It was another day aboard the Saratoga like any other day, they were currently docked at Starbase Bravo as the ship underwent some routine upgrades to its systems. Azras Dex was sitting in her office going over reports for some time before her eyes started to hurt from staring at the screen for a long time. Standing up from her chair she walked over to the replicator.

“Coffee, hot” she replied as the cup materialized on the platform.

The aroma from the coffee filled the air, taking a deep breath in she smiled as she picked it up. She then walked over to where the window was located along the wall with the long couch alongside the window. Looking out of the window she had seen many ships that were coming and going.

She was about to take a sip as she stood there looking out the window before the commbadge went off, “Bridge to Captain Dex.” Came the voice of Ritru.

Raising an eyebrow tapping her commbadge, “go ahead” she replied.

“Sir, you have an incoming transmission from Captain Jori,” Ritru said. “It sounded like it’s important,” she added.

“Understood, please route it over to my office,” Azras replied as she ended the channel.  Azras stood there for a brief moment taking a long deep breath before she headed back to her desk and took her seat. Turning on her computer she saw the face of Captain Imya Jori the current Deputy Commander of Task Force Forty-Seven.

“Good morning Captain, what do I owe this pleasure?” Azras asked looking at her, she could tell something was amiss as she had a serious look on her face that this wasn’t just a social call.

Imya looked at the older Trill women on the other end of the screen, “I wish we could have met under better circumstances than this,” she began as she paused for a moment before sending her some files. “What I am sending you is all the information you need on the situation,” she said as she looked at her.

Azras raised an eyebrow as she saw the files come through, “what’s going on?” The older Trill asked as she shifted in her chair.

“The information on the situation is in those files as it is easier for you to read than for me to explain it all over this channel,” Jori responded with a pause before continuing. “What I can tell you is that I am sending the Saratoga to the Velorum Sector to the planet of Rhijun, to assist with humanitarian aid as well as border protection. There have been reports of either pirates or those of the Star Navy raiding the colony.” Jori finished as she looked at Azras.

“You’re sending us into Romulan space, specifically the Star Empires?” Azras replied as she raised an eyebrow at those orders.

“Yes, there has been a situation that the Federation is dispatching the Fourth Fleet to assist.” She responded, “again It’s all there in the files I sent you,” Jori replied.

Azras sat there for a few moments as she took in what was being said, though she didn’t quite yet understand her orders she looked back at Captain Jori. “Understood, we will depart as soon as possible,” Azras replied.

“Very good, safe travels Captain,” Jori replied before ending the comm channel.

Azras leaned back in her chair for a few moments looking up at the ceiling, thinking about everything that has happened over the past several months since she had taken over as Commanding Officer. It seemed to go from one extreme to the next, she just wondered what was in store for them within Romulan space.

Leaning forward in her chair again she pressed a couple of buttons on the computer in front of her which had opened a shipwide comm channel, “All senior staff please report to the staff observation lounge in thirty minutes.” Azras said before she ended the channel. She let out a long sigh as she opened the files that were waiting to be opened. She began to read about the situation that was happening within the Romulan Star Empire.

Back on the bridge, everyone looked at each other, “wonder what the meeting is about?” Chon’al asked from his station.

“I am not sure, though I think it might be the reason for the sudden call from Captain Jori,” Ritru responded with a shrug. “Whatever it is, sounded important” she added as she looked back at Chon’al.

“Guess will find out soon enough,” Dazra replied from her station.

The others just rolled their eyes and began to make their way to the observation lounge. The doors to the lounge opened as they walked in a few of the senior staff were already waiting. Taking their seats they began to chat amongst each other as others were still arriving.

A short time later, Azras arrived to see that everyone was already there waiting. She took her seat and looked around, “to get right to the point there is a situation going on that the Federation has dispatched the Fourth Fleet to respond to.” Azras began as she tapped a few buttons to pull up some information.

Ritru sat there looking at the screen as it turned on, she suddenly raised an eyebrow when she saw the information was about the Romulan Star Empire. Though at this point she decided to remain quiet as she listened to what the Captain had to say. The others seemed to look at each other wondering what was going on.

“The Romulan Star Empire is collapsing the Star Navy has dissolved the Senate on Rator III by a force of arms,” Azras began as she looked around the room. “Many worlds have viewed this as a coup and have fallen away from the Empire. Some are going to the Free State others are wanting total independence,” Azras replied before bringing up the Velorum Sector on the screen.

Everyone in the room was in shock that something like this would happen, the Romulans have been through a lot since the supernova. Now more chaos is brewing within the Star Empire. “What does this have to do with us?” Chon’al interrupted as he looked at the Captain.

Looking at him, “I was getting to that point Commander.” Azras said before she continued with what she was about to say before being interrupted. “The Velorum sector has been essential to the Star Navy for centuries due to it being rich in minerals,” Azras said as she pointed to the area on the map.

“Just days after the coup, a group of Remans on Psi Velorum III led by Resak overthrew the Romulan regional governor. In turn, he was declared the acting governor, he has also invited those of the Velorum Sector in joining him in declaring independence from the Romulan Star Empire.” She said as she paused to look around to see the expressions of those in the room at the news.

“Many have followed Resak and now they have turned towards the Federation for protection of the Velorum Sector so they may determine their way, away from any other faction.” She finished though this was just a brief overview of the situation, the rest were sent to their padds that she handed out to them at the beginning of the briefing.

“Now, we are being sent to Rhijun which is located within the Velorum Sector. We will be providing humanitarian assistance as well as providing border protection as they have been getting hit with raids,” Azras replied, “we will be departing as soon as we have all supplies being delivered from Starbase Bravo.” She finished looking at them as she turned the screen off.

“Any questions?” Azras asked turning the floor over to those who might have questions.

Ritru sat there for a moment she didn’t know what to think about going back into Romulan space, she was going to say something but decided to keep quiet. T’Prel looked at her for a moment as she could tell that something was bothering her though decided now was not the time to bring it up.

“This should be interesting,” Dazra commented.

“Indeed,” T’Prel replied.

No one seemed to have any questions at this time, as they were still processing the information. “Now those who are going to be on the away team are going to be. T’Prel, Telia, Piyu, Nehi, and Brian, along with a few of your teammates for your departments.” Azras said as she knew that a few of them were not a part of the senior staff so she was counting on Dazra and Odan to relay the information to them.

“Also, you will be taking the Oneida down to the planet, which will add Sato, White, and McCarthy to your away team,” Azras replied looking at everyone.

“Understood,” T’Prel replied as the others nodded in response.

“Alright, we will depart within the hour if there isn’t anything else you are all dismissed,” Azras replied as they began to stand up and file out of the observation lounge towards their perspective departments.

T’Prel hand noticed that Ritru was the first to walk out of the observation lounge. Raising an eyebrow she walked out after and caught up with her, seeing they were alone as they walked down the corridor. “What is wrong?” T’Prel asked looking at her as she saw the expression on her face during the briefing.

“Nothing,” Ritru replied as she kept walking even though it wasn’t the truth, this whole mission was bothering her.

T’Prel gently grabbed her arm, “I know that’s a lie Ritru.” T’Prel responded looking at her as they had stopped walking.

Ritru stopped turning towards T’Prel, “alright, I am not thrilled about the idea of going back into Romulan space. I had left to never look back or even go back, now we are going there?” Ritru began before pausing for a moment.

“I understand that there are those who want to get away from the Star Empire. Mentally I am just not prepared to deal with that situation after what’s been going on with me since the Century Storm a few months ago,” Ritru replied looking at her, though she knew that there would always be that chance that they would be assigned to Romulan space or close enough.

“I understand,” T’Prel replied squeezing her arm gently as a way of comforting her.

Letting out a huge sigh as she looked at T’Prel, “I guess I’ll just have to continue to work it out with the counselor in the meantime,” Ritru said as she knew that has been working.

T’Prel nodded as they both continued to head down the corridor towards the bridge, they were departing Starbase Bravo within the hour. “Everything will be alright in the end,” T’Prel replied before they went to their perspective stations.

Meanwhile down in cargo bay one supplies were being delivered as expected, Commander Odan was taking inventory of what was being delivered to make sure all items were there and accounted for. “That goes over there,” Odan replied to one of the officers directing him on where to place the containers.

Usually, Chief Petty Officer Niko would be taking care of this, she was currently in the infirmary getting checked out due to recent sickness. As more crates would arrive he would validate them against the manifest and then guide them to where they went.

“Sir this is the last of the supplies from Starbase Bravo,” came the voice of a young Ensign as he stood there with the last few crates.

After checking the contents of it he looked at the Ensign, “thank you.” Odan replied before directing him where to put the crate. Once things were finished he began to walk out of the cargo bay heading for the turbolift that would lead towards the bridge.

 “Commander Odan to bridge,” Odan replied just before entering the turbolift.

“Go ahead Commander,” Azras replied.

“All supplies have been delivered and all are accounted for,” Odan said.

“Understood, thank you,” Azras replied as the comms channel was closed. Turning towards Ritru who was sitting at her station, “open a channel to Starbase Bravo,” Azras ordered just as Odan walked out of the turbolift heading over to his station.

Ritru tapped a few buttons on her console, “channel open sir.” She replied as she looked at the Captain.

“Starbase Bravo this is the Saratoga, requesting permission to disembark from the Starbase,” Azras said as she now waited on a response that had seemed like it took forever though when in reality it was only a few seconds.

“Saratoga you are cleared for departure Starbase Bravo out,” came the voice of the docking master.

Looking at Deza who was sitting at the helm “disengage docking clamps, then back us away from the Starbase. Once we are clear set a course for Rhijun in the Velorum Sector at maximum warp,” Azras ordered as she took her seat from standing.

“Aye sir,” Deza replied tapping a few buttons on her console. Once the docking clamps were retracted from the ship it began to move slowly away from the Starbase until it was at a safe distance.

“Sir, we have cleared the Starbase and are ready to depart,” Deza replied looking back at the Captain.

“Engage,” Azras replied as Deza nodded tapping a few buttons and the Saratoga went to warp heading towards the Velorum Sector within Romulan space. It would be at least a few days before they arrived at their destination planning things go well once they went past the old Neutral Zone.

Azras stood up from her chair and looked over at T’Prel, “you have the bridge Commander.” Azras replied as T’Prel just nodded in response as she stood up from her chair and moved over to the Captain’s chair. Azras then headed straight for her ready room as she wanted to make sure they were prepared for anything that might happen once they arrived.

Once the doors to her office closed behind her she let out a huge sigh as she plopped down in her chair. “What a day,” she said to herself as she saw a pile of padds that she still needed to go through. She decided to take this time to finish reports, go over requests that were made as well as go over every possible scenario of what could happen when they arrive.

Ever since they departed Starbase Bravo a day prior the crew have been busy preparing for what was ahead of them. Usually, the bridge was pretty quiet though lately officers would be talking amongst themselves or giving status reports. Things were no different for Dazra who was currently at her station.

She was busy reviewing all the tactical systems onboard the ship, she wanted to make sure they were prepared for anything that would come their way. Though the only way to be prepared was to do tactical simulations which were hard to do when they had nothing to test them out on. She suddenly got the idea of running different types of simulations on the holodeck. She would be recreating the Saratoga and some possible ships they might come across while in Romulan space.

She looked around the bridge to see Odan and Jheria at their stations, which happen to be right next to each other. Walking up to them, “I have a question for both of you.” She said as she looked at them.

“What’s the question?” Odan asked.

“I am wanting to make sure we are prepared, it’s kind of hard to test systems live without any kind of target.” Dazra began as she paused for a moment, “would you mind accompanying me to the holodeck to run some simulations on different scenarios that we might come across?” She asked looking at both of them who looked at each other for a brief moment before responding.

“That would be a great idea,” Odan replied as Jheria just nodded in agreement.

“Great, I’ll meet you down in holodeck two,” she added as the two walked off the bridge into the turbolift. Dazra stood there for a moment before she tapped her combadge. “Loian to Lieutenant Holman,” Dazra said of the comm channel.

“Holman here,” Brian replied after he tapped his commbadge in reply.

“I need you and a group of security officers to meet me at holodeck two,” Dazra replied as she also headed for the turbolift.

“Sure thing boss,” Holman replied as he ended the comm channel.

Dazra entered the turbolift, “holodeck two.” Dazra replied as the doors closed shut behind her. After a few minutes, the lift came to a complete stop with the doors opening up to reveal the corridor in front of her.

As she walked down the corridor she met up with Odan and Jheria who weren’t that far ahead of her. They headed down to where the holodecks were, at least a couple of them as there were more stationed throughout the ship. When they arrived they noticed that Holman and his group were already waiting.

“About time you showed up,” Brian said as he stood there leaning against the wall with his arms and his legs crossed.

Dazra ignored his comment before getting down to the point, “Since you and your security team will be a part of the away team, I need you to run as many simulations as you can in holodeck three. As we don’t know what we will face while we are there I would like you to prepare for anything that might happen.” Dazra said as she looked at him.

This would be the first time hearing that he and some security officers were a part of an away team. Though he was sure Dazra sent him a message that he failed to read, “understood, is there anything in particular that we should prepare for?” Brian asked as he stood up from the wall he was leaning against.

“Anything that we might come in contact with, pirates or officers from the Star Navy.” She began as she looked at him, “I don’t want to be unprepared and running with our tails between our legs.” Dazra said as she looked at him.

“Understood,” Brian replied as he took his team and headed for the other holodeck next door.

Now turning back to Jheria and Odan who stood patiently waiting, “we are essentially going to be doing the same, but a little different.” Dazra said as the two looked at her signifying they were paying attention.

