In Y178 the Federation located a small planet containing the ruins of an advanced civilization. The ruins contained an archive with thousands of computer crystals detailing the extinct civilization’s technology. The planet was spiraling rapidly into a newly forming black hole. To complicate matters the area was in the former Neutral Zone between Federation and Romulan space (now a no man’s land between the two in the General War) and only a few million kilometers from the Gorn border. The General War was in full swing, and attrition among the main fleet elements was high. The Federation needed the information from those crystals and, just as importantly, could not afford to allow the Romulans to get them.
Reasoning that the Romulans were unaware of the find, the Federation High Command decided to send a small, and therefore unalarming, task force to the area to recover as many crystals as possible before the planet fell into the black hole. Federation main fleet elements normally assigned to the area were sent on a decoy maneuver parsecs away in an attempt to draw off Romulan units. It was determined that an attempt to inform the Gorns was too risky, as any communication could be intercepted.
As luck would have it, no sooner had the recovery begun than a powerful Romulan assault force arrived, obviously well equipped to take matters in hand. (The Romulans, trying to maintain a compact force, had selected the powerful King Eagles for their firepower and stealth, stripping them from command of two squadrons in the theater.) Realizing the (ahem) gravity of the situation, the commander of the Michigan sent an urgent plea for help. The only unit near enough to respond in time was a Gorn border patrol.
Aftermath[]
The Federation suggested that the Gorn force should hold off the Romulans while the Al Rashid continued recovery operations. The Gorns suggested that they begin their own recovery operation while the Federation held the Romulans at bay. The Romulans took advantage of the confusion to close with the planet and land their troops.
The battle was particularly savage because all of the ships tried to stay within transporter range of the planet (and consequently were at short range to each other). The Exidium was hit by a full salvo of overloaded photon torpedoes and limped out of the battle; it ultimately fell into the black hole. The Naja was crushed by enveloping R torpedoes and imploded. The other ships were all damaged to varying degrees. The Gorns and Romulans eventually broke off the action and disengaged. The Federation ship Michigan remained to recover the marines, and also recovered a few Romulan and Gorn troops before escaping at the last instant.
References[]
- ↑ Various (1992). Star Fleet Battles - Scenario Book 1. (Amarillo Design Bureau), pp. 42–5.