USS Defiant (NX-74205) (II)


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The second USS Defiant (NX-74205) was a Federation escort starship in Starfleet service in the late 24th century. This ship was originally designated the USS São Paulo (NCC-75633), and was one of a number of vessels to bear the name Defiant.

History
In 2375, the São Paulo was under the command of Vice Admiral William Ross for delivery to Starbase Deep Space 9, where she was transferred to the command of Captain Benjamin Sisko. Sisko received special dispensation from Starfleet Operations to rename the São Paulo to USS Defiant in honor of the fallen USS Defiant (NX-74205) (I), which was lost at the Second Battle of Chin'toka. The Defiant took part in the final battle of the Dominion War, the Battle of Cardassia. 

Following the war, the Romulan Senate moved to allow the Defiant to keep the borrowed Romulan cloaking device it utilized. Recognizing the importance of the vessel, and Deep Space 9, as the first line of defense against further Dominion attacks. 

In April of 2376, the Defiant was undergoing repairs and upgrades when Deep Space 9 was attacked by a trio of rogue Jem'Hadar fighters. The Defiant was rushed into operation, and managed to destroy one of the ships before a heavy bombardment killed the vessel's commanding officer, Commander Tiris Jast. Lieutenant Ezri Dax assumed command and destroyed the second vessel. Dax, with the help of a Jem'Hadar vessel commanded by Taran'atar, then destroyed the final vessel using the Defiant's warhead module. 

In 2381, after Ezri Dax had been promoted to Captain and commanding officer of the USS Aventine, she reflected upon this incident during the Borg Invasion of 2381, questioning her command abilities. Her first officer, Sam Bowers, insisted that it was her decisiveness in such situations that made her a qualified commander. 

After launching a new communications module at the Gamma Quadrant terminus of the Bajoran wormhole, the Defiant participated in the evacuation of the colony on Europa Nova during the Gateways Crisis, and discovered that the Gateway in orbit of Europa Nova opened into the Delta Quadrant. 

Soon afterward, the Defiant was damaged while escorting vessels containing Europani refugees from the homeworld of the highly xenophobic Jarada, who attacked the convoy. The Defiant was repaired, and the refit for the exploration mission to the Gamma Quadrant was subsequently completed. By this time, the shuttlepods had been removed and the pod bays reconfigured, both bio-chemical and stellar cartography labs had been installed, the sensors recalibrated, and the library computer system expanded from a purely military mission profile to a military/sciences hybrid. 

Sometime prior to the Gamma Quadrant mission, the Defiant, under the command of Elias Vaughn, was among a fleet of ships dealing with the Malkus Artifacts at Narendra III. 

Corps of Exploration
During a three-month exploratory mission into the Gamma Quadrant, the Defiant made first contact with eleven different species, the first of which was the Vahni Vahltupali civilization. When energy pulses threatened the planet's destruction, the Defiant destroyed moon chunks before they hit the Vahni planet, then found the source of the energy pulses. The Defiant was damaged at the planet Prentar, shutting down the energy pulses by allowing the Imnamuri to enter this realm of existence. 

In July, the Defiant was en route through an unknown sector of space when the ship was caught in a Cheka web weapon. The Yrythyny vessel Avaril, came to the Defiant's aid by stowing the Defiant in the Avaril's cargo hold so she could be repaired at Luthnia. The Defiant and the Avaril then went to a commerce shipping lane to get more supplies. After the Defiant was repaired, her crew was able to stop an Yrythyny traitor from kidnapping Nog. 

The Defiant later made first contact with the D'Naali and Nyazen, stumbling upon a battle between the two forces for control of an extra-dimensional object known as the Cathedral object. The Object's unusual properties temporarily caused three crew members to lose modifications that had been made to their bodies over the years, but the crew was later able to cure the affected personnel after discovering the Object's nature. 

Some weeks later, the Defiant discovered the wreckage of a Jem'Hadar vessel and the USS Valkyrie (NCC-68816), a ship that had been assimilated by the Borg Collective, on an unnamed planet in the Gamma Quadrant. On the planet, the crew located two survivors of the battle between the ships - a young Founder and the assimilated Ruriko Tenmei. The Defiant crew attempted to remove Borg technology from Tenmei's body, but the assimilation imperative proved to be too strong, and she was killed before she could assimilate her daughter, Ensign Prynn Tenmei.

