Planet Exploration Contest

Planet Exploration Contest

Part of the adventure that comes from exploring strange new worlds is discovering that planet's history and hearing the stories of its inhabitants. Imagine you have just entered orbit around the planet pictured here. Your mind races with the possibilities of what you will find. What is the planet's name? What or who lives there? Are they peaceful or antagonistic, welcoming or outright hostile? Are they long gone leaving only more mysteries to solve?

Tell us about the planet shown here. You can tell a story of daily life of the inhabitants, make a scientific survey log entry, or weave any type of tale you choose.

Orbit established, Captain. What do you think is down there?

My Official Entry:

Captain's Log:

We have been dispatched to Cruor, in the Sangree star system on the fringe of
Federation explored space. Deep field scans registered a massive energy burst
eminating from the system and we have been sent to investigate.

Starfleet's first investigation reported Cruor as a liquid world with no exposed
land masses. Life-scans revealed massive amounts of single-cell organisms that
give the ocean and, to a lesser extent, the atmosphere it's blood-red coloring.
Of more interest, a large civilization was discovered to inhabit this strange
world. The people of Cruor live in a huge, semi-submerged colony that resembles
a mushroom-shaped dome. It appears to be free-floating with approximately 20% of
it's upper dome above the liquid surface. Although they appear to be intelligent
and advanced, they have not yet mastered space travel, thus First Contact was
denied.

Stellar Cartography charted the planet as having a single moon, Oo-Topos;
however, upon our arrival we have discovered the planet in turmoil and
surrounded by a ring of cosmic debris. My science officer has concluded that the
Oo-Topos moon fell victim to a cosmic disaster. Scans indicate a collision with
a comet. Meteoric showers from the debris are causing extreme wave activity on
the planet's surface and the planet's orbit has destabilized. It's predicted
that the planet could eventually spiral inward and get consumed by it's home
star in less than 100 years.

Even worse, a planet of this nature is extremely susceptible to even the
slightest variant in global temperature. As it gets closer to it's star it's
liquid surface would convert to gaseous atmosphere which will eventually get
burned away by stellar radiation. Astromectrics concludes that within 10 years
climate will change so dramatically that no life on the planet would be able to
adapt in time to survive.

I have sent a transmission to Starfleet and am awaiting their orders. Do we
disobey the Prime Directive and evacuate this species to a more hospitable home
so that they might survive? Or do we sit and watch them die, as so many others
have died and will die in the universal cycle of life?

I don't think I could stand by and watch that happen. I have decided to send out
a distress call in hopes that someone else not constricted by Starfleets rigid,
and somewhat foolish, directives can offer assistance to these people.

Computer, delete last two sentences.

And The Winner Is:

Thalasi

This is the extinct planet of Venthrak IX.

Its indigenous people, known to themselves as Thrak, were a race of xenophobes, capable of warp drive but shunning it nonetheless preferring instead to keep to themselves. To that end they devoted the whole of their technological might to the development of powerful weapon systems to punish any aliens that would dare invade their space.

When a species known as the Vosi attempted settlement of Venthrak IX's lone moon, which was uninhabitable to the Thraks, a horrible war ensued. The Vosi, while not by nature a warlike people were more than capable of defending themselves and dug in to their new home in the hopes of wearing down the Thrak through a war of attrition.

The Thrak soon grew impatient and planned to release the culmination of two centuries of weapons development on what was dubbed an infestation on the purity of the Ventrak system. The weapon, officially known as the Simultaneous Deep Core Exponential Discharge Mine(or as "The Lava Bomb" to the people), had the ability to start a massive chain reaction in a planetary core that forced all internal magma to the surface over the course of mere minutes. The intent of the device was to cause global destruction thereby scouring the alien plague from the surface. In a grave miscalculation the high level of magnesite ore in the core resulted in a cataclysmic explosion that fractured the moon into dozens of pieces.

The people of Venthrak IX were initially overjoyed to have destroyed the menace even at the cost of their own moon but their jubilation was to be short lived. As gravitational forces pulled the debris of the the former moon into a loose ring it began having adverse effects on its host planet. It started with tidal waves resulting in frequent and unpredictable flooding and soon came to include a constant withering storm that engulfed the planet.

Eventually the worst was realized with the breakdown of the magnetosphere resulting in heavy bombardment of solar winds which would go on to burn off much of the atmosphere and liquid from Venthrak IX, leaving it a husk of its former self. The Thrak were unable to evacuate their homeworld in the midst of this disaster due to a generally low number and ships coupled with their neglected propulsion technology. The few that did survive have not been officially heard from since and while rumors persist that the Romulans have sought Lava Bomb technology their is no evidence that either the technology or the people still exist.

Today the planet Venthrak IX is a dry and dusty place covered with the dilapidated ruins of a once great civilization. Because of the intense radiation and strong winds no life remains on what was a lush paradise. Its story is still told at Starfleet Academy as a warning to those who would fear or hate that such a thing is often as destructive for yourself as it is for others.