Operation Vanguard was the operational name for Starfleet's secret investigation of the mysterious meta-genome found all over the Taurus Reach in the 2260s decade.
History[]
As part of the operation, the Watchtower class starbase Vanguard was constructed there – with the cover of being a center for colonization efforts of the unclaimed region of space. The true purpose was to provide a fixed location for the Vault and its scientists, and to provide a hub for discovering traces of the meta-genome by the operation's attached starships, the USS Endeavour, USS Sagittarius, and the USS Bombay.
The operation lasted from circa 2263, when the meta-genome was discovered, until the year 2268, when Vanguard was destroyed during a conflict with the Tholian Assembly and the Shedai, originators of the meta-genome. (VAN novels: Harbinger, Summon the Thunder, Reap the Whirlwind, Open Secrets, Precipice, Declassified, What Judgments Come, Storming Heaven; VAN novella: In Tempest's Wake)