The Romulan Star Empire

Posted on Wed 19th Oct, 2016 @ 10:34pm by Colonel Horatio Drake & Commander Paul Graves PsyD

855 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Cloak & Dagger
Location: Rendi System
Timeline: MD-01: 1330 Hours

"Sir, we are approaching the co-ordinates of the last known attack... dropping us out of warp." The Andorian Ensign at the helm skilfully tapped the console in front of him and the old Miranda class lurched out of faster than light travel and came to a stop.

"Lieutenant Anthony, commence a full sweep of the area." Drake picked up the PADD. he had been studying.

The last attack had been on a Romulan convoy of three transport ships moving mined resources between their mining facility on Polos VI to their processing facility in the neighbouring Rendi System. The journey time was less than an hour. The ships were armed with shields and very low-powered disruptor beams. The attacks had been with speed and aggression... one ship was so badly damaged that it had literally broken into two. The other two sustained enough damage to stop them in their tracks. The cargo was beamed off and the attacking ship disappeared. Witnesses stated that the ship identified verbally, visually and on scans as an Intrepid Class starship. They claimed they were doing routine checks in the area, so the transport ships had their shields lowered for scans. However, witnesses also claimed that the cargo was beamed off using a confinement beam... Starfleet transporter confinements beams were blue. There was definitely something about this that didn't add up.

"Sir, we have two D'Deridex Warbirds decloaking to starboard and port. Their shields are down but their weapons are powered up."

Shields! Full power to weapons! Evasive Ma... , Drake wanted to scream out... instead he remembered what the new Diplomatic Officer had told him. His mind drifted back to the melodious and calm voice of the Orion....

There's a great deal of posturing and grand-standing

Romulans are mercurial, but not irrational. Escalating the crisis further by openly attacking a Federation vessel over a few missing freighters would be tantamount to suicide

...the best course of action is not to defend, but to attack...

The last one resonated with him... he had very little experience in dealing with Romulans but it certainly seemed to make sense.

"Sir, they're hailing us," Graves informed him.

"On screen." Drake took a deep breath and tugged at his tunic. Presently the screen filled with an older Romulan, the creases in his face deep set with more years of military experience than Drake had been alive for. The one thing he knew about the Romulans was that no matter what section you found yourself in, you were first and foremost deemed as military... with the exception of the Tal Shiar, whom he was thankful was not here.

"My name is Colonel Drake of the Federation Starship Repulse of Starbase Vanguard. Please enlighten me as to why your weapons are powered up?"

A smile crept onto the face of the Romulan as if he were entering into a game with a child. "A Colonel? On a Miranda Class starship? You've either disgruntled someone in Starfleet Command or Starfleet have run out of ships!" He allowed himself a chuckle and then nodded to someone to his left.

"Their weapons are powering down" Anthony said, with notable relief in his voice.

There's a great deal of posturing and grand-standing, the words echoed again from the Orion and bounced around his head.

"Colonel, forgive me. I am Commander T'Vrek of the Warbird Ujex. Can we be of assistance?" The smile remained but became a sickly one.

"Commander, we are here on behalf of Starfleet to investigate the recent attacks on freighters in the area." Drake kept it precise and to the point.

"Colonel... " he hesitated, as if choosing his next words "we have already completed our investigations, spoken to the witnesses and provided all of this data to Starfleet. We are now simply hunting your rogue Intrepid Class and, when we find it, the crew will be arrested and taken back to Romulus for trial."

and, when we find it, they will be destroyed, is what Drake actually heard.

"Commander, need I not remind you that although two Romulan convoys have now been attacked... three Federation ones have suffered the same fate! I assure you that, despite appearances, this ship is not of Starfleet origin."

The Romulan Commander dropped the pleasantries of rank, "Don't take me for a fool! The best way to cover up your ruthless attacks was with a bluff! Orchestrate apparent attacks on Federation freighters... provide false data to the Star Empire and then you are free to pilfer and pillage our freighters! Let us hope, Colonel, that you find your ship before we do!"

With that the screen reverted to an exterior view of space.

"Colonel, both warbirds have just entered into warp." Anthony stated the obvious as the two green giants shot into a blur of twisted green light.

"I regret to say that Commander T'Vrek meant everything he said," Paul told Drake. He shook his head. "However do they marry and trust each other enough to sleep peacefully at night in the same bed?"

 

RSS Feed

Comments (1)