Massacre of Fi'von

The Massacre of Fi'von was a naval engagement that took place during the Xindi Conflict, in which three obsolete Vulcan Confederacy frigates were destroyed by one Xindi cruiser while on patrol. Approximately 246 Vulcans were killed.

Prelude
The frigates were part of the Confederacy of Vulcan’s Tenth Cruiser Squadron, which was assigned patrol duties in the Tor'tina-system, supporting destroyers and cruisers of the Second Frontier Fleet to guard against incursions by the Andorian into Confederacy space. The Fi'von Station had been established in the system since 2142 to study the stellar flares of the Tort'tina star.

The morning of 7 August the XSS Yunn'nir under the command of Corporal Deddig entered the Tor'tina-system and began to shadow the local Vulcan patrol. On patrol were three Voroth-class frigates of Tenth Cruiser Squadron, VCS Nek'hel, commanded by Captain Trum'on, Ta'anis, and As'Safir. A fourth frigate — T'eurlus, flagship of squadron commander Rear Admiral T'ristua — had returned to Vulcan for re-fuelling on 1 August, while the squadron's accompanying destroyers had been forced to depart to intercept a Nausicaan raiders.

Order of Battle
Confedarcy of Vulcan New Xindus Cooperative
 * VCS Nek'hel
 * VCS Ta'anis
 * VCS As'Safir
 * Fi'von Station
 * XSS Yunn'nir

Course of Battle
At 16:00 on 7 August, the Nek'hel, Ta'anis, and As'Safir were patrolling near Tor'tina III in a staggered formation as they updated local sensor logs. XSS Yunn'nir had been ordered to attack any Vulcans in Tor'tina, in order to remove the resupply capacity of the Fi'von Station. On arriving, she spotted the Vulcan ships and moved to attack under stealth.

At 16:20, the Yunn'nir fired one torpedo at the nearest ship from an extreme range, which struck Nek'hel on the starboard side, venting the engine room to space and causing the ship to stop immediately and lose power. No enemy units had been sighted, so Captain Trum'on assumed that the ship had suffered engine trouble, and ordered the other two frigates to close in to help.

After two-minutes, Nek'hel's warp core exploded, destroying the vessel. Only one escape boat could be launched, because of damage from the explosion.

XSS Yunn'nir observed the two Vulcan frigates engaged in the rescue operations. Deddig fired two more torpedoes at his next target, Ta'anis. As the torpedoes left the cruiser, her stealth failed and she was spotted by Ta'anis, which opened fire before the cruiser broke to leave weapon's range. The two torpedoes struck Ta'anis and caused crippling damage, Captain Hi'tot gave the order to abandon ship, and after 10 minutes she exploded.

At 16:50, Yunn'nir fired two torpedoes from her stern torpedo tubes. One missed, so the cruiser turned to face her one remaining bow torpedo toward As'Safir, and fired again. As'Safir had already seen the Yunn'nir, had opened fire and attempting to ram, but failed. The first torpedo struck the starboard side followed closely by the second the port beam. Seconds after the As'Safir exploded but her emergency bouy fired.

Without protection, the Yunn'nir approached the Fi'von Station and opened fire, destroying the entire facility and killing all 144 researchers and dependents on board.

Distress calls had been received by Commodore T'yritt, who with the destroyer squadron had already returning to the Tenth Cruiser Squadron after driving off the Nausicaan raiders. At 18:30, the Vulcan passenger liner Di'vern approached the scene (having seen the Yunn'nir leave the system) and rescued 26 Vulcans. A second Vulcan freighter — the Nit'na — picked up another 14, all survivors from the frigates.

Aftermath
The disaster shook public opinion on Vulcan, and the reputation of the Confederacy of Vulcan at large. Many of the Voroth-class frigates were withdrawn from patrol duties until they could be over-hauled; Admiral T'ristua was reprimanded, and Captain Trum'on—who did not survive—was criticized by the resulting Inquiry for failing to take the necessary precautions recommended by the Vulcan High Command. However, he was praised for his conduct during the actual attack.

By contrast, Deddig and his crew returned to a hero's welcome at the Northland Relay.

Losses & Casualties
Confedarcy of Vulcan


 * VCS Nek'hel


 * VCS Ta'anis


 * VCS As'Safir


 * Fi'von Station