2nd Viachon War — Prelude

Type: Short Story Author: Perry Jones Published: Jan 29, 2023 Source: Medium Status: Canon (published)

Summary

A civilian mining freighter, the Shambala, is run down and destroyed without survivors by three Viachon warships after straying into Viachon-controlled space. Her Mayday is barely intercepted by a distant command center via the experimental x-wave faster-than-light communication system, commanded by Captain Lefbrev, who reports up the chain to Admiral Kenneworth. The Viachon patrol confirms the kill and returns to patrol, framing the destruction as "a warning about trespassing into Viachon space." The story closes on the Admiral's vow to one day field the most powerful starfleet of all — establishing the Viachon as a standing rival power and setting up an escalating conflict.

Entities Introduced

• Ship: Shambala — mining freighter/ship, registry "C-O-X 1-1-4"
• Ship's crew (all killed):
• Captain James "T-Bone" Harris
• John Le'Roy — communications officer, longtime partner of the captain
• Marsha Stewart — chief engineer
• Tingala Mue — chief mining engineer
• Theodore "Ted" Harris — mining technician, captain's younger brother
• Douglas "Failsafe" Marshall — mining technician
• Faction/Power: Viachon — hostile spacefaring power; named warships Petaga and Kronger confirmed present in the attack
• Characters (military): Captain Lefbrev (Officer of the Deck), Admiral Kenneworth
• Tech: X-wave — an experimental FTL communication system, "burrows through time and space," expensive, still early-stage at time of story

Worldbuilding Notes

• Title implies a 1st Viachon War exists in the timeline — not yet located in other source material; worth searching for once ChatGPT export processing begins
• Establishes the Viachon as a recurring antagonist faction with a standing navy and defined territorial claims ("Viachon space")
• The Shambala's destruction functions as the inciting incident for escalating conflict — good candidate as a "spark of war" story beat

Open Questions

• ✅ RESOLVED — see The Three Viachon Wars: Sequence, the Shambala, and Jonas's Victory, which confirms all three wars' order and outcomes and places this Shambala incident as the 2nd War specifically.
• Viachon's government type, territory, and full military structure not detailed — good candidate for a dedicated faction page once more Viachon material surfaces
• Is Admiral Kenneworth's fleet a national/Empire navy, a Starfleet Captain-aligned force, or something else? Not specified here.