"For the sake of one soul. For one loved one. For one life. The way I see it there's nothing ells worth fighting a war for." Quote on the Ithaca's dedication plaque.
History
The Odyssey Project was created in the second half of 2374 during the dominion war, in reaction to the Federations lack of combat oriented ships. The Odyssey project created two new ship classes, the Defiant (that had already been in concept), and the Odyssey Class.
The Odyssey was a long range mission ship designed to be the command unit for a small fleet. By the end of the war three Odyssey class ships had been sent into service; the USS Odyssey, the USS Ajax, and the USS Ithaca,. The Odyssey was destroyed during the final battle for Cardasia and the Ithaca was heavily damaged, while the Ajax sruvived and was used for hazardous exploration missions. The Ajax was lost in 2377 two years after the end of the war.
In 2379 the Project was reopened under the guise of producing a well rounded ship class capable of long range exploration and tactical combat missions, utilizing the technology Voyager bought back, and In March of 2381 the USS Ithaca was re-launched as the first ship of the new Iliad class. Followed in 2383 by the USS Achilles.
In January of 2380 a research team discovered the remnants of a highly advanced ship bellow the ice in the Antarctic. Subsequent excavation discovered a series of structures two kilometers north east of the crashed ship bellow the ice and excavation began on what was soon dubbed (due to its likeness the descriptions given by Plato) the Lost City of Atlantis.
Information gathered from the Crashed ships core indicated that the site on earth was only a small observation post for an ancient culture (the construction of the ship was ion-dated to approximately 12 million years ago) that had spanned the galaxy. When news of this reached the Romulans and the Borg, they both wanted the technology of this species.
