NATO

In Trek Outta Time, NATO remains an alliance tasked with defending its members, coordinating strategic operations, and maintaining a shared chain of command. But the discovery of technology from the future profoundly changes its role: the organization also becomes the guardian of secret space programs and infrastructure capable of surviving a global crisis.

This NATO belongs to the Schak'Irra Timeline. It has developed ships, underground bases, a lunar starbase, and advanced systems from knowledge extracted from a wreck it does not fully understand. This technological lead does not make it all-powerful: it instead places the alliance before responsibilities and dangers it had not fully anticipated.

The rupture point lies in 1954, when the Schak'Irra crash gives birth to a different reality. The information recovered around that wreck then feeds decades of secret research, notably around Area 51, NATO bunkers, the starbase, and the first ships of the Special Fleet.

In 2024, these programs still exist largely in the shadows, while the war with Russia already weighs on everyday life. On July 15, Brussels hosts NATO's annual summit, with leaders from the Alliance's thirty-six countries and several invited heads of state. The integration files for Switzerland and Austria are due to be handled there, a sign of an Alliance still expanding despite the progressive collapse of the international order.

In Bunker #1, ships such as the USS Mercator, the USS Manneken, and the USS Charlemagne initially remain outside the main protocol. The summit mostly concerns bunker departments, security services, and the Alliance's political circuits.

When the nuclear crisis breaks out, this organization becomes an emergency system. The bunker ships receive the order to evacuate allied leaders and as many civilians as possible, transforming a secret infrastructure into a public last resort.

That day publicly exposes what NATO had hidden until then: Nauvoo-class ships able to launch from urban bunkers, mass-evacuation logistics, and a crisis chain designed to save part of the population in the event of collapse.

NATO functions as a central structure able to coordinate armed branches, non-armed divisions, technological services, and crisis infrastructure. This organization explains why very different characters can answer to NATO without belonging to the same corps.

Conventional Armed Forces

Ground forces, air forces, navy, special forces, and combat structures. Robert Gomard, for example, belongs to the Ground Forces.

Fleets

Branches responsible for naval, space, or transport assets depending on the theater of operations. The Special Fleet belongs to this logic, but with a non-combat vocation.

Special Fleet

Non-armed space division responsible for transport, evacuation, cargo, medical support, and orbital liaison.

Logistical Networks

Transport, cargo, and liaison infrastructure linking bunkers, strategic sites, and certain sensitive facilities. The AspiroTube is the most visible example in the story.

MS&G

Branch linked to computing, advanced systems, data analysis, and some technologies used by NATO. Born from the merger of Microsoft and Google, more than eighty percent of which NATO has purchased, it notably intervenes in cybersecurity and onboard system updates.

Public Information

The Alliance also has a media environment linked to the war. Defense FM, funded by Alliance countries and private media outlets, informs citizens about the evolution of the conflict while trying to avoid extreme propaganda.

Sensitive Sites

Bunkers, the lunar starbase, Area 51, and other secret facilities used to protect, develop, or exploit technologies from the Schak'Irra Timeline.

NATO's Special Fleet operates spacecraft developed in secret from the knowledge recovered after the Schak'Irra crash. In the 21st century, it mainly carries out transport, evacuation, cargo, medical support, space liaison, and logistical assistance missions.

It recruits former military personnel and civilians, has its own hierarchy, and uses ranks close to Starfleet's, but it is not designed as a combat force. Its ships may have light armament or defensive systems, but their central role remains protection, movement, and survival.

In the daily life of the bunker, this division also functions as a tightly regulated technical administration. Captains file reports, request maintenance authorizations, and book slots for propulsion tests. Hamilton's refusal to let the Mercator break in its nacelles on July 17, already reserved for the Charlemagne, shows a Special Fleet monitored down to its costs, procedures, and use of bunker air.

This vocation nevertheless reaches its limits as soon as the 2024 crisis begins. The Mercator must survive the evacuation of Brussels, the Enterprise is exposed to unknown adversaries, and the Special Fleet is drawn into situations its initial doctrine did not cover.

Urban Bunkers

Network of hidden facilities in the Alliance's major cities, designed to house one or more Nauvoo-class ships and support evacuation operations.

Brussels Bunker #1

Underground facility notably housing the Mercator, the Manneken, and the Charlemagne. It serves as the departure base for the evacuation of Brussels.

AspiroTube Network

Ultra-secure underground network linking Alliance bunkers and certain strategic facilities. Its SonicShuttles transport cargo and personnel at very high speed. The network notably provides access to Area 51 from Cheyenne Mountain through NORAD.

Lunar Starbase

NATO facility located behind the Moon. It receives the survivors of the Mercator, houses several ships, and serves as a support point for the Enterprise.

Area 51

American site linked to the preservation of the Schak'Irra wreck. It remains under the command of General Clifton and does not report directly to the Special Fleet.

Nauvoo Class

The Nauvoo class represents the first major family of ships developed by NATO in the Schak'Irra Timeline. These craft are designed for population evacuation, cargo transport, medical assistance, heavy equipment delivery, atmospheric operations, and liaison with orbital facilities.

