The USS Ride has taken on her crew transfers, supplies, and equipment necessary, and now makes her way into the Thomar Expanse.
The USS Ride has a proud namesake, and a rich legacy within Starfleet. Named for one of Earth’s pioneering astronauts, she carries forward the Federation’s oldest promise: to go far, to look closely, and to help when help is needed.
Like her sister ships of the Excelsior II class, the Ride is crewed by an extraordinary cross-section of people from across known space: engineers, scientists, diplomats, and warriors. Most of them were handpicked by either Admiral Tondro or Captain Callahan directly, from the ranks of officers who’ve proved themselves in Starfleet service, and usually aboard the Ride.
With the events of Frontier Day indicating a need for a “return to form” of sorts within Starfleet, several schools of though emerged regarding the future organization of its exploratory and operational forces. For some, the solution was to deploy large starships with substantial crews and extensive small-craft complements, vessels capable of operating independently for extended periods with minimal external support.
For others, the answer lay in returning to smaller, distributed units of vessels capable of accomplishing many of the same objectives across a given sector. To that end, the USS Ride Exploratory Division was organized, with its namesake vessel serving as the lead ship, and her captain serving as the division commander.
The Ride Exploratory Squadron is tasked with the broad mission of the United Federation of Planets: humanitarian aid, scientific discovery, diplomacy, and the protection of Federation interests. In addition to these general duties, the division maintains a specific mandate for deep-space exploration, making extended operations beyond established Federation space an expected and routine function of the unit.
