Canon Facts Backstage Info  Speculation

Notes : The DY-100's were fielded during the late 1980's in order to explore the solar system via long duration missions carrying crews in suspended animation. The vessels were the first to be fitted with Ion drive propulsion, powered by nuclear reactors which would ba capable of operating for years at a time if necessary. This would allow the DY-100's to operate under continuous acceleration, thus reducing journey times drastically and allowing the craft to conduct many missions without refuelling.

Like many space related projects of the 20th century, the DY-100's suffered from escalating costs and technical problems. The planned run of nine was funded jointly by many of the major governments of the time, but the break-up of the Soviet Union during the development phase during the 1980's hit the project hard, and the design was re-worked several times in order to reduce the costs. Eventually the Russian government backed out altogether, and the remaining countries cut the order back first to six and eventually to four. The first DY-100 was launched in 1992, shortly before the start of the Eugenics wars. The first flight was a successful test run around the moon and back, with a crew of nine on board.

Three uncompleted DY-100 hulls were seized by the genetic tyrants who claimed control of the Asian and African continents. Rumours quickly spread that these were to be completed and used as orbital weapons platforms, or that the tyrants would establish a presence on the moon or mars. When the heavy fighting began the allies launched commando raids which succeeded in destroying two of the hulls and damaging the third. This was later believed to have been destroyed by a tactical nuclear weapon strike on its launch site.

So the situation remained for some three hundred years, until the Botany Bay was discovered drifting in space by the USS Enterprise. Many records of the DY-100 project had been lost during the third world war, and at first the Enterprise crew took the ships crew to be refugees from the Eugenics wars. However, it was quickly learned that the group were all genetically engineered super humans under the command of none other than Khan Noonian Sing, one of the worst of the tyrants. Khan seized control of the Enterprise with the help of one of the ships own crew members, and abandoned the last of the DY-100's in space. Captain Kirk and his officers were subsequently able to regain control of the Enterprise and recapture the criminals. Reluctant to imprison his captives, Kirk offered Khan the chance to settle on the uninhabited world of Ceti Alpha V - an offer which Khan accepted.