"Greetings and welcome to Liberty"

 

*** 

My name is  council woman Anarese Dunar I first heard

those words when I was a child, I did not know there true meaning then..

It was my first visit to "Ceylon", which in the language of the Augran Collective means

"Live Free" I was only 4 years old then and never left my mothers side.

***

My mother and I along with many others were refugees fleeing the Gorn Wilding Season,

A time when an entire generation of Gorn warriors come of age and must go out and

conquer new territory to expand the borders of the Gorn Confederation.

***

My home world fell to the Gorn in 3 hours..

*** 

My Mother a Deltan, took me and all she could carry and fled to this place, to Liberty..

To Ceylon.. We were just two people on a station with a population of over 80,000

Our only protection came from the The law of Ceylon which was that no one could be

turned away, that everyone who dwelt here could live free..

***  

I grew up quickly and listened to the stories told by the many displaced peoples of

the Triangle who for whatever reason had made Ceylon their home.. The many stories

I heard had a common theme however, one of conquest and war and the common

spirit in all life forms to seek refuge from it.

***

As I grew older I learned of my mothers people the Deltans and of their

affiliation with the United Federation Of Planets.. Ceylon granted me freedom from

my oppressors, Learning of the U.F.P gave me hope for my future.

*** 

After I turned 17 my mother somehow managed to send me to live with my uncle inside the

Federation where I very quickly excelled at my studies, I had a great thirst for knowledge, as a

person lost in a desert would thirst for water.. I filled myself over and over again

learning as much as I could of the cultures, the history and the stories

of these worlds united in freedom.. The worlds of the U.F.P

*** 

I passed the exams and though my uncle had no wealth or influence

I was accepted to the University on Delta Prime, and after many years of school I learned that the

Augran Collective was dying out, that Ceylon would fall to the next Wilding Season or to a

Romulan or Klingon invasion..

*** 

Still a student, I began to lobby the Federation Council, I told them my story, I told them

of Ceylon and all that it meant to the people of the Triangle, how it was the only sane

place to go in an area of space that had gone mad centuries ago.

***

To My surprise the Federation Council listened to me, they heard my stories and they

decided to send a delegation to Ceylon, I was to be part of it, to act as interpreter and make the

introductions..

**

We arrived on Ceylon, only to find it in a state of chaos.. The warriors of the Collective,

the protectors of Ceylon had been infected with a virus that they had unknowingly spread to

their own hives... Their entire race was facing extinction.

***

Several fleets of Orion Pirate ships waited just outside the borders

ready to strike the second the collective became to weak to fight back.

*** 

The Federation Delegation decided to intervene after meeting with the Augran Elders

They ordered Star fleet to send warships to secure the border.. While all the best minds of the

Federation tried to discover a cure for the disease that threatened to devastate the collective..

 ***

The Vulcans were the first to answer the call by sending an entire research facility to Ceylon,

Many years passed with no luck in finding a cure, the collective was slowly dying,

I took the time to complete my studies and soon became the first Federation

Ambassador to the Augran Collective

 ***

Slowly the collective began to turn Ceylon over to the U.F.P as a last ditch hope on their part

that the starbase would be able to carry on their legacy long after they were all gone, should

no cure ever be found.

 ***

The cure came almost to late, but once it was introduced without any demand for compensation

or pay, the collective realized the Federation was legitimate..

 ***

The complete transition of Ceylon to Federation hands took many years to accomplish,

I was appointed to the Federation council on my 50th Birthday and was given the job of over

seeing the massive project.. Star fleet engineers worked for 17 more years to bring the

Starbase up to their standards, entire decks were replaced and the facilities infrastructure

needed to be completely rebuilt, but it has been done!

***

Newly christened "Starbase Liberty" the station will continue its work, continue

its purpose.. Now Ambassadors from the Klingon and Romulan Empires seek to establish

Embassies here.. And though so much has been accomplished, there is still so much left to

do.. Very soon another generation of Gorn warriors will spill into the Triangle and yet another

Wilding Season will begin

***

With the Cardassian war now at an end the Romulans and Klingons may once again turn

their attention to expanding their borders into the Triangle

***

Star fleet has Assigned The USS Independence a Sovereign class starship to serve as the

stations flagship, also a fleet of over 100 Medical Runabouts will be stationed here, there

main mission will be to assist the many war ravaged worlds of the Triangle.

They will be guarded by two newly assigned Fighter Squadrons

which will escort the runabouts through some of the most treacherous regions of space .

***

With the station fully operational, and a new crew on its way.. I feel free to look back on

my life and reflect a little, I can still remember my father though I lost him when I was very young,

I remember my mother with a warmness in my heart, I remember the faces of those left behind, I

will never forget them.. But mostly I remember the words that still echo in the halls of

this place..  And I shall fight to my dying day that they remain..

 

"Welcome To Liberty"

 ***