Pharos siteworld

The Pharos siteworld is a planet in the Marrat Nebula, in or near the Marrat system.

The planet is rich in extremely pure dilithium, so much so that if it were to be mined it would not require any from of refinement. This was not discovered until the 2250s when the planet became the location of Starfleet's Project Pharos. The Starfleet scheme involved building a giant galactic lighthouse on the planet to act as a navigational aid in the dangerous region. It was whilst digging the foundations for the project that the rich dilithium deposits were discovered.

As the planet was an unclaimed world at the fringes of both Federation and Klingon space Starfleet opted to keep the rich dilithium deposits secret not wanted to make the area a war zone fighting for control of the valuable asset. Never the less the Klingon Kaaj did discover Pharos’ secrets and in response rallied local criminal elements to attack the nearby Starbase 13 whilst he took his ship to the planet to attack the construction teams. The USS Enterprise arrived in the region to defend Starbase 13 and soon made its way to Pharos to investigate the loss of contact with the engineering teams. After a brief confrontation with the Klingons, Captain Pike came upon a unique solution to prevent a possible war with the Klingons. He turned the Enterprise's phasers on Pharos igniting the vast dilithium deposits and turning the planet into a huge fireball that burnt for decades to come and inadvertently created a beacon in the region achieving the same goals Project Pharos was aiming for.