USS Polaris
The USS Polaris is an Odyssey-class explorer within Fourth Fleet Operations, serving as the flagship of Polaris Squadron and Fleet Admiral Allison Reyes, and as the mobile base of operations for the Advanced Science, Technology and Research Activity, a specialized, cross-functional unit intended to fuel Starfleet’s innovation engine through exploration of strange new worlds, interactions and negotiations with alien species, and crisis response to some of the stranger realities on the rim of known space. While not on assignment, the USS Polaris is based out of Archanis Station and supports operations withihn the Archanis Sector.
Operations
Advanced Science, Technology and Research Activity (ASTRA)
ASTRA is comprised of four specialized science and research units that dramatically extend beyond the scope of research departments found on typical Starfleet vessels:
- Astrophysics and Exotic Sciences Unit, led by Commander Luke Lockwood, Ph.D., is responsible for research related to stellar and planetary phenomena, including astrophysics, subspace mechanics, temporal mechanics, stellar cartography, geochemistry, minerology, seismology, etc.
- Medical and Biological Sciences Unit, led by James Henderson, M.D., M.P.H., is responsible for research related to alien species, including ecology, biology, zoology, botany, etymology, medicine, anatomy, pathology, toxicology, bacteriology, etc.
- Cultural and Psychological Research Unit, led by Lieutenant Lisa Hall, Ph.D., is responsible for research related to the development, culture and perspectives of alien species, including anthropology, archaeology, agronomy, psychology, negotiation, historiology, etc.
- Technology and Engineering Research Unit, led by Commander Cora Lee, is responsible for research related to Federation and foreign technologies, including propulsion, weapons, shields, sensors, communications, digital systems, synthetic lifeforms, etc.
Fleet Admiral Allison Reyes is the Director of ASTRA, drawing on her experience as a former Director of Starfleet R&D's Frontier Sciences Division, the Deputy Director of Starfleet R&D's Shipbuilding Technologies Division, and the Section Chief for the Starfleet Intelligence Technology Analysis Bureau.
Starship Operations
Due to the multi-role purpose of the USS Polaris, general starship operations, including Flight Control, Engineering, Operations and Security, are principally overseen by Executive Officer Fleet Captain Gérard Devreux.
Other functions, such as Medical and Counseling, are provided as extensions of the Advanced Science, Technology and Research Activity, with James Henderson, M.D., M.P.H. and Lieutenant Lisa Hall, Ph.D. doubling as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Counselor respectively.
There is no standard Science department on the USS Polaris as its functions are subsumed in their entirety by the Advanced Science, Technology and Research Activity.
Combat Operations
While the purpose of the USS Polaris is predominantly science, research and exploration, Fleet Admiral Allison Reyes, a veteran of the Dominion War, remains wary of the dangers in the unknown. During the refit of the USS Polaris in 2399, Reyes saw to the buildout of a Combat Information Center (CIC) capable of managing strategic operations across an entire sector of space should the need arise.
For direct action engagements beyond the scope of a traditional Security department, Fleet Admiral Reyes brought in a veteran of Starfleet Intelligence special operations, Captain Jake Lewis, as Chief Intelligence Officer and Hazard Team lead. Under Capptain Lewis, the Hazard Team aboard the USS Polaris is a grueling assignment, with selection and training heavily focused on direct and covert combat operations.
Since the formation of Polaris Squadron, the USS Polaris is rarely seen without the USS Diligent heavy escort and the USS Serenity fast cruiser, which further bolster the combat capabilities of the larger and slower flagship.
Diplomatic Operations
As one of only a few flag officers permanently operating on a frontline explorer, and someone with many years of experience in deep space exploration and first contact situations, Fleet Admiral Allison Reyes is uniquely positioned to serve as an ambassador for the Federation on the frontier. The diplomatic facilities aboard the USS Polaris are well equipped for this purpose, and the crew includes both dedicated diplomatic staff and members of the ASTRA team that specialize in alien cultures, development and psychology.
History
The Polaris Project commenced at Devron Fleet Yards in 2389. The project came under immediate and sustained scrutiny by those within the Federation who felt investments in large explorers were a waste in the wake of the First Contact Day catastrophe. Nonetheless, the project proceeded under the supervision of Captain Ethysaan Ch'chirrit, and the USS Polaris entered service five years later.
The first few years of the service for the USS Polaris were relatively uneventful as, under a Starfleet policy that saw it pull back from deep space exploration, the frontline explorer was relegated to diplomatic and support missions within core Federation territory. This would all change in March 2399 with the Osiris Initiative, which breathed fresh life into Starfleet as the Fourth Fleet was tasked with a return to the great unknown.
Due to the versatility and size of the Odyssey class, the USS Polaris was selected as a platform to host the Advanced Science, Technology and Research Activity. The USS Polaris spent several months in spacedock undergoing modifications for the specialized equipment and labs to support the needs of the Activity, and it relaunched in September 2399.
Notable Events
June 2400: A Place Removed from Space
The USS Polaris was dispatched to find two ships that had gone missing deep in the Talvath Cluster. As it began its search, the USS Polaris' warp field collapsed, and it became stranded due to incongruities in local subspace. The ASTRA Astrophysics and Exotic Sciences Team attempted to derive a new formalism around the local spacetime, one with impossible mechanics that somehow nonetheless existed in this specific area of space.
