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.

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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.

USS Arcturus

Odyssey-class Heavy Explorer
NCC-84000

USS Achilles

Echelon-class Light Cruiser
NCC-97409

USS Antares

Intrepid-class Science Vessel
NCC-74601

USS Apollo

Duderstadt-class Fast Cruiser
NCC-90769

USS Arondight

Reliant-class Frigate
NCC-86407

USS Buran

Rhode Island-class Scout
NCC-81711

USS Hokule’a

Aquarius-class Escort
NCC-84000-/1

USS Nellie Bly

Challenger-class Light Cruiser
NCC-57588

Olympia Station

Spacedock I-class Station
DS-20

USS Pallas

Vesta-class Long-Range Explorer
NCC-83723

USS Praxiteles

Springfield-class Science Vessel
NCC-63422

USS Renown

Akira-class Heavy Cruiser
NCC-79655

USS Saturn

Sutherland-class Research Cruiser
NCC-91807

USS Theseus

Gagarin-class Heavy Escort
NCC-97931

USS Thomas Paine

New Orleans-class Frigate
NCC-65530

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Crew Manifest

Recent Stories

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22 November 2024

6. Careful What You Wish For

Operation Salient Dawn

Olympia Station, USS Arcturus and USS Arondight

On hearing that they were boarding an automated freighter, Wren felt his mood lifting a little: without people aboard, there wouldn’t be any casualties for him to treat. Still, it felt like tempting fate to return his medical kit to the equipment locker, so he sinched the cross-body strap a [...]

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15 November 2024

5. Yearning for Some Action

Operation Salient Dawn

Olympia Station, USS Arcturus and USS Arondight

Everything in Paulo Costa’s universe was good. After a friendly but fierce game of tennis with their friends, he was sitting in the recreation room with his arm draped over his boyfriend’s shoulder while nursing a glass of synthehol. It would have been even better if his drink were a fine glass [...]

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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 [...]

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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. [...]

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