Arcturus Squadron

Arcturus Squadron
Unit	Fourth Fleet Operations
Flagship	USS Arcturus
Leadership
Commanding Officer	VADM Elizabeth Hayden
Executive Officer	CAPT Michael Lancaster
Assignment
Headquarters	[[Overwatch Station]]
Mission	Deep Space Exploration
Template:Squadron

Arcturus Squadron is a formation centered around the starship Arcturus, an Odyssey-class explorer. It is currently under the command of Vice Admiral Elizabeth Hayden. The ships in this squadron are currently assigned to explore the area of space in and around the Talvath Cluster and spent the majority of 2399 and 2400 in the Delta Quadrant. This squadron is assigned directly to Fourth Fleet Operations and not one of the fleet's task forces. The starships assigned to this squadron complement and support one another, but generally operate several days away from each other at high warp at the closest.

History

Task Forces 38 & 9 (2399)

Arcturus Squadron was first constituted on the comissioning of the USS Arcturus, under the command of then-Commodore Elizabeth Hayden in 2399. Initially assigned to Task Force 38, the squadron performed initial surveys of the Nacene Reach. When returning to the Alpha Quadrant for debriefing later that year, the squadron participated in the Battle of Barzan II, during which the Breen killed Vice Admiral Jonathan Knox and sparked renewed border tensions between the two powers.

Commodore Hayden was promoted to Rear Admiral and ordered to lead a newly reformed Task Force 9 in interdiction and frontier security efforts, with Arcturus Squadron continuing to serve as her vanguard.

Fourth Fleet Operations (2399 to Present)

Starting in mid-2399, Arcturus Squadron was assigned directly to the Headquarters Division of Fourth Fleet Operations, and participated in both the Archanis and Tkon-Omega Campaigns. For the first half of 2400, Admiral Hayden was teaching at Starfleet Academy and the squadron was temporarily led by the flagship's captain, Captain Michael Lancaster, during its participation in the Century Storm Campaign, though she returned by the time of the Blood Dilithium Campaign at the end of that year.

In late 2399, Arcturus Squadron was assigned to commence detailed surveys of the Talvath Expanse coreward of the Romulan Free State, with the addition of the Antares to accompany Arcturus and Apollo, with their operations coordinated through Overwatch Station.

Leadership

• Commodore Elizabeth Hayden — Stardate 2399.1—Stardate 2399.3
• Rear Admiral Elizabeth Hayden — Stardate 2399.4—Stardate 2400.1
• Captain Michael Lancaster — Stardate 2400.1—2400.10
• Vice Admiral Elizabeth Hayden — Stardate 2400.10—Present

Current Composition

As of 2401, Arcturus Squadron is composed of four starships.

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  USS Arcturus - Odyssey-class explorer — Flagship of the squadron, Arcturus is equipped to resupply her squadron-mates for extended periods of time, while also providing recreation and medical support for their crews, which further enhances their collective range. Arcturus also regularly launches runabout and shuttle missions. Admiral Hayden and her staff are embarked aboard Arcturus, while the ship itself is under the command of Captain Michael Lancaster.
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    USS Hokule'a - Aquarius-class light escort — Hokule'a is attached directly to Arcturus in a quite literal sense as the flagship's embarked escort. She is used for short-duration independent survey operations, and has frequently been used as a planet-side base for scientific surveys. In combat situations, she is deployed for close fire support for the flagship. Normally, she is commanded either by one of the Arcturus department heads or by Commander Dealhi Odea, Senior Officer of the Watch aboard Arcturus.
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  USS Antares - Intrepid-class light explorer — Antares serves a variety of functions within the squadron, as she is equipped both to scout out systems in advance of Arcturus or to perform first contact missions with civilizations identified by Apollo. She is currently under the command of Captain Noah Armstrong and was assigned to the squadron in early 2401 following an extensive mid-life refit.
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  USS Apollo - Rhode Island-class scout — Apollo scouts ahead of the squadron, using her high top speed and powerful sensors to identify possible first contact opportunities and catalog threats. Generally, she does not conduct first contacts herself, but standard squadron doctrine is to assign the Apollo to first contacts where peaceful intent cannot be established in advance, since she is well-armed and has the smallest crew within the squadron. She is currently under the command of Captain Sean Gaudain.

Headquarters

In actual practice, the headquarters of Arcturus Squadron is the Arcturus herself, but it has a nominal headquarters in Deep Space 404, Overwatch Station. This scientific facility provides long-range reconnaissance data, and one of the squadron's secondary responsibilities is protecting this unarmed station. There is a regular stream of freighters from deeper in Federation space bringing materials for the ongoing construction of the Daren Subspace Radio Telescope, but this is generally a quite isolated outpost.