| abstract | - Under the command of Captain Roger Lake, this ship was sent by Starfleet to relieve the Constitution-class USS Enterprise then assigned to protect the Belle Terre colony some six months' travel time outside of Federation space. On her way there, the ship was repeatedly attacked by the Kauld during a phenomenon known as "Gamma Night", during which all modern sensors were rendered almost useless by the heavy sleet of Gamma radiation washing through space from a nearby neutron star for 20 hours at a time. During these attacks, the Peleliu had her Tactical and Executive officers killed, along with 13 others and 34 wounded. Second Officer Nick Keller was field promoted to full Commander by Captain Lake after the final attack, in which Executive Officer Derek Hahn was killed. Though moderately damaged, the ship made it safely to Belle Terre, and was left in command of the system while the Enterprise traced the source of olivium thefts from the colony's mining efforts. Soon after the Enterprise had left and just after "Gamma Night" had started again, the Peleliu received a distress call from the converted prospecting ship Pandora's Box on the far side of Occult, the star around which Belle Terre orbited. This turned out to be a Kauld trap to destroy the remaining Starfleet vessel, which only failed to succeed when the Box fired early. Even so, the deteriorating mental state of Captain Lake allowed the ship to be mortally wounded, with Sickbay completely wrecked and the bridge actually cracked open to space, with the loss of their entire Medical staff and their Communications, Science and Helm Officers. Their Navigator was also grievously wounded, but fortunately Medic Ring survived the destruction of Sickbay to treat him. Acting First Officer Nick Keller "relieved" Captain Lake of command by laying him out, and managed to use photon torpedoes to disrupt the Kauld attack. He then shut down all active emissions so that the Kauld would lose them in the Gamma Night, and managed to get the wrecked ship back to Belle Terre, where she was broken up. Only three command officers survived the battle: Captain Lake, Lieutenant Commander Keller, and Lieutenant Lewiston, the Chief Engineer. Aside from the Lake and Keller, none of the survivors ranked above Lieutenant. Three other department heads were also killed, and even lieutenants were numbered few. Salvaged sections of the Peleliu were soon after used to assemble a ship capable of defending the colony while the Enterprise was gone. These included the hastily-repaired saucer section and part of the engineering section, mainly the bottom half.
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