Miriani

A Helping Hand

Nearly two months ago, alliance pilots stepped up to the plate to help out their fellow man. Their quick action saved the lives of over a hundred citizens of an unregistered colony called the Civilians for Peace.

Events began with a heavily damaged unregistered starship which jumped into sector 25 on the evening of Friday, August 12th, 2357. Alliance starships quickly arrived on the scene, and the female pilot aboard the small transport vessel, through heavy static, relayed a cryptic message about an exploding star and a planet which needed their help. Before her ship exploded into flames, she directed the pilots to a destination some fifteen years down and southeast from the sector. Her final frightened words encouraged the pilots to hurry. A starship piloted by Alex Foyo was docked with the vessel at the time of its destruction in an attempt to save the woman's life. His craft was severely damaged when the strange vessel exploded.

Alliance pilots quickly crewed their starships and rushed to the planet in question. A uniformed official by the name of officer Gallagor met the arriving pilots on a scorched landing field.
The planet of Porticu, a close neighbor to its star, was home to a thriving population. However, the once yellow star had ballooned into a red giant which was quickly engulfing the planet. The intense heat and radiation given off by the star had nearly destroyed all life on the dying world. In an attempt to preserve life while a solution was being devised, Porticu's capitol city was cordoned off under a forcefield protecting it from the burning sun above. Pictures taken during the meeting with Gallagor show a dried up landscape of twisted vegetation and blackened buildings.
The Officer explained how, if the remaining living inhabitants of the planet were to survive, they would require the stronger shielded hulls of an alliance spacecraft to evacuate them to safety on the near-by colony world of Caranza. The pilots, eager to lend their aid, offered up their starships for use.

It was the battlecruiser Serenity's flight piloted by Kaylee Summers which was eventually chosen to ferry the citizens away. The evacuation began.

Meanwhile, Gallagor invited the alliance pilots to explore the ruined city in its last few hours of existence. They soon discovered that the officer wasn't relating the entire truth of the situation.
A series of papers found in a governmental office revealed that the government had been scooping hydrogen energy from the planet's star to provide power to Porticu. With the loss of all its hydrogen fuel, the star quickly advanced in age to a red giant which, in a matter of hours, was due to end its life in an explosive super nova.

Angry at the deceit, but still willing to help, the evacuation continued with quick efficiency. Mindful that the star could nova at any moment, the pilots hurried to ready their starships for flight.
Mere moments after the last starship launched away from Porticu, with the planet fading fast into the distance, a blindingly white light filled the sector. Intense gravity waves rocked the few remaining starships left in the sector, and sent their passengers reeling. The planet was consumed by the star's explosion, and before their starships could be destroyed completely, the pilots fled from the sector, their hulls critically damaged.

The group of starships arrived safely on Caranza, a larger colony world four lightyears west of Porticu. The evacuees exited from Summer's ship, and Gallagor, his face solemn, thanked the pilots. With words clipped and curt, he extended his gratitude for the aid of the alliances. With the stipulation that the pilots wouldn't try to populate or interfere with the world, he extended an open invitation for the alliances to visit Caranza. Angry at the repeated offers to transport him back to alliance space for further aid, he firmly expressed the sentiment that the colony remain independent from the alliances. Confused, the pilots watched as Gallagor thanked them again, and strode from the landing pad.

More information about the Civilians for Peace may be found on the mountaintop spaceport located on Caranza, but the colony split from the alliances during the Praelor war in 2351. Interested only in furthering their limited spacecraft technology, the CFP, while eternally grateful for alliance support, still wishes to remain separated from them.
A brown neutron star is all that remains of the destruction in the sector where Porticu once was located, and pilots routinely make the twelve lightyear voyage out to Caranza to visit the many shops there.

This only goes to show that despite their differences, humanity as a whole is ever willing to reach out a helping hand to those in need. The citizens of Porticu lost their world, and many inhabitents of the planet were killed before reaching the safety of the capitol city. But a bond of friendship was formed that night as the pilots, without hesitation, agreed to save the lives of a ragged band of refugees.

Dated: 10/09/2357