The earliest models are relatively modest, then gain capacity and scale as the technology is mastered. This scalability allows them to answer very different missions, from emergency evacuation to massive logistical support.

The Nauvoo have detachable modules, atmospheric propulsion, energy shields, light armament, and technologies still experimental in 2024, such as teleportation or tubular elevators. Their warp propulsion remains theoretical and limited to Warp 1.5.

The fleet includes thousands of Nauvoo distributed through NATO bunkers, usually with one to three craft per major city. NATO's starbase also has several, probably around ten to twenty.

Constitution Class

The Constitution class is represented by a single prototype: the USS Enterprise NCC-1701. More advanced than the Nauvoo, it is built at the NATO starbase and becomes the flagship of the Special Fleet after the evacuation of Brussels.

Class F Shuttles

Class F shuttles are small units carried aboard Special Fleet ships, usually about ten per vessel. They serve liaison, passenger transport, and close-range operations. Herbie 53 is the most identifiable example in the story.

USS Mercator NCC-815

Nauvoo-class ship stationed in Brussels Bunker #1, commanded by Agnes Rodriguez during the evacuation of Brussels.

USS Manneken NCC-816

Nauvoo-class ship stationed in Brussels Bunker #1, involved in the evacuation of the city.

USS Charlemagne NCC-817

Nauvoo-class ship stationed in Brussels Bunker #1, mentioned as early as the technical routine preceding the crisis.

USS Washington NCC-771

Nauvoo-class ship based at NATO's starbase, commanded by Elias Warren and destroyed during the Satellites mission.

USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Constitution-class prototype entrusted to Agnes Rodriguez after the Mercator is taken out of service.

Herbie 53

Class F shuttle associated with Angie Chen, attached first to the Mercator and then to the Enterprise.

NATO ranks are not uniform from one branch to another. Conventional armed forces use their own military ranks, while the Special Fleet uses a structure closer to Starfleet's, adapted to its ships and crews.

Conventional Armed Forces

Colonel, sergeant, general, admiral, and other usual military ranks depending on the corps.

Special Fleet

Ensign, lieutenant, commander, captain, admiral.

Mixed Command

Crisis situations can bring together officers from different branches, such as Agnes Rodriguez for the Special Fleet and Robert Gomard for the Ground Forces.

July 15, 2024 - Annual Brussels Summit

The leaders of the Alliance's thirty-six countries and several invited heads of state are present in Brussels. Switzerland and Austria's integration is due to be handled during the day. The summit becomes the tipping point when the nuclear crisis breaks out and the ships of Bunker #1 receive the order to evacuate leaders and civilians.

Defense FM and the War Climate

From the morning onward, the radio mentions the leaders arriving in Brussels, Russian ships moving near American and Canadian coasts, and an Alliance already hardened by years of conflict.

DEFCON 4 and Cyberattacks

Before the collapse, the bunker is already placed on heightened alert: leave canceled, reserve officers recalled, cybersecurity hardened, and MS&G updates planned for ship systems. The AspiroTube is among the infrastructure affected by the attacks.

Evacuation of Brussels

The Mercator, the Manneken, and the Charlemagne lift off in broad daylight. The operation reveals the existence of the Special Fleet to a population unaware of the system's scale.

Earth-Moon Crossing

The Mercator reaches the starbase with thousands of refugees, heavily damaged and almost out of power.

Satellites Mission

The Enterprise escorts several Nauvoo tasked with regaining control of Earth's satellites. The USS Washington is destroyed during this mission.

Special Operation in Russia

Admiral Michaux entrusts Robert Gomard with a major ground mission. Agnes, Eros, and Tarsi accompany the operation, which exceeds the usual framework of the Special Fleet.

Expedition to Area 51

After the Russian operation, Angie uses the AspiroTube from Cheyenne Mountain with several Class F shuttles. The journey confirms the network's strategic importance, but also its vulnerability: an Atlantic section has been destroyed, cutting the link with Europe.

Attack on the Starbase

NATO's starbase is destroyed during the Tholian attack. This event cuts the Enterprise off from its last institutional support point in the Schak'Irra Timeline.

Agnes Rodriguez

Captain in the Special Fleet, first commanding the Mercator and then the Enterprise.

Angie Chen

Commander, Agnes' first officer, and pilot linked to the Mercator, Herbie 53, and the Enterprise.

Jules Hamilton

Admiral of Brussels Bunker #1, Agnes and Angie's direct superior before the crisis.

Anthony Michaux

Admiral of the lunar starbase, responsible for major decisions around the Enterprise and the Russian mission.

Robert Gomard

Ground Forces colonel, tasked with the special operation in Russia and gradually integrated into the survivors of the Enterprise.

Emmanuel, known as Manu

Belgian civilian requisitioned by the Belgian state and assigned to NATO's Special Fleet.

Emilie Flores

Special Fleet ensign assigned to communications and systems.

Charlene Savea

Special Fleet engineer, essential to the technical survival of the Mercator and then the Enterprise.

Eric Corda

Special Fleet pilot, present on the Mercator and then the Enterprise.