Chapter VIII
The T’liss flew out of the maw of the Romulan carrier. The carrier itself was modeled after a ship in the Earth database – they called it a Wisp ship – and like that ship, it was over five hundred metres long. Although unlike that carrier, it could not go to warp six, and its signature could be detected, as like with all Romulan ship, it was powered by boridium. The Romulans were unable to replicate the organic components that made up the warp drive of that Wisp ship. But they liked the space inside, since it could carry five Birds of Prey at once, and could carry a crew complement of over four hundred centurions. The T’liss and another Bird of Prey called the Pharsalus left that Romulan carrier – called the Actium – behind for their special assignment. To rendezvous with Dr. T’urell and the other Vulcan defectors, as well as three Romulan cargo ships, and escort them across the Romulan border. And it was an urgent matter, as the Vulcan defectors were being pursued by various Earth vessels, due to the toxins the Suurok-class vessel carried on board. So, both the T’liss and the Pharsalus went to the highest sublight speeds possible.
The T’liss and the Pharsalus dropped out of sublight. They found that the Earth ships had surrounded the Selaya II and a Romulan cargo ship. Scans showed that two other cargo vessels had been destroyed; the Earth ships were clearly responsible.
“Open a channel to the lead Earth ship,” ordered the T’liss commander. The helmsman pressed some buttons on the console.
“This is Commander V’Rak of the RSE T’liss. Who is making the incursion into Romulan space? Identify yourselves!”
“This is Captain Jonathon Archer, of the United Earth Starship, Enterprise. We have impounded this vessel and detained its crew, and are preparing to bring the Seleya II back to Vulcan.”
V’Rak eyes widened, and then resumed speaking.
“Captain Archer, I have heard about you and your ship. I must let you know that you are a personal hero to me.”
“Really? How so?” replied a skeptical Archer.
“You were responsible for the imprisonment of then-Senator Vrax and Admiral Valdore, after destroying those drone ships several years ago. I had personally advised Valdore to use those drones instead as apart of a false flag attack against an empty Romulan starbase, to stir up a call to arms and the empire would invade and conquer Vulcan and all Earth territories. And then he would be in the good graces of those above him. But Valdore, as well as Vrax, as usual were unable to see the bigger picture, and chose to simply drive a wedge between the various powers, which clearly and inevitably backfired. He, of course failed, and he went away, along with all of his various projects. But then your species radiated our homeworld, removing our bumbling fool of a Praetor, Bilius, allowing the both of them to have more influence that ever”
“I’ll tell you the same thing I told the Klingons. I had nothing to do with that! I even opposed the mission, on the basis that innocent lives would be lost, and briefly lost command over it! And it would not have happened in the first place if your species did not attack us to begin with!”
“My apologies captain. This whole conflict is due to who was Praetor at the start of this all. I’m sure you have heard of the great Commander Chulak?”
“How could I forget?” Archer replied in a sarcastic tone.
“Everyone goes on about the great Chulak. Chulak this, and Chulak that, But the one they should really be going on about is Gileus. Gileus would not have engaged in these blunders. Even the attack on your allies was a blunder. Its actually the fault of Chulak that Gileus lost his position as Preator to Bilius in the first place in a misguided powergrab, and Gileus is spending the rest of his days on the miserable Rator IV. It was Bilius that declared war on your species, as well as attempted to divide all of the Alpha Quadrant powers. The only good things that Bilius ever did were the exile Chulak to Galordorn Core and then imprison Vrax and Valdore. But then Bilius foolishly release Vrax within a year of the failed drone program. And after becoming Praetor himself, Vrax released his friend Valdore from imprisonment after you attack our planet. Everything would be far different with Gileus. He would have never let things get this bad, since he preferred to wage war with less advanced species that were both isolated and had resources that would benefit Romulus. He did not even want an empire.”
“Are you done with the monologue?” replied Captain Archer. “I am sorry that you are starting to develop some sort of conscience over the actions of your empire, and that it’s all out of your control. But you still arrived with the aim of aiding defectors that are responsible for poisoning three star systems that have nothing to do with our little war.”
