After discovering that xenobiologists Miro Ribeira and Ouanda Figueira had contaminated the still-developing culture of the Pequeninos, Starways Congress ordered a fleet to be sent to Lusitania to evacuate the colony to avoid more cultural contamination. However, when the Lusitania colony cut off its Ansible connection and rebelled against Congress, the fleet was ordered to destroy the planet with the Molecular Disruption Device.