Delphic Expanse

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The Delphic Expanse (commonly abbreviated as "The Expanse") was a region of space in the Star Trek universe, approximately 2000 light years across, surrounded by thick thermobaric clouds, with an edge located about 50 light years from Earth.

Intense gravitational distortions made travel through the Expanse extremely difficult, as it appeared that space did not obey the known laws of physics. Travellers could be lethally harmed or severely disfigured if their vessels were not lined with Trellium-D.

Species native to the Expanse included the Loque'eque, the Skagarans, the Triannon, and the Xindi.

Locations in the Expanse included Azati Prime, the Calindra system, Oran'taku, Triannon, and Xindus.

The TNG episode "The Battle" apparently takes place in a portion of the Expanse, as Picard opens the episode by stating that they are in the Xendi Sabu System. Despite the difference in spelling, Xendi is pronounced the same as Xindi from ENT. This discrepancy in spelling is most likely a mistake by the ENT writers.

[edit] History of the Expanse

Thousands of years ago, a number of spheres the size of small moons were constructed throughout the Expanse by trans-dimensional beings as a prelude to invasion. These were cloaked and their purpose was to alter the fabric of space in the region to make it habitable for the Sphere-Builders. One area of space, 700 million kilometers wide and centrally located within a group of spheres, was distorted into a bubbling particle soup with an organic appearance. The spheres used artificial intelligence and operated as a network, with several serving command functions.

Because the spheres were cloaked, their exact number was unknown. Triannons believe that there were thousands of spheres. Xindi scientists, including Degra, determined that there were at least 78 spheres.

The Triannons called the Expanse the "Chosen Realm", and formed a religion around the spheres and the mythology of their creation.

In 2037, a temporally-divergent starship Enterprise from 2154 became stranded in the Expanse. It would become a generational ship, dedicated to countering the Xindi threat destined to arise in the 2150s.

In about 2133, a group of Klingons entered the Expanse, but returned anatomically inverted (and still alive). Unsuccessful attempts to explore the region were also made by the Vulcan ships Seleya and Vaankara. The Seleya was later discovered, with its crew driven mad due to exposure to Trellium-D, and subsequently destroyed.

In about June of 2153, the original Enterprise entered the Expanse to locate the Xindi. They were followed later in the year by the Andorian ship Kumari.

On February 13, 2154, Enterprise destroyed the network of Spheres, reverting the distorted space to its natural form, and gradually dissipating the thermobaric cloud barrier. The Expanse thus ceased to exist - becoming a normal, non-threatening region of space.

Although Enterprise Captain Jonathan Archer was shown a possible timeline in which the Expanse becomes a major threat to the future United Federation of Planets, this eventuality appears to have been eliminated following the successful destruction of the Spheres; no reference to The Expanse is made in any of the "later" Star Trek series.