Engineered by Chiss biotechnicians working under the direction of Dif Scaur, the Director of New Republic Intelligence Service, along with scientist Joi Eicroth, Alpha Red was conceived as a biological weapon specifically designed to target the Yuuzhan Vong. The intention was to eliminate any Yuuzhan Vong or Yuuzhan Vong-related lifeforms, with the ultimate goal of exterminating the whole species.
Initially, the Jedi Vergere disrupted the project's progress through sabotage. It was later reconstructed; however, due to objections from the New Jedi Order, high-ranking members of the Defense Force, and figures within the Galactic Alliance Advisory Council, Cal Omas, the Chief of State, decided to postpone its deployment, designating it as a weapon of last resort. Leading up to the Defense of Mon Calamari, the weapon underwent field testing on Caluula, yielding successful, yet alarming, results. Amphistaffs lost their capacity to harden, vonduun crab armor lost its rigidness, blorash jelly steadily liquefied, yorik coral lost its pigmentation, and villips experienced difficulties in image transmission. Even post-mortem, the Yuuzhan Vong exhibited continuous decay, hemorrhaging from their eyes and ears, and their bodies eventually dissolved.
Regrettably, the weapon underwent mutation due to its widespread infection and subsequent adaptation to the individual genetics of numerous hosts, despite assurances from the Chiss that this would not occur. It began to target other lifeforms on Caluula, including the planet's unique winged-star insects. Appalled by this turn of events, the Galactic Alliance promptly initiated a quarantine of Caluula in an attempt to halt the bioweapon's proliferation. Nevertheless, a single coralcraft carrying the Alpha Red infection managed to evade destruction and escaped to occupied Coruscant. Supreme Overlord Shimrra Jamaane recognized Alpha Red's anti-Yuuzhan Vong properties, deducing that the weapon would also affect the living planet Zonama Sekot. In a daring plot to eradicate the planet, Shimrra intended to crash the infected coralcraft into Zonama Sekot, allowing the virus to gradually eliminate all life on its surface, including the planet's sentience. To achieve this, he sacrificed ships and warriors to maintain the virus's potency for its lethal mission during the upcoming battle. However, Sekot thwarted the attack by deploying a swarm of insect-like vessels to divert the infected craft into deep space. Following the war, the Galactic Alliance destroyed all remaining Alpha Red stockpiles, along with the genetic blueprints.
However, more than a century later, Darth Maladi successfully acquired Alpha Red and refined it into a more potent strain known as Omega Red.