Ulith III Biophage Crisis

The Ulith III Biophage Crisis, often simply known as the Biophage Crisis was an outbreak of the Ulith III Biophage in the early 2300s. It was first major crisis of the 2300s and of the quest, and the defining crisis of Admiral Kahurangi's tenure as Commander of Starfleet. The Ulith III Biophage devastated colonies on both sides of the Romulan Neutral Zone, triggering the quest's first State of Emergency. The biophage motherships were eventually destroyed in orbit of Kadesh in a joint action between the United Federation of Planets, the Romulan Star Empire, and the Klingon Empire.

Ulith III
At Stardate 20716.2 (2301.Q3) the USS Challorn under Captain Michel Thuir investigated the disappearance of the Ulith III research outpost. The outpost had inadvertently melted a mutagenic plague from the ice, which then went on to consume all 200 of the outpost personnel. Upon deciphering the outpost's dying message, Captain Thuir decided to purge the colony with photon torpedoes.

It was later revealed by the Romulans that the Ulith III outpost had been built atop the destroyed remains of a Romulan base that once housed samples of the Biophage. One such sample slipped containment and was frozen in the ice, only to be discovered by the Federation outpost crew over a century later.

Cheron Incident
At Stardate 20757.8 (2302.Q1) the USS Cheron under Captain Revak was returning to Vulcan from patrolling the Romulan Border Zone when it was bombed, ripping a massive hole in the ship's engineering section and causing the warp core be ejected before it breached. Later intelligence indicated that the Romulans had been responsible for the bombing, sneaking a Type VI Photon Torpedo into the Cheron's transporter pattern buffer and causing it to detonate when it materialized.

The connection between the bombing of the Cheron and the developing biophage crisis was not evident at the time of the incident. Though there was no formal admission of guilt later on, it is thought that the Romulans believed that the some of the science samples picked up by the Cheron from outposts in the RBZ during its tour there had been infected by the Ulith III Biophage.

Korlonia II
More than half a year after the Battle of Tregh'bak (2302.Q4), the USS Kumari under Captain Rachel Ainsworth responded to a distress call from Korlonia II. An area of the outpost had been infected with the same mutagenic virus as Ulith III, killing 200 of the crew but leaving some surviving and uninfected members who are rescued. The Kumari was unable to find a cure for the plague, but took samples and scans, then destroyed the infected area with photon torpedoes.

Though it would be some time later until it was known, an abandoned and cloaked Romulan base located on Korlonia II was the origin point of the current Biophage outbreak.

Dunwich IV
A quarter later (2303.Q1), the Kumari once again responded to a report of plague in the RBZ, this time at the Tellarite colony of Dunwich IV. The freighter SS Nkumba reported the colony had succumbed to an unknown plague. As communications were still being received from Dunwich IV, the Kumari called for reinforcements in case the call is a trap as it headed for the colony.

At the same time, the USS Sarek moved to intercept the freighter SS Franklin after Starbase 1, Earth detects it on an unauthorized course. Upon contact, the Franklin is discovered to have been infected by the Biophage, and is destroyed by the Sarek. Upon determining the freighter's origin to be the colony world of Dunwich IV, the Sarek made full speed for the planet.

Upon arrival to Dunwich IV, the Kumari confirmed that the colony has been completely infected by the Biophage. The Nkumba, after thorough scans show it is completely clean, was allowed to depart. The Sarek arrived in system shortly after, only to see a Romulan Bird-of-Prey decloak and destroy the escaping Nkumba, ostensibly to prevent it from leaving the system. The Romulans claimed the Kumari was outnumbered and ordered them to depart or face destruction, leading into a standoff between the Federation and Romulan forces.

The Federation fleet was then joined by the USS Centaur, the USS Yukikaze, the USS Challorn and two Mirandas. On the other side, three more Romulan Birds-of-Prey, two D7 Cruisers and one of the new Romulan heavy warbirds decloaked. Despite being outnumbered, the Romulan fleet moved to attack, only for the USS Enterprise to arrive in the nick of time, spooking the Romulan Admiral Sinnae Sihina into withdrawing, who left a cryptic message encouraging the Federation to destroy the Dunwich IV colony themselves.

