Ad Astra 4: Sacrifice of The Angels
Chapter 1: Political Overview
This is gonna be a long story, but I know it'll be a good one. Yes, I shall experiment with the idea of a cliffhanger—as well as rip off some MAJOR Star Trek elements—but I intend for this to be my finest story yet. This chapter is more of a long author's note, but it'll explain why things are the way they are between TerraFleet and a new enemy alien species. This chapter is basically one long author's note, then. Moving along…
The year: 2040. The alliance between the Terrans, Species 1, the Thoroni, Soruna, V'malnons, T'larans, and I'lin has now become the Planetary Federation. However, since life in the galaxy is diverse, there are of course going to be those hostile species that love nothing more than war and conquest. In this case, it was the Karons. They were warlike, had an extensive empire, were very secretive and xenophobic, and made no alliance permanently with anyone. In September of 2038, a disastrous first contact was made with them during an exploration mission made by the USS Hammurabi PF-207(Independence Class) past the far reaches of known space. Their Captain, Taylor Archer, was captured and taken aboard a nearby Karon Battle Cruiser on patrol "for questioning". When her First Officer asked the duration of time, the response given was "indefinitely". After a group of TerraFleet runabouts on assignment with the Hammurabi rescued the Captain via transporter, four small Karon attack ships de-cloaked and attacked, severely incapacitating the Hammurabi before one suicide-rammed it to finish it off, killing all 70 remaining crew members (minus the Captain and 8 crew members in the runabouts). The runabouts and rescued captain were left alone before being rescued by the Phineas-A, which arrived within two hours of the incident, as it had been in the same sector exploring.
This event led to an ashamed admittance from all allies that there was no knowledge as to what this species was, except that few who had encountered them returned at all. All that was known was this species was imperialistic and known as the Karons. Phineas thereby commissioned the scrapping of half of the current ships in favor of building new ones that could hold more than 500 crew members. This process, by 2040, had brought about 50 new Regal-Class starships into the beginnings of construction. The Phineas-A was by now outdated and close to retirement, especially after its valor in the First and Second Battles of H'pal (a moon nearby the main Karon energy production facility) in 2039, which led to a 3-month repair due to severe damage. All crew members of the Phineas bore at least some scar, emotional or physical, from the warfare that had ensued. In 2040, a neutral zone was established with the Karon Empire, which they themselves seldom respected, as ships and posts had to be placed along the border by TerraFleet and other Federation species to prevent them from illegally crossing.
By now, the homes on earth of the Phineas crew seemed more like rest stops for shore leave, as the crew members were constantly on-assignment and off-planet. Phineas had grown to be disappointed, as this TerraFleet organization had become one of military force instead of peaceful exploration. The children of these brave ships' crews were being left without parents, brothers without sisters, friends and cousins without each other, and Phineas almost felt responsible. It came to the point that the Phineas crew, as well as several other crews, began to have their families live on their starships from anywhere between several days to months at a time whenever they were not in combat. But now, almost as if this grief was not enough, a Karon superweapon was launched at earth (cloaked and at warp until Mars' vicinity), which targeted Florida, killing millions with an antiproton beam that cut a massively long trench from Florida to Venezuela. This was the act of war that led many at TerraFleet to become bitter, resentful, and cold, as this kind of attack left no one the same afterwards. And now, they were leading a fleet towards Terran colonies in the farther reaches of Federation space in hopes of inciting surrender from the Federation and Earth. The year is now 2040. The date: October 17th. The battlegrounds: the outlying V'malnon-Terran colony planet Losurae. The main ship assigned to the case: the Phineas, along with 399 other Terran ships.
Yes, for all of you Star Trek fans out there, this is a huge mix of the disastrous first contact with the Jem'Hadar and the use of the Xindi Superweapon on earth. But need I remind you that a majority of my fan base knows nothing about Trek? I have that advantage. Anyways, this story's about to get a lot darker (in the violence sense), so brace yourselves!