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The USS Stargazer, NCC-2893, is a starship of the United Federation of Planets in the fictional world of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
It is known as the first ship on which Jean-Luc Picard served as an officer, and was later his first command ship. It was a Constellation-class vessel.
Maxia
When the Stargazer came to the Maxia star system, an unidentified vessel attacked the Stargazer. It would be years until it was learned that it was a Ferengi vessel that attack them. The Picard maneuver - a clever last-ditch effort - was invented to win a battle against the Ferengi. The Ferengi vessel was destroyed, but Stargazer was so severely damaged in the battle that the crew was forced to abandon ship following Maxia.
Rediscovery
For the next nine years, the Stargazer drifted through the Maxia system. Eventually it was found by the Ferengi DaiMon Bok, who was the father of the commander of the Ferengi ship that attacked the Stargazer. Bok saw a chance to have his revenge against Picard and the Federation. Bok placed a device on the ship that would allow him to manipulate Picard's thoughts. He then asked the Enterprise to come to meet his ship at Maxia.
During their first meeting the Stargazer came into range, and Picard learned for the first time that his old ship still existed. Bok invited the Federation to take control of the Stargazer at no cost.
Bok first attempted to discredit Picard by planting a faxed log entry on board the Stargazer, but the fraud was quickly discovered by the Enterprise crew. Bok then used his mind control device to manipulate Picard into boarding the Stargazer. Bok told Picard he wanted revenge for his son's death at Picard's hands. Bok used another mind control device to deceive Picard into thinking that he was under attack by an unknown attacker.
Picard attempted to use the Picard Maneuver again against the Enterprise. But Commander Data was able to devise a defense where the Enterprise would grab the Stargazer with her tractor beam, and prevent her from firing. Commander Riker was able to get through to Picard, and Picard destroyed the mind control device on the Stargazer. Free of the mind control, he learned that Bok's plans for revenge had been found out by his crew, and that Bok had been relieved of duty.
A tug soon met the Enterprise and towed the Stargazer back to a nearby Starbase. Some fans have speculated that Data called the starbase Xindi Starbase 9, who were the same beings featured in the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise. What happened to the Stargazer afterwards is not known.
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