“Are you sure captain?”
“Eplison Theta on the Klingon border, Encaria just outside Romulan borders, and Tyburn, a human colony.”
“Well, Encaria was annexed by our species many decades ago. Their rebelling had to be put down at some point. Epsilon Theta is also in our sphere of influence…”
“The Klingons say it belongs to them. And Earth has a claim on that system too. The First Minister of that system claimed neutrality for a reason.”
“Tyburn was, in the end, an Earth colony. All human colonies look the same to us, regardless as to their alignment.”
“Be careful. Your prejudice is showing. Now if you don’t mind, I have toxins to retrieve and a rogue Vulcan to arrest.”
“Captain, if you would just ---what’s happened!”
A Romulan officer at his post spoke out loud. “They closed the channel. One of the Earth vessels is moving towards the Vulcan ship.”
V’Rak turned towards D’deridex. “Centurion D’deridex, access the helm controls for that ship. And fly it into one of the other Earth vessels.”
D’deridex did what he was instructed to do. He found accessing human systems surpassingly easy, far different from Klingons or their Vulcan cousins. He took control of the Minuteman-class ship and sent it flying into the secondary hull of the Yorktown-class ship, resulting in the destruction of both vessels.
Enterprise and the two Poseidon class vessels proceeded to open fire on the Birds of Prey. The Romulan cargo ship proceeded to dock with the Vulcan ship.
“One of the Earth vessels has launched a shuttle. It has docked onto the Seleya II. On the other side of the ship.”
“We can send things too,” slyly said V’Rak, who then pressed a button on the console on one of the arms of his chair. “Sublieutenant, place a mine onto the transport pad and beam to these coordinates.”
“Yes commander,” the voice replied back.
The Poseidon class ship was chasing the T’liss, firing its phase cannon at the aft of the Romulan ship. The crew of the Poseidon-class vessel were so focused on the T’liss that they barely noticed the mine that appeared on their engines. And it was about to cost them.
“Detonate the mine, subcommander,” ordering the Romulan commander. The mine then exploded and took the Earth vessel and its crew with it. The T’liss repositioned itself when they were hailed by the Vulcan ship. “Open a channel”.
“Commander, this is Dr. T’Uerell. The Earth soldiers are trying to take back the toxins. We are having trouble holding the line, we need to fire as these sections.” She then sent coordinates for the T’liss to fire at.
“Subcommander…”began V’Rak, but the weapons officer locked on to the areas that T’Uerell wanted them to target. The disruptors and photonic torpedoes created balls of fire on the hull of the Vulcan ship. The T’liss then turned its attention to Enterprise as the ship was hailed again by T’Uerell.
“The Earth soldiers have been neutralized. We are moving the shipment now,” replied T’Uerell. The channel then closed, as the T’liss opened fire on the secondary hull of Enterprise. V’Rak again turned to D’deridex.
“Centurion, enter their systems and cause disruptions. And let us listen in.”
D’deridex again did what he was order to do, and managed to avoid being blocked by what he assumed to be his counterpart on Enterprise. He patched into the security camera system on Enterprise to listen on conversation. He then began to mess with the environmental controls on the ship; some areas got very warm whereas other got very cold.
“Tucker to the bridge. What’s going on! The temperature in here has just dropped to minus 30! The engine will shut down at these temperatures!”
“Trip,” replied the voice of Archer “The Romulans have tapped into our systems. It has just shot past forty degrees on the bridge. Hoshi is trying to lock them out!”
Hoshi? Is that my rival’s name? thought D’deridex to himself. He then switched the environmental controls around, making the bridge freezing cold and the engine room arid.
“Tucker to bridge! The engine room has just turned hotter than Death Valley!”
“Hold on Trip! Hoshi!”
“I’m trying sir. The Romulan security system is encrypted. Hang on, almost got it.”
This – Hoshi – was a female? The revelation surprised D’deridex and the rest of the T’liss bridge crew. Commander V’Rak declared a new order. “Target that bridge!”
