Beyond Freecloud and the Typhon Expanse on the far side of what used to be Romulan Imperial space lies the Talvath Cluster. Starfleet had never previously dared explore beyond the Cluster, neither while the Romulan Empire was whole nor as Starfleet receded within its own borders. This all changed in 2399 with the Osiris Initiative, when the USS Casimir embarked on a mission to finally chart this distant region. Several weeks into the mission, it vanished. Another ship, the USS Arleigh Burke, was dispatched to investigate. It too vanished.

With two ships missing and its resources spread thin, Starfleet Command fell back into old habits and refused to send a third ship. For six months, the Casimir and the Arleigh Burke were cataloged missing in action, but then a long-range repeater picked up and relayed a transmission from the Arleigh Burke that it was stranded and limping back to Federation space at impulse.

The Polaris, with her robust sensor suite, vast R&D facilities and deep space capabilities was deployed to the region to track down the missing ships and bring them home.