In 2254 the Achilles was assigned to Christopher Pike's task force patrolling the Diomed Cluster on the Tholian border. After picking up a distress call from Theta Kalyb, the task force travelled to the colony to investigate, but were attacked by a Chakuun war fleet. Following the destruction of the USS Brazzaville, Captain Crowe filled two shuttlecraft with photon torpedoes and detonated them in proximity to two Chakuun ghostships and several smaller Chakuun fighters, destroying them all. Unfortunately, two more ghostships flanked the Achilles and destroyed it with their fusion casters. Only fifty-three members of the crew survived, including assistant chief engineer Shane Samson, rescued by the USS Enterprise's transporter. (EV comics: "The Fallen", "Futures, Part One")