USS Phoenix
The USS Phoenix (NCC-65420) was a 24th century Federation  starship operated by Starfleet. This ship was constructed by the Yoyodyne Division at 40 Eridani A Starfleet Construction Yards and commissioned on stardate 40250.5 in 2363. In 2367, the Phoenix was under the command of Captain Benjamin Maxwell.

History 
In 2367, Captain Maxwell turned vigilante with the Phoenix, destroying a Cardassian outpost and several ships in Sector 21505 seemingly without provocation. He claimed his actions were justified because the Cardassians were preparing to renew hostilities only a year after peace had been settled with the . As a result, Starfleet dispatched the , to intercept the Phoenix.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard was assigned to intercept and stop Maxwell. En route to intercept the Phoenix, the Enterprises sensors revealed that Captain Maxwell was attempting to destroy another supply ship. 

In an attempt to prevent the further destruction of Cardassian lives and property, Captain Picard gave a nearby Cardassian warship the Phoenixs prefix code to give the Cardassians an advantage. Despite taking a direct hit with its shields down, the Phoenix still managed to destroy the attacking ship with a salvo of torpedoes. 

When the Enterprise finally caught up with the Phoenix, Picard ordered Maxwell back to Starbase 211; however, during their return, Maxwell veered from course and headed towards another supply ship. When the Enterprise arrived at their position, Maxwell demanded Picard search the vessel as proof that Maxwell's actions were justified. Picard refused and a stand-off ensued. 

Ultimately the stand-off ended successfully with no further loss of lives when Chief Miles O'Brien was able to beam over during a 1/50th of a second scan cycle "window" in the Phoenixs shields caused by its high energy sweeps. Once on board he managed to convince Maxwell to stand down his ship. 

In spite of the situation, Picard warned Gul Macet that Maxwell's suspicions may have had a basis in truth. ()

Personnel 
 See USS Phoenix personnel

Appendices

Background information 
Construction data was taken from the ship's dedication plaque found in Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Continuing Mission; the ship's motto was "No matter where you go, there you are", the same motto found on the plaque of the ; the line was taken from the movie , as is the name Yoyodyne. The plaque was located in the ready room of the Phoenix, the only known ship to have a plaque in that location. (With few exceptions, plaques are almost always located on the bridge.)

This particular configuration of the Nebula-class ship was never seen again in any future productions, instead replaced with the more familiar tripod mount. On his blog, Doug Drexler explained that the original Nebula-class pod did not suit the ship and it was a collective decision between himself, Rick Sternbach, and Michael Okuda to replace the pod. 

The reference book Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph featured a listing of an earlier   with the registry NCC-625 (it was of the Cygnus sub-class). The ship was a MK-VIIB courier authorized for appropriation on stardate 5099.

Although  was written and produced several years before , the  retroactively speculated that the Phoenix was named for Zefram Cochrane's warp ship of the same name.

A replica model of the Phoenix was produced for issue #112 of the Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection.

External link 
 

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Phoenix