Thuthula

TODAY

Subcommander Thuthula has a deep rooted seed of distrust against the Tal Shiar. She sees the effort of the Tal Shiar and others to blame failures of the Romulan evaction on the Empire and Stare Navy as treasonous. Thuthula barely trusted the Tal Shiar before the supernova. Now she felt it was clear that they did not have the betterment of the Romulan people within their interests. They were supposed to be a supplement to the Romulan people. Their continuous hidden agendas and function as a secret police force had soured her to a point of no return.

The Subcommander sees those of the Romulan Republic as lost sisters and lost brothers. She hopes to bring them back under the wing of the Empire, lost soul by lost soul. This is part of the reason why she focuses on uniforms, equipment and attitudes of the past. She truly believes members of the New Republic can be convinced by a bit of nostalgia. Surely they should want to return to the way things were before the Supernova. This should especially be true if she can paint reverse the Tal Shiar’s negative propaganda aimed at the Empire’s failings.

Thuthula has used influence gained in recent years to amass several small ships and a few dedicated officers under her command. Rumor has it she has not been promoted to Centurion yet just to keep her in check. There are currently three scout ships that fall under her jurisdiction. One ship has its cargobay retrofitted to hold enough bunks to carry more crew.

Reports say she has somewhere around 50 personnel under her command. Her scout ships do not have room to carry more than a fraction of them at one time. Scout ships usually have 2 crew with room for 4 passengers, often soldiers or other essential staff depending on the mission profile. The outfitted ship can carry somewhere between 10-12 additional personnel.

Not all of Thuthula’s people serve aboard starships. There are credible rumors that she has contact with operatives within the Romulan Free State. They pose as loyalists to the Tal Shiar. The operatives are not in constant communication with Thuthula, instead working on gaining influence and building trust with those around them. Most would be described as ‘sleepers’ as they wait for a day when their influence will fit into a particular mission. The Subcommander coordinates her information gathering and naval operations with the Romulan Star Empire.

THE RISE OF THUTHULA

Thuthula earned her Sublieutenant rank at the helm of the IRW Crolvius. She started flying the large warbird as a member of the secondary crew. The young and motivated officer also flew shuttles and learned to work on the ship, especially within the operations department. Her goal was to become a career officer, highly motivated to serve the Empire. As such she began taking steps towards command early in her career. To do this she needed to advance beyond simple piloting.

Thuthula eventually moved up to chief helmsman and handled the administrative work of the flight control department. She worked with navigation to ensure accurate travel and with engineering to make sure the large warbird was kept in order.

Increased knowledge of ship systems saw her moved to the operations department. She had little problem reading and operating the ops consoles. She soon began learning how to repair systems with hand tools in order to maintain the ship alongside other ops and engineering personnel. The learning curve was sharp for her, but her skills progressed over time.

Now Thuthula began to feel like a more capable officer. She could fly the ship and perform many repairs. Her ego was fully boosted and she became quite outspoken. Her cunning nature also began to show itself. She became the Chief Operations officer not long after the Hobus Supernova. Thuthula had been working to get deeper and deeper in her officer’s good graces. She became a trusted advisor, one the commander could lean on.

There came a delicate situation after the crisis when resources were mismanaged. Systems were far from efficiency. Thuthula convinced her CO, Commander Jiku that a change had to be made. She convinced him that she was the only one who could get the Crolvius back in order.

She was promoted and held the job for about a year. Subcommander Sateela became wary of Centurion Thuthula. As the ship’s XO, Sateela didn’t like the influence the ops officer seemed to be gaining. Events after the loss of Romulus were a dramatic time. Sateela knew she could be replaced at any moment by the up and comer. She also didn’t like the way Thuthula seemed to try transitioning from trusted advisor to something more. Sateela once caught what seemed to be private flirtations between the pair.

When approached, Thuthula said Sateela was just a “jealous and paranoid woman.” Commander Jiku insisted that nothing was happening between them. However Thuthula was soon reassigned to work with a planet based unit on Rator III.

She spent two years as an officer of the Senate Guard. Many senators had been lost along with Romulus, while others aligned themselves to the Tal Shiar. Keeping them safe on Rator III was an important priority. It included watching over several tactical supply centers and ammo dumps. Thuthula planned the defense of bases and settlements, while using her operations skills to help maintain various facilities as a secondary role.

Her leadership over enlisted guards saw her moved to the Strategic Ops department. Much different from standard Ops, she now began planning tactical missions and worked with intelligence to coordinate military operations. She had a growing ear on highly sensitive movements around the Empire. Thuthula had a hand in developing the new Romulan Star Empire. She finally had the influence she had always craved.

There were also other perks to the job. Alongside supplies of equipment and weapons were other resources. Among stores of food and medical supplies were valuable items like Romulan Ale. She amassed as much of it as she could and kept it in facilities she knew were secure. Thuthula used her ties to find more producers of the drink and convinced them to keep refreshing her stockpile.

Demand increased for smuggling the drink, with more Romulans living away feom Romulan space. Many of them even lived in colonies mixed with the Federation. Regardless of their allegiance, they still craved the taste of Romulus past. Others who now lived among Romulans also developed the taste for this drink. Thuthula used several backchannels and contacts to find trading partners and set up deals.

This resulted in currency from several star systems, including latinum. She even invested this money and built a decent amount of capital throughout the 2390s.

In 2392 she really began to increase her effort when given command of a small trio of scout ships. This was when she wasn’t just a broker, but became a smuggler. She had been promoted to subcommander and still played an important role in the new Star Navy. She didn’t just sell Romulan ale, but used it to garner favors with other ship commanders and high ranking staff. She also had trade partners with ties to other governments. This included members of the Romulan Republic.

Everything was not just business for Thuthula. Strategic Operations were still a priority. Throughout her entire career, she fostered a distrust for the Tal Shiar. She saw firsthand the hold they had over the Star Navy, how they ruined officers and the way they blamed the Navy for what happened after the supernova. One of her initial tasks while working on Rator III was to prepare operatives to infiltrate Tal Shiar backed settlements within the Romulan Free State.

At this point in time, her operatives are finally starting to gain influence while embedded in the Romulan Free State. Subcommander Thuthula is looking to grow her small squadron of ships and hopes to finally be assigned to command over a warbird. She has a dedicated team of officers, as well as enlisted staff she has trained heavily for combat operations.

A personal thorn in her side deals with her former commander and executive officer. She recently found out Sateela and Riku retired years ago and got married. She does not fully know how, but is working on plans for revenge. She believes Sateela sabotaged her career in order to have Riku’s attention to herself. Thuthula thinks the XO had her assigned to Rator III in hopes her career hit a dead end.

This only makes Thuthula more proud of the path she forged and motivates her to push for an ever increasing amount of influence and prestige.