Area 51

Area 51, also known as US Air Force Flight Test Center was a top secret military installation operated by the government of the United States of America. It was located on a remote tract of land on the dry salt flat called Groom Lake, in southwestern Nevada. The entire installation was operated under top secret conditions. It was believed to be used for the testing and operation of enemy and alien technology, and also to develop new technologies. Area 51 was the subject of a large number of conspiracy theories because of the secrecy surrounding the installation.

One of the projects undertaken at Area 51 was an attempt led by Jeffrey Carlson to decipher the technology found on Quark's spaceship which had crashed near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947 after accidentally traveling back in time. (TOS novel The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume 1, DS9 episode "Little Green Men").

In 1984 Shannon O'Donnell joined the project when she began working at Area 51. Two years later Project F (as Carlson's operation was known) had a burst of activity after Naval Intelligence gave them several devices recovered from Pavel Chekov - who had traveled back in time from the 23rd century - after he had captured aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise while it was docked at Alameda Naval Base. However, before the Area 51 staff could conduct a detailed examination of the devices Roberta Lincoln was able to penetrate Area 51 and retrieve the devices. In the process Lincoln encountered and tranquilized O'Donnell. (TOS novel The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume 1).

By the 1990s one of the projects being worked on at Area 51 was the development of the the top secret DY-100 sleeper ship. In addition to O'Donnell, others working on the project included Dr. Nichols and pilot Shaun Geoffrey Christopher. Roberta Lincoln also provided technical assistance, giving O'Donnell access to technological specifications to help complete the ship. Once the unnamed ship was completed, Lincoln and O'Donnell launched the ship. As instructed, O'Donnell later claimed that she was under Ferengi mind control at the time when questioned about the incident. While no charges were brought up against her, O'Donnell did lose her position at Area 51. (TOS novel The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume 2)