The young Founder was returned to the Dominion in an amicable exchange with a Jem'Hadar ship who had recovered the long-missing Jake Sisko and Opaka Sulan. 

Corps of Exploration crew
See USS Defiant Corps of Exploration crew

Return to the Alpha Quadrant
Upon arriving in the Alpha Quadrant, the Defiant was escorted to Deep Space 9 by the Cardassian warship CDS, commanded by Gul Akellen Macet, who was assisting Starfleet during the Parasite crisis. Colonel Kira Nerys later defied orders and took the Defiant to Bajor where she confronted the Parasite Spawnmother at the monastery at Ashalla. 

When the Bajoran Sidau village was destroyed in an unprovoked attack, newly-commissioned Captain Kira Nerys took the Defiant on a long-distance chase after a Besnian freighter that left Bajor and was suspected of being responsible for the destruction of the village. The Defiant and the freighter battled, Defiant crewmembers boarded the freighter, only to find the crew dead, leaving the attack on the Sidau village a mystery. 

Later service
In early 2377, the Defiant chased Taran'atar to an old Obsidian Order prison on Harkoum after he attacked Captain Kira and Ro Laren and kidnapped Prynn Tenmei. 

In 2382, the Defiant transported Julian Bashir and Sarina Douglas to a rendezvous point with the USS Aventine near Breen space. 

As of 2383 the Defiant was still assigned to DS9. In that year the ship was assigned to interdiction duties during the evacuation of the station following the discovery of a series of bombs in the station's fusion reactor. When the Breen freighter Ren Fejin exitted the wormhole, Defiant began detailed scans looking for cloaked vessels accompanying it. The ship was immediately attacked by the, which had assisted the Breen ship during a raid on a Dominion shipyard. 

Later on in the battle, Defiant managed to overpower the Eletrix which proceeded to come to a halt amidst the battle. As the Defiant ordered the warbird to surrender, the commander of the ship ordered a self destruct. Eletrix exploded a few minutes later. After the battle ended with a Federation victory, the Defiant was ordered to intercept Ren Fejin as it tried to escape. Defiant caught up to the ship and took the crew into custody. 

Ship Commanders

 * Admiral William Ross (2375)
 * Captain Benjamin Sisko (2375)
 * Captain Kira Nerys (2376-)
 * Commander Tiris Jast (2375-2376)
 * Commander Elias Vaughn (2376-)

Auxiliary craft
The Defiant carried at least two type-10 shuttlecraft:
 * Chaffee
 * Sagan

Appearances and References

 * (DS9 novel: Worlds of Deep Space Nine Book 1: Andor: Paradigm)
 * (DS9 novel: Worlds of Deep Space Nine Book 2: Bajor: Fragments and Omens)
 * (DS9 novel: Unity)
 * (DS9 novel: Rising Son)
 * (DS9 novel: Mission Gamma: Lesser Evil)
 * (DS9 novel: Mission Gamma: This Gray Spirit)
 * (DS9 novel: Mission Gamma: Cathedral)
 * (GKN novel: )
 * (Star Trek novel: The Brave and the Bold, Book Two: The Final Artifact)
 * (SCE novel: Caveat Emptor)
 * (DS9 novel: Mission Gamma: Twilight)
 * The Other Side,What Lay Beyond (Gateways'' Anthology)
 * (DS9 novel: : What Lay Beyond: Horn and Ivory)
 * (DS9 novel: : Demons of Air and Darkness)
 * (as Sao Paulo)
 * (DS9 novel: : Demons of Air and Darkness)
 * (as Sao Paulo)
 * (as Sao Paulo)
 * (as Sao Paulo)
 * (as Sao Paulo)
 * (as Sao Paulo)
 * (as Sao Paulo)
 * (as Sao Paulo)

Miscellaneous
In the , Ron Moore stated that he intended for the ship to be designated Defiant-A but it wasn't shown on screen because it would have been prohibitive to repaint and re-shoot the model for one episode.