“With us going into Romulan space, specifically the Star Empire, we might be faced with a situation where there is a firefight.” Dazra began, “whether it be from pirates looking to get a claim or even ships from the Star Navy looking to bring the sector back into their control.” Dazra explained as they nodded, “I want to be prepared for that what-if scenario,” she finished.

They walked inside the holodeck where she stopped right at the arch, “it will take me a few minutes to get the parameters set up before we can begin.” Dazra explained before she began to input everything as the others waited. After a while, she finished inputting everything she needed.

“Alright we are now ready to begin,” she responded after being silent for a good ten minutes while she worked.

“Ready whenever you are,” Odan replied.

“Computer begins program Dazra-Alpha-One,” Dazra said as the computer beeped and they found themselves on the bridge of the Saratoga. Everything looked realistic as the bridge officers were there including the Captain. She wanted this to be as realistic as possible so she could get the readings she needed after they were finished.

They would run through different scenarios of combat situations over the next hour, from pirate ships to Star Navy ships and anything in between. While next door in the holodeck three was working on planetside combat scenarios.

Once they finished and were satisfied that they would be prepared, she downloaded all the data that came in from each scenario to review it later on. They each made their way back to the bridge to continue to prepare for problems that might arise once they arrived at their destination.

****

Teila was sitting in her office down the hallway from the main infirmary going over reports. She had sent a message to a few people that were a part of the away team to come to her office so they can discuss the upcoming mission.

After arriving on board the Saratoga a few weeks ago after being transferred from the USS Aquarius, Sato, White, and McCarthy walked into the office, “reporting as ordered.” Emily replied with a smile as they all took a seat.

Looking up from her report to see the three of them, “wonderful, we are still waiting for a few other people then we can get started,” Teila replied as she looked at the three of them.

A short time later Nehi and Piyu Jaiett arrived, “sorry for the delay.” Piyu replied as they both took their seats next to the other three. “Had to make sure systems were prepared in the event we had to separate the ship,” Piyu added.

“That’s understandable,” Teila replied with a warm smile.

“With us being a part of the away team that will be going down planetside I would like to get things ready before we arrive,” Teila said as the others listened intently to what was being said.

Turning to Piyu Jaiett and Nehi, “I would like you two to go down to the Oneida and begin to make sure that the cargo bay is wide open for the supplies that will be transported onboard,” Teila replied looking at the three of them.

Jaiett remembered that the Oneida was being primarily used for scientific missions and had the cargo bay converted into a science lab. “It shouldn’t take me very long to convert it back into a cargo bay, maybe thirty minutes max,” Piyu replied, looking at Teila and then at Nehi.

“Wonderful,” she replied before she looked at Sato, “I would like you to do your pre-flight checks to make sure she is ready.” She said as she looked at the young Ensign sitting in front of her.

“Aye sir,” Sato replied.

She then looked at Toran, “I would like you to make sure all the ship systems are good to go.” Teila said looking at Toran, “I want to make sure nothing happens or we end up in a firefight on the way down.” She finished speaking looking at him.

“Understood sir,” came his reply.

Finally, Teila turned to Natasha, “we will head down to the cargo bay to make sure things are ready to be transported over to the Oneida.” Teila said as Natasha just nodded in agreement.

“Any questions?” Teila asked, looking at each of them.

“No sir,” they said in unison.

“Very well, you’re all dismissed,” Teila replied as they all got up and headed off in different directions to get their tasks finished. Teila looked at Natasha as they began to walk down the corridor towards the turbolift.

“So how are you adjusting to the Saratoga?” She asked, trying to make conversation as they walked.

“Going pretty good, it’s larger compared to the Aquarius for sure,” Natasha replied with a smile.

“That’s good, glad to have you on our team,” Teila added as they arrived entering the turbolift. “Cargo bay one,” she said as the doors closed behind them and began to move. “Ensign Sato and Lieutenant Toran were also on the Aquarius with you?” she asked, looking at her.

“Yes,” Natasha replied, standing there waiting for the lift to stop at their destination.

“It is unusual for three officers that came from the same ship to be reassigned together again, though it isn’t unheard of but at the same time unusual,” Teila commented as the lift came to a stop as the doors opened. The two of them walked out and headed down the corridor towards the cargo bay.

“Guess Starfleet felt that we were all needed here,” Natasha replied with a shrug as she never really questioned orders.

“Don’t get me wrong I’m glad you are all here, just trying to make small talk as we walk,” Teila said as she felt that things were going sideways and it was unintended.

Natasha couldn’t help but chuckle, “no, no you’re fine, I am just not the best at small talk.” Natasha admitted as her cheeks turned red.

“I understand that I used to be that way years ago, though I am getting better at it and I am sure you will too.” Teila said as they reached their destination, “ah we have arrived.” She added as they both entered, walking to one of the officers she got a cargo manifest of the supplies that were earmarked for Rhijun.

“Well we better get started,” Zoran replied as they both got to work double checking each crate and tagging it for transport. They would spend the next thirty minutes checking and tagging the crates.

Just as they finished she heard her commbadge go off, “Commander Piyu to Commander Zoran.” Piyu’s voice over the channel.

“Go ahead Commander,” Teila replied.

“We have finished in the cargo bay and are ready for the cargo, also the Oneida has been cleared and is ready for when we arrive,” Piyu replied waiting on a response.

“Acknowledged, Commander,” Teila replied before ending the communications channel. Walking up to the officer she ran into before, “can you make sure these get sent over to the Oneida as soon as possible?” Teila asked, looking at the Chief Petty Officer standing there.

“Of course ma’am,” came the reply.

“Well let’s get down to the Oneida so we can be ready to help,” Teila replied as they walked out and headed down to where the Aquarius-class ship was docked.

Meanwhile, in the secondary infirmary Sh’esirr was sitting in his office waiting for both Riahya and Linha to arrive. He had been tasked with getting both infirmaries ready for anything that might happen while they were in Romulan space.

Linha had arrived a short time later and walked into Sh’esirr’s office, “reporting as ordered.” She said as she stood in front of his desk, looking up from his reports and gesturing to the open seat.

 “Please have a seat, we’re just waiting on Lieutenant Ernol.” He replied as Linha took the open seat in front of his desk. Looking at the time he sighed as she always seemed to show up late, “so how are you adjusting here on the Saratoga?” He asked, trying to make some small talk while they waited.

“Things are going good, I am enjoying the hands-on experience on top of my school work,” Linha said with a smile.

Just as Sh’esirr was about to speak, Ernol walked in “I am sure you do, I still believe that you should be back at the Academy, there is no place for Cadets on this type of ship.” Ernol said with annoyance in her voice, “I don’t care if you’re the Captain’s daughter or not.” She stated as she took a seat farther away from Linha.

“That is uncalled for,” Sh’esirr hissed at the Lieutenant. “This is the perfect place for hands-on experience, and it has been done on many other ships, not just Odyssey-class.” He added looking sternly at the Bolian women.

“I call it how it is,” Ernol replied with a shrug.

Sh’esirr would have to deal with Ernol at a later time, they had more important things to take care of at this time. “Alright, as you well know we are on our way to the Velorum Sector within Romulan space.” He began as he looked at both of them, though it looked like Ernol wasn’t paying attention or very interested in what he had to say.

“Ya get to the point already,” Ernol said in annoyance he wasn’t getting directly to the point.

He gave her a look, “I have had enough of your attitude Lieutenant!” He replied, looking at her. “As I was saying before being interrupted, we are to be ready for anything that might come our way. Ernol I need you to get everything prepared up here while myself and Linha head down to the main infirmary.” Sh’esirr replied with a firm look to the Bolian woman who was getting on his last nerve.

“Ya whatever,” Ernol replied before standing up. “Can we go now?” She asked as she just wanted to be out of the room.

“Dismissed,” he replied as Ernol left the office and went on her way.

“I am sorry about her attitude,” he said as they both got up and headed out of the office.

“Is she always like this?” Linha asked as they walked.

“Unfortunately,” he replied with a sigh.

“Maybe she’ll come around someday,” Linha said as she always seemed to remain optimistic about things.

Sh’esirr shrugged, “hope so for everyone’s sake.” He replied as they made their way down the corridor towards the turbolift that would lead them down to the main infirmary, once they arrived they began to get to work on making sure everything was ready.

The last couple of days have been hectic aboard the ship as they traveled, everyone was busy preparing for what was ahead of them. Finally, when the next shift arrived to take over, Chon’al looked at those who were on the bridge. “Anyone care to get some drinks?” He asked as he stood at his console waiting for a response.

Looking up from the console, “I am down,” Ritru was the first to reply.

“Sure,” Odan replied as he finished giving his report to his replacement.

Dazra shrugged as she looked at him, “why not I have nothing better to do” Dazra replied.

“Great, how about we meet down at the Hillside Country Bar & Grill in say about thirty minutes?” Chon’al asked as they nodded as they finished up with the shift change before heading off the bridge towards their quarters to change. Things were about to get hectic, and the uncertainty of them getting some downtime wouldn’t happen for a while. So taking this time to unwind was a good thing for everyone.

After a long day’s work, T’Prel was sitting on the couch located near the window relaxing and reading a book. Looking up from her book just as she heard the doors open, revealing Ritru as she walked in. “How was your day?” She asked as she had set the book down on her lap.

“It was pretty good considering,” Ritru responded looking over to where she was sitting.

“It’s been hectic the last few days,” T’Prel responded honestly.

That was an understatement of the century, things were only going to get worse with the situation that they were about to be dealing with. The Saratoga had done many humanitarian missions over the last year, but it seemed nothing would compare to what they were about to deal with now. The Century storm seemed small compared to this situation.

Walking over to the couch Ritru sat next to T’Prel, letting out a huge sigh as she leaned her head on her shoulders closing her eyes for a brief moment. T’Prel looked at her for a moment before placing an arm around her waist enjoying this moment together. Silence filled the room for a few more minutes before it was broken, “going to go have some drinks with Chon’al and the others. That is if you don’t have anything planned,” Ritru said sitting there.

Mentally Ritru has been through a lot over the past few months, dealing with her emotions and memories that have decided to rear their head. This would be a good thing for Ritru to be able to unwind. “That would be agreeable,” T’Prel responded as she sat there still enjoying the moment together.

Ritru stood up before she leaned over and kissed her, “thanks.” Ritru replied with a smile before heading into the washroom. Ritru was not one to dress up, if she could simply just wear sweat pants and a nice comfortable shirt she would and it was exactly what she changed into.

T’Prel had picked up her book and started to read again while Ritru was busy getting ready. “I’ll be home late,” Ritru said as she walked out of the room and headed towards the door before pausing to look back at T’Prel who had looked up from her book.

“Enjoy yourself,” T’Prel replied.

Ritru headed out of their quarters walking down the corridor towards the turbolift, nodding to those that were passing by. After a short walk, she entered the turbolift giving it her destination as the doors closed shut behind her and began to move a short time later.

Meanwhile, clothes were being flung over her shoulder as Dazra was trying to find something to wear. “Uge, why can’t I find something to wear?” She asked herself as nothing she had pulled out looked good enough.

After searching both of her dressers she didn’t find anything she wanted to wear, she decided to move to her closet next. After a while she finally found something that she liked, turning back around to see that her room was now a mess with clothes scattered everywhere.

“I’ll put them away later,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders as she walked into the washroom to get ready.

Dazra was never on time for anything, she finally finished getting ready before looking at herself again in the mirror to make sure things were in place. “That should do it,” she replied before she quickly exited her room and headed down the corridor.

Ritru, Odan, and Chon’al were already sitting at the bar enjoying some drinks as they chatted. “What is she doing, getting ready for a date?” Chon’al asked as he looked at the other two for a brief moment before they all busted up laughing at the thought.

“She can’t even keep a serious relationship,” Ritru responded.

“Seems she has a different guy every day,” Odan added to the conversation.

Just as they started to laugh the doors to the bar opened to reveal Dazra walking in, she looked around the room before she noticed the three sitting at the bar. “What is so funny?” Dazra asked as she pulled up a seat next to them placing a hand up to get the bartender’s attention to order her drink.

After not noticing that she entered he busted up laughing again before responding, “oh, nothing we just find it funny how you are always late,” Chon’al said as he clapped her on the back as he continued to laugh.

Dazra rolled her eyes as she took a drink, “very funny.” She replied as the others just nodded in agreement.

“Well it is true,” Ritru said as she gulped down a shot before placing it back on the bar. Looking at Dazra as she noticed that she was all dressed up, “why are you all dressed up, expecting someone?” Ritru asked snuffling a chuckle as she looked at her.

Rolling her eyes at the question, “no I just wanted to look nice is that a problem?” Dazra asked as she was getting annoyed with the constant jabbing, she decided to change the subject. “So what do you think of all this mess going on within the Star Empire?” Dazra asked looking at Ritru though the question wasn’t for anyone in particular.

“Do you think now is the time to talk about that, we are here to unwind and relax not chat about what’s going on within the Star Empire,” Chon’al chastised Dazra for even bringing it up.

Boundaries were something that Dazra lacked, she had no filter for speaking her mind even if it got her into trouble, which seemed to have happened on many occasions. “I was just asking,” Dazra said with a shrug before taking a drink.

“Ya well now is not the time or place,” Odan snapped back as she wasn’t getting the hint.

Getting up from her chair she stormed off to another part of the bar as the others just looked at each other before rolling their eyes. “Well looks like someone is throwing a little fit,” Chon’al replied before taking a huge swig of his drink and almost slamming it on the bar.

