Series Theory Time – Seven years after the return of Voyager Mission – Answer distress beacon / Explore the Gamma Quadrant LM Science Ship (long-mission)– USS Hawking – Crew of 21 officers and 330 crewmen. Complement of 110 scientists and contact specialists. (A "Sovereign-class" science ship).

Computers on the Hawking are second-generation bi-neural gel packs with positronic cores.

Commanded by Dominion War vet Capt. Aleksey Arakcheyev, an earth-born named after a famed Russian military leader. Star Fleet Academy grad. Four adult children. A serious, yet fatherly figure with a reputation for thinking ahead. Militaristic bent, who reads Sisko, both father and son, writings and quotes them often. He's "seen some savagery." An elder-statesman of star ship captains, he was fatigued from the "politics" of the Alpha Quadrant and wanted to return to the reason he entered the academy – "to seek out what is out there." Turned down promotion to Commodore of Cadets to train the next generation of officers in the field, not in the classroom.

First officer – Commander Jayles, a female Andorian from Epsilon Indi IV who was court-martialed. Was a ground forces commander during the Dominion War and received a battle field promotion, but has not been to the academy. Moved up through the officer ranks, but as first officer aboard the USS Fearless, disobeyed captain's orders and nearly court-martialed. Fearless' captain had her re-assigned desk-duty. Was not Arakcheyev's choice, but his trusted first officer was badly injured just prior to the mission. Jayles was the only trained officer available in the time frame and on location to fill the billet. A very dominant personality whose overriding mandate is to care for the ship and its crew. She admires and respects the captain's achievements, but friction comes from his priorities verses her mandate. She's Andorian born and bred and often slips with the epithet "pink skin" and other Andorian curses. Friendly with Wildman and Veurink.

Operations officer – Lt. Commander Sam Day, Rigel planet native who didn't want to stay on the pleasure planet. Good looking humanoid with a knack for languages, math and music. Academy grad. Very friendly and exuberant, but also hiding a family secret - family is alleged be part of a criminal enterprise, running contraband. Plays lot of musical instruments and holo-deck. Loves technology and is very good at taking things apart to see how they work. Not so good at getting them back together. OCD on organization and efficiency. Close friends with Lt. Zex.

Senior Science Officer – Teacher T'Lir, from the Vulcan Science Academy, non-Star Fleet Vulcan who is the senior advisor to the captain on all matters science and technology. Specialties include galactic evolution and dark matter. Debriefed Seven of Nine after the return of Voyager. Believe she is the one who should lead all away missions. Almost always conflicting with the captain and first officer on first contact procedures but is pleased with his command style and sanguine with his reading choices. Speaks in sage and quotes a lot of Surak and other philosophers. Elderly, nearing 150 earth years old, but in excellent shape.

Second Science Officer – Lt. Zex of Antares. An human officer who needs a bi-neural interface collar because of a childhood injury. Without the interface, Zex loses all long-term memory. With the interface he can access all his memories, is highly intelligent, computer expert, lightning quick reflexes and acts normally, and has a near symbiotic relationship to the ship he's assigned to. Space born aboard the USS Al-Batani and raised on deep space stations by his Star Fleet parents, he takes pride in never having lived on a planet for more than a year, with the exception of his time at Star Fleet Academy.

Chief Engineer – Centurian Rhu-Hannisue, a Romulan who graduated in the top 10 at Star Fleet Academy's Engineering School. First to do so. Cloaking and propulsion expert. Is the first full-blooded Romulan to be assigned a permanent berth aboard a Federation starship. Loyal to her race, often conflicts with Sr. Science officer, calling her a pacifist. Very athletic and competitive.

Sr. Pilot and Astrometrics officer – Lt. Icheb. Former Borg drone from Voyager. Expert in cartography, stellar phenomena, athletics. Not as naïve as he was, but still missing some common sense. An excellent pilot with a superior understanding of graviton fields and motion. Soft spoken and analytical.

Aide-de-camp / Liason officer – Lt. Naiomi Wildman. Also of Voyager. Possible love interest of Icheb. Works as aide to the captain and as a liaison between him and the civilian scientists and as the record's officer. She has to keep things running smoothly between the civilians and the military aboard ship. Has a knack for "working the system." Close friends with Marissa Veurink.

Flight Officer - Sr. Warrant Officer Marissa Veurink. Human female flight leader and instructor. Commands the 18 pilots, drone operators and ancillary craft maintenance crews aboard and leads the flight wings when deployed for ground support. Widowed mother of three adult children with a no-nonsense, firm leadership style and has a fondness for the ship's cat.

Sr. Security Officer – Warrior Ke'lah of Klingon. From a very highly-placed Klingon family, she wants to make her own name and start her own house. Oversees shipboard security and operates one of the three fighter-shuttles. Enjoys holo-deck space battles and live food. Was a member of the Klingon defense force aboard the Klingon Patrol Ship Qul'Fl when it was attacked by the Orion Syndicate. The ship was boarded and the Orions, using Gorn technology, killed most of the senior crew. Ke'Lah, on her first black space mission, earned recognition and her Warrior Sash by killing 11 of the boarding party and establishing an ad-hoc communications link with the other Klingon ship in the area. She and 32 others from a crew of 77 survived long enough to be rescued.

Mission – Nine years following the Dominion War, seven following the return of Voyager, missions deep into the Gamma Quadrant are beginning in earnest. A relay station is set up for communications through the Bajoran Wormhole.

Three lightly-armed civilian missions have been sent out with contact specialists. One of the missions reported encountering just one new species and some unique stellar phenomena.

Two of the other missions failed for no apparent reason and the third sent out a distress beacon. But these were smaller, less equipped ships.

The Hawking is chosen for the fully-sanctioned and Star Fleet-supported fourth mission and to investigate the distress beacon sent out by the third mission. A one-year deployment is scheduled, but gets extended because of extenuating circumstances.

The Hawking is the most advanced ship to be commissioned, a science ship with extra sensors, but still armed with classic phasers and torpedoes, but also complement of 50 Virtual Reality drone probes, 12 landing craft, three combat "Delta Fliers" and the first science ship with Dragon shielding, an enhanced metaphasic shielding requiring its own mini-Cochrane warp generator.