USS Kusanagi

The USS Kusanagi.
^{Image © Paramount}

The USS Kusanagi was a 24^th century Federation Akira-class starship operated by Starfleet.

In 2377, Miles Renard served on the Kusanagi as an ensign in the Tactical CONN department for a year after officially becoming a Starfleet officer. He was the pilot of a Mark II Valkyrie before transferring to the Mark III Valkyrie Project in 2378 as a test pilot upon his promotion to Lieutenant (junior grade). Before he left, however, a new pilot joined his squadron on the Kusanagi, namely Alessia Garcia, and Miles became her initial mentor in flying the Mk II Valkyrie and getting to know everyone in the Kusanagi´s Fighter Assault Bay.

In the early part of 2380. The Kusanagi received a distress call from a Federation freighter that was under attack. However, it was not clear of whom was really attacking the vessel in question. With no time to lose, the vessel set an intercept course. The captain of the ship had the right idea. En-route, as the Valkyrie fighters were ready and prepped for launch with bay doors open. This would cut down launch times the moment the ship dropped out of warp, and upon arrival, the plan was set straight in motion, only to be ambushed by a group of Cardassian warships. It was quite the surprise as the fighters left the bay and found themselves immediately fired upon by a plethora of weapons fire aimed at slowing them down enough for an enemy warship to finish of the freighter.

During the fighting, Alessia came up with an idea to break through the Cardassian line and make a break for the freighter and was probably in one of her random moments of thinking out of the box. Hell, even she was not sure of it herself but felt she had to try and flew towards the Cardassian ships. At the last moment, Alessia initiated her manoeuvre and prayed it would work or watch as the freighter would be destroyed. A moment later and for surprising many on both sides, she confused the sensors of practically everyone for a moment as she performed the 'Picard maneuver' in her warp fighter and to even her surprise, it worked.

In the confusion, Alessia broke through and was the only fighter to do so, and she did not wait before going after the warship that was pounding the freighter. During a daring effort to get the warship's attention, which didn't seem too hard as her cockpit was already lighting up from the weapons fire, Alessia worked her ass off to get within the shields of the vessel and targeted the weapons array of the vessel. It felt like it took forever playing cat and mouse with the larger ship before her efforts paid off, forcing the ship to break off its attack and retreat. Saving the freighter in the process, it appeared the other ships started to retreat and limp away as another Federation ship arrived during the combat; the Defiant-class vessel USS Chester.

The true reasons behind the Cardassian assault remains unknown, since Starfleet Intelligence took over the investigation immediately. The entire crew on the Kusanagi had to sign confidentiality agreements about the events, under the threat of being demoted or discharged from Starfleet entirely. What was evident to the crew was that the Cardassian Union's leaders were contacted on-site, and rumour had it that Cardassia First, the conservative opposition to the now democratic Cardassia, were involved in the assault.

Due to her efforts, Alessia was commended for her actions and promoted to Lieutenant, Junior Grade. During the latter part of 2380, Alessia was assigned to Luna Shipyards to partake in the Valravn Project.

After the USS Theurgy discovered the conspiracy that compromised Starfleet and fled Federation space, the Kusanagi was selected to be part of Task Force Archeron and ordered to hunt down and destroy the errant carrier.

In March of 2381 the Kusanagi was disabled by Lieutenant Commander Carrigan Trent's "Soup Sandwich" virus.