Outbound Flight was the main ship of the Outbound Flight Project. It consisted of a central fuselage surrounded by six Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers designated D-One through D-Six; together, the massive ship was known as Outbound Flight.
The Central Storage Core was the main hub of Outbound Flight, and contained the food and supplies that the colonists would need on their journey. The core was surrounded by six Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers arranged with the storage capacity so that if any of the six Dreadnaughts detached, they could each easily load one-sixth of its supplies into their ship. In fact, it was planned that one Dreadnaught would be left behind for defense in the event that a colony was established. On each Dreadnaught was a dining room or cafeteria in which the colonists ate their meals. There was talk of decorating each of the different cafeterias with themes from different parts of the galaxy, but the request was turned down.
The Combined Operations Center or ComOps Center for Outbound Flight was located on Dreadnaught-One just behind the bridge/monitor room complex, stretching for thirty meters between the two main bow corridors. From this area, Captain Pakmillu had control over all six Dreadnaughts. All 200 single-seat landspeeders and swoops used for transportation around Outbound Flight could be controlled from this point.
The configuration of the Dreadnaughts gave Outbound Flight a very formidable armament of quad laser cannons, laser cannons, and turbolasers. The 50,000 passengers were housed in a mobile space station composed of the central fuselage.
Preparation began in 29 BBY and the expedition departed from Yaga Minor in 27 BBY. While nominally commanded by Captain Pakmillu, Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth quickly assumed more and more control over the operations of Outbound Flight. He recruited the children of the colonists, who were chosen for probable Force-sensitivity, to be new Jedi trainees, ignoring the wishes of their parents. This was part of his plan to create a new society where Jedi would directly guide and govern non-Jedi. He also began to unilaterally pass judgment over disputes between non-Jedi, even when mediation was not asked for. This began to cause discontent in the civilian population, especially the technician Chas Uliar. Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi questioned C'baoth's methods, warning that trying to rule non-Jedi could lead to the dark side. However, Kenobi and his Padawan Anakin Skywalker were removed from Outbound Flight before they left Republic space because of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, who as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious wished to someday train Skywalker as his apprentice.
Core with six Dreadnaughts
Sidious had sent Special Task Force One to destroy Outbound Flight, but that was devastated by a CEDF force led by the young Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo, who would later become the infamous Grand Admiral Thrawn. Kinman Doriana, the leader of the task force, was spared, and convinced Thrawn to take on the task of eliminating Outbound Flight.
Thrawn used a gravity well projector to force Outbound Flight out of hyperspace. He decided to try negotiation first, and met with C'baoth and his former Padawan, Lorana Jinzler, aboard Outbound Flight. However C'baoth refused to listen to Thrawn, especially when he mentioned the name of Darth Sidious. Chas Uliar attempted to talk to Thrawn while he was escorted off the ship in order to get his help in overthrowing C'baoth's tyranny. He was caught by C'baoth himself, who had Jinzler imprison him and fifty-six other colonists who shared similar views in the central storage core.
After Thrawn returned to his own ship, the Vagaari arrived due to Thrawn's manipulations with the help of the smuggler Jorj Car'das. As the Vagaari fleet stormed towards Outbound Flight, C'baoth performed a Force meld to trick the enemy. At that moment Thrawn launched droid starfighters to engage the confused Vagaari, creating a large disturbance in the Force which overwhelmed the meld participants. During the disturbance, C'baoth and his fellow Jedi failed to detect the Chiss forces that were sneaking in, and Thrawn managed to systematically destroy the weapon clusters of Outbound Flight, killing almost every Jedi aboard. At this point, Thrawn gave Outbound Flight another chance to turn back and contacted C'baoth. Enraged, Jorus gave into his anger and succumbed to the dark side and Force-choked Thrawn across space from Outbound Flight's bridge itself, almost killing him. However, before Thrawn could die, Doriana activated the secondary command layer pre-set in the droid starfighters, which then rammed and blasted open the Outbound Flight. The final wave of starfighters employed a radiation bomb of Chiss design on the ship, killing C'baoth and most of the passengers aboard.
Only Lorana Jinzler and the fifty-seven colonists imprisoned in the core managed to survive the bombs. The Chiss began to take control of the ship, but were recalled by Aristocra Chaf'orm'bintrano, who wished to take the ship for his own family. Only Syndic Mitth'ras'safis (Thrass), of equal rank to Chaf'orm'bintrano, stayed on the ship. Lorana met with Thrass and they formed a plan to hide Outbound Flight in The Redoubt where the colonists would be safe until Thrass could argue their case to the Council of Families of the Chiss Ascendancy. However the ship's hyperdrive soon failed, and they had to crash-land the craft on a small planetoid. A stone-filled valley was chosen to absorb the impact of landing. A few moments before impact, Lorana and Thrass realized the fifty-seven survivors had moved from the central storage core to D-4, the Dreadnaught on the opposite side of D-1, their location. Lorana and Thrass knew they would have to land on D-1 to save D-4, and gave their lives so that the remaining colonists would have a chance for survival.
Before leaving the Republic, genetic samples were taken from all passengers and crew, with the stated intention of preventing a Hive virus. C'baoth's sample was used by Emperor Palpatine to create a clone of him, called Joruus C'baoth. This clone was discovered in 9 ABY, by Thrawn. The clone turned out even more unstable than the original donor, and eventually attempted to take control of the Empire from Thrawn. The clone was ultimately killed in a confrontation with Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and the former Emperor's Hand Mara Jade.
In 22 ABY, a Chiss patrol discovered the remains of Outbound Flight and its support ships fifty years after its destruction. The survivors of the project had founded a meager, self-sufficient colony on the planet that Lorana and Thrass landed them on. However, the Vagaari (disguised as peaceful Geroon) attempted to destroy the surviving colonists and the Chiss along with their Jedi, New Republic, and Empire of the Hand allies during the Battle of the Redoubt. They succeeded in detaching a Dreadnaught from the wreckage, although they were foiled by a Delta-12 Skysprite and the Chiss fleet.
The remains of Outbound Flight
- "Strangers Among Us: The Aliens Who Built the Galactic Empire" — Star Wars Insider 96
- Starships of the Galaxy, Saga Edition
- The Essential Atlas
- The Unknown Regions
- The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force
- The Essential Reader's Companion