2.0 Overview: The United Federation of Planets Today
An overview of how Starfleet continually advances its technology while only a small fraction of the galaxy has been charted, surveying the Federation's evolving relations with the Klingons, Romulans, Borg, Ferengi and Cardassians.
Starfleet, like its 20th-century naval counterpart, undergoes a continual process of introducing ever-more-incredible technologies into the vessels and instruments that insure the security of Federation space. Much has changed since the first Constitution Class starships pushed back the boundaries of known space and brought humanity into direct contact with its interstellar neighbors.
The vastness of space looms prohibitively wide, humbling us as it has since the days of the first Apollo lunar missions. Even today, with the advent of the new, more efficient warp propulsion systems, only 19 percent of our Milky Way galaxy has been charted, let alone explored. More than three-quarters of the stars within reach still hold their distant secrets—and are home to millions of civilizations we will never know in their present states.
Still, much has been done in the past 80 years to widen our knowledge of the universe around us. Many cherished allies have been befriended as we have extended a hand of good will. Periods of misunderstanding have sometimes threatened our friendship, while methods of communication were forged. Enemies have been made, despite all efforts to the contrary, as races have been encountered whose only desire is the forceful overtaking of worlds and sectors not their own.
In addition to the space claimed by the United Federation of Planets and its allies, hundreds of thousands of cubic parsecs have been mapped by sensors from a distance and are only now being entered by the vessels of Starfleet. Improved subspace radio systems and relay beacons have expanded communications capabilities far beyond the limitations once accepted as insurmountable.
Perhaps the most monumental change in the complexion of relations between the Federation and its neighbors in space has been the alliance with a longtime enemy, the Klingon Empire. No longer a feared adversary, the Klingons have engaged in an open exchange of technology and have repeatedly proven an honorable desire to forge an even stronger alliance.
The Romulans, however, are another matter. Gone for more than 65 years, leaving their side of the Neutral Zone virtually abandoned, this powerful culture has re-emerged with an impressively improved level of technology that easily equals that of the Federation. Encounters with the militant Romulan Empire have dramatically increased in number, many verging on the brink of warfare with Federation and Klingon forces. The Romulans are ever more uncomfortable with the UFP/Klingon alliance, which borders two-fifths of their galactic territory.
Beyond Romulan space lie the Borg—a race of humanoid/machine fusions which exists only to absorb those civilizations they encounter. Following a devastating battle loss at Wolf 359—during which Federation forces unsuccessfully attempted to use sheer force to stop a single Borg vessel—the Borg were finally defeated in Earth orbit using data gathered by the U.S.S. Enterprise in its initial encounter with the intruder. It is not known how many Borg vessels, if any, remain in deep space.
Other races, such as the Ferengi and the Cardassians, have become known through encounters with their respective vessels far from their home worlds, which remain virtually unknown to Federation science.