Ritru was fairly new to the crew compared to the others, she looked at Dazra before looking back at the others. “Is she always like that?” She asked.

“Pretty much,” Odan said taking a drink.

“She tends to land herself in hot water as she doesn’t have a filter on that mouth of hers,” Chon’al said as he has seen her on the bad side of the last Captain. “I know she and Jheria had served together on Starbase 38, I guess she got into some trouble there and ended up getting demoted.” He replied with a shrug, “she is a good officer otherwise.” He followed up looking at Ritru as Odan nodded in agreement.

“Interesting,” Ritru responded with a shake of her head which made her wonder how she was Chief of Security with that kind of attitude. Though she just shrugged off the thought as they looked over to see Dazra sulking at a table. The three of them continued to chat amongst each other as they drank for a good portion of the night. Though they would be visiting the doctor afterward for some anti-hangover medicine.

****

Ever since they left Starbase Bravo a few days ago Azras had been putting in long hours, sometimes well into the night monitoring the situation at hand. Arzin was sitting on the couch reading a book while Yadri and Linha were up in their shared office working on their schoolwork.

Looking up from the book that he was reading as he heard Linha walking down the stairs. “Where is mom?” She asked as she stood at the bottom of the staircase.

“She working late again,” Arzin replied with a soft smile.

She understood that being a Captain sometimes meant working late, with the current situation it was more so than it had in the past. “Seems she has been doing that a lot as of late.” She commented taking a breath before she continued, “is it become of what is going on within the Star Empire?” Linha inquired as she sat next to her father.

Linha had an idea, “do you know when she will be home?” Linha asked looking at him for a moment.

Arzin knew his daughter all too well, she was up to something “I am not sure, why do you ask?” He asked as he was not sure whether he should be concerned or relieved.

“I know tomorrow we are expected to arrive at Rhijun and things will be getting even crazier,” Linha began as she paused for a moment. “I had an idea, what if you cook one of mom’s favorite dishes, we can have dinner and then play some games as we used to when we were younger, to help relieve some tension,” Linha suggested looking at him.

“That is a great idea,” Arzin said as he agreed with Linha’s idea.

Linha squealed in delight, “wonderful, you get dinner ready while I get the gaming table set up.” She began as she stood up from the couch, “once everything is ready I’ll come up with a good excuse to get mom home.” Linha said as she stood there for a moment.

“Sounds like a plan,” Arzin replied just as Yadri came down.

“What sounds like a plan?” Yadri asked looking a bit confused.

“Oh, dad is going to be making dinner while I set up the gaming table,” Linha replied which caused Yadri to raise an eyebrow.

“Why?” He asked as he stood there at the bottom of the stairs.

“Surprising mom to a relaxing evening,” Linha replied.

“Why?” Yadri kept asking as he wasn’t understanding what was going on.

Arzin looked at him as he couldn’t help but chuckle at his son’s confusion, “you see your mom has been very busy the last few days with everything that is going on. So we want to have a nice relaxing family night before things get even more stressful for your mom and the crew,” he explained looking at him.

Walking over to the replicator to grab a drink before heading back upstairs, “sounds good.” He replied as he grabbed his drink and headed back up the stairs, “I am almost done with my schoolwork so call me when you’re ready.” He replied before he disappeared into the study.

Arzin and Linha looked at each other raising an eyebrow wondering what was wrong with Yadri, “that is unusual, he usually finds any excuse to get out of doing his schoolwork.” Linha said as they both started to set things up.

“Agreed,” Arzin said as he entered the kitchen to get the ingredients needed.

“Oh dad, there is this one game I would like us to try as a family.” She began as she got the gaming table out of the closet, “I think it would be fun.” She replied as she began to set it up.

“What is that dear?” Arzin asked as he began to chop up the vegetables.

“There is this one game that my friends from the Academy taught me, it’s from Earth’s history, and it’s called Monopoly.” Linha replied looking at him for a moment, “It is kind of a competition of sorts though I found it fun.” She said as she finished putting the table up.

“Sounds fun,” Arzin replied. “What other games do you have in mind?” He asked looking at her for a brief moment before getting back to cooking.

“Oh a couple of card games we used to play when we were little,” she replied.

Arzin spent the next while preparing the food, Linha made sure they had everything else set up and ready. “Alright, you can call your mom down here,” Arzin said as he just finished cooking.

She smiled with delight as she tapped the control on the computer nearby. “Mom,” she said in a voice that sounded like something happened which caused Arzin to glance over at what his daughter had in mind.

Azras was busy listening to the current situation when her commbadge went off and heard her daughter’s voice at the other end. “What is wrong dear?” Azras replied wondering what was going on.

“There had been an incident with Yadri, you need to come home now,” Linha said trying to stay in the moment without laughing.

“What happened?” Azras asked with concern in her voice.

“It’s hard to explain mom, please come home,” Linha replied looking at her dad who was trying not to laugh.

“I am on my way,” Azras replied as the comms channel ended.

Linha looked at her father as they both started laughing which caused Yadri to come out of the room looking at them. He walked down the stairs to look at both of them in confusion as to what was so funny.

As they both finished laughing, Arzin got the plates dished out and set them on the dining room table along with the drinks. Just as they finished setting things up Azras came running into their quarters, just as she was about to look at Yadri still standing at the bottom of the stairs. She had a funny feeling that there was more to this than what was led to believe.

“What is going on?” Azras said as Linha looked at her.

“Sorry, we wanted to surprise you,” Linha said with a grin on her face.

“You certainly did that,” Azras said as she couldn’t help but smile. “Whose idea was this?” She asked as she noticed that the gaming table was set up as well as her favorite dish on the table.

“Mine,” Linha replied.

“You have been working long hours since we left Starbase Bravo,” Arzin began as he walked up to his wife and kissed her. “Linha had an idea that we would have dinner then play some games like we used to back when the children were little to help you unwind a bit before things get more hectic.” Arzin finished as they all walked over to the table and sat down.

“That was very thoughtful,” Azras replied with a smile feeling touched that they would go out of their way to do something for her.

Throughout the night they chatted amongst each other as they ate dinner, enjoying the time together that she didn’t even realize was missing. She had been so busy with work that she was taking her family for granted. After they finished dinner, they moved over to the table to play games for the rest of the evening, laughing and having an all-around good time.

Rhijun like many worlds within the Velorum Sector was rich in minerals, towards the west there was a beautiful city that held the Governor’s palace as well as other buildings ranging from small to large, which is where the ones in power and the wealthy lived their day to day lives without a care in the world.

Whereas outside of the city were many refineries and mines located, with poor living conditions for the many Reman and lower class Romulans lived and worked. Life was rough working in the mines and refineries with the Romulan overseers that didn’t care who lived or died. They just wanted the materials that made them and the system wealthy, they pushed the workers hard and if you didn’t they punished you severely.

Nivela, a fairly young Romulan woman who happened to be the Governor’s secretary had been tired of the way things were, tired of how the workers were being treated. She wanted to see change, so she has been secretly supplying Javik, who was the foreman of a large group of Reman workers down in the mines with useful information over the past several months.

Now with the coup happening on Rator III and many worlds within the Velorum Sector driving out their planetary government and declaring independence, they did the same. They drove out those in power and anyone that still believed in the old ways. The planet was theirs and Javik who led the resistance to take over was placed as acting Governor.

Now in the palace, Javik sat in what used to be the Governor’s office speaking with Ovisek, who was his younger brother, and Nivela, the Romulan woman who assisted them. They needed to figure out what their next plan of action was going to be regarding the planet.

“What do we do now?” Ovisek asked with concern in his voice.

“Just like what Psi Velorum did, request assistance from the Federation, which I already sent the request.” Javik said before pausing for a brief moment, “we don’t have ships, our orbital defenses were destroyed in the last attack by the pirates.” Javik added as he sat back in his chair.

“We have already suffered more loss with the recent raids, specifically attacking the refineries and putting a good majority of them inoperable, we need the help if we are to survive and become independent.” Javik said with a sigh, he had a feeling that the Star Navy was behind these raids to try to get them to crawl back to them.

Nivela looked up from the padd she was reading, “I already sent word to a family member who during the coup decided to defect just like myself.” She began as the other two looked at her with curiosity. “He has a Valdore-class ship, he is going to be here in a few days,” Nivela replied as she looked at the two.

“One ship isn’t going to be enough,” Ovisek replied.

“Agreed, that is why we have reached out to the Federation for help.” Javik replied as he looked at his drink for a moment before looking back up. “We need their help so we can secure our freedom for good,” he replied as he adjusted in his seat again. He had the blinds closed in his office to make it dimmer as the sun was currently setting causing it to be a bit brighter than it had been earlier that day.

“Do you think they will help?” Nivela asked as she remembered what happened with their withdrawal from the evacuation of Romulus and Remus many years ago. Many Romulans are still hurting and mistrusting the Federation, she didn’t hold a grudge as she was never that type of person.

Nodding “I do as they have already started to assist the other worlds in the sector.” Javik replied as he stood up for a moment, just then the computer beeped. Raising an eyebrow he turned the computer on to see a message. “Wonderful,” he said as he finished reading the report.

The two looked at each other for a moment, raising their eyebrows before looking back at Javik. “What is so wonderful?” Ovisek asked with a confused look on his face by Javik’s reaction after reading the latest report.

“It looks like the Federation has answered our request, they are sending the USS Saratoga an Odyssey-class starship to assist with protection and humanitarian aid.” Javik said as he looked at the two with a smile on his face, “they should be arriving here tomorrow.” He replied sitting back down in the chair.

Nivela’s eyes widened at the news, “that ship is like a city in space.” She commented at the thought of a ship that size being sent their way.

“Maybe it will deter any ship coming into this system,” Ovisek hoped though he knew better. If the Star Navy wanted something you had or were protecting they didn’t care what size you were.

“I wouldn’t hold your breath there Ovisek,” Nivela replied.

“Oh I know but one can only hope,” he said with a shrug as the other two nodded in agreement.

“This won’t be easy or happen overnight, we need to stick together to help our people be free and live a better life.” Javik said as the other two nodded in agreement.

“It will be a long road but we will be in this together,” Nivela added to that sentiment.

“How much damage did we take from that last attack?” Javik asked as he circled back to what he had mentioned in their earlier conversation.

Nivela looked at her padd for a moment, “so far the count is ten out of thirty that have been damaged and are offline. The others are pulling extra weight which isn’t good.” She began as she paused for a brief moment. “We will need to slow down the production to not put more strain and have them break.” She responded as some of the workers decided to stay and keep an eye on the refineries, though the actual mining had stopped for the time being.

“We don’t have any spare parts to repair them,” Ovisek added, looking at Javik.

Thinking for a moment he looked at Nivela, “alright have them slow down the refinement as we can’t afford to lose any more at this moment.” Javik responded with a sigh, hopefully, they can get them repaired.

“Understood,” Nivela responded.

“Well, I don’t have anything else to discuss at this time, do you have any questions?” Javik said, opening the floor to the two in the room.

“No, I think we covered everything,” Ovisek responded, looking over at Nivela who just shook her head.

“We have a long road ahead of us, go get some rest.” Javik said as the two nodded, getting up from their seats and walking out of the office.

Javik sat there for a while leaning back in his chair thinking about everything that has taken place over the last week or so. He knew that things wouldn’t happen overnight and that it would be a long road to independence. He didn’t regret joining Resak and the rest that were seeking that independence.

“Things will only get worse before they get better,” he said to himself before he got up from his chair, he headed out of his office and down to his living quarters which were much nicer than what he used to live in calling it a night.

The next day had come quicker than anyone might have hoped, after staying up way too late Azras stifled a yawn as she walked onto the bridge with a cup of coffee snug in her hand. Looking around the bridge, shift change was happening as the night shift gave their reports before they headed off the bridge.

T’Prel looked up just as the Captain entered, “good morning Captain.” T’Prel said before standing up from the center seat.

“Good morning Commander,” she replied with a smile before she took her seat. “Status report?” She asked before taking a sip of her coffee.

T’Prel picked up the padd she had in her hand, handing it over to the Captain to review. “All departments are reporting all clear, nothing eventful happened on the overnight shift.” She began before pausing for a moment as the Captain began to read the report.

“We are due to arrive at Rhijun soon and so far no sightings of any Romulan ships or any other ships for that matter since we crossed over into Romulan space,” T’Prel reported looking at her.

“Wonderful,” she said as the ship continued to travel towards its destination.

“Have you slept well, Captain?” T’Prel asked as she noticed that she looked a bit more tired than she normally was.

Noticing the concern on the commander’s face she smiled, “I stayed up a bit too late last night as my family decided to surprise me with dinner and a game night.” Azras replied as she adjusted in her chair, “they figured I needed to relax before things started to get crazy.” She said with a soft chuckle and a smile.

“That seems agreeable,” T’Prel said as Azras couldn’t help but chuckle at the Vulcan’s lack of emotion or understanding of such, though she did try and she could see it, especially with Ritru.

“The last few days have been hectic so it was nice to just sit down and enjoy my family’s company and not worry about work for a while,” Azras admitted as she looked at her coffee for a moment before taking a drink.

“I think that is a lovely way to spend an evening,” Ritru piped up looking at the two who looked back. “We don’t know how things will go here, so having that time to relax is always a nice thing.” She added with a smile even though she didn’t want to be there.

“Indeed,” T’Prel agreed with Ritru’s statement.

The doors to the turbolift opened as Dazra had walked out onto the bridge. She looked like she had gotten hit by a train which caused both Azras and T’Prel to raise an eyebrow at her current state. “You alright Commander?” Azras asked as Dazra paused for a moment looking at the two before turning back to walk to her station.