While work was ongoing to find a way to circumvent the spacetime anomalies, the USS Polaris made first contact with a xenophobic alien species. Through this contact, it was learned that this unnamed species had modified their local spacetime almost two millennia ago in order to defend themselves against aggression of pre-Imperial Romulan warlords. Although the manner in which they accomplished this feat is not understood, it had the effect of cutting them off completely from the rest of the galaxy, an isolation they have maintained ever since. Ultimately, this species agreed to transport the USS Polaris and her sister ships back to Federation space under the condition that the Federation never return.
Early March 2401: Infiltrate and Liberate
In the early days of the Lost Fleet crisis, the Nasera System fell to the Dominion and Breen assault. A key industrial center and one of the oldest Federation colonies in the Deneb Sector, retaking Nasera was deemed a key priority by Fourth Fleet Command. A covert action team, comprised mostly of USS Polaris Hazard Team members, plus a couple private contractors, was dispatched to Nasera II to disrupt planetary and orbital defenses, paving the way for a counter-offensive to recapture the system.
On March 16, 2401, the USS Polaris led an assault an assault wing of six ships, including the USS Diligent and USS Ingenuity, in the Battle of Nasera. The assault wing suffered heavy casualties but ultimately achieved victory.
Late March 2401: Voices of Deneb
Nasera II was ravaged by the Dominion occupation and the brutal battle, and following the successful conclusion of the counter offensive, the USS Polaris and her sister ships remained in orbit to provide humanitarian assistance to the wounded world.
The humanitarian mission was managed by Commodore Imya Jori, who arrived on the USS Verity shortly after the battle, with key roles played by Captain Gérard Devreux (USS Polaris Executive Officer), Captain Dorian Vox (USS Diligent Commanding Officer) and Commander Cora Lee (USS Ingenuity Commanding Officer). In addition to the humanitarian mission, researchers from the ASTRA unit collected video testimonials from the colonists that had suffered under the wake of the Dominion, intending to use them as a PR campaign to motivate Starfleet Command to send reinforcements to the Deneb Sector.
While the Polaris conducted its humanitarian mission, Fleet Admiral Allison Reyes departed on the USS Serenity to conduct additional sorties against the Lost Fleet's forces. This culminated in the Battle of Ciatar Nebula when, assisted by the USS Valhalla and the USS Andromeda, the Serenity aided the USS Mariner in delivering Vorta representatives from the present era Dominion to the Lost Fleet in order to facilitate the cessation of hostilities.
April 2401: Troubles on the Homefront
Members of the USS Polaris' command team travelled to Earth aboard the USS Serenity in search of answers as to why Starfleet Command had sat idle during the Lost Fleet crisis. When they arrived over Earth, they found Starfleet busy with preparations for [ma:Frontier Day|Frontier Day]. As they start digging, it becomes clear that there's more happening on Earth than meets the eye.
Following a firefight with unknown assailants in Milan where two of their own are captured, they track the conspirators back to a black site in Healdsburg. During their assault, they confirm the relationship between the conspirators and Starfleet, and they discover a Changeling is involved. However, before they can make any further progress, the USS Serenity is overcome by the Borg signal, while members of the Polaris' command team aboard Sol Station do what they can to protect members of the civilian government that had assembled aboard the station for the ceremony.
June 2401: Children of the Borg
Polaris Squadron, now fully constituted as an operational unit, is deployed to Wolf 359 to hunt for a Borg homing beacon that went active and then vanished without a trace. While searching, the USS Polaris receives a distress call from the Beta Serpentis System that warns of Borg activity in the area, but as quickly as the signal starts, it stops. When the Polaris contacts the colony, they deny sending the transmission, and sensor scans show nothing of concern, but Fleet Admiral Allison Reyes takes the USS Ingenuity to check it out.
While the colonists of Beta Serpentis III take Admiral Reyes hostage, and the Ingenuity is disabled by unknown technology that appears to be of Borg origin, the rest of Polaris Squadron continues their search in the graveyard of Wolf 359. That's when they discover that the Borg homing signal they were searching for has been removed from the wreckage and moved to Beta Serpentis III. They race to the system, arriving just in time to prevent the colonists, who it turns out are Borg worshippers, from summoning the Borg through a transwarp conduit.
June 2401: Reverberations and Ramifications
During the operation to retake the Nasera System during the the Lost Fleet crisis, the cover operations team deployed to the planet managed to capture the Vorta commander in charge of the occupation. However, following an investigation, it is alleged that, in order to compel the surrender of the Jem'Hadar, Captain Lewis and Dr. Hall, the only two surviving Starfleet officers from the operation, tortured and the murdered the Vorta. The squadron's JAG officer files charges, and then a hearing officer from the JAG Corps comes aboard to review the preferral.
The trial is dominated by an aggressive back-and-forth between Commander Drake, the prosecutor, and Admiral Reyes, serving on behalf of the defense, with repulsive revelations, disagreements on key facts, and even debates over the Vorta's fundamental rights as a lifeform. In the end, although the hearing officer acknowledges significant discrepancies in the record, he rules that there does not exist evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt, that links the defendants to the crime, and the charges are dropped.