The subcommander silently acknowledged his commanding officer and fired a volley of photonic torpedoes at the bridge of Enterprise. The Romulans heard the sparks fly from within the Earth ship.
“Forward plating down to sixty percent!” reported Reed. “The Romulans are targeting the bridge now!”
After a few moments of silent, Archer’s voice echoes through the Romulan bridge. “Everyone to the catwalk!”
“Sir?” asked Reed.
“if the Romulans destroy the bridge, we’ll be dead and Enterprise will be a sitting duck. If we move to the catwalk…”
“…the ship, and us, will stand a chance.”
The T’liss continued firing at the Enterprise’s bridge until it was destroyed. No crewmembers were detected to have been blown out.
“Centurion, open on door and hatches on that ship!”
D’deridex made quick work of accessing Enterprise’s systems again and opened every door and hatch on the ship. A shuttlepod fell from the shuttlebay, and the docking port opened up. After a few moments, a crewmember flew out, according to scans.
“Sir,” spoke out a centurion. “The Pharsalus is taking heavy damage.”
“Take control of that other Earth ships engines and weapons. Shut them down!” The Poseidon class vessel called the Siobhan came to a hard stop, and began to float aimlessly in space.
“Commander, we are being hailed by T’Uerell again.”
Commander V’Rak motioned the centurion to open a channel. “Commander, the Romulan cargo ship has taken everything it can, possibly more than it can hold. But we still have toxins still onboard.”
“We will beam some of it onto our ship. Then proceed into Romulan space.” V’Rak closed the channel and then ordered for a message to be sent to the Pharsalus to protect the Romulan cargo vessel.
The T’liss swooped over the Seleya II and beamed some of the contents onto their ship. It then held its position until Enterprise approached them again with weapons charged. The T’liss charged its weapons too…and fired at the engines of the Vulcan ship.
“Centurion, lock all doors, open all vents and flood the Vulcan ship with the remaining toxin.”
D’deridex punched in commands into the console. At the same time, the T’Liss was hailed by the Earth ship.
“What are you doing?” asked Archer. “There are people still on board that ship!”
“And you won’t be able to help them. I have beamed the toxin onto your ship in areas sensitive to your vessel. As long as you let us leave, it shall not be released!”
Commander V’Rak then ordered for the T’liss to fire on the Seleya II, destroying it and everything on board, as well as the docked shuttlepod from Enterprise. The ship then came about and set a course to rendezvous with the other Romulan vessels.
***
The T’liss caught up to the other Romulan ships, but was stuck at one quarter impulse. The Pharsalus have taken so much damage it could not go to sublight at all, and the cargo vessel was carrying so much weight that it was moving at slower speeds than normal.
“It’s taking too long to get to the Romulan border!” fumed Commander V’Rak. “Are there any planets along out trajectory that we could dump some of the toxin?”
“No Commander. The closest planet is Akaali, which is a pre-warp civilization according to the Vulcan database, and described as “Earth-like.” But we would have to turn back around, in the direction of the Earth vessels. We would be better off staying on course. The Rator system won’t be that far off.”
V’Rak serious mulled over turning the ship around. They would be able to move faster once they dumped the toxins, but they ran the risk of being intercepted by the Earth ships. But they had just released the toxins on the lead Earth ship, Enterprise, despite what he told Archer since it was on a timer. And managed to disable to other Earth ship. They posed no threat. But they could make more of the toxin if they brought it into Romulan space.
“Continue on course,” V’Rak responded, begrudgingly.
Time passed – several hours, in fact – and the Romulan ships were no closer to the Romulan border. They could have turned around and attacked Akaali and returned back home with a lighter load without breaking a sweat. The Pharsalus did manage to repair some of the damage in the meantime, but its structural integrity was still comprised. Meanwhile, the Romulans piloting the cargo ship were growing concerned about the toxins leaking from the containers they were in. But there was still no sign of the Earth ships. Until…
“Sir, we are detecting two vessels approaching, dropping out of warp. It’s the Earth vessels.”