“I am good,” Dazra replied, though that wasn’t the whole truth.

Ritru looked at Dazra from her station and happened to notice that she might have drank way too much last night as the anti-intoxicant medicine wasn’t quite working. “You look like you got run over by a freight train,” Ritru said as Dazra just shrugged it off walking behind her console.

“Someone can’t handle their liquor,” Chon’al said with a hearty chuckle.

Dazra sighed, “I can handle them just fine!” She exclaimed as she was still annoyed with them from last night.

“Geez Dazra it was just a joke,” Chon’al replied looking at her.

“Alright, that is enough” Azras ordered.

Airje had looked back from her console looking at the two bickerings, after finding the time to interject. “Sir, we have arrived and are dropping out of warp,” she replied as the ship came to a complete stop in orbit of the planet.

“Dazra, run a sensor sweep of the area,” Azras ordered.

“Aye sir,” Dazra replied as she began to tap her console. Time seemed to have slowed down as they waited for the sweep to be completed. “I am not detecting anything out there,” Dazra replied, looking back up at the Captain.

Nodding in response, “go to yellow alert.” Azras ordered, “I would like regular sensor sweeps of the area.” She added as Dazra nodded as the ship went to yellow alert, she turned towards Ritru. “Open a channel to the planet,” she ordered as she adjusted in her seat.

“Aye sir,” Ritru responded as she tapped a few buttons on her console.

A short time later the view screen switched to show a face of an aging Reman, who one could tell had worked in the mines for the majority of their life. “Welcome to Rhijun Captain, I am Javik and we have been expecting you,” Javik smiled as he looked at the Captain.

Azras and T’Prell glanced at each other for a brief moment before turning back to the view screen, “greetings Javik, I am Captain Azras Dex and this is my first officer Commander T’Prel.” Azras said introducing themselves.

“A pleasure,” Javik replied.

There was a brief moment of silence before Javik spoke up, “I request to come on board to discuss the current situation on Rhijun in person.” Javik said, looking at them.

Azras looked at T’Prel for a moment who just nodded in agreement to his request, as it would be a show of hospitality. “Granted,” Azras replied.

Javik smiled a toothy smile, “just wonderful will see you shortly Javik out.” He replied before the communications channel was closed and the screen went back to that of space.

Ritru looked over from her console, “they were expecting us?” She replied with a raised eyebrow in a bit of confusion at the statement that Javik made.

“News travels fast of our arrival,” T’Prel added.

“It must seem so,” Azras replied before standing up from her chair. “You’re with me,” she said as she looked at T’Prel. Azras then turned her focus on Deza, “you have the bridge.” She replied before they started to head towards the turbolift.

“Aye sir,” Deza replied as she stood up from her chair and moved over to where the Captain was sitting, Rass had then moved over to the helm station.

“Transporter room one,” Azras said as the doors closed behind them and began to move towards their destination.

“He seemed rather enthused that we are here,” T’Prel noted an observation

“Indeed, though I am sure anything is better than seeing a Star Navy ship,” Azras said with a shrug before the lift had come to a stop with the doors opening. The two of them exited the lift as they made their way down the corridor that would lead them to the transporter room.

“Agreed,” T’Prel said as they walked.

Once they arrived they were greeted by two security officers which were regulations, especially when they had diplomatic guests on board. Commander Mezril Zelar was also in attendance as they felt that they might need his expertise as a diplomatic officer. Azras had nodded to the three of them before they had entered the transporter room while security stood outside.

Azras turned to the transporter room chief and gave him a nod, a few seconds later their guest appeared on the transporter room padd. “Welcome to the USS Saratoga,” Azras said with a warm smile.

She turned towards those that were accompanying her, “you have already met my first officer.” She began before turning towards the other individual that was with them, “this here is Commander Mezril Zelar our Chief Diplomatic Officer.” She said as she introduced him.

“A pleasure Commander,” Javik replied as he stepped off the padd.

“If you will follow me,” Azras said as they walked out and began to walk down the corridor towards where the diplomatic conference room was located.

Javik had noticed that there were two additional officers behind them. “Why are they following us?” Javik asked, looking at the Captain almost in confusion.

T’Prel looked over at Javik, “it is standard procedure to have security escorts when we have diplomatic guests on board.” T’Prel replied as they continued to walk.

“Understandable,” Javik replied.

Once they reached the diplomatic suite where the conference room was located Azras turned towards Javik. “After you,” she replied as she gestured for Javik to enter and take a seat. The others walked in shortly behind him as the security detail stopped right outside of the doors.

“I won’t beat around the bush so I’ll get straight to the point,” Javik said as he took his seat looking at the officers. “We desperately need your help,” Javik replied as he looked a bit tired and worn out over the events that had taken place.

“Understandable, would you mind going into detail about what exactly you need?” Azras asked, looking at him. They had only received a brief review of their request for protection and humanitarian aid but nothing more than that.

Javik nodded as he handed Azras a padd that contained everything on it, “we have had recent pirate raids which we suspect are at the hands of the Star Navy.” Javik began to explain, “they had damaged ten of our refineries which was putting a strain on the remaining twenty. This caused our production to slow to not put so much strain on those that are remaining and cause them to break.” Javik said as he looked at the three of them.

“Outside of the major city, many need medical care, food as well as better living conditions overall. The only hospital we have is in the city which is miles away,” he replied as he finished talking.

Azras nodded as she finished reviewing the padd, “we will be able to assist with medical, food, as well as getting the living conditions improved.” She said as she paused for a brief moment, “as far as the refineries go, we can have our engineering team look at them to see what is wrong. Though, our technology is not compatible with your’s so not sure if we will be able to replace any parts.” Azras said as she looked at Javik who frowned.

Just as Javik was about to speak, T’Prel spoke up. “Sir, I took the liberty to scan their two moons.” T’Prel said looking at Azras, “It seems that their second moon has refinery equipment that hasn’t been used in at least a decade.” T’Prel finished which caused Javik to tilt his head in confusion at the news.

“I have never heard of anything on the moons, must have stopped production shortly before I arrived here.” Javik sounded just as surprised as the others did at the discovery. “Though, I would say that is great news. Hopefully, they are still functional and we will be able to use their parts to fix ours.” Javik added with hope in his eyes that something was looking up for once. 

“I will send an engineering team to the moon to check the status of those, hopefully, they will be in good condition,” Azras said looking at him.

“That would be great,” Javik said.

Mezril had been quiet the majority of the meeting, “In terms of medical, I would suggest that those that need more in-depth treatment come onboard the Saratoga and have our doctors treat them.” He suggested this before looking at Javik and the others.

“That would be agreeable,” Javik said.

“We will also assist with protecting this system, but I noticed in your report that a Valdore-class will be arriving in a couple of days?” Mezril asked as he looked at Javik.

Javik nodded, “they are on our side and will be assisting.” Javik responded as the others were relieved that it was an ally and not a Star Navy ship.

“Is there anything else?” Azras asked, looking at Javik.

“I think we covered everything,” Javik replied.

“We will be sending the Oneida down with our away team and supplies,” she began to explain. “I will be sending another team to the moon to get the status of those refineries.” Azras finished before looking at the three of them.

“Once our away team has left the ship we will begin our patrol,” T’Prel added before they stood up from their chairs to conclude the meeting.

“Commander Zelar, care to escort our guest back to the transporter room?” Azras asked as Mezril nodded before the two exited the conference room making their way down the corridor with the security detail following right behind them.

Azras stood there for a few moments lost in thought, picking up the padd that Javik had given her, and she turned towards T’Prel. “Well here we go,” she commented as they walked out of the conference room and headed down the corridor. “Get ready for departure,” Azras replied as T’Prel nodded and they both departed.

Azras began to move down the corridor towards the turbolift, “Captain Dex to Commander Dilucca,” she said as she waited for a response.

“Go ahead Captain,” Jheria replied.

Azras began to explain the situation at hand, “so I need you to gather a team and take a shuttle to the second moon,” she ordered as she entered the lift.

“Aye sir,” Jheria replied before the comm channel ended.

Azras entered the lift, “bridge.” She said as the doors closed shut and began to move, she sighed as she stood there with the only noise coming from the humming of the lift as it traveled before it finally came to a stop.

Stepping out onto the bridge, walking towards her chair as Deza stood up and went back to her station. A few moments later Ritru turned to face the Captain, “sir the Oneida is reporting ready for departure.” Ritru spoke up.

“Oneida you are cleared to depart,” Azras said over the comm channel as the Aquarius-class ship began to back out of the docking port. Once it was clear it extended the nacelles and began its descent to the planet below.

“Jheria to the bridge,” Jheria said over the channel.

“Go ahead,” Azras replied.

“We are ready to depart sir,” Jheria said.

“Understood, you’re cleared to depart Commander.” Azras replied as the channel ended she looked at Deza, “once the shuttle is clear and on its way towards the moon begin patrolling the area.” Azras ordered looking at her.

“Aye sir,” came the reply.

Turning towards Dazra at tactical, “status report?” She asked, looking at her.

“We are still not picking up any ships in the area, as well as no cloaked ships,” Dazra responded, looking at her. Azras nodded in response as she turned around in her chair.

“Sir, the shuttle has departed,” Odan replied, which caused Azras to nod towards Deza to begin. The Saratoga broke orbit and began to patrol the area keeping an eye out for anything that might be lurking out there that they can’t see.

“Now the fun begins,” Azras said to no one in particular as she sat back in her chair. She hoped things would go smoothly, though she knew that in itself would be wishful thinking. Especially when you’re in Romulan space, there is no telling what is around the corner.

They were trained to deal with many different types of situations, each time they did humanitarian aid it became harder and harder not to feel sorry for those hurting. To know what they were going through, not having gone through it themselves. T’Prel sat in the center seat of the Aquarius-class escort as they made their way down to the planet’s surface.

“Sir, we are reaching the landing site.” Ensign Sato looked back at T’Prel from her console for a brief moment.

“Very well Ensign, begin landing procedures,” T’Prel ordered.

“Understood,” Sato replied, tapping her fingers over her consoles which caused the landing struts to begin to extend out, and thrusters came online to slow their landing. The bridge was quiet as everyone watched as the Oneida landed at the coordinates they were given before departure.

After powering down the ship, T’Prel looked around the room as they all stood up and began to walk out of the ship. They were greeted by Javik who was accompanied by another Reman and a Romulan woman.

 “Welcome to Rhijun, this here is my brother Ovisek and this is Nivela.” Javik introduced.

“A pleasure,” T’Prel replied.

One could see looking around how these people lived their lives, the conditions were very poor with many buildings on the verge of collapse. People were walking, going on about their business, and others were sitting outside their makeshift houses looking worse for wear.

There seems to be a small triage area that was set up, there was only a medic who only knew basic first aid. Teila looked horrified, many of them looked as if they had barely eaten for days. Hopefully, with their help, things will begin to improve for them now their oppressors are gone.

“As you can see we need your help,” Javik responded.

“Commander Zoran begin assessing the situation here, see who can be treated here and who needs to be transferred to the ship via the Oneida,” T’Prel ordered looking at the doctor.

“Aye sir,” came her reply as she motioned for Natasha and the others to follow her.

Turning back to Javik, “where can we find the refineries?” T’Prel asked.

Ovisek pointed towards the area just past the settlement, “it is west of here.” He replied looking at T’Prel and the others, “hopefully they can be repaired.” Ovisek added as he knew it would be only a matter of time before more started to fail.

“Commander Piyu, I like you to head towards the refineries with Toran and a couple of engineers.” T’Prel began before pausing for a brief moment, “I would like you to evaluate what needs to be done.” She finished looking at them.

“Understood,” Piyu replied before motioning for the others to follow him.

Nivela was the next to speak up, “a good majority of the people that were here moved to the city.” She began to speak, “these people wanted to stay here.” Nivela said which caused a raised eyebrow from a few of the others remaining. “Mining is all they know, and they want to keep things running here,” Nivela added to the content, the mining has stopped for the time being. Though the refineries are still operating,” she said.

“As you can see a lot of these buildings are in a state of disarray and need major repairs,” Nivela went on to explain while looking at T’Prel. “We do have some building supplies in the warehouse located in the city that the old Governor was withholding that we can use.” She said as Javik tilted his head, “I only knew about it when I overheard him talking about it a few months ago.” She said as if she knew what Javik was going to ask.

“Some of the buildings can be demolished as there are still some good parts that can be reused to build new ones in their place.” Nivela finished talking which seemed to go on, though it was understandable as she is trying to get them better-living conditions.

“That would be agreeable,” T’Prel replied as she thought for a moment that nothing was mentioned about a hospital. “It was mentioned aboard the Saratoga that you will require a hospital here?” She inquired as nothing was brought up yet in that regard.

“That was correct, we were discussing a great deal and feel realistically at this time it would not be feasible. Not until we can get everything else here taken care of and that will take a while.” Javik said looking at them, “We do have a good hospital in the city which we will be setting up a transport site to transfer them over there.” Javik finished as he took a breath.

“That is understandable,” T’Prel replied as she understood that they needed to take care of the other problems before tackling a much larger problem. “Those of us that remain will assist with any repairs of the buildings here,” she replied.

“Lieutenant Holman, I would like you to take a group to begin patrolling the area in case we have any unwanted guests trying to cause trouble.” She ordered looking at the security officer.

“Understood,” Brian replied.

Looking back at Javik for a moment, “Is there anyone that can assist us with these repairs? The more hands we have the more we can accomplish,” she said.

Javik thought for a moment before turning to Ovisek, “call those who are willing to help to meet with T’Prel for orders.” He said as Ovisek nodded in agreement before heading off to gather the others.

