Beta Serpentis System
The Beta Serpentis System is a binary star system near Wolf 359. Relatively unknown and rarely visited, the system includes only a single marginally-habitable world, the class P Beta Serpentis III, and it lies just far off of major shipping lanes to make it inconvenient. In 2401, Fleet Admiral Allison Reyes and Polaris Squadron discovered that the Andorian colony on Beta Serpentis III had become entangled with old Borg technology from the Battle of Wolf 359, and after the conclusion of the crisis, the colony was placed under the stewardship of Federation Colony Operations.
History
Following the Battle of Wolf 359 in 2367, Starfleet Command commissioned a covert research program to study the remnants of the destroyed Borg cube. The Beta Serpentis system was selected due to its proximity to Wolf 359. The project involved the creation of Salvage Facility 21-J, a research and salvage depot hidden within the troposphere of the class I gas giant Beta Serpentis IV, and a small colony on Beta Serpentis III to support operations. The program was shuttered in the early 2380s, but the Andorian colonists of Beta Serpentis III chose to remain.
In the late 2380s, the colony on Beta Serpentis III threatened to leave the Federation due to the Synth Ban, as the colony was highly dependent on synths for its workforce. Ultimately, the colony did not succeed, but the decade that followed was incredibly difficult on the colony's residents due to its limited population and the harsh conditions of the class P world.
Borg Crisis of 2401
In June 2401, Polaris Squadron received a distress call from Beta Serpentis III, but the colony insisted that they did not send it. The USS Ingenuity was sent to investigate. When they arrived, they discovered the colonists had become Borg worshipers looking to bring about the assimilation of the galaxy. After resolving a situation where the colonists took their crew hostage, purging the colony of Borg technology, and stopping an ill-fated attempt to summon the Borg to their system, Polaris Squadron rounded up the key perpetrators and handed them over to Starfleet Security, while the colony was placed under the stewardship of Federation Colony Operations.
See Children of the Borg for detailed proceedings.
Notable Locations
Binary Star Pair
At the center of the Beta Serpentis system is a detached binary star pair with an A-type main-sequence star and a smaller K3 V red dwarf. The separation distance and relative mass of the pair cause the planets in the Beta Serpentis system to move on wide, but consistent ellipticals.
During the Borg Crisis of 2401, it was discovered that the colonists of Beta Serpentis III had built a transwarp gate at the lemniscate of the binary pair's Roche Lobe, and they had commandeered a Borg homing beacon to use it to lure the Borg Collective through. Ultimately, this transwarp gate was destroyed by Polaris Squadron.
Beta Serpentis III Colony
Beta Serpentis III is a class P glacial planet with year-round sub-zero surface temperatures and a lanthanide-rich inner crust that scrambles transporter targeting sensors. Described as a frozen hellscape by most, it is host to a small colony of Andorians who were on the initial project team for Salvage Facility 21-J but chose not to leave when the project was shuttered.
Due to the lack of interest in the system since the decommissioning of the Borg research program, the infrastructure of Beta Serpentis III fell into significant disrepair from the eighties and onward. Polaris Squadron carried out an initial refit and resupply of the colony in June 2401 following the Borg crisis, and the colony has been flagged by the Federation Colony Operations for additional support missions going forward.
Beta Serpentis IV and Salvage Facility 21-J
Beta Serpentis IV is a class I gas giant notable for its dense ammonia atmosphere and aggressive storm activity. These characteristics led Starfleet to select the planet's troposphere as the site of Salvage Facility 21-J, a covert research and salvage depot where they planned to dissect and analyze the remains of the Borg cube destroyed at Wolf 359. Salvage Facility 21-J was decommissioned in the 2380s, and was maintained by automated systems for the intervening two decades until the Borg crisis of 2401.
In June 2401, it was discovered by the USS Ingenuity that Salvage Facility 21-J had been corrupted by Borg subroutines and that its synths had been weaponized. After the Borg subroutines were purged by the Advanced Science, Technology and Research Activity, it was resolved that a fully automated model for maintaining a station full of Borg technology was a bad idea. The facility is now once again managed by a small team from Starfleet Security and Starfleet R&D, and it has been reactivated to support continued research of the Borg Collective and its technology.