***THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS CLASSIFIED FOR ARU-ALPHA-01 LEVEL PERSONNEL OR HIGHER ONLY***

“Keep Calm and Contain”

This directive issued on [REDACTED] 2301, by order of Rear Admiral Vincent T. Jansson

The Anomaly Recovery Unit (ARU) is a Top Secret Starfleet division, tasked with the recovery, containment and study of those entities classified as 'space anomalies', with the purpose of protecting other Federation vessels and also nearby civilian populations from the anomalies powers or effects.

Ongoing exploration missions by Federation flagships not only increased the Federation's borders and area of influence, but also made their existence known to a multitude of species, not all of whom have been hospitable. Indeed, as the number and frequency of attacks on Federation vessels, by previously unknown or unmanaged anomalies, increased, it became necessary to withold this information from UFP members at large in an effort to protect current and future exploration events. However, without sufficient means to capture, or even study, these anomalies, it was only possible to establish localised quarantine zones in the hope that other passing ships would avoid the area.

This tactic proved to be ineffective.

Thus, the Anomaly Recovery Unit was created and funded from a black budget, reappropriated from various legitimate Federation workstreams. Currently there are a total of seventeen starships, of various class and size, commanded by ARU personnel. The names and registries of these vessels is classified at level ARU-GAMMA-05 on a strictly need-to-know basis. Cross-ship communications are forbidden as per the terms of ARU-directive [REDACTED] and all reporting is made via ARU central command, headquartered on Starbase 237, in the [REDACTED] area of Federation space.