“How did they survive the toxins?”
“We aren’t sure yet. Commander, we are being hailed.”
“Open a channel.” The Romulan vessel established communication with Enterprise as V’Rak spoke to its crew. “So, you survived.”
“Your dishonesty about you not releasing the toxins onboard my ship wasn’t unexpected. You also left all of the hatches still open. It was only a matter of redirecting the toxins through the ventilation to leave the ship, which you never managed to compromise. Now, stand down, or we will be forced to open fire,” stated Archer.
V’Rak closed the channel. “Locate this…catwalk. They seem to be able to control the ship from there.”
Enterprise fired a couple of forward photonic missiles, and destroyed the Pharsalus, which shielded the Romulan cargo ship from being destroyed itself. The Enterprise then managed to get close enough to lock a tractor beam onto the cargo vessel and start towing it away.
“Sir, we’ve located the catwalk. Its in one of the nacelles. Starboard section.”
“D’deridex, activate the engine of Enterprise. They will either abandon that section, or they will spend their final moments in there.”
D’deridex hesitated at first, then punched in some commands. The engines started to heat up, before shutting back down.
“Commander, the Earth ship is reversing my commands,” warned D’deridex.
“Then counter their efforts,” ordered V’Rak.
For several minutes, D’deridex fought with the crew of the Enterprise over powering up the engines. V’Rak, growing evermore impatient, offered his insight on the matter. “If you are having too much trouble taking control of the engines, then lock them out of their controls. Or switch off anti gravity on that ship. Or even better, take life support systems offline! Either the catwalk, or the whole ship. Just stop them from getting away!”
D’deridex followed his advice, temporarily blocking the crew in the catwalk from using the controls, and then taking antigravity and life support offline for the whole ship. He then proceeded to try again with the engines, and found greater success. V’Rak then hailed Enterprise and made an ultimatum.
“Bring your ship to a halt and release the cargo ship now. Or you will never regain control of your ship again. Starting with your tractor beam.”
The crew of the T’liss waited, until the Enterprise released the cargo ship. “Now, target the starboard nacelle of Enterprise,” ordered V’Rak.
The Poseidon-class ship, detecting the T’liss targeting Enterprise’s nacelles, then broke formation with Enterprise by slowing down, and then opened fire on the T’liss with its sole phase cannon, which retaliated with torpedoes. The Earth ship opened fire again, this time targeting the bridge of the Bird of Prey, but the ship’s shield held. The Earth ship then fired a pair of photonic missiles, which managed to reduce the ship to minimal shielding. The T’liss fell back, and chose to joined the cargo ship that was on its way towards the Romulan border. Commander V’Rak lowered shields, choosing to let them charge back up faster.
He did not have much time to himself though, as both Earth vessels were again in pursuit of the T’liss and the cargo ship. But how? The smaller Earth ship he could understand, but Enterprise? Didn’t his electronic warfare officer do enough to make sure they were not a problem anymore? Cleary not, as both ships began to open fire on the T’liss.
Commander V’Rak shoved D’deridex from his post, viewing him as woefully incapable at his job, and started to until commands into the console. It had been a while since he had done this. Many years, in fact. But he was able to at least jam the signals of both Earth ships from communicating with one another. But it turned out to be the wrong move to make, as both Earth ship unleashed a volley of photonic missiles at the bridge, critically damaging systems, and killing Commander V’Rak, the subcommander, and a couple of centurions in the process. With most of the bridge crew dead, this was D’deridex’s moment to shine as commander. He sat in the commander’s chair, and asked for a status report.
“Most systems are gone. We have no weapons. We are on auxiliary power. Life support is failing on all decks. All we have are shields,” said the wounded centurion, who was to only other Romulan left alive on the bridge besides D’deridex.
“Raise shields,” ordered D’deridex. “Extend them around the cargo ship if you must. Can we still vent plasma from our nacelles?”
“We still have that ability? Why do you ask?”
“There is a trick I learned, from Captain Khazara, about how to evade the enemy when they are in pursuit. At the right moment, you will release the plasma and ignite it.”