Joined by the USS Courageous, the USS Cheron, the USS Dryad and other Federation ships, and having judged the 20,000 colonists of Dunwich IV beyond saving, Captain Nash ka’Sharren made the decision to destroy the colony. The gathered Federation fleet, save the Dryad, executed General Order 24 on the infected colony, eliminating all signs of the outbreak.

Upon receiving a full report on the fate of the Dunwich IV colony in 2303.Q2, the Federation Council ordered quarantine procedures to be implemented across the RBZ, with all traffic from there to the neighboring Andor Sector restricted to the Indi Beta Outpost, which would be scanning all traffic. Anything picked up on long-range sensors outside of this would be intercepted, and if refused to answer hails, destroyed. Any ship employing sensor dampening fields will be forced to lower them or likewise be destroyed. Supply drops to outposts was restricted to one-way only, with no pickups for the duration of the crisis. The sensor profile of the Biophage was also distributed to every Federation ship and outpost, with orders to report to Starfleet if any matches were found.

Malora
Although it went unreported in the Federation at the time, the Romulan colony at Malora was lost in mid-2303, with over 40,000 dead.

Enterprise goes to Romulus
At 21312.6 (2303.Q4), the IRW Devoras under Commander Velim passed through the Neutral Zone and arrived in Federation space, bearing an invitation for the USS Enterprise to travel to Romulus. There, Captain ka'Sharren was briefed by the Romulan Continuing Committee on the Inflictor, the Romulan term for the Ulith III Biophage.

The Romulans had discovered the Biophage over a thousand years ago, found consuming one of their colony worlds. Tracking the origin of the infection back to a derelict, extra-galactic ship, they took samples and attempted to harness the Biophage as a weapon. Their attempts all ended in costly failures, with the final decision made to bury the project on inhospitable worlds, with knowledge of the project lost to but a few over time.

In the aftermath of treaty that ended the Earth-Romulan War, the bases housing the Biophage were stuck on the wrong side of the Neutral Zone and worst of all, improperly cleared. One such base was a secret abandoned and cloaked Romulan facility on Korlonia II, where a Tal Shiar clean-up crew with a cloaked shuttle had been compromised by the organism. The biophage then used the shuttle to steal a heavy warbird, the IRW T'Seren, creating a plague mothership and unleashing a monster that threatened to consume the quadrant.

Having already been forced to evacuate several of their colonies and destroy a number of minor shipyards near the Neutral Zone, the Praetor requested the help of the Enterprise in finding the T'Seren and ending the threat.

Loss of the Miracht
On the same day Captain ka'Sharren was being briefed by the Praetor, the T'Seren ambushed and infected the USS Miracht in the Indus system. The Miracht was lost to the Biophage in minutes, unable to breach its warp core and captured.

State of Emergency
With intelligence from the Romulans that the Biophage now had multiple military starships under its control, including a cloaked heavy warbird, an emergency session of the Federation Council was called in 2303.Q4.M1. Admiral Vitalia Kahurangi requested a State of Emergency be declared, allowing her to mobilize the vast resources of the United Federation of Planets to face an existential threat, which the Federation Council agreed to. All Federation ships were now under standing orders to run with shields raised at all times and to trigger a warp core breach as soon as practicable in event of infection to prevent further Biophage captures.

Under Commodore T’Faer, the RBZ Sector Fleet was assembled in 2303 Q4 M1, consisting of the Courageous, the Sarek, the Excelsior, the Kumari, the Challorn, the Centaur, the Yukikaze and two Mirandas. The fleet was then dispatched to defend the colonies of Solitude and Indi Beta, where the defenses at Indi Beta were tested when the Kumari found and destroyed the plague ship SS Immaculate.

On the Romulan side, the Romulan Quarantine Fleet was comprised of the seconded Enterprise, the Devoras, another Devoras Heavy Warbird, 4 Birds-of-Prey and 2 D7 Cruisers, which commenced evacuation of the final colonies on the border of the Neutral Zone.

Irthrid II
Approximately 100,000 Romulans were being evacuated from Irthrid II in 2303 Q4 M1, under guard by the Romulan Quarantine Fleet when the Biophage attacked with suicide shuttles. Four waves of sixteen total cloaked shuttles attacked, the first wave going undetected, causing the loss of four cargo ships and 20,000 civilians. When a shuttle from the second wave fled, the IRW Terrh was detached to pursue, only to run into the ex-Miracht, resulting in the D7 Cruiser's infection and capture.

