<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

The United Federation of Planets is a fictional political, scientific, cultural and military alliance between numerous alien worlds and colonies in the Alpha Quadrant of the Milky Way Galaxy in the Star Trek universe.

Contents 1 Overview 2 22nd Century 3 23rd Century 4 24th Century 4.1 Borg Invasion 4.2 Bajor and the Gamma Quadrant 5 25th Century and Beyond

Overview

Its primary mission is one of peace and exploration, both scientific and interstellar. The Federation's prime directive of conduct is to never interfere in the natural development of pre-warp civilizations.

22nd Century

The Federation was first created in the mid 22nd century (2161) following the successful mission of Earth's warp 5 program. Captain Jonathan Archer of the Enterprise (NX-01) was the first human to captain a warp 5 vessel out of Earth's star system and into the unknown regions of space.

In the mid 22nd century, Earth formed a partnership with the Vulcans and worked in collaboration with the Vulcan High Command and Science Directorate. The Vulcans at this time were far more technologically sophisticated than Earth and they delayed Earth's entry and introduction into the galaxy for decades believing that humanity was too illogical and too rash to become involved in interstellar affairs.

However, the Vulcans proved invaluable allies during the warp five program and due to the efforts of the crew of the Enterprise, they were one of several races to become the first members of the Federation.

The ruling government of the Federation, the Federation Council, was also formed on Earth at this time and worked in conjunction with Starfleet Command which had been in existence since before the warp 5 program. Earth became the homeworld of this interstellar alliance.

23rd Century

The Federation continued to expand for centuries afterwards. In the mid-23rd century, Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) began his first five-year mission of exploration, and discovered many strange and new alien worlds. At this time in federation history, the United Federation of Planets was one of three known major powers in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants of the galaxy. The other two powers were the Romulan Star Empire and the Klingon Empire. In the early 23rd century, the Romulans and Klingons formed a short-lived alliance that brought about the exchange of technology, including the Romulan cloaking device.

The 23rd century saw the Federation being brought into conflict for a brief period with the Klingon empire in 2267, before it was stopped by a powerful race called the Organians. Rivalry continued between the Klingon empire and the Federation until the Khitomer conference of 2293 ratified the Khitomer Accord, a non-aggression pact between the Klingon Empire and the Federation.

Relations continued to be cold between these two major powers until in 2344, (mid 24th century), the Enterprise NCC-1701-C aided a Klingon outpost at Neranda 3 that was being attacked by three Romulan attack cruisers. The Enterprise was destroyed in the assault but that act of honor and bravery helped in bringing around the second Khitomer accords and eventually relations between these two powers blossomed into an alliance which shifted the balance of power in the quadrant. The Romulan Star Empire, who had remained in the shadows since its reintroduction into Alpha Quadrant mainstream politics in the mid 23rd century, was now no longer as serious a threat to the Federation as the Star Empire was unequipped to engage in a fully fledged war with the alliance. As a result, the Star Empire devoted considerable resources to the break up of this alliance through espionage and sabotage but without success.

A non aggression pact had existed between the Star Empire and the Federation since the 23rd century (similar to the Klingon Khitomer Accord non aggression pact of 2293, which resulted in the formation of the neutral zone,a region of space one light year across at the borders between the two respective powers in which no vessel was allowed to enter).

24th Century

The Klingon-Federation Alliance continued to exist well into the late 24th century It was at this time that the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) under the command of Captain Jean Luc Picard was undergoing its five year mission of exploration.At the same time there was Deep Space Nine's mission at Bajor and the USS Voyager's mission to the Badlands which ended with them stranded on the other side of the galaxy.

In the mid to late 24th century, five major powers were known to exist in the Alpha Quadrant, the United Federation of Planets, the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Star Empire, the Cardassian Union (which was responsible for the occupation of Bajor) and the Ferengi Alliance.

Borg Invasion

It was also in the 2360's that the Federation first came into contact with the Borg. The Enterprise-D was the first Federation vessel to officially come into contact with this species. The Borg would become one the Federation's worst enemies. The federation and the Borg crossed paths when a powerful entity known as 'Q' hurled the Enterprise 7000 light-years to a region of the galaxy beyond Federation borders. The Borg proved more than a match for the Enterprise and this Federation galaxy class starship was forced to flee an onslaught by a Borg cube.'Q' eventually returned the enterprise back to Federation space but the damage was already done. Eighteen crew members had lost their lives and the Borg had collected information about the Alpha Quadrant from the Enterprise's main computer.

