The bridge crew was silent, stunned. A few cried, one broke down totally. The captain was stone faced. He had seen planets like this before. The difference was that this was not just any old planet. This planet, one of the few that had survived the original scouring, Jericho, was a beautiful blue and green marble. Or at least it had been.
The 'Laeto' had gotten a distress call from Jericho three weeks before. It was the only surviving planet from the original scouring. The terrible event that had seen the systematic destruction of the entire Latagonian Republic. Captain Jecketh's home world, Illusion, was destroyed before the defenders had evacuated even 10% of the population. His parents had perished. Now, coming to Jericho and seeing it...like this...was nearly unbearable. Jericho's entire surface was a glossy material. It was beautiful if you didn't know what had happened to it. It's surface had been bombarded with plasma weapons. Some billions had lost their lives.
Jericho had survived the onslaught, for an unknown reason, and had reestablished connections to New Latagon. That was three months ago. For almost a year the Jerichoites had survived without contact to Latagon, and now this. 5.3 Billion people, lost.
"Who did this? Was it...them...?"
"I don't know sir, but what ever it is did it within the last two hours. That plasma is still bubbling. I think we'll find out what happened to our colony very soon."
"Ready weapons."
