USS Arcturus

Odyssey-class • NCC-84000 • Fourth Fleet

The starship Arcturus bears the legacy of the vaunted Galaxy-class explorers that came before her as the ultimate expression of the maximalist design principles of the Utopia Planitia Design School. One of the newest of the Odyssey-class heavy explorers, Arcturus entered service in 2399 with hardened and redundant deep space exploration equipment to prepare her for a long mission in the Delta Quadrant under Commodore Elizabeth Hayden. That mission only lasted a few months before Arcturus was called back to serve against the Breen in the Alpha Quadrant, then came the Klingons at Arcanis in the Beta Quadrant, followed by the ancient mystery left by the T’Kon back in the Delta Quadrant. The next year, she was at the front lines of the Stormbreaker Campaign, the Sundered Wings Campaign, and the Blood Dilithium Campaign. A ship designed after the Dominion War to herald in a new era of peaceful exploration, Arcturus has spent most of her service life with the Fourth Fleet as a bulwark against the forces that lurk in dark corners of the galaxy.

Now in 2401, with the Lost Fleet Campaign behind her and her captain now elevated to the rank of fleet captain, Arcturus remains to hold the line along with her squadron. With a diverse and exceptional crew, the story of the Arcturus is one of ingenuity, camaraderie, and love overcoming the worst instincts of the galaxy. To paraphrase the ship’s dedication quote: fate may have some ideas for us, but where we go is up to us.

Command History

Commodore Elizabeth Hayden (December 2398–March 2399)
Captain/Fleet Captain Michael Lancaster (March 2399–Present)

Stories associated with this command may include up to the equivalent of a 222 on the RPG ratings scale, and are intended for mature audiences.

Arcturus Wayfinding Squadron

Arcturus Wayfinding Squadron is an elite exploratory unit that specializes in finding new ways forward for Starfleet. Distinct from navigation, which is plotting a course based on the precise knowledge of exactly where one is in the universe, wayfinding is a more general word that refers to the process of orienting oneself in regard to space, place, objects, and peoples. Wayfinding was practiced by the Polynesian and Norse voyagers of Earth in the ancient past, as they used landmarks, the stars, and their relationships with other beings to find their way across the seas. While Arcturus Squadron engages in traditional surveying and charting missions, its mandate is also to use whatever tools it can to find the way forward, whether through diplomacy, acquiring or developing new propulsion methods, or, when necessary, mitigating threats to Starfleet’s exploratory mission.

Currently, Arcturus Squadron is based out of Olympia Station at the rimward trailing edge of Federation space in the Alpha Quadrant.

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Crew Manifest

Recent Stories

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11 November 2024

4. Interrogation

Operation Salient Dawn

Olympia Station, USS Arcturus and USS Arondight

As Nathan Blake was taken through the corridors of Arcturus, it was clear to him from the gold detailing and Federation blue accents that he was in trouble. He hadn’t been on a lot of Starfleet vessels in his day, but he was sure he’d been taken in by a flagship. From the outside, he could tell [...]

5 November 2024

3. Arondight Prelude

Operation Salient Dawn

Olympia Station, USS Arcturus and USS Arondight

Meanwhile, the starship Arondight was about halfway through its four-day ferry mission from Starbase 339 to Deep Space 20. In addition to returning Vice Admiral Hayden from a conference, they’d picked up four new ensigns, a fresh batch of lower deckers who had been midshipmen mere weeks before. [...]

5 November 2024

2. Arcturus Prelude

Operation Salient Dawn

Olympia Station, USS Arcturus and USS Arondight

Ferellan Tornellis waited with well-veiled nerves for the fleet captain to consider the proposal he’d just made. It was admittedly a gamble: if they concentrated their forces on one known smuggler, they stood the chance of gaining an important asset in their crusade against the Orion Syndicate, [...]

4 November 2024

1. Prelude

Operation Salient Dawn

Olympia Station, USS Arcturus and USS Arondight

The minute he picked up a Starfleet warp signature on long-range sensors, Nathan Blake turned the bow of the Oscar Wilde towards the system’s asteroid belt. They were on him much faster than he was expecting, especially since he’d searched his cargo thoroughly for any bugs or trackers. An [...]