The primary vessel for the Outbound Flight Project was named Outbound Flight, a ship of considerable size and complexity. It was structured around a central fuselage, which was then augmented by six Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers. These cruisers were designated D-One through D-Six, and the entire formation was collectively referred to as Outbound Flight.
Serving as the central point of Outbound Flight, the Central Storage Core held all the essential food and supplies needed by the colonists for their long voyage. Surrounding this core were six Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers, strategically arranged to allow for easy distribution of supplies. Should any of the six Dreadnaughts need to separate, each could readily accommodate one-sixth of the core's provisions. The plan even included leaving one Dreadnaught behind as a defensive measure if a colony was successfully established. On each Dreadnaught, colonists could find a dining area, or cafeteria, for meals. An idea to decorate each cafeteria with themes representing different areas of the galaxy was proposed but ultimately rejected.
Located on Dreadnaught-One, just behind the bridge/monitor room complex and extending for thirty meters between the two main bow corridors, was the Combined Operations Center, or ComOps Center, for Outbound Flight. From this central hub, Captain Pakmillu exercised control over all six Dreadnaughts. All 200 single-seat landspeeders and swoops used for transportation throughout Outbound Flight could also be managed from this location.
The arrangement of the Dreadnaughts provided Outbound Flight with a substantial array of weaponry, including quad laser cannons, laser cannons, and turbolasers. The central fuselage served as a mobile space station to accommodate the 50,000 passengers.
The preparations commenced in 29 BBY, and the expedition began its journey from Yaga Minor in 27 BBY. While Captain Pakmillu was officially in command, Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth rapidly gained more and more influence over the operations of Outbound Flight. Ignoring the desires of the parents, he enlisted the children of the colonists, chosen for their potential Force abilities, to become new Jedi trainees. This was part of a larger scheme to establish a new society where Jedi would directly lead and govern non-Jedi. He also started making unilateral judgments on disputes between non-Jedi, even without being asked to mediate. This caused growing dissatisfaction among the civilian population, especially the technician Chas Uliar. Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi questioned C'baoth's methods, warning that attempting to control non-Jedi could lead to the dark side. However, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine removed Kenobi and his Padawan Anakin Skywalker from Outbound Flight before they left Republic space, because as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious he wanted to eventually train Skywalker as his apprentice.
Sidious dispatched Special Task Force One with orders to destroy Outbound Flight, but a CEDF force commanded by the young Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo, who would later become the infamous Grand Admiral Thrawn, decimated the task force. Kinman Doriana, the task force leader, was spared and convinced Thrawn to take on the mission of eliminating Outbound Flight.
Thrawn employed a gravity well projector to pull Outbound Flight out of hyperspace. Initially, he tried to negotiate, meeting with C'baoth and his former Padawan, Lorana Jinzler, aboard Outbound Flight. However, C'baoth refused to listen to Thrawn, particularly when he mentioned Darth Sidious's name. While Thrawn was being escorted off the ship, Chas Uliar attempted to speak with him, seeking his help in overthrowing C'baoth's tyrannical rule. C'baoth caught him, and Jinzler imprisoned him and fifty-six other colonists who shared his views in the central storage core.
After Thrawn returned to his vessel, the Vagaari arrived, their presence orchestrated by Thrawn with the assistance of the smuggler Jorj Car'das. As the Vagaari fleet advanced towards Outbound Flight, C'baoth used a Force meld to trick the enemy. At that moment, Thrawn launched droid starfighters to engage the confused Vagaari, generating a significant disturbance in the Force that overwhelmed the meld participants. During this disturbance, C'baoth and his fellow Jedi failed to detect the infiltrating Chiss forces, and Thrawn systematically destroyed the weapon systems of Outbound Flight, killing almost all the Jedi on board. At this point, Thrawn offered Outbound Flight another chance to surrender and contacted C'baoth. Enraged, Jorus succumbed to his anger and the dark side, using the Force to Force-choke Thrawn across space from Outbound Flight's bridge, nearly killing him. However, before Thrawn could die, Doriana activated a secondary command layer pre-set in the droid starfighters, which then rammed and blasted open the Outbound Flight. The final wave of starfighters deployed a radiation bomb of Chiss design on the ship, killing C'baoth and the majority of the passengers.
Only Lorana Jinzler and the fifty-seven colonists imprisoned in the core survived the bombs. The Chiss began to take control of the ship, but Aristocra Chaf'orm'bintrano recalled them, wanting the ship for his family. Only Syndic Mitth'ras'safis (Thrass), of equal rank to Chaf'orm'bintrano, remained on the ship. Lorana met with Thrass, and they devised a plan to hide Outbound Flight in The Redoubt, ensuring the colonists' safety until Thrass could present their case to the Council of Families of the Chiss Ascendancy. However, the ship's hyperdrive malfunctioned, forcing them to crash-land on a small planetoid. They chose a stone-filled valley to cushion the impact of the landing. Moments before impact, Lorana and Thrass realized the fifty-seven survivors had moved from the central storage core to D-4, the Dreadnaught opposite D-1, their location. Knowing they had to land on D-1 to save D-4, Lorana and Thrass sacrificed themselves to give the remaining colonists a chance at survival.
Before the expedition left the Republic, genetic samples were collected from all passengers and crew, supposedly to prevent a Hive virus. Emperor Palpatine used C'baoth's sample to create a clone of him, named Joruus C'baoth. Thrawn discovered this clone in 9 ABY. The clone proved to be even more unstable than the original, eventually trying to seize control of the Empire from Thrawn. Ultimately, the clone was 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 wreckage of Outbound Flight and its support ships fifty years after its destruction. The survivors of the project had established a small, self-sufficient colony on the planet where Lorana and Thrass had landed them. However, the Vagaari (disguised as peaceful Geroon) attempted to annihilate 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 managed to detach a Dreadnaught from the wreckage, but a Delta-12 Skysprite and the Chiss fleet thwarted them.
- Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth
- Jedi Master Evrios
- Jedi Knight Lorana Jinzler
- Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi (left early)
- Jedi Master Justyn Ma'Ning
- Padawan Anakin Skywalker (left early)