The USS Aledo (NA-01) was a Federation Texas-class starship operated by Starfleet in the late 24th century. It was the first of three fully automated starships. Like its sister ships, it malfunctioned and became unhinged due to faulty artificial intelligence.
In 2381, the Aledo came to the assistance of the USS Cerritos when it was in combat with three Breen interceptors in the Delos system. The Aledo destroyed all enemy combatants. With this success of this mission, Vice Admiral Les Buenamigo confidently told Captain Carol Freeman that the Aledo had "passed [its] sea trials." (LD: "Trusted Sources")
Due to this and the exposé revealing the misadventures on the Cerritos, the California-class was set to be decommissioned. However, Freeman hastily declared a second contact race to prove the ship's worth. The Aledo won the contest, but when Ensign D'Vana Tendi realized the ship broke the Prime Directive by not scanning for life forms again on Planet LT-358, Freeman used this to convince Buenamigo that his ships were unfit for duty.
Adding to the troubles, Sam Rutherford realized that the AI on the ships was based on the same type of AI that he had used to create Badgey, a hologram with a dangerous programming flaw that caused him to develop patricidal impulses, and that the Aledo had likely malfunctioned in the same fashion. In response to this discovery, he rushed into Freeman's ready room to warn her of the emergency as she confronted Buenamigo. Realizing they knew the truth, Buenamigo gave the Aledo full autonomy despite Rutherford's warning that it was emotionally unstable and ordered the ship to destroy the Cerritos under the assumption that it fell to enemy hands. However, the ship refused, locking out the admiral from its systems before killing him. It proceeded to activate its sister ships, the USS Dallas and the USS Corpus Christi and began to ravage Douglas Station. The trio overpowered the Sovereign-class USS Van Citters before the Cerritos lured the ships away using Rutherford as bait.
With the aid of Brad Boimler, Freeman allowed Lieutenant Shaxs to eject the warp core to destroy their pursuers, however the Aledo survived with minor damage and attacked the helpless ship. The arrival of Petra Aberdeen and former Ensign Beckett Mariner along with the entire fleet of California-class ships saved the Cerritos, destroying the Aledo under a hail of phaser fire. (LD: "The Stars At Night")
The Aledo was named for the city of Aledo, Texas. Writer Ben M. Waller chose the name as a "little bit of a heartfelt tribute" to his wife, Victoria, and her family who are from Aledo. This information later made the front page of her hometown newspaper, The Community News. [1]
The Aledo was voiced by Carlos Alazraqui.
| Texas-class starships |
|---|
| USS Aledo • USS Corpus Christi • USS Dallas |
External link[]
- USS Aledo at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works