USS Enceladus

"Overcome fear, behold wonder."

—Richard Bach

USS Enceladus NCC-80117 is a Luna-class Federation starship currently assigned to Fourth Fleet's Task Force 47. It's primary mission is to undertake extended deep space missions and independent operations within the Fourth Fleet’s field of operations and beyond. As part of Task Force 47’s pathfinding efforts, Enceladus spends long periods of time away from the Federation border, providing a capable deep space platform for ongoing diplomatic, scientific and exploratory efforts.

Namesake

Named for the sixth-largest of Saturn’s moons, which is in turn named for one of the Titanic Giants of Greek myth, a regular foe of Athena.

Service History

Commissioned in mid-2384, Enceladus was just barely finishing her shakedown cruise when the Romulan crisis struck in full force and she found herself on the shortlist for the Romulan evacuation program. Mercifully, she had not yet returned to Utopia Planitia in time to be destroyed during the Attack on Mars, but found her preparations for transporting refugees vital for supporting recovery efforts. Spared a grisly fate, Enceladus was instead repurposed for long-duration surveys of Federation border territories, specialising in possible new locations for colonisation, and other habitable locales on the frontier.

Enceladus was the vessel that scouted out the final location for Deep Space 47, and her long history of exploring stellar and poststellar phenomena made her a natural pick for surveying the Rolor Nebula. With the exception of the last half of 2401, where she was out of service to repair damage during Frontier Day, much of the recent data, information, and surveyed territory of Rolor has Enceladus’s name stamped on it.

Configuration & Design

Following its refit in the 2390s, Enceladus features several modifications with deep space exploration in mind. With redundant sensor palettes and additional long-term storage bays that host an increased probe complement, the ship and crew are ready to spend long spans of time away from ‘civilisation’.

As part of the vessel's design, a large arboretum is featured within the secondary hull, a call-back to the heroic Constitution class explorers of old. Enceladus has taken this one step further and plays host to a specialist Xeno Botany Garden colloquially named ‘The Greenhouse’. This segregated section of the arboretum is designed to allow the cultivation, investigation and research of the huge variety of plant life that the crew encounter in the exploratory efforts. Made up of several smaller quarantine labs, specialist atmosphere labs, and general hothouse-style grow bays, The Greenhouse is a bright spot of colour and vitality amongst the cold bulkheads of deep space. In addition to its usefulness as a frontier research cluster, the arboretum also features a substantial hydroponics bay to provide fresh produce for the crew and an extensive open-air meeting space for meeting with visitors and diplomats.

Crew & Characters

Captain Kovor (46 Klingon, Male)

Unlike many of his peers on Qo’nos, Kovor, son of M’Rek sought honour through understanding and believed that the greatest battles were not fought with bat’leths, but with restraint and insight. Kover enrolled in the Klingon Defence Academy but later transferred to Starfleet Academy, where he was known for his unique insight into power dynamics, cultural pride, and honour codes. He has spent his entire Starfleet Career specialising in high-risk diplomatic missions.
He is a master of turning perceived aggression into opportunities for mutual respect. He blends Klingon directness with Starfleet diplomacy, earning the admiration of alien cultures who value strength and integrity. He embraces confrontation when it is necessary and commands attention.
Kovor’s sense of honour, while admirable, is inflexible. He believes deeply in personal accountability, cultural authenticity, and transparent motives. This makes him struggle when faced with morally grey choices or species that operate under subterfuge. He can often be too quick to judge others and too slow to see the strategic value in compromise. He sometimes has to rely on the experience of his crew to look past his inflexibility.

Commander Thora Granger (41, Human Female)

Commander Thora developed an innate curiosity for all life forms from her parents, who were renowned xenanthropologists. She entered the Starfleet Academy at 18 and quickly distinguished herself in diplomacy, linguistics, and cultural psychology. She has served Starfleet Academy for the past 19 years, 4 of which as a senior lecturer in the command track. She has established herself as a great negotiator and first contact specialist, especially with pre-warp civilisations.
She thrives in intense situations and is skilled in de-escalating potential hostile situations with clarity and compassion. Those who work around her speak of her as someone who listens deeply, chooses her words carefully, and rarely loses her cool even in the midst of high-stakes situations.
Though she is deeply respected and often admired, Commander Thora has a deep-rooted fear of uncontrolled outcomes. She prepares obsessively before missions, simulating endless variations of possible outcomes. This causes her to be reluctant to delegate to those around her during complex missions. Her fear of a first contact going wrong sometimes causes her to be blind to the strengths of her crew.

In Play

Enceladus spends much of her time out in the black, rarely leaving her assigned mission area for anything but the most important of tasks. She's been a frequent sight in and around the Rolor Nebula, especially, but operates across the Federation’s frontier. Wherever there's a path that needs finding, one is likely to find their resident friendly Luna-class already moseying her way along.
Vessels of this class are intended to operate as all-rounders, and this sometimes comes at a cost; members may find themselves in a position to provide a specialist service when Enceladus finds itself lacking. Advanced engineering support, specialist scientific contributions as well as resupply and transfer missions, are all good hooks for encountering the ship and crew out in deep space.
Enceladus is also a capable platform for provide something you may be missing in your own command. With extensive diplomatic facilities and large crew resources that it can bring to bear, the ship can be a useful tool for smaller ships who perhaps need more physical space or people power to resolve a situation.

Notable Crew

Commanding Officers

2402 - Present: Captain Kovor