatives played a deadly game of cloak and dagger against the expectant Tal Shiar operatives. This massive undertaking resulted in the largest capture of external espionage operatives in Starfleet history, 38 Starfleet officers (including 2 Ship Captains) and 12 Enlisted Starfleet personnel were arrested and charged with espionage against the Federation. 6 Starfleet Intelligence operatives lost their lives in this operation. 

It was to this threat that Admiral Rodrigo Doenitz would propose a solution. That solution came in the form of a Starship, dedicated completely to the tasks of espionage and interdiction operations. The vessel would be operated entirely independently of Starfleet command. Only Starfleet Intelligence would have any command authority over the vessel and its missions. This proposal created a scandalous outcry by Starfleet Command Officers, with the end result becoming less than favorable to the Doenitz cause.

However, the dramatic success of Sword and Shield eased the tension against Starfleet Intelligence, and by the end of the War with the Cardassian Union in 2398; Starfleet Command realized the inability of SFI to conduct operations in hostile space, or to operate independently without the immediate assistance of Starship under Starfleet Command authority. It was in August of that year that Admiral Talbot, with the support of Admiral Doenitz proposed the idea of creating a new class of Starship capable of supporting Intelligence operations in hostile space, while simultaneously capable of performing signal, traffic and visual surveillance of facilities, ship movements and communications. Admiral Talbot argued that if SFI were equipped with such a vessel during the War, that the effectiveness of the Cardassian attack against the UFP would have been greatly reduced, if not altogether neutralized. Additionally, Talbot argued, such a ship working in Romulan space would have been priceless in determining the intentions and movements of the Tal Shiar during Operation Sword and Shield.

Admiral Talbot’s conceptual Starship was deemed impossible to build, and also in violation of Starfleet Intelligence Command’s charter and the project was immediately disapproved. But that was not the end of the situation. 

Admiral Talbot, through secret channels with the complete support of Admiral Rodrigo Doenitz established a secret construction facility. Through various nefarious means, funds were funneled into the project and experienced Starfleet ship engineers were tasked to assist in developing a new class of Starship that could function efficiently within the confines established by the joint visions held by the two admirals.

A special Starfleet Intelligence Operation was begun in a secret shipyard facility around early 2397. SFI operatives assigned to the operation interviewed and recruited Starship designers from across the Federation, purposely avoiding any designer that had ever worked on a Starship Project for the Federation in the past. These designers, assisted by the technical and personal experiences, of selected Starship Engineers laid down the design parameters for the project.

After Admiral Doenitz’s successful coup, the project would prove to outlive many of its critics. With the full power of the office of the president of the Federation, Doenitz fast tracked his project making it an official Presidential Directive. This Directive was codenamed the Chimera Directive.

The Rosenanté Class Starship designed by the Chimera Directive represents the most advanced design and systems innovations in the Federation. The basic design concept was developed around the Sovereign class and is considered the most advanced evolution of Starfleet Ship design to date.