Though the Biophage attack on the convoy was fended off, the Romulan Admiral's heavy warbird was hit in the process. Quick work from the Enterprise however cauterized the wound and saved the ship. The evacuation continued without any further issues afterwards, though the damaged heavy warbird would require a year of repair work, and the Romulan Admiral would commit suicide in the aftermath of the debacle.

Probing Attacks
In 2303 Q4 M2, the Challorn's task force, consisting of the Challorn, the Centaur and the Yukikaze, arrived in time to destroy an infected frigate-sized ship at the Kiterunner II listening post. The ship is from an unknown species, implying that the Biophage may have infected a starfaring civilization within the Neutral Zone. A similar ship infects the colony at Liath V before being destroyed by the Challorn's task force, killing 9,000 colonists. With aid from the Kumari, the Challorn's task force would halt the spread of the infection. The surviving 46,000 colonists would be successfully evacuated by Starfleet Medical next month.

Cloaked shuttles attacked both Solitude and Indi Beta as well, specifically-designed as warp-capable bio-missiles. The Sarek and the Excelsior would respectively intercept and destroy both attacks, though it is clear by this point that the Biophage has shuttle manufacturing capability.

Acori III
Evacuation of the Acori III colony began in 2303 Q4 M2, under the protection of the Courageous, the Excelsior and the Challorn's task force, as well as the USS Docana and USS Polaris from the Andor Sector Fleet. The ex-Terrh would be sighted at the edge of the system, shortly before twelve cloaked shuttles in three waves attacked the evacuation convoy.

The SS Skegal was infected during the course of the attack, however Captain Michael O'Hara of the  Excelsior refused to fire on it while there were still survivors he could beam off aboard. When the infected Skegal escaped into warp, he was relieved of command by Commodore T'Faer. Though 2,000 colonists are lost with the Skegal, the colony was otherwise successfully evacuated.

Birkaad III
The infected colony was discovered in 2303.Q4.M3, indicating the presence of an unknown warp-capable species within the Romulan Neutral Zone. Betazoid telepaths were able to determine that this species originated in Area 2 of the Neutral Zone.

Huckleberry VIII
On Stardate 21436.2 (2304.Q1.M1) the Challorn's task force was led into an attempted ambush by the Ex-Miracht and Ex-T'Seren. The Challorn used a deflector trick to damage the Miracht and successfully evaded the ambush and evacuated the listening post in the system.

Firax III
A colony of a species called Sotaw was discovered at Firax III, and their homeworld mapped to the Sajan system. They had not yet lost colonies to the biophage but knew of the threat.

Galaar III
In 2304.Q1.M2, the Romulan Quarantine Fleet and the Enterprise discovered a colony of twenty thousand Kadeshi at Galaar III. They warned the Enterprise that their homeworld, Kadesh, with a population of five hundred million, had been out of communication for over a month, after reports of a biomechanical invasion. After this news made its way to Starfleet Command, Admiral Kahurangi ordered all available ships to join the attack on Kadesh.

Aftermath
Within a month of the Battle of Kadesh Orbit, a vaccine was developed to prevent the spread of the biophage to biological creatures, and a modification to structural integrity fields to prevent the spread of the biophage to ship hulls.

Due to joint action during the crisis, the Federation-Romulan relationship thawed greatly, resulting in establishment of a joint colony at Athos V and eventually led to the Treaty of Mars, formalizing a non-aggression pact between the two former rivals.

The destruction of Kadesh led the Kadeshi to pursue the location of a new homeworld, a garden world indicated on a Preserver artifact, located halfway across the galaxy. This culminated in the launch of the Pride of Kadesh and the Stargazer Expedition.

Confidence in Starfleet as protectors of the Federation grew greatly due to the successful resolution of the crisis. Admiral Kahurangi's leadership was lauded, Starfleet's budget and caps were increased, setting the stage for a golden era of exploration and expansion.

Due to her actions at Koba and Kadesh Orbit, Nash ka'Sharren gained fame as an effective fleet commander. This legacy has followed her throughout her career as she rose through the ranks.

A long-distant postscript was the eventual discovery of the freighter which was infected and escaped, though not before it had in turn infected a Romulan light Warbird. Both the Warbird and the freighter were destroyed before the situation escalated again.