Project Full Circle was an initiative sponsored by Starfleet upon the successful return of the USS Voyager from the Delta Quadrant.
History[]
Created in the early part of 2378, the project was under the supervision of Admiral Kenneth Montgomery and was charged with the examination as well as the removal of all Borg and future technology that was used to modify the USS Voyager during its seven year long journey to return to the Alpha Quadrant.
Doctor Jarem Kaz and Captain Afsarah Eden were also assigned to the project. (VOY novels: The Farther Shore, Full Circle)
Project Full Circle became a mission in itself to explore the Delta Quadrant further. However, Kathryn Janeway, seeking to protect her former crew, always turned down the mission because Voyager was always assigned. However, following her death, the Borg Invasion of 2381, and contact with the Caeliar, Starfleet finally approved the expedition. Setting out in 2381, the fleet was briefed with restoring contact with the species Voyager had encountered and exploring what remained of Borg space.
Multiple ships were assigned to the expedition, including Voyager, which would function as the fleet flagship (under Admiral Willem Batiste, the commander of the expedition). (VOY novel: Full Circle)
When Voyager first arrived in the Delta Quadrant in 2381, they encountered a Starfleet shuttlecraft under attack by an unknown species. The attacking species was later determined to be the Indign and the shuttlecraft contained B'Elanna Torres and Miral Paris, who had faked their own deaths to escape a rogue Klingon sect hunting Miral. They had arranged to rendezvous with Tom Paris and the rest of the Project Full Circle fleet upon their arrival in the Delta Quadrant. Though Paris initially planned to leave Voyager, he and his family decided to stay on board. (VOY novel: Unworthy)
A month or two into the fleet's exploration of the Delta Quadrant, the fleet lost its first vessel after attempting to seek out the Children of the Storm, a species first encountered by the USS Aventine. The USS Planck, which was under the command of Captain Hosc T'Mar, was lost in an attack by the Children of the Storm. Before the crew of the USS Demeter convinced the Children the Federation meant no harm, another ship was nearly lost. The USS Quirinal was forced to crash land after a savage attack by the Children. After making peace with them and repairing Quirinal, the fleet continued to New Talax and onto Borg space. (VOY novel: Children of the Storm)
While investigating the fate of the Borg Cooperative and the mystery of Captain Eden's origins, the fleet discovered a rift into the Omega Continuum, a realm containing an Omega molecule that was 'counting down' to the end of the universe. They also learned that Captain Eden was a 'child' of the Omega Continuum, created when her 'uncles' came in contact with it, and that disruption had also created the Q Continuum, with their creative power serving as a counter to the destructive force of the Omega Continuum. In order to stop this disaster, Q resurrected Admiral Kathryn Janeway- realising that she had defeated this threat in the timeline where Voyager took several more years to get home-, but was subsequent informed by his father that the only way to stop this threat would erase the Q from existence as the damage was repaired and they were no longer needed. With almost half of the Full Circle fleet lost in the Omega Continuum rift, the Voyager crew were able to devise a way to partially negate the damage they had caused- shaving a few million years off the universe's previous lifespan while leaving the Q Continuum intact, although it required Q's son and Captain Eden- as the 'children' of the Q and Omega continuums- to sacrifice themselves in order to channel the energy necessary to contain the damage. Kathryn Janeway also rejoined Starfleet as the admiral in charge of the Full Circle fleet. (VOY novel: The Eternal Tide)
In 2381, the Vesta joined the Project Full Circle fleet. (VOY novel: Protectors)
Ships assigned to Full Circle[]
The following are the ships assigned to the exploratory fleet all equipped with quantum slipstream drive:
- USS Voyager - Intrepid-class, flagship
- USS Esquiline - Vesta-class (destroyed)[1]
- USS Quirinal - Vesta-class (destroyed)[1]
- USS Vesta - Vesta-class, assigned in 2381 to replace losses incurred during the Omega Continuum crisis[2]
- USS Hawking - Merian-class[3] (destroyed)[1]
- USS Curie - Merian-class[3] (destroyed)[1]
- USS Planck - Merian-class (lost with all hands)[3]
- USS Galen - Galen-class[3], the prototype/experimental Emergency Medical Vessel fitted with a large holographic crew. Reginald Barclay also serves on this vessel
- USS Achilles - Mulciber-class[3], holding spare parts and industrial replicators for the fleet. Reassigned in January 2382 following the Omega Continuum crisis[2]
- USS Demeter - Theophrastus-class[3], a vessel equipped with airoponic bays and storage facilities for biological resources.