Background

A smaller design, Minerva-class vessels are 210 meters long, 119 meters in width, and 45 meters in draught, with 13 decks and weighing about 534.620 metric tons. With a top speed of Warp 9.97 (9.994 for 5 hours) and a crew of 128, these ships are designed for close-in combat support and short- to medium-term deep-range exploration missions. Well-armed for a smaller ship, Minervas are able to hold their own in a battle with multiple opponents, but are no match for massively superior forces. Because of the recent hostilities with combined Cardassian-Dominion forces, the Minervas have been designed to operate without a human medical staff, utilizing 2 of the EMH Mark 1 programs with upgraded LMH coding as doctor & nurse. Indeed, many of the vessels in the class have been without human medical staff for as long as they have been in service.

This particular vessel is USS Akureyri, named after the second largest city in Iceland, on its northern coast. She is a slightly older ship, having been built in the first run of the class in early 2373 at Starfleet's Baltic Fleet Yards, orbiting above Helsinki, Finland. In mid-2374, Akureyri fell under the command of CDR Brynja Sigmundsdottir, a native of Iceland herself. Later that year, the ship distinguished itself in participating in the joint Federation-Klingon-Romulan attack on the Dominion-held Chintaka system. All crew members were decorated for their bravery, but the ship had been moderately damaged, thus demanding a 4-month refit at Starbase 47 at Daran V. Much of her senior staff was transferred to other posts due to the war, and thus, the captain requested a mission that would give her time to meld the new crew into a cohesive unit before going into heavy battle. The request was granted and Akureyri was given the task of exploring and mapping the Alpha Quadrant coreward frontier.