A year later, in 2367, the Borg began a full-scale invasion of the Federation following the destruction of Romulan and Federation outposts along the neutral zone. A single Borg cube was on a direct course for Earth (sector 001). The Borg engaged the Federation fleet at Wolf 359, eight light-years from Earth. It was the bloodiest interstellar battle recorded. Thirty-four Federation ships were destroyed and 11,000 personnel lost. This was due in part to the Borg collective having access to the memories of Jean Luc Picard when they assimilated him into the collective . He was forced against his will to aid in the destruction of the fleet. However, Captain Picard was soon rescued by the crew of the Enterprise D and he was integral to the defeat of the Borg in Sol (Earth's star system). The Federation began the construction of a new class of starship to fight the Borg, the Defiant class.

Bajor and the Gamma Quadrant

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Federation space, a stable wormhole (the first to be recorded) was discovered close to the Bajor star system and there was a "space race" between the Cardassian Union and a Federation-Bajoran joint operation to gain control of it.

The Bajorans succeeded in laying claim to the wormhole. Terok Nor, an abandoned Cardassian space station around Bajor (since the time of the Cardassian occupations) was moved to the wormhole and at the request of the Bajoran provisional government, the Federation became stewards of this wormhole.

Transdimensional beings which the Federation classified as simply the 'Wormhole Aliens' existed inside the wormhole. To the Bajoran people these wormhole aliens were the prophets (gods) spoken about in Bajoran ancient religious text. These aliens were unaware of the universe as we knew it, however, they knew about Bajor and its people because they had been in contact with them over the millennia through the use of orbs.

The Bajoran wormhole led to the Gamma Quadrant. At maximum speed it would take the fastest Federation vessel 70 years to reach this area of space. Now it could be traversed in a matter of minutes.

The Ferengi Alliance attempted to open new trade routes in the Gamma Quadrant and were the first power in the Alpha Quadrant to come into contact with a galactic superpower in the Gamma quadrant called 'The Dominion'.

The Dominion saw the races of the Alpha Quadrant a threat to their security. There was a three year period when there existed a cold war between the Alpha Quadrant and Dominion with the Dominion attempting to destabilize the Quadrant. The Founders (master race of the Dominion) succeeded in destroying the alliance between the Klingon Empire and the Federation and caused a war between these two powers. However, their plot to infiltrate and cause strife in the Klingon government was unearthed by a Federation team from Deep Space Nine. In the mid 2370s, (2373 – 2375), the Dominion declared war on the Quadrant with the help of an alliance with the Cardassian Union and the Breen.

A new military alliance existed between the Klingon Empire and the Federation, however the Romulan Star Empire signed a non aggression pact with the Dominion Cardassian Alliance in 2374. The Federation knew it could never win the war without military assistance form the Romulans and Captain Sisko of Deep Space Nine implicated the dominion in the assassination plot of a high ranking Romulan senator. The Romulans joined the Federation Alliance and the United Federation of Planets and it's allies engaged in an invasion of Cardassian space. By 2375, the forces of the Alpha Quadrant were victorious and the Cardassian Union had fallen wit the destruction of Cardassia Prime. The Dominion signed a non aggression pact with Alpha Quadrant forces at the Treaty of Bajor. Eight hundred million casualties were reported on the side of the Federation Alliance.

At this time also, the Borg engaged in a second incursion into Federation space but with the bravery of the now Enterprise E, captained again by Jean Luc Picard, the Borg were unsuccessful in assimilating Earth (Star Trek: First Contact) By the end of the 24th century the United Federation of planets covered a region of 8000 light years in the Alpha Quadrant with over 150 alien worlds and colonies.

Not much is known about the Federation after the late 24th century, but it is evident that it existed for centuries, maybe even millennia, afterward.

25th Century and Beyond

In the 25th century the Klingon Empire became fully integrated members of the Federation. It was at this time that the Federation began worthwhile experiments in time travel.

The Federation were using time ships in the 26th century.In the latter half of this century, the federation engaged in all out war with the spherebuilders. The spherebuilders were an extradimensional race that tried to alter the space time contineum of the alpha quadrant to match the conditions of their realm. They failed in their invasion attempts, having lost the battle for the quadrant in the battle of Procyon 5 in 2550 led by the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC 1701-J and so travelled back in time to the 22nd century to manipulate the xindi race to create a weapon capable of destroying earth in that time period.They attempted to reinitaite thier plans of altering the space time contineum. The region of space that was altered by their sphere technology was known as the Delphic expanse by the vulcan high command of the 22nd century.The spherebuilders plans to destroy earth to prevent the existance of the federation were foiled by Capt.Archer and crew and their invasion plans were stopped by the destruction of their space-time altering spheres.

Throughout the latter half of the millennium there was a temporal cold war between different factions in the Alpha Quadrant. Details of this war are unknown. The temporal cold war lasted well into the 31st century as was revealed by the time traveler known as Daniels, who traveled back to the 22nd century to interact with the crew of the original Enterprise, captained by Jonathon Archer.