“Is there anything else you need from me?” Javik asked, looking at her.

“Not at this time,” T’Prel replied. “We will keep you updated,” she added as he nodded in reply before heading off to the warehouse as he needed to get those supplies marked for transport.

T’Prel just stood quietly there for a moment looking at everything, “do you think they will survive on their own once we leave?” Nehi asked a question as she had been the quietest the whole time they had been here.

T’Prel looked at her, “I believe so they have the drive to and you can see it shows.” T’Prel said in response to Nehi’s question as she just nodded in response. After a few short minutes, they walked to where they needed to be to help with repairing buildings and building new ones in place of those that were falling apart.

****

The shuttle had approached Rhijun’s second moon, “begin sensor scan of the moon as I would like to know what we are walking into.” Jheria ordered as one of the engineers tapped a few buttons on the console in front of him.

“Interesting,” he said, which caused Jheria to look at him.

“What is so interesting Ensign?” Jheria asked.

Looking over at the Commander, “according to these readings there is a breathable atmosphere on the surface.” The Ensign replied, looking at her.

“Probably why they chose that moon to mine,” replied another engineer next to the Ensign.

“Indeed,” Jheria replied as they began to land the shuttle.

Once the shuttle had safely landed they all exited and began to look around, “they seemed to have abandoned this rather quickly.” The Ensign commented as they began to walk in the direction of where the refineries were located about a few yards ahead of them.

“It would seem so,” Jheria said as items looked like they just were left behind, no one bothered to grab anything before they left. As they continued on their way, the buildings were still intact and in good condition. Jheria made a note to inform the Captain as they could probably use a lot of the building material down on the planet.

Scanning the area as they walked as he seemed very perplexed, “I wonder why they stopped mining here?” He asked as the moon still was very rich in minerals that made this sector so valuable.

“Your guess is about as good as mine,” Jheria replied as she too was getting the same readings he was. After they arrived at their destination, she noticed that there were about twenty refineries there and all of them were powered down.

“Let’s spread out, report your findings back to me when finished,” Jheria ordered as they all went in opposite directions as they began their work in evaluating whether or not they still worked as well as if they would be able to take them apart for transport down to the planet below.

As Jheria was working her commbadge went off, “Commander could you come over here I found something.” Came the reply from one of the engineers who had stumbled upon a sight that made her feel sad.

“On my way,” Jheria replied as she made her way southwest of where she was currently located. When she arrived at where the Ensign was located she looked at her, “What is going on?” She asked as it looked like she might have seen a ghost.

“I don’t think they left this place,” the Ensign replied as she pointed in the direction of shallow graves. There were many of them, if she had to guess it would be like in the hundreds.

Jheria let out a sigh, “that would explain why things were left behind,” Jheria said solemnly as she bowed her head for a brief moment. This was their final resting place, they didn’t get a chance to leave this place.

“We better get back to work,” Jheria said as both of them walked back and began to get to work scanning each one of them. Jheria was surprised that the equipment had remained in such good condition and all have been found still working.

After finishing gathering all the information she tapped her commbadge to contact the ship. “Captain, we have concluded our investigation,” Jheria replied as she stood there.

“What did you find?” Dex asked.

Jheria began to explain everything that they discovered, “so we will be able to dismantle everything and have it beamed down to the planet using transporter enhancers on both ends.” Jheria finished speaking as she looked around at her team.

“How long do you think it will take?” Was the next question she asked.

“If I could get a few more officers here to assist, we can have it done within a couple of days,” Jheria replied as it was going to take a lot to get these taken apart and prepped from transport.

“Understood, we will send a second engineering team your way,” Dex replied.

“Thank you,” Jheria replied before the communications channel ended. They had made their way back to the shuttle to grab the tools they would need to begin to take them apart as well as the transporter enhancers they would need to set up.

****

“Captain Dex to Commander T’Prel,” Azras said over the comm channel.

Raising an eyebrow she tapped her commbadge, “go ahead, Captain.” T’Prel said as she had stopped what she was working on.

“Is Javik with you?” Azras asked.

“No, though his assistant Nivela is here with me,” T’Prel responded which caused Nivela to stop and walk over to where T’Prel was.

“Very well,” Azras began, taking note that she would have to try to contact him afterward to inform him of the other thing they discovered on the moon. “We do have some good news to share about what we found on the moon,” replied Azras.

Nivela perked up as T’Prel raised an eyebrow, “what would that be?” T’Prel asked as she looked at Nivela.

“The refinery equipment is all in working order, they have begun the process of dismantling them for transport,” Azras said before taking a pause. “We also found buildings here that are also in good condition considering no one has lived in them for a decade,” Azras replied before continuing with the conversation.

“The team will also be dismantling them for transport in hopes it helps build some new buildings or repair older ones.” Azras finished before waiting on a response.

“That is wonderful news,” Nivela couldn’t help but speak up. “How long will that take?” She asked as T’Prel looked at her.

“A couple of days give or take, we will keep you updated,” Azras replied.

“Understood Captain,” T’Prel replied as the comm channel ended. It had been a couple of hours since they had begun, so she decided that she would take a break to get status reports from each of the teams to see how they are doing.

Turning to Nivela, “I will be back in a few minutes.” T’Prel replied as she walked off in the direction where Teila was located. After arriving she noticed she was already treating patients.

“Status?” T’Prel said, which caused Teila to look up from what she was doing.

“So far only about a handful of them are being sent to the Oneida to be brought aboard the Saratoga for treatment.” Teila replied looking at her, “the rest we have been able to treat here.” Teila added, “then again we have only begun so I am sure the Onedia will be taking a few groups at a time up to the ship.” She finished before she turned back to the patient she was helping.

“Keep me updated,” T’Prel replied before she headed off in the direction of where the refineries were located. After about five minutes of walking, she arrived and found that Piyu was scanning one of the equipment.

Piyu had just finished when he noticed T’Prel walk up, “what can I do for you, Commander?” Piyu asked as he looked at her, using this as a time to take a break.

“Came to get a status report,” T’Prel replied.

“Some of them are in pretty bad shape,” he began. “Some just need simple part replacement while others need the whole thing replaced because they are beyond repair.” Piyu replied with a sigh, “if we don’t get these working soon the others will start to fail even though they are working at half the speed they normally will run.” Piyu added with more bad news.

“Well, then I bring some good news, that the refinery equipment that we found on the planet’s second moon is all operational. They are in the process of dismantling them for transport.” T’Prel said as she stood there.

“Wonderful, that is really good news.” Piyu said with a sigh of relief, “how long will that take?” he asked.

“About a couple of days give or take,” T’Prel replied.

“Understood,” Piyu replied.

“So until then, can you and your team help us with the buildings?” T’Prel asked, looking at him.

“Of course seeing that until we get those parts there is nothing more I can do here,” he replied as he called his officers over and they all headed back towards the village. Once they arrived they began to get to work, things were going to take time and wouldn’t happen overnight. They would assist them with what they needed assistance with and wouldn’t leave until they all were satisfied that they would survive on their own.

The last few days have been nothing but hectic, standing near the window that was located in the conference room of the command-and-control center of the ship. She had been going over the latest reports about the current situation within the Romulan Star Empire. Things were pretty quiet here for the most part compared to other systems. The only real excitement they have had over the last day since they arrived was that the infirmary was busy with patients that came on board from the planet.

Azras had been granted access to their systems as well as their files, according to what these records show there were at one point defense satellites. When they arrived they didn’t find any type of defense grid, Azras speculated they were either destroyed by the Star Navy ships when they left the planet or by the pirates in their last raid of the planet.

Azras knew that they wouldn’t be able to stay long term, so things would need to change as they would need a way to defend themselves after they were long gone. She had requested that Nivela be brought on board to discuss the items that needed to be addressed.

Azras tapped her commbadge, “Dex to Commander Ritru.” Azras said as she waited for a response.

“Go ahead sir,” Ritru responded.

“I would like you to proceed to the transporter room and escort our guest to the command-and-control conference room.” Azras had ordered as she stood there looking out the window.

“Understood sir,” Ritru said in response before the comm channel ended.

Azras stood there for a few more seconds before she turned, walking over to where the replicator was located to grab herself a second cup of coffee that morning. It seemed like it was going to be one of those days, after she took the cup off the platform she walked over to her chair and sat down. Taking a sip she continued to read over the files while she waited for their guest to arrive.

A short time later the doors to the conference room parted to reveal both Commander Ritru and Nivela. “Welcome aboard the Saratoga, please take a seat,” Azras replied with a gentle smile as Nivela walked in taking a seat at the table.

“Need anything from me, Captain?” Ritru asked, looking at her for a moment.

“Not right now thank you Ritru,” Azras said with a smile as Ritru nodded in response and headed out of the conference room heading back to the bridge.

“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me,” Azras said after she turned her attention back to the younger Romulan woman that now sat in front of her.

“Of course Captain,” Nivela said with a gentle smile.

“There is one thing that concerns me,” Azras began as she tapped a few buttons on the console in front of her. “According to these files, there should be a defense grid along this path right before entering into the system.” She began as she looked at her as the system showed up as a 3D image with dots around the perimeter of the system where they should have been located.

Nivela looked at her solemnly, “yes it was a departing gift from those who left.” Nivela said with a sigh, “they thought that destroying those would leave us vulnerable for when they return to try to retake the system.” She responded looking down at the table for a moment before looking back up.

Azras nodded, “I figured that is what happened.” She said with a sigh as she thought for a moment, “do you happen to have the schematics of those defense grids that we can look at, hopefully maybe be able to duplicate?” Azras asked as she looked at Nivela who began to think of where she might have seen those files.

“Do you mind if I use your computer?” Nivela asked as she needed to tap into the files that were located in the Governor’s office.

“Of course,” Azras replied as she stood up from the chair, walking over to the console she tapped a few commands. She carefully searched through each of the files one by one. After a while of searching, she let out a huge sigh before she turned back to the Captain.

Nivela walked back over to the chair and sat down, “bad news it looks like those files were destroyed. Seems our lovely Governor gave us another parting gift,” she said as she slumped over the table in front of her.

“Just lovely,” Azras replied as they both sat there in thought trying to come up with a way to be able to replicate those defense grids.

After a few moments of silence that had filled the room, Nivela perked up. “Wait, my cousin should be able to get us schematics on a defense grid,” Nivela said as she looked at the older Trill woman. “He might be able to assist with the building as he should be able to replicate a lot of what is needed.” Nivela finished speaking as there seemed to be hope.

“That would be wonderful,” Azras replied as things were starting to look a bit grim. She wasn’t going to count her blessings just yet, there was still hope and that is what they were going to hold onto for the time being.

“Bridge to Captain Dex,” Ritru said.

“Go ahead,” Azras replied as she looked at Nivela.

“The IRW Aldore has dropped out of warp and is hailing us,” Ritru responded.

Looking at Nivela, “patch it through to the conference room.” Azras replied as she had tapped a few buttons on the console, a moment later a holographic image appeared as if he was actually in the room. Commander Torath was now standing near the end of the table, he was about your average height of a Romulan male, muscular, and was about Nivela’s age.

“Jolan Tru, I am Captain Azras Dex of the USS Saratoga and I am sure you know Nivela,” she began the introductions as she sat there.

“Jolan Tru, I am Commander Torath of the IRW Aldore at your service.” He replied before looking at his cousin who was sitting in the room. “It is wonderful to see you again Nivela, it has been way too long,” he said with a smile towards her.

“Good to see you again as well Torath,” Nivela replied. “Now that you are here we have a few things we like to discuss,” Nivela said, getting down to the point.

“Of course,” Torath responded.

Azras spoke up this time, “this system used to have a very well off defense grid.” Azras began as she explained the situation they were facing, “they were all but destroyed when the previous administration left.” She finished adjusting her chair while looking at the holographic image of the Commander.

“That is a problem,” Torath commented.

“To make matters worse the Governor destroyed the schematics before he left,” Nivela replied. “Is there any way you can help us?” Nivela asked, looking at him.

“I do have schematics of a defense grid,” he said as he tapped a few buttons on his console on the ship. The computer beeped as Azras pulled up the file and began to study it.

“These are a bit better than the previous ones,” Nivela replied. “How did you get these?” She asked as these were not just given to anyone, “wait don’t answer that I think I know.” Nivela said waving a dismissive hand to that last question, she knew her cousin well enough to have his tricks up his sleeves.

“Do you think you can replicate these?” Azras asked.

“Indeed, though it would take about seventy-two hours before they are ready to deploy and activate.” Torath said looking at them, “I can have my engineering crew get started right away.” He added.

“That would be great, keep me updated.” She said before her commbadge went off which caused her to raise an eyebrow.

“Captain to the bridge,” Ritru said with a sound of urgency in her voice. She was about to say something as Torath raised a hand signifying he understood that this meeting was going to be cut short. A short time later the holographic image of Torath disappeared.

She glanced over at Nivela as they both stood from their chairs, “care to join me?” Azras asked as she knew she just couldn’t leave her down here by herself twiddling her thumbs.

“Why not,” Nivela said as they both made their way out of the conference room. They quickly made their way to the turbolift, upon entering she gave her destination. “Bridge,” she ordered as the doors closed shut behind them before beginning to move.

“Report?” she said just as the doors slid open and the two of them walked out onto the bridge. Azras took her seat while Nivela sat in the empty seat next to her as everyone seemed to look at their new guest.

“Two Orion pirate ships have entered the system, they are not responding to our hails,” Deza replied as she moved back to her station.