The centurion input commands. “Ready when you are.”
“Release the plasma!”
The Bird of Prey started leaking plasma. The Earth ship did not bother firing, as the assume that the ship was just heavily damaged.
“Now, ignite the plasma,” commanded D’deridex.
The plasma ignited, and due to the proximity of the two Earth ships it blew them back, leaving them disoriented and disabling both of their vessels. The T’liss and the Romulan cargo ship then proceeded on to the Rator system, encountering no more obstacles in their path. D’deridex cared not for what happened to the Earth ships. They would likely head to repair stations afterwards and then attempt to once again push into Romulan space. For D’deridex, this moment was important to him. He would either get a command of his own, or he would resign and do as his sister suggested and try and change the system from within.
***
D’deridex was finishing his debriefing with a pair of Romulan admirals onboard the Actium. It had rendevouzed with them in the Rator system, and was headed towards Romii.
“Once we have synthesized enough of the toxin, it shall be released on Haakona Prime. Yet another client species that needs to be brought to heel. They seem to be popping up more and more, don’t they?”
“Praetor Vrax does not rule with the iron fist that is expected from Praetors. The Senate made a mistake in appointing him.”
D’deridix though he was making small talk with the pair of admirals in front of him. Instead, they proceeded to blindside him with a wealth of information.
“We have arrested your sister, who was a part of a series of demonstrations over the last several days. First, we had to deal with demonstrations from farmers that felt we were not doing enough to assist them in the wake of the atomic attack by the humans. Then there were the Vulcan women who were opposed to the forced servitude as concubines for the Romulan Star Navy and Romulan Guard and wished to return home. Then there were the Northerners that wanted an end to the caste system in place and to be seen as equals. Then we had to deal with the Reman demonstrations, which the 6th Legion put down with violent force after a group of Remans open fire on the Praetor passing by in the Praetor’s yacht. Then there were the pro democracy demonstrations to reform the empire into a republic. And then we had to deal with Romulan females demanding greater rights across the empire, who were being protected by the Qowat Milat. So, we rounded her up and she has been permanently sent to a processing station at an undisclosed location. A populace that does not fear the Praetor or the Tal Shiar is unacceptable. A lack of fear threatens not just stability, but our very way of life.” The second admiral continued from where the first admiral left off.
“Then there is the matter of your recent battle with the Earth ships. Were you aware that the First Minister of Vulcan, T’Pau, was onboard one of those vessels?”
“What do you mean she was on the Earth ship?” replied a confused D’deridex. “We accessed the ships systems and listened in. None of us heard her voice!”
“Romulan intelligence intercepted a transmission several days ago that she was on the Earth ship with the infamous Archer. Had you put forth a greater effort to bring the broken hull of Enterprise to the homeworld of Romulus once you became the acting commander of the T’liss, we would have had a huge propaganda tool and bargaining chip to use against Earth and its allies.”
“Romulan intelligence has also reported that the humans are placing nuclear fission powered sensors on their border in light of their recent victory in Vorkado. Should a Romulan ship go near one of them, they will automatically self destruct, and cause significant damage to them due to the electromagnetic interference. Neither shields or cloaks can defend against them.”
D’deridex made an attempt to speak up. “I’m sure that we can take back Vorkado. We just need to give Captain Kharaza-“
“Captain Khazara has gone AWOL. No one knows where he is, despite the fact that he fired the first shots of the battle and his ship is still in tact.” After the second admiral finished, the first admiral made a resounding declaration to D’deridex.
“In light of these matters, and your general failure to bring back all of the toxins needed, as well as the Vulcan defectors. Your request to be given a command of your own has been denied. Instead, you shall be discharged from the Romulan Star Navy effective immediately. A transport will arrive shortly to take you back to Romulus, where you would be wise to find a new career immediately, or you too shall be disappeared.”
The collective of Romulan admirals left the room, leaving D’deridex alone to deal with the mix of emotion that was starting to come over him over what he had just lost.
