 | Warning! |
This article contains information regarding Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, and thus may contain spoilers. |
Strontium, atomic number 38, is a chemical element. Strontium served as a cheap but lethal fuel source as it exploded when it came into contact with anything volatile. Strontium burned red like a match in a tinderbox, unlike Federation weapons and fire which had all been blue and green for at least a few hundred years by the 32nd century.
Nus Braka grew up on a small mining colony that mined strontium. When Braka's father attempted to shoot down a Federation supply ship with a crude weapon fueled by strontium, it ignited the buildup of toxic oxides in the colony's atmosphere. The mining colony was destroyed in what Braka described as raining "red hellfire", leaving only Braka and seven others alive. Braka mistakenly blamed the United Federation of Planets for the tragedy. (SA: "Rubincon")