There is a lot of romanticism around colony life. It’s a chance to leave Earth or at least Earth-like planets and venture out into the stars. The great stories of Columbus, Vespucci, Kirk and Picard fill the minds of the youth of the galaxies with visions of unencountered riches, opportunity and bounty.
The hard truth is colony life is very difficult. Even in a world of industrial replication where building structures can take mere moment and food and clothing replication whereby no one is going to starve or freeze to death, colonies fail all the time.
The King’s Fleet is considered a highly successful regional fleet authority and has failed at Camelot, near Betazed, the Phoenix colony of the Phoenix Planet, Ephyra near Bajor, the Omega Colony and now Reykja Penthe near the Klingon Homeworld…. Twice!!
The initial return to Reykja Penthe had been tough. The crashing of the Klingon prison transport had led the political prisoners to form a fledgling community only to discover that Admirals Tan and Deveniss had never left. The remnants of the King’s Fleet were still here.
The discovery buoyed the fallen prisoners and Governor Bunny Branson had begun to build a community. The Federation, Starfleet and even the Klingons begun to help. Hearing that a colony ran by a Branson and favouring her inclusive ideals, the Tellarites even began to send citizens. It was a burgeoning success.
This changed when the Temporal event was reported. The Klingon-Tellarite hybrid city of Camelot was almost immediately seen as an abomination. The Klingon High Houses were initially cordial but very quickly became hostile to the House of Praagh and denounced any connection to the hybrids.
Starfleet itself issued warnings about the Temporal Anomaly which almost halted trade in the region. Admiral Deveniss demanded an explanation but was rebuked saying it was just standard protocol.
Colonies fail for a lot of reasons. Senior leaders leave, get promoted or even die. The colony’s habitat becomes unliveable.
Bunny and Deveniss were in the colony offices discussing the tools used in the last isolation including potentially grounded vessels if necessary.
On April 22, 2400, The Klingon Empire attacked and devastated the colony of Reykja Penthe. The unrelenting bombardment demolished the cities of Camelot and Omega. The attacks left all of the King’s Fleet vessels in orbit but extensively damaged. Governors’ Station was destroyed. This marks the 6th time the legendary station has been sent into oblivion. The status of Admiral Tan remains unknown.
The colony service became a virtual wasteland in mere moments. Deveniss covered Buny with his cloak as the colony offices disintegrated all around them.
In an instance, it was over.
Why had the Klingons attacked? Why didn’t the Federation intervene? Why didn’t Starfleet warn the Regional Fleet authorities?
Questions, yes. In truth, it doesn’t matter.
It was over!!
Posted by:
Admiral Deveniss of Selay
Fleet Commander in Chief
King’s Fleet
Klingon Protected Territories