Azras let out a sigh, “bring us about.” Azras ordered as Deza tapped a few buttons and the ship started to come back around and head for the planet. “Signal the Aldore to follow our lead,” Azras said as she looked back at Ritru as she didn’t want him to get trigger-happy prematurely.

“Understood,” Ritru replied, followed by a few moments of silence. “The Aldore acknowledges,” she said.

“Open a channel,” Azras replied.

“Channel open,” Ritru responded.

“Orion vessels, this is Captain Azras Dex of the Federation starship USS Saratoga. This system is under our protection, withdraw from the system immediately.” Azras said as she looked at Ritru who just shook her head.

“If you do not leave this system we will be forced to open fire,” she said to see if they would get a response.

“Sir, they have come about and have locked weapons on us!” Dazra said as she got a response though not what she had hoped for but wasn’t unexpected.

“Guess we will be doing this the hard way,” Azras said, looking back at Dazra. “Red alert,” she ordered as the red alert klaxon sounded as the shields went up and weapons powered online. “Target their lead vessel, fire a warning shot just above their port bow,” Azras ordered, looking back at Dazra who tapped a few buttons firing at the lead vessel.

The ship rocked as the Orion ships began to open fire on both the Saratoga, “I think we just got our answer.” Dazra replied as she held onto the console to brace herself.

“Signal the Aldore to focus fire on the second ship, disabling their weapons only,” Azras ordered as Ritru sent the message just as the ship rocked again from the weapons fire.

“Shields are at ninety percent,” Dazra replied, looking at the Captain.

“Fire,” Azras ordered as the ship began to fire on the lead vessel targeting their weapons arrays.

“Their shields are down to eighty percent,” Dazra said as she then looked back at the Azras. “Sir, the second ship has now turned its attention to us as well,” she said as the second ship fired, hitting them directly causing sparks to fly from the science console.

“Fire quantum torpedoes,” Azras ordered as the ship came about and began to fire at both ships causing damage to their weapons arrays as well as other systems. “They sure do like doing things the hard way,” she said to no one in particular.

“That was a direct hit,” Dazra replied as things got quiet. “Sir, they are breaking off,” she replied as she tapped a few buttons not realizing the sensors had been damaged in that last hit they received.

“Damage report,” Azras ordered.

“No reports of any major damages,” Ritru responded.

“Our sensors are offline,” Jeesa piped up looking back at her from her console. “That last hit we received took out our sensor array,” she added looking at her as her console was fried.

“Wonderful,” Azras replied before looking over at her guest who seemed a bit shaken up. “You alright Nivela?” She asked, looking at her.

Looking at the Captain she let out a small smile of reassurance, “I am alright Captain.” She replied as she stopped gripping the armrests.

“Commander Torath is hailing us, sir” Ritru spoke up from her console.

“On screen,” she replied to see that the face of Torath replaced the view screen.

“Captain, as the two ships were leaving, it looked like one made a quick stop at the planet before warping out,” Torath replied which caused both Nivela and Azras to look at each other for a brief moment before looking back at Torath.

Azras had a bad feeling about that, “can you send some officers down to the planet to assist our people?” Azras asked as she looked at him, she had a feeling that they were about to have some problems down there.

“Of course,” Torath responded. “In the meantime, I will have our engineers begin work on those defense grids immediately,” Torath replied before the communications channel ended.

“Saratoga to Commander T’Prel,” Azras said.

“Go ahead Captain,” T’Prel responded wondering what was up.

Azras explains the current situation that had just transpired, “both the Saratoga and IRW Aldore will be sending security teams down to the planet. Inform Lieutenant Holman to work with them to secure all major areas and to stop these Orions from doing any more damage.” Azras ordered.

“Understood, we will keep you updated on the situation,” T’Prel replied before ending the comm channel.

“How long before we get our sensors back online?” Azras asked as she turned towards Jeesa.

“I am hoping by the end of the day,” Jeesa replied as she would need C’Riia’s help as nothing she was doing was working. “I’ll keep you informed sir,” Jeesa said just as the doors to the turbolift opened to reveal C’Riia who walked over to where Jeesa was sitting.

“Very well,” she said as she looked at Deza. “You have the bridge,” she replied as she stood up from her chair motioning for Nivela to follow her into her ready room. She needed to file a report as well as read any damage reports still coming in.

“Do you think that was a calculated move?” Nivela asked as she took a seat at one of the chairs that were in front of her desk.

Azras moved around her desk and sat down in her chair, “I do.” She responded with a pause, “if it wasn’t for the Aldore we probably wouldn’t have known they had beamed anyone down until it was too late.” Azras said with a sigh, she knew that things would be hectic and nothing would ever go as planned. They just needed to adapt and move forward.

“We will just have to be more prepared for next time,” she replied as they knew that there was only a matter of time before the Star Navy would show their face. They continued to talk while Azras began to review the damage reports. The only thing they seemed to have targeted was their sensor array, the rest was minor cosmetic damages that could easily be repaired.

Located just east of the settlement was a large field that had once been used to grow food for the people that lived there. In the last couple of years, the soil had begun to turn toxic though many believe it was deliberately tampered with. A group of Orions beamed down in hopes they were not seen, thinking that their plan was foolproof though unbeknownst that they were caught beaming down by the Aldore.

Tolev was a younger inexperienced officer, not having that much experience with raids had looked around. “That was a little bit too easy,” he replied as they stood there for a moment getting their bearings.

Hiru, the leader of the group, looked at the young Orion letting out a laugh. “I wouldn’t call that easy, they weren’t giving us all that ship is capable of.” He replied looking at him, “that ship could have easily destroyed us both.” He said making a statement as he looked at Tolev.

Tasi, one of two Orion women in the group, gave Tolev a look that could kill, “the next time they might just do that,” she responded, rolling her eyes.

“Indeed,” Hiru replied.

The group began to move through the fields, Jiru looked at the others as they walked. “What is our plan?” She asked as she wasn’t a part of the original away team, as she was just thrown in after the other one was injured in the firefight aboard the ship.

Hiru stopped dead in his tracks and turned towards Jiru, he was going to chastise her then realized she wasn’t a part of the original away team. She wasn’t aware of what their plan was, Hiru turned back and began to walk again as he began to explain. “Our orders are to sabotage Starfleet, rendering them assistance, and to show these people that their only hope is to return to the Star Empire.” Hiru explained, “show them that Starfleet can’t protect them, only they can.” He added as he knew that in a couple of days the IRW Audax would be arriving in the system.

“That sounds simple enough,” Jiru replied.

Taren looked at them, he knew what Starfleet was capable of as he has had many run-ins with them over the years. “I wouldn’t underestimate them,” Taren warned as they walked.

Hiru let out a laugh as he was still thinking they had fooled them, that the Aldore hadn’t picked up their transporter signals or that both ships had sent teams down to the planet. “We have nothing to worry about, they don’t even know we are here.” He replied looking back at the others.

“Whatever you say, boss,” Taren said as he rolled his eyes as they kept walking towards their destination, which happened to be the refineries. They needed to destroy the rest of them that they had missed the last time they were there. In their mind, with those out of the way, the rest would be easy or so they thought.

Meanwhile, Talmir and his security team from the Aldore had beamed down just outside of the refineries. They felt that it was the best place so there wouldn’t be any misunderstandings among the locals about their intentions and which side they were on. Wanting to focus on getting the Orions taken care of before more damage is done.

A few moments later Lieutenant Holman arrived with his security team, “thank you for agreeing to assist us.” Brian said, looking at them before extending his hand towards Talmir, “Lieutenant Holman Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer on board the Saratoga.” He introduced himself to get the formalities out of the way.

“Of course,” replied Talmir as he stood there for a moment before taking the hand that was offered. “Centurian Talmir Security Chief on board the Aldore, though you can just call me Talmir.” He replied as he as well as everyone aboard the ship had denounced the Star Empire.

“What is our plan?” Talmir asked now that the pleasantries were concluded.

“According to our scans, they had beamed in over in the fields that are located on the east side of the settlement.” Brian began as he looked at everyone, “they seemed to be heading directly this way.” He finished looking at Talmir as well as the others in the group.

Talmir shook his head as he thought that was something typical of pirates. “That is typical of them to go for what is considered important, the rest will be easy.” He replied with a sigh as he had seen this tactic done way too many times in his career. He was also forced to do that same tactic by the Star Navy, which sickened him to even think about it.

Located near the west side of the refineries was a long wall with an entrance that Lieutenant Holman deduced they would enter to not draw the attention of the locals. The height of the walls would conceal them for that element of surprise.

Holman noticed that there was about a handful of Remans working on the refineries making sure that the remaining ones remained operational. Holman made his way over to where they were located and requested that they leave the area until it was secured as he didn’t want any civilians injured from stray phaser fire.

Once the workers had left the area he made his way back to the team. “Since they will more than likely come through that entrance,” he replied pointing in the direction where it was located. “Talmir and I will remain here at the entrance, while the rest of you will spread out behind the refineries to help block them in one area when the shooting starts,” Holman said as Talmir nodded in agreement.

“My Captain would like them alive for questioning so please set your phasers to stun,” Holman replied.

“Understood,” Talmir replied.

“Any questions?” Brian asked as he looked at everyone who just shook their heads, they understood the assignment. “Alright get to your places they should be here any moment,” Brian ordered as they all went to where they were ordered to go, as Brian and Talmir stayed close to the entrance one on each side.

After what seemed like an eternity which in reality was only a few minutes before they began to hear voices approaching their location. Brian held up a finger to his mouth to signify silence, weapons were already waiting for them to come through the entrance. “Take down anyone who gets in our way,” Hiru ordered as they were about to go through the entrance.

The others nodded as they entered the area not realizing they had company waiting for them. They had made their way in before they realized they were even there, “stand down!” Brian ordered as their weapons were trained on the intruders.

“Shit,” Hiru said in a state of shock before they began to open fire as they tried to run for cover.

“I thought you said they wouldn’t know we were here?” Jiru said firing at the Starfleet and Romulan officers. “Our plan wasn’t foolproof now was it?” She added in annoyance at their leader.

“Just shut up,” Hiru replied as he realized his plan had backfired.

There had been a constant exchange of fire between them, “we have you outnumbered and outgunned. I suggest you surrender now while you still can,” Brian replied as they started to advance in their direction.

“I’d rather die than be captured by the likes of you Starfleet!” Hiru replied as he opened fire again, hitting a Romulan officer in the leg.

“Oh that can be arranged,” Holman bluffed as they continued to engage in weapons fire until Hiru was the last one standing. “Looks like it’s just you, are you ready to give up yet?” Brian asked as he was closing in.

Hiru let out a loud laugh as he looked around to see if he could find a way to escape, though he knew he wouldn’t be able to leave the planet. Once he found an exit he began to make a run for it, though, in the end, he didn’t get very far before he was shot. He let out a loud moan before he hit the ground unconscious.

“They sure did put up a fight,” Brian replied as he took a deep breath.

“Indeed they did,” Talmir commented before turning away from the group. “I am going to go check on the wounded,” he replied before he disappeared.

“Lieutenant Holman to Saratoga,” Brian said as she tapped his commbadge.

“Go ahead Lieutenant,” Dex replied over the comm channel.

“We have five Orions to be transported directly to the brig,” Holman reported.

“Great,” Dex replied as she looked at Dazra who had tapped a few buttons on her console to have them beamed directly to the brig. After a few moments, those five Orions that were laying in front of him disappeared.

Once they were gone he went to where Talmir was located, “sir we also have wounded personnel here that need to be transported directly to the infirmary from both sides.” Brian replied after getting a head count of those that were injured, though none of them with any serious injuries.

“Understood,” Azras replied as the injured began to be beamed directly to the Saratoga’s infirmary for treatment. “What is the status report?” Azras asked as she sat there in her chair.

“They were unsuccessful in their mission sir,” Brian replied as he explained everything that had taken place. “We were ready for them, catching them off guard.” Brian finished explaining as he stood there looking around. “Though I am unsure of what their plans truly entailed, though I am sure after some interrogation they may be more forthcoming.” He said as he stood there.

“Understood Lieutenant, Dex out,” Azras replied as she ended the communications channel.

The remaining officers from both sides met up with Brian, “Alright,” he began looking at them. “We will need to spread out our patrol of the area, I have a feeling we might be seeing more trouble soon. I would like to be prepared as next time we might not get so lucky on an advanced warning.” Holman said as the others nodded in agreement.

“Indeed,” Talmir agreed while standing there, “my team and I will patrol the outskirts of the settlement to not upset any of the locals. I am sure that the last thing they want to see right now is a bunch of Romulans.” He said as Brian nodded in agreement.

“I think that would be wise for the time being,” Brian said before taking a pause. “My team and I will patrol within the settlement,” he finally replied as Talmir and the others nodded.

“If there isn’t anything else you are all dismissed,” Brian said as each team went their separate ways to begin patrolling their designated areas. Standing there for a moment looking around, this could have gone a different way than it did. Brian had met up with the Remans that were working in the refineries, letting them know it was safe to return before he headed off towards the settlement with his team.

It was bright and early the next morning when at exactly 0500 hours Jheria’s alarm went off. Opening her eyes ever so slightly to glance at the time before shutting off the alarm, she let out a soft moan as she rolled over in the bed. She had worked late the previous night, so she didn’t get much sleep. Jheria slowly sat up in her bed, rubbing her hands over her face. She had about a couple of hours before she was due back on the moon.

Jheria had decided to sit on the edge of the bed just for a few more minutes before getting up. She would usually take this time in the morning to cook herself breakfast but since she had less time than she normally would, she would use the replicator this morning. She eventually made her way out of the bedroom, making her way into the kitchen where the replicator was located.

