Designed in the late 2270’s as the light coun­ter­part to the Chal­lenger- and Enter­prise-class heavy cruis­ers, the Arca­dia had an exten­ded devel­op­ment peri­od due to con­stantly chan­ging require­ments. As a dir­ect suc­cessor to the suc­cess­ful Sen­tinel-class, the class was inten­ded for exten­ded armed patrols along the Klin­gon and Romu­lan Neut­ral Zones, but the Khitomer Peace Accords have freed them up for explor­a­tion and survey. 

Fast and ver­sat­ile, it’s cap­able of being refit­ted for mul­tiple mis­sion pro­files, although it tends to default to pathfind­er and secur­ity oper­a­tions. Like its pre­de­cessor, the design uses much of the same design ele­ments as its flag-car­ry­ing coun­ter­parts, although the tech­no­logy has taken anoth­er leap forward.

Design based on: Krause, Bill, and For­b­in. “The pret­ti­est kit­bash I’ve ever seen”. The Trek BBS, 7 June 2015, www.trekbbs.com/threads/the-prettiest-kitbash-ive-ever-seen.273587/.