USS Aries The USS " Aries " ( NCC - 45167 ) was a 24th century Federation starship operated by Starfleet . History . In 2365 , the captain of the " Aries " retired , and Starfleet Command chose William T . Riker to replace the captain . At the time , the " Aries " was in the Vega - Omicron sector , and had recently picked up indications of an intelligent lifeform , but nothing was yet confirmed . Riker was chosen , according to Jean - Luc Picard , " " not for your military proficiency , but for your skill as an explorer and as a diplomat . " " At the time of the offer , the was on a twelve - hour layover at Starbase Montgomery . During its layover , the ship received a civilian tactical advisor , Cmdr . Riker ' s father Kyle Riker , to brief Riker on the " Aries ' " mission . Riker was later visited by Lieutenant Worf , who requested to join Riker aboard the " Aries " , if he took the posting . The first officer of the " Aries " was Commander Flaherty , an officer that Picard highly recommended for the mission to sector Vega - Omicron . Later , when Riker consulted Picard , Picard put the " Aries " mission in perspective to the " Enterprise " mission , describing it as " " a relatively insignificant ship , in an obscure corner of the galaxy . But it will be " your " ship . " " ( ) Ultimately , Riker turned down the position , for what he described as " " Motivated self - interest . Right now , the best place for me to be is here . " " ( ) Later , when Riker told his transporter duplicate , Thomas , about turning down the offer for the " Aries " , Thomas inquired what their father thought of his decision , Will explained " " he couldn ' t understand why I did it . " " Thomas could not understand the decision either , stating , " " for once he and I agree on something . " " ( ) In 2367 , the " Aries " was on a deep space exploration mission in Sector 21502 . The ship was named on the chart " Starfleet Operations - Sectors 21166 - 23079 " on the " Enterprise " - D bridge . ( " okudagram " ) Later that year , former crew member Emilita Mendez serving aboard the " Aries " , under the effects of an exotic virus from Tarchannen III , stole the shuttlepod " " to return to that planet . ( ) In 2368 , the " Aries " joined Captain Picard ' s fleet that blockade d the Klingon - Romulan border during the Klingon Civil War . The ship was one of twenty - three assembled for the fleet and was one of the seventeen chosen for the tachyon network . Identified by its name and registry number , the ship ' s position in the network was monitored from the . When the network was disrupted by a high - energy burst released by the Romulan s , the net was no longer effective in a of ten million kilometer s around the . Subsequently , Picard ordered the fleet to proceed to Gamma Eridon at maximum warp , where the fleet would attempt to reestablish the net before the Romulans got there . ( , " okudagram " ) In 2369 , the " Aries " was on a deep space exploration mission to Sector 22846 . The ship was named on the chart " Starfleet Operations - Sectors 21538 - 23079 " on the " Enterprise " - D observation lounge . ( " okudagram " ) In 2370 , the " Aries " point of departure was Lilliput IX . The starship arrived at Deep Space 9 on stardate 47568 . 2 . " Aries " was named on the Deep Space 9 arrival roster . ( " okudagram " ) In 2379 , the " Aries " was assigned to Star Fleet Battle Group Omega , which was to rendezvous with the when it was attempting to escape from Romulan territory and the Reman warbird " Scimitar " . The starship was named on the Battle Group Omega roster in the " Enterprise " - E bridge . ( " okudagram " ) Appendices . Background information . According to the , the " Aries " was named for the constellation of ( " Latin " , " Ram " ) and the PanAm moon landing shuttle " Aries " from the movie " " , which ferried Dr . Heywood R . Floyd to the Moon . The and registry were derived from the charts seen in " Brothers " and " Chain of Command , Part I " . The registry was seen again in the tachyon detection grid , on the hull of the shuttlepod " Cousteau " , and in the list of starships from " Star Trek : Nemesis " . In the script for " The Measure Of A Man " , the ship was called the " Ares " . This spelling was altered for the next mention of the ship , in " Redemption II " , where the ship was called the " Aries " . In an internal list of starships , from 26 September 1990 , the " Aries " was identified as a scout ship . In scene cut from in which the Cardassian s threatened to invade Minos Korva , the " Aries " , , and were dispatched to the sector to assist the " Enterprise " - D . However , because the ships were three days away , the " Enterprise " was forced to find an alternative means of preventing the invasion . The " Star Fleet Technical Manual " by Franz Joseph listed a " Aries " with the registry of NCC - 602 . Many years after the publication of this technical manual , Mike Okuda assigned this registry to the in a starship status display for the movie .