After being raised by human parents she grew to love a good breakfast of scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage, bacon, and toast. Though she enjoyed other foods from other cultures she decided to order what she had growing up with her family. After grabbing her plate from the replicator along with a hot cup of coffee she walked over to the table that was located in her dining room.

Normally she would go down to her office in engineering to read her reports, but she didn’t want to be bothered with a bunch of issues that C’Riia could resolve while she was busy. She downloaded the morning reports on a padd, walking back over to the table she would begin to read while she ate.

She had been impressed with how well Lieutenant C’Riia was handling engineering while both her and Lieutenant Commander Piyu were off ship assisting those on Rhijun. Nothing major had happened, they were able to get the sensors back online just hours ago after their run-in with the Orions.

After reading the reports she moved onto the duty roster, which had been updated due to their mission with many that were currently off the ship. She had signed off on the roster and sent it back to C’Riia with her approval.

She had set the padd down on the table after she finished reading all the morning reports, duty rosters, and other items. Once she finished her breakfast she picked up her dishes and brought them back to the replicator for recycling. Taking her cup of coffee she headed into the bathroom to take a shower.

After finishing her shower she walked out into the bedroom and quickly got dressed, looking at the time she headed out of her quarters and began to walk down the corridor towards the turbolift. “Shuttle bay one,” she replied after she entered the lift with the doors closing shut behind her.

After a few minutes, the lift came to a stop. Jheria exited the lift and began to move down the corridor towards where the shuttle bay was located. Several engineers were gathered around the shuttle bay entrance just talking amongst each other as they waited for the chief; they didn’t hear the doors open and Jheria walked in.

“Ready?” Jheria asked as she had walked up to them which seemed to have startled some of them as they seemed to almost jump out of their skin.

“Yes sir,” came their reply.

Jheria smiled as they began to file into the shuttle and began the job of preparing it to leave the ship. Once the preflight checks were complete she tapped her commbadge, “Jheria to bridge.” She replied as she waited on a response.

Azras had just walked onto the bridge when the call came in, “go ahead, Commander.” Azras replied as she sat down in her chair.

“We are ready to depart,” Jheria replied as the pilot had brought the shuttle online.

“You’re cleared for departure,” came Azras’ reply before the communication channel ended.

The pilot tapped a few consoles as the shuttle began to move out of the shuttle bay, heading back towards the moon. They all sat there in silence as they traveled as there wasn’t much to be said at the moment. After a while, they arrived at the moon and began to land the shuttle close by where the other team’s shuttle was located.

Once they exited the shuttle they began to walk down to where the other team was located. “Status report?” Jheria asked, looking at them.

“We just finished, everything is now ready for transport,” one of the engineers replied, looking at Jheria.

Jheria nodded, “thank you we will take over from here.” Jheria replied with a smile as they headed off back towards the shuttle that would lead them back to the ship. She knew that the transport would take a few hours to complete as she had to do them in sections, moving the enhancers to each of the locations.

“Commander Dilucca to Commander Piyu,” she said over the communication channel.

Piyu had been talking to the Reman engineers that were working at the refineries when the call came in. “Jaiett here,” came his reply.

“Are the transporter enhancers ready?” Jheria asked as she stood there looking around.

“They are,” Piyu simply replied.

“Great, we are ready to start transporting the equipment down to you.” She replied as she brought the enhancers online.

“Wonderful, we are ready whenever you are,” Piyu replied as his team plus a good handful of Remans were ready to move the equipment as they beamed down.

The next few hours were spent painstakingly transporting each different area down to the planet below. Things were going smoothly, with no significant hiccups that would cause even more delay. After they finished transporting the last of the equipment down to the planet, she took a good hard look around to see that the moon was now bare of anything once signified that it was used for mining.

Jheria then looked back at her team just as they were gathering the enhancers together to take back to the shuttle with them. “We will be going planetside to assist with getting those refineries repaired, it will take all of us to help,” Jheria said as the others just nodded as they all headed to the shuttle.

Once they were on board the shuttle they began to take off, leaving the moon behind and headed planetside. Jheria notified the Captain that they had finished things on the moon and were now headed down to the planet to assist with the repairs.

As they made their descent they had found a clearing next to where the refineries were located but were clear of the fields. After landing they exited the shuttle and noticed that Romulan security officers were patrolling the outskirts of the settlement. She knew that they were from the IRW Aldore so she wasn’t concerned about their presence.

They began to make their way to where Piyu Jaiett and the rest of the team were located. “So, what is our plan of attack to begin to get these repaired and online?” Jheria asked, looking at Piyu.

“A few of the Remans have agreed to assist with the repairs as they know the system more than we do, so I will let them fill us in on what they need us to do,” Piyu replied as Jheria nodded, walking over to those engineers. The repairs would take several days before they would be operational again.

The brig that was on board the Saratoga was rather large compared to other ships, it was split up into two different sections that contained a good number of cells in each section. Five interrogation rooms were attached to the brig, there was also a large office where security officers could keep an eye on the prisoners that they may have. Lately, the brig hadn’t been used much, that is until now.

They had been sitting in the brig for the last couple of days, just sitting with no one coming to interrogate them. Jiru was still sour at Hiru and his stupid plan backfiring looked at Hiru, “I am surprised they haven’t come to interrogate us yet.” She replied with a malicious tone in her voice.

Hiru was laying down on the very uncomfortable bed, though it was not made for your comfort. Turning his head towards where Jiru was sitting, “I am sure it’s coming.” Hiru replied before turning his head back up to the ceiling.

Jiru was about to speak up when Tasi stood up, walking as close as possible to the opening of the cell without touching the forcefield that was in place. “We wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for your carelessness,” Tasi replied just what Jiru had been thinking.

Hiru sat up from the bed he was laying on to look at Tasi, “how is this my fault?” Hiru asked, looking at her in annoyance.

“Are you that stupid?” Jiru chimed in, getting pissed off at his ignorance.

Tasi threw her hands up in the air at Hiru, “did you ever think about disabling the other ship that was clearly on their side, or did you think that they wouldn’t have picked up our transporter signal?” Tasi asked in almost a yell as she was getting pissed that they were even in this predicament.

Taren and Tolev just sat in their cell listening to the three of them go back and forth with each other. They had decided that they were doing a good enough job laying into their careless leader that they would stay out of it for the time being.

“I thought they were with the Star Empire,” Hiru replied.

“How stupid can you be Hiru,” Tasi began looking at him. “Seriously, they were firing on us, what makes you think they were with the Star Navy if they were firing on us?” Tasi added throwing her hands up in the air at his stupidity. She began to question his ability to lead them as their Captain.

Taren finally spoke up after remaining quiet, “Tasi does have a point there.” He replied, looking at Hiru.

Hiru threw his hands up in the air, “I thought they were making it look like they were on their side,” Hiru had admitted.

Jiru couldn’t help but laugh at his stupidity at the whole situation, “well it sure paid well for you to think.” She exclaimed as she continued to laugh. They continued to argue amongst each other not realizing that Dazra was in the office watching them.

She had purposely left them sitting in the brig for the last couple of days without any interrogations in hopes they would start turning on each other. She couldn’t believe her plan was working, so she decided to give it a few more minutes before she would start talking to them one by one.

While Dazra continued to watch the interaction between the prisoners her computer beeped. Raising an eyebrow she turned on the computer screen to see the Captain on the other end. “What can I do for you, Captain?” Dazra asked, looking at her, though she probably knew why she was contacting her.

“How are the interrogations coming?” Azras asked, looking at Dazra.

Dazra looked at the Captain with a smile, “my plan has been working so I am about to start the interrogations next.” Dazra said as she went on to explain what she was doing, “I am hoping one of them will turn on their leader and give me all the information I need to know.” Dazra finished speaking as she looked at Azras.

Azras thought it was a bit unusual, though she wasn’t going to start questioning now as things seemed to be going in the right direction. Dazra was known to have some very interesting interrogation techniques, though none of them ever crossed the line. “Keep me informed of your progress,” Azras said before she ended the communication.

A security officer had walked into the office, “can you bring Tasi to interrogation room one.” She ordered as she looked at him, she had learned each of their names as they were doing their intake as they had been wanted by Starfleet for other crimes, other than one of them which was the younger Orion.

“Aye sir,” came the reply as he walked out of the room.

Turning back around towards the screens, she watched as the security officer walked into the brig. He had walked up to where Tasi was located and began to move her towards the interrogation room. Dazra had planned to have her sit in there for a while before she went in, in hopes that she would talk.

A few moments went by before she got up from the chair she was sitting in and made her way into the room. Tasi was sitting in the chair just twiddling her thumbs as she waited, Dazra sat down in the chair opposite of her and began to look at a padd without saying a word.

Tasi looked at Dazra as the silence continued to fill the air, “I could have just stayed in my cell than sit here in silence.” Tasi replied, looking at the Trill woman sitting across from her.

Looking up from her padd, “oh you can talk.” Dazra said as she sat the padd down on the table, “Tasi tell me what was the plan and whose bright idea was it?” She asked, looking at the middle-aged Orion woman.

Silence had once again filled the room as Tasi refused to answer her questions, letting out a soft chuckle. “I guess the cat has got your tongue again, what a shame,” Dazra said as she picked up the padd again, beginning to read again. After a few more minutes of silence before Dazra set the padd down again, leaning forward. “That’s alright, if you don’t want to answer my questions then I am pretty sure the others will. I am sure they will say that you were the mastermind of this whole operation,” Dazra had said.

Tasi continued to sit there not saying a word, Dazra stood up from her chair and walked out of the interrogation room looking at the security officer that was standing just outside of the doors. “Take her back to her cell and bring me Jiru,” Dazra ordered as the officer nodded as Dazra walked off back to the security office.

Once Tasi was secure in her cell the security officer walked up to where Jiru was located. He escorted her out towards the interrogation room. Hiru turned towards Tasi, “what did you say?” Hiru asked, looking at the woman who sat down.

Tasi looked at Hiru, “I didn’t say anything.” She replied, looking at him.

“Right, you probably told them everything they needed to know!” Hiru exclaimed, this had caused Dazra to smile as she purposely kept her a bit longer than she would the others.

“I didn’t tell them anything!” Tasi yelled back in annoyance.

The two of them had continued to argue back and forth for a while before Dazra decided to go visit Jiru. Dazra would continue to interrogate the others, though she wasn’t getting anywhere with them which she expected.

The arguing had continued between the prisoners as Hiru began to sweat, though she wasn’t going to grab him just yet. There was one young officer she had a feeling would turn on them in an instant, she would just have to put a bit more pressure on him as he was the next one to be brought into the interrogation room for questioning.

She had walked in a few minutes later and taken a seat, she could tell he was scared. “Why don’t we just cut down to the chase, I know everything.” She replied even though it was a lie, she wanted him to sweat. “The others told me how you were the mastermind behind this whole thing,” Dazra said, looking at him with a serious look on her face.

Tolev was about to say something in response when Dazra held up her hand for a moment as she wasn’t finished speaking. “You seem to be the smarter one of the group, so I don’t believe that you were the leader in all this.” Dazra added, “If you don’t want to go down for this then I suggest you tell me everything you know.” She finally finished talking, she could tell he was scared.

Her tactic seemed to have worked as Tolev began to talk, “if I tell you all that I know will you protect me from them?” Tolev asked, looking at Dazra.

Dazra looked at him for a moment, “though you will have to answer for your part in all this, I will keep you safe from any repercussions from them.” She replied as she could tell he didn’t want to go along with this but was forced to.

Tolev sat there for a few minutes looking down at his feet before looking back up at Dazra. “Alright, I’ll tell you everything as I can’t go along with this anymore,” Tolev replied as he adjusted in his seat.

Dazra smiled as she looked at him, she tapped a button on the console next to her to start the recording. “You may begin,” she replied as she looked at him, reassuring him that it would all be alright.

Taking a deep breath he began to speak, “Hiru is the leader in all this,” he said looking at her. “We were hired by someone in the Star Empire, our orders were to try to sabotage your efforts in assisting those on Rhijun.” Tolev began to explain before pausing for a few moments. “The goal was to show them that their only hope of protection would be to return, that they would be the only ones who could protect them in the end,” Tolev said as he looked down for a moment trying to catch his thoughts.

“His plan started to go south as soon as we arrived,” Tolev said.

“How so?” Dazra asked, looking at him as she sat there listening to what he had to say.

“We never realized how large of a ship the Saratoga was, or that there would be another Romulan ship assisting you.” Tolev replied before he continued, “though Hiru at first thought they were on our side by making it look like they were on yours.” He said before looking down for a few moments.

Dazra placed a hand on him for a brief moment, “keep going.” She replied, looking at him.

“Once we were on the ground, the plan was to move towards the refineries destroying more of them before working our way into the settlement.” He replied, “though he was a bit arrogant thinking that his plan was foolproof, that no one would know we were there until it was too late.” Tolev said, taking a small pause, “when we reached our destination only to be met by your security teams.” He replied with a sigh.

“Is there anything else that we should know about?” She asked, wondering if there was more to the story.

Tolev had looked at the time, his eyes had gone big and his face turned a white color as he realized what time it was. “Oh no!” Tolev replied, which caused Dazra to get a bit nervous at that reaction. “The IRW Audex, a Valdore-class warbird will be here really doon to carry out their plan.” Tolev replied looking at her, “I am unaware of what that would be as we were not even told. We were supposed to be long gone before they arrived,” Tolev said, looking at her.

Dazra almost looked just as pale for a moment before she composed herself, “Is that all?” Dazra asked.

