Task Force 17
Task Force 17 conducts deep space exploratory and diplomatic missions far beyond Federation borders, in challenging, distant corners of the galaxy such as the Delta and Gamma Quadrants. They are specialists in long-term operations with little support from Starfleet infrastructure.
Objectives
- Manage the operations of Federation ships far from local space, as well as those isolated in the Delta Quadrant.
- Explore deep space, the Gamma Quadrant, and the Delta Quadrant.
- Monitor major threats to Federation security: The Borg, Dominion, and the Voth.
- Establish peaceful relations with native species.
Overview
'To boldly go where no one has gone before.' These legendary words have long been repeated and paraphrased by successive generations of explorers and scientists seeking to fulfil one of the core mandates of the Federation Starfleet’s philosophy, and are etched into the minds of every Starfleet cadet and many Federation citizens. In a time preceded by great galactic strife and conflict, Task Force 17 of the Fourth Fleet seeks to embody those principles once more, as Starfleet recovers from the atrocities and existential threats posed by the Dominion War and the attack on Mars, to once again rediscover its sense of wonderment and exploration, and return to exploring the final frontier.
Armed with the same ethos and mandate that guided the historic Constitution-class vessels and their five-year missions of the twenty-third century, Task Force 17 is committed to exploring the farthest reaches of deep space. With unprecedented access to both the Gamma and Delta Quadrants, Starfleet vessels return to not simply protect citizens and defend against ideological threats, but to seeking out new life and new civilisations, in whatever form they may be and wherever they may reside. To this end, Task Force 17 has dispatched a number of starships, manned by intrepid Starfleet officers from across the Federation and beyond, to make this foray into the unknown.
By nature of the enterprise, Task Force 17 vessels very often find themselves alone, operating far from the vestiges of Federation society or Starfleet support, relying strongly on their guile, character, and one another to survive and flourish, in an uncertain and often inhospitable galaxy of unknowns.
Task Force Assets and Headquarters
Task Force 17 is the least centralised of the Fourth Fleet, consisting of starships regularly dispatched to deep space assignments far from Starfleet infrastructure and often working independently.
Lead Expeditionary Force
To support its efforts to be a complete mobile group working on deep space exploration assignments, Starfleet established the command structure of the 4th Fleet’s Task Force 17 on a mobile flagship group.
The group consists of a small fleet that supports one another as they explore one of the regions that Starfleet felt, in 2399 especially, needed to be explored and re-chartered: the Delta Quadrant. After the USS Voyager returned home and through the efforts of the Delta Quadrant Exploration Initiative, it was felt that more was needed to be done to monitor the possible long-range threats from such hostile species like the Borg and Voth. As such in 2399, Starfleet ordered Captain Zack Marshall-Bennet to assume command of Task Force 17 and lead Starfleet’s efforts in the Delta Quadrant. Plans were put in place to monitor the Gamma Quadrant, but for now the Delta Quadrant was the priority.
Bennet was given the task of assembling Starfleet’s finest ships that could undergo deep space exploration and tactical assignments. The benefits of exploring this region of space was available to Starfleet thanks to the access of the Barzan Wormhole. However there were many races in the area that could be seen as a threat due to their encounters with the USS Voyager. It was important that these ships presented the Federation at its finest and created a good reputation in the hopes of developing trade and peace talks with them. Bennet went on to pick the following ships:
Starships
These are some of the key starships currently assigned to the Task Force:
- USS Arcturus - Task Group 38
- USS Atlantis - Task Group 38
- USS Odyssey - Headquarters Group