Interitus Protocol is an emergency security contingency utilized by the Alliance of Nations and later the Multiversial Federation, used as a final resort to eliminate a major multiversal or universal threat via using spaceborne weapons to render a planet entirely uninhabitable and eradicate all life on its surface. The method was developed based off the Imperium of Man’s “exterminatus,” and first used by a Federation-UAOS joint fleet during the Slaughter of Cascadia VII in 1470 NE (2323 Duyi’zu) to eliminate the rapidly escalating Flood outbreak on the planet’s surface.
History of Employment[]
First Multiverse War[]
Slaughter of Cascadia VII[]
In 1470 NE (2323 Duyi'zu, 2601 Piala), scientists of the United Federation of Planets' Starfleet travelled to the Piala Universe to research the rumored "Forerunner" civilization. During their explorations, a technological sample was recovered and returned to the Duyi'zu Universe for proper study. Unbeknownst to Starfleet, the device was contaminated with the Flood supercell. Upon Starfleet's arrival at the military base colony of Cascadia VII, the supercell would spread across the base through its researchers.
Within six hours of the device being delivered, facility staff began to experience high fevers, with some ceasing movement and twitching violently. At the start of the seventh hour, three separate incidents of infected personnel violently attacking their comrades were reported, despite the attackers all having non-violent histories. The staff were imprisoned in the facility's detention centers, spreading the infection unnoticeably in the process. By the tenth hour, over 40% of the facility's staff had started to lash out at others, with pandemonium breaking out within the research center.
Seventeen starship commanders were infected in the ensuing attacks, converted into combat forms, and later merged into a proto-gravemind. With their collective intelligence and knowledge on Starfleet and the Alliance, they overrode the facility's lockdown procedures and quickly escaped across the planet's surface to Cascadia VII's two colony cities and consumed all the biomass they could find. However, emergency signals had been broadcast out of the facility before its conversion was complete, and every docked starship at the base had launched to avoid infection, while destroying the others so they could not be captured by the Flood.
Word of the outbreak reached Starbase One within hours, and every nearby Federation starship was diverted to blockade Cascadia VII. Among these ships would be the USS Reliant, on which the young ensign Jean-Luc Picard served. The United Alliances of Orion Species that received word of this immediately sent their own ships and Flood experts to aid in procedures. The UAOS already had protocols in place to deal with the Flood outbreak, and officers of both nations clashed over how to proceed. Jean-Luc bore witness to all of this while horrors unraveled on the planet's surface.
HAZMAT-equipped teams were strategically deployed to the surface to destroy or secure critical data and evacuate priority personnel. On the 56th hour, the presence of Flood spores was confirmed in the atmosphere, and it was believed over 83% of the civilian colonist population had already inhaled them in some capacity, with more being infected by the hour. The UFS-UAOS coalition immediately recalled their personnel on the surface, with the last teams being slaughtered by Flood forms or contaminated and summarily abandoned on the surface to a gruesome fate.
A council of the senior officers was immediately convened on the Reliant, with the President of the Federation also present on call. The officers all agreed the planet was lost, and there was no other options but to eradicate the world's biosphere and stop the further spread of the Flood, even prevent any from forming intelligence of using the technologies they gained from the minds of the infected to leave the planet. At the 78th hour, UAOS ships began glassing the planet's surface, starting at the colony cities and working outward. However, concerns arose that the proto-gravemind, which had now grown into a full Gravemind, would survive the glassing due to being held within the armored facility from which the infection had begun.
Spartans deployed to Cascadia VII
Starfleet and the UAOS deployed a joint strike team to attack the facility, at the heart of the hive, to plant multiple micro-nukes and overload the facility's power generators. The team, consisting of situation-trained Spartan-IVs and Starfleet away teams, would be deployed to the surface. Picard, who led the Starfleet portion, had to experience the horrors of the Flood firsthand, and narrowly escaped infection, while many of his comrades were far less lucky. The mission was ultimately a success, though casualties were suffered, and the resulting explosion ripped the facility wide open and killed the Gravemind, while also opening it up for intense glassing.
At the 102nd hour, Cascadia VII had been razed to the ground, and wide scans of the planet confirmed no Flood forms or cells had survived. The President of the UFS and the officers involved would meet on Starbase One later that month to discuss the proper establishment of a protocol for handling major threats and also be more cautious of bringing anything from alternate universes to prevent another disaster such to their worlds. While all agreed this was only a last resort, and should never have to occur again, the group founded Interitus Protocol for future disasters.
Infection Wars[]
Federation Era[]
Conditions[]
Activation and Authorization[]
Alliance[]
During the First and Second Multiverse Wars, along with the Infection War, the conditions required to activate Interitus Protocol were strict for the Alliance, to avoid an unnecessary use of the weapon or the protocol being taken advantage of by a corrupt officer. The activation of Interitus required the unitary decision of eight officers above the rank of admiral or general as well as the head of state for one of the local universe's leading national powers. After the decision is made, a two-hour countdown begins where any of the nine individuals authorizing can reverse their stance and stop Interitus activation.
Federation[]
With only a centralized state being present in the Multiversial Federation's age, the requirements to activate Interitus changed only slightly. While the eight officers' terms remained unchanged, the final activation would instead require the approval of the Vice Supreme General of the Federal Armed Forces. The rest of the conditions remained the same.
Security Procedures[]
For the sake of preventing improper, corrupt, unnecessary, or malicious use of Ineritus Protocol to destroy a planet. extensive scans and background checks are conducted regularly on officers who may be in the position to activate it. Each scan, using the latest and most accurate Alliance/Federation bioscanners, confirm the deciding individual is not infected, possessed, psychically manipulated, or otherwise mentally unwell as to be incorrectly influenced with their decision-making. Scans are conducted immediately at the start of the two-hour decision period. Each of the nine individuals must make the decision with their fully aware and uninhibited mind, consciousness, and free will.
Should any virus, form of mental control, or other anomaly be detected on one of the nine authorizing individuals, the afflicted individual will be immediately quarantined and further scanned to determine further procedures. Interitus Protocol will then be immediately called off, and a mark placed on the officer's file prohibiting them from future authorizations until further notice. A new, unafflicted officer may be brought in to replace the afflicted if the other eight decide the protocol should still be activated.
Upon activation of Interitus Protocol, each of the eight individuals will be given a datacard coded to their biometrics. The datacards contain three different six-digit authorization codes, all of which are used in final and ultimate activation of Interitus. All officers are required to input and confirm their codes at the same time, while in the same room with the other officers to activate it. Final activation also requires complete biometric scan, retinal scan, and voice activation with confirmation. Authorization codes change once a week, and are never reused to prevent potential hacks.
Punishments for Improper Use[]
While the security system has almost never been breached or punishments declared, protocols exist to prosecute any of the authorizing individuals should the action of Interitus be deemed improper. After Interitus Protocol has been used, its use, along with the situation necessitating it, will be thoroughly reviewed by a military tribunal and the commander-in-chief. In some cases, it can be considered an overreaction, wanton destruction, or an abuse of powers, all of which fall under military war crimes. Punishments may vary depending the destroyed planet's population, but should the military tribunal find any of the individuals guilty of abuse of power and/or mass murder, they may be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, up to and including eternal imprisonment in the Cage and execution.