USS Exeter (NCC-1788)

The USS Exeter was a Federation class J starship in service in the 23rd century. By 2266, its design was considered old. In that year, while under the command of Captain J. Mia Colt, it hosted a cadet training exercise supervised by Fleet Captain Christopher Pike.

Shortly after the Exeter cleared the asteroid belt, it received an alert signal from Europa Base; a Halogian starship was moving quickly toward Jupiter. Despite being poorly shielded and equipped with few weapons, the Exter was the only ship close enough to respond. On Captain Colt's orders, the ship engaged an intercept course with the Halogian vessel.

Within moments, the Exeter's crew discovered that the Halogians were using a radiation beam in an attempt to ignite stellar fusion in Jupiter's core. The Exter engaged the Halogians, and quickly suffered significant damage. While Captain Colt commanded her ship from the bridge, Fleet Captain Pike responded to an emergency in engineering, where twenty-three cadets were attempting to keep the ship together, but lacked the expertise necessary to ensure their own safety. Just as the Halogian ship was destroyed, the baffle plates in engineering ruptured, flooding the compartment with dangerous radiation. Captain Pike was badly irradiated, but his efforts succeeded; he was the Exeter's only casualty.