Vesta class

The Vesta-class was type of Federation Starfleet starship in service from 2380. The class was designated a multi-mission explorer and was test-bed for a number of experimental technologies, including quantum slipstream drive. As of February 2381 there were seven vessels of the class in service. 

Specification
The Vesta-class held a crew of seven-hundred-and-fifty. The ships' main shuttlebay was located on deck ten. The Vesta-class starship USS Aventine served as a test-bed for a number of new Starfleet technologies, including quantum slipstream drive. Other experimental systems aboard the Aventine included type XII phaser cannons, a multidimensional wave-function analysis module, a sympathetic fermion transceiver, and a chroniton integrator, the latter of which could be used to take sensor readings several seconds into the future when the ship was using its slipstream drive. Some of the systems being tested were deemed top secret. 

In addition to the experimental systems the class was otherwise top of the line, able to achieve at least point-eight-five past the top rated speed of the. 

History
Vessels of the class had entered service by at least September 2380, by which time Ezri Dax was serving on the USS Aventine. 

With the launch of a Borg invasion in January 2381 the Vesta-class, with its state of the art weaponry, was found to be one of the few Starfleet classes able to mount an effective defence against the massive Borg assault. Ships of the class were assigned to defend the Federation's core systems, including Sol, Vulcan, Andor and Tellar. 

Despite the class' resilience, it still took a beating against the Borg. During an attack by the Borg on Acamar, more than two-hundred-and-fifty of the USS Aventine's crew were killed. The Aventine, under it's new commander, Captain Dax, went on to play a major role in stopping the Borg invasion after the ship's crew discovered a subspace tunnel leading across the galaxy. This eventually resulted in the discovery of a network of such tunnels, which the Borg had been using to infiltrate Federation space. Unfortunately exploration of the tunnels was not completed in time to prevent the full force of the Borg Collective, when an armada of more than seven-thousand Borg ships entered the Beta Quadrant. 

Against immeasurable odds Captain Dax of the Aventine initially planed to bring the ship's experimental slipstream drive online ahead of the test schedule to allow the ship to get to Earth ahead of the Borg and mount a desperate last defence. Dax was eventually dissuaded from this plan by Captain Picard of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E). 

Dax later did use the Aventine's slipstream drive in an ambitious plan to ambush a Borg vessel and plant a fake Borg Queen to take control of the Borg armada. The slipstream drive allowed the ambush to go ahead successfully, and the plan prevented the annihilation of several Federation worlds.

The Aventine, along with the Enterprise and Titan were later present in the Azure Nebula to witness the end of the Borg invasion, and the entire Borg Collective at the hands of the Caeliar. 

Background
According to authors David Mack and Keith R.A. DeCandido the class is named after the Roman goddess of hearth and home, while ships of the class will be named after the seven hills of Rome (Aventine, Caelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Palatine, Quirinal and Viminal). Mack only established the Aventine in the Destiny trilogy, while DeCandido will reportedly be identifying at least some of the other ships of the class in his follow-up novel A Singular Destiny.