NCC-1279

NCC-1279 was a former Federation NCC-1279-type starship that served Starfleet in the mid-23rd century.

In 2259, this ship was acquired by the Broken Circle, an extremist syndicate based on Cajitar IV. In an abandoned dilithium mine, this group created a false Starfleet ship using the primary hull from the NCC-1279 with cannibalized parts scavenged from other Federation ships and prepared it for one final mission. The ship was crewed with at least thirty members of this syndicate, who were armed with phasers, phase rifles, and Klingon disruptors. Most of the syndicate's members were located on the bridge and in engineering.

The group intended to use NCC-1279 in a false flag operation in which a Federation ship attacked a Klingon D7-class battle cruiser. If successful, this action would have provoked a renewed war between the Klingon Empire and the Federation.

When the ship departed the planet and reached orbit, it was tentatively identified as a Crossfield-class ship by USS Enterprise's navigator, Jenna Mitchell, due to the shape of its primary hull, and appeared as "Federation ship NCC-1279" to ship's sensors.

Doctor M'Benga learned of the plan and alerted the crew of the Enterprise by altering the ship's transponder signal to instruct the Enterprise to destroy the ship. The Enterprise pursued and after an intense skirmish had managed to successfully cripple and destroyed the NCC-1279 with a spread of photon torpedoes during the Battle of Cajitar IV skirmish.

After its destruction, Spock called it as a "false" Federation ship and, in his conversation with Captain D'Chok, identified it as a rogue vessel. (SNW: "The Broken Circle")