Tolev nodded, “that is everything I know.” He replied as he sat there.

Dazra began to stand up from her chair, “thank you I will have you moved to the other side of the brig as promised.” She replied before she walked out of the interrogation room. She had given the security officer the order to move him to the other brig before she headed to the office to send a message to T’Prel and the away team. She explained the situation on what she discovered and ordered all security personnel from both the settlement and the city on high alert. After sending the message she started to make a beeline for the bridge.

She had practically rushed onto the bridge as she looked at the Captain, “can we talk in your ready room?” Dazra asked which caused Azras to have a concerned look on her face as she knew that it was urgent.

“Of course,” she replied as they headed directly into the ready room.

Over the next few minutes, Dazra explained everything that she was told by Tolev. “The IRW Audax will be here any minute, I have already sent a message down to T’Prel letting her know the situation and to have security on high alert.” Dazra finished speaking as she looked at the Captain.

Azras was about to speak when all of a sudden the red alert klaxon began to sound throughout the ship. “Captain to the bridge,” came Odan’s voice over the communications channel.

The two looked at each other for a moment, “well it looks like they are here,” Azras replied before they headed out onto the bridge.

“Report,” Azras replied.

“A Valdore-class warbird just dropped out of warp,” Odan replied before he continued, “they are not responding to our hails and their weapons are hot,” Odan replied from his console just as Dazra walked around to hers.

Azras looked at Ritru, “send a message to the Aldore, let them know not to engage.” Azras ordered.

“Aye sir,” she said as she sent the message.

Once the message was sent, “open a channel to the Romulan ship.” Azras ordered looking over at Ritru.

“This is Captain Azras Dex of the Federation starship USS Saratoga, Rhijan is under our protection please identify yourself,” Azras said as there was a long bit of silence as they waited for a response.

After a few moments, the viewscreen came to life to show a much older Romulan man on the other end. Ritru happened to look over just as he appeared and her face went pure white as if she had seen a ghost.

“I am Commander Jiras of the IRW Audax,” he began as he noticed Ritru sitting at her console. He didn’t say anything at the moment but instead turned his attention back to the Captain.

“I would like to request a meeting between us,” Jiras said as he looked at Azras.

Raising an eyebrow she looked over at Ritru, giving her the signal to mute the screen. “Sir, they took their weapons offline and are standing down at the moment.” Dazra said as she looked at her, “I would proceed with caution sir.” Dazra said, looking at the Captain.

“Stand down to yellow alert,” Azras ordered.

“Aye sir,” Dazra replied as the ship stood down.

Azras looked back to Ritru, she gave the signal and the viewscreen came back to life. “Apologies Commander, we accept your request and will meet you in the transporter room shortly,” Azras replied as she looked at him.

“I look forward to meeting with you Captain,” Jiras said before the viewscreen went back to that of space.

Taking a deep breath before looking back at Dazra, “I would like you and a few security officers to meet me down in transporter room one.” Azras ordered.

“Aye sir,” Dazra answered and walked off the bridge.

“Ritru and Mezril I would like you to meet me in the diplomatic conference room,” Azras ordered, looking at Ritru than at Mezril who happened to be on the bridge at the time.

“Aye sir,” they both replied.

“Odan keep me apprised of any changes,” Azras ordered.

“Understood sir,” Odan replied.

She finally turned to Deza, “you have the bridge.” Azras said as she headed towards the turbolift.

“Aye sir,” Deza replied before getting up from her seat and sitting down in the Captain’s chair.

She took a deep breath as she stood there for a moment, she knew this meeting wasn’t going to lead anywhere. She knew she would need to entertain the idea, she just had a bad feeling about this whole situation. She was thankful for Dazra’s quick thinking about warning those on the planet so they wouldn’t be caught off guard. Once she entered the turbolift she gave her destination as the doors closed shut behind her and began to move towards its destination. 

There had been a change in plans. Instead of going to the transporter room, she made her way down the corridor toward the diplomatic conference room. There was something about Ritru’s reaction on the bridge when she saw the Romulan Commander that nagged at her. They had about twenty minutes to talk before their guests were to arrive. Walking in she noticed Ritru standing by the window looking out before she turned to see who had entered.

Ritru walked back to her seat after noticing it was only the Captain, “we have some time before they arrive.” Azras began as she was trying to buy some time to gather information on their guests. “I noticed your reaction on the bridge rather like you had seen a ghost,” Azras commented, looking at her with concern as she took her seat.

Ritru sat there for a moment as she looked at Azras, she hoped she hadn’t seen that reaction, Letting out a loud sigh before speaking. “I know him,” Ritru responded before taking a moment to look down. “Unfortunately he is my uncle,” Ritru responded as she looked back up at the Captain.

Mezril looked at the two, “do you need me to step out for a moment while you two talk?” He asked as he stood up, not wanting to feel that he was intruding on what could be a private conversation.

“No, as you will probably want to hear this as well,” Ritru said as she looked up at him, he simply nodded before sitting back down to listen to what Ritru had to say.

Azras raised an eyebrow at that confession, “what can you tell me about him?” Azras asked as she wanted to get an idea of who this Jiras person was as well as what they would be dealing with once they arrived. 

Ritru sat there in silence for a few moments to collect her thoughts, taking a deep breath as she looked up at the Captain. “He was my mother’s brother, they never did see eye to eye on a lot of things. Mainly due to his choices that she didn’t agree with, nothing ever came of his visits other than fighting. I don’t consider him family,” Ritru responded as she looked at both of them. “When I was growing up and up to the supernova he was a part of the Tal Shiar, he is ruthless and will kill to get what he wants,” Ritru explained what she could remember about him.

“What I don’t understand is why he is in the Star Navy,” Ritru commented as she was confused as to which side he was on.

Azras was about to speak when Mezril spoke up instead, “could he still be a part of the Tal Shiar and be undercover within the Star Empire?” He asked as he looked at her with curiosity.

Looking over at him, “I wouldn’t put it past him if he was, for all we know he could have helped with the coup on Rator III.” Ritru responded as she shifted in her seat, “he wants power and he will do anything to get it. I also have suspicions that he had something to do with my parent’s death during our evacuation from Romulus. Though I don’t have any proof, I wouldn’t put it past him.” Ritru finished speaking before letting out a huge sigh.

Azras nodded, “what precautions should we take?” She asked.

“He will more than likely have at least two security officers with him, I would suggest having Dazra and another security officer in here as well as two standing outside.” Ritru began as she shifted in her seat. “If he feels he has the upper hand and things don’t go the way he wants he will use that to his advantage,” Ritru replied.

“Will you be alright sitting in with this meeting?” Azras asked as she finished sending Dazra the needed information on some changes, and that they were ready for their guests to arrive.

“I’ll be right,” she sat there.

“Alright,” Azras said as she stood up from her chair. “If I am to make this look like I took time to prepare for his arrival, I would like to know what he likes to drink?” Azras asked as she looked at her with a smirk on her face.

Ritru sat there for a few moments trying to recall what he would drink, she got up from her chair and walked over to the replicator. She began to type in what she remembered, though things could have easily changed over the years and this would be a mute attempt at hospitality.

Ritru had just set the cup down on the table when the doors opened to reveal Jiras followed his two security officers just as she predicted. Dazra as well as another security officer were right behind them as they entered. The remaining two officers stood outside of the door as it closed behind them.

“Commander Jiras, welcome aboard the Saratoga,” Azras said as she motioned for the chair across from her. “This is Lieutenant Commander Ritru our Chief Communications Officer, and Commander Merzil Zelar our Chief Diplomatic Officer.” Azras began with introductions as she took a seat.

Jiras looked at the two other officers but ignored them, “let’s forgo these unnecessary pleasantries and get right down to business.” Jiras replied as he looked annoyed that he was even here.

Azras looked at her officers as she smiled at Jiras, “I think that would be an excellent idea.” Azras replied, she could begin to see what Ritru was talking about with only a few moments they had been in the same room. She knew this meeting was just a farce and it wouldn’t last long.

“You are in direct violation of the Treaty of Algeron, you are to leave this system immediately as this system belongs to the Star Empire,” Jiras said as he leaned back in his chair crossing his arms over his chest.

Mezril held up his hand waving it as if to dismiss his claim, “the Federation doesn’t recognize this new government on Rator III.” Mezril replied looking at him with a serious look on his face, “they requested our assistance with protection and humanitarian aid and will tend to provide that.” Mezril said as he could tell that he had hit a nerve with Jiras.

“You think you can protect these people when you can’t even protect them from those pirate raids?” Jiras asked as he started laughing which caused the others to look at him with raised eyebrows.

Dazra stepped forward towards the console on the wall looking at Azras, “may I?” she asked looking at Azras who gave her a simple nod.

She turned on the viewscreen that was in front of them, “oh you mean them?” Dazra asked as she showed the four out of the five members. This caused Jiras’s expression to change rather quickly. “As you can see they didn’t do a very good job and were caught before they were able to carry out your orders,” Dazra replied as she turned the screen off.

“What are you talking about?” Jiras asked as Ritru could tell he was trying to be deceitful which was quickly backfiring.

“Let’s just say they sang like songbirds,” Dazra replied.

Jiras slammed his hands on the table which caused Dazra and her two security officers to unholster their weapons pointing them straight at him. “How dare you accuse me of having anything to do with that!” Jiras exclaimed as he pointed toward the screen that had shown the prisoners.

Just as Jiras and his security officers drew their weapons the doors opened to reveal three more security officers pointing their weapons at their backs. “I wouldn’t dare try that,” Dazra replied. 

They decided to put their weapons away as he realized that he didn’t have the upper hand this time. “All well, since you’re all going to die anyway might as well tell you the truth Ritru,” Jiras said with a callous smile on his face.

“What would that be?” Ritru asked, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

He leaned in as close to Ritru as he could, “I am the one who ordered that Romulan officer to kill your parents. If it wasn’t for that Starfleet Officer getting in the way, you and your little sister would have been killed as well.” Jiras said, looking at her.

“Before you leave, answer this one question, why?” She asked as she was trying to keep her anger under control.

“I would ask yourself that question my dear,” Jiras replied. “Though if you have to know you sealed their fate once you joined Starfleet, the timing just happened to be perfect.” He replied as he shrugged it off like it was nothing, he would kill his own family. That is how evil this man was. “You’re a traitor,” Jiras spat.

“The Star Empire is the only one who can protect them, so be prepared to die!” Jiras exclaimed before tapping his commbadge and a few moments later they all disappeared. They looked around the room as the ship must have kept a transporter lock on them.

“Well that sure went over well,” Mezril commented in a sarcastic tone as they all ran out of the conference room and headed up towards the bridge. After a few moments, they finally arrived on the bridge.

“Report?” Azras asked, looking over at Odan as the others made their way to their stations.

“We have just picked up transporter signals from the Audex down to the planet, it seems they are going to attempt to retake Rhijun,” Odan replied as he looked up at the Captain.

“Sir, they have locked weapons on both the Aldore and us,” Dazra said, looking at the Captain.

“Battlestations,” Azras replied as the ship went into red alert, weapons powered up.

It had been only a couple of days since the Orions made their appearance, and things seemed to be settling down. The engineering crew along with some Remans were making progress on repairing the refineries. The buildings were in the mists of being repaired or completely rebuilt giving the residents a new place to call home. They still had a long way to go, they planned on remaining as long as was needed to make sure they were ready to stand alone.

There was one problem now that stood in that way, that was the arrival of the IRW Audax. Thanks to Commander Loian and her interrogation techniques they were able to get a warning. This gave them a leg up on preparation, though they knew Captain Dex would only be able to stall them for so long.

After making sure the settlement was prepared they beamed directly to the Governor’s palace to talk with Javik as well as the others. Walking into the building they had made their way towards where Javik’s office was located. Upon arrival, they were greeted with a smile by Nivela who led them in. Walking in they both came before Javik, who had at the time been looking out the window for a brief moment. Though his eyes were sensitive to the light, he always liked to take a brief moment to gaze out. 

When Javik turned around he could tell that this wasn’t a social call, something was going on that concerned him. “I take it this is more than just a social call,” Javik commented as he made his way back to the desk that sat near the northeast corner of the room.

Just as the two of them took their seats Nivela was about to walk out before Brian stopped her, “you will want to stay for this.” Brian replied, which caused concern in her eyes before she turned back to sit in one of the other empty chairs that were located to the right of the desk.

Nivela was about to speak when the doors parted to reveal Ovisek, whom she was going to ask if his presence was needed. “What’s going on?” Ovisek asked as he took the seat next to Nivela.

“We are about to find out,” Javik replied.

Looking between the three he took a moment to collect his thoughts before speaking, “we had captured those five Orion pirates that had attempted to thot our assistance here on Rhijun.” Brian began as the others listened intently to what was being said. “The interrogations of the prisoners, not everyone was willing to talk,” Brian said.

“So we are no closer to answers than we were before? You came here just to tell us that?” Ovisek asked as he looked annoyed that they would come all this way just to tell them that.

Holding up his hand as to tell him that he wasn’t finished speaking, “actually quite the opposite.” Brian replied, which caused an eyebrow raise from him, “there was a younger Orion that had been a part of the group, he had decided to tell us everything.” He replied as the others looked shocked at the revelation.

“What did you find out?” Javik asked, looking at Brian, Talmir remained quiet for the time being as they talked.

Brian had begun to explain everything that Tolev had told them, “the IRW Audex has arrived within the system.” Brian finished explaining, “right now Captain Dex has invited Commander Jiras on board the Saratoga to begin negotiations, though I think that will be fruitless. In the end, she is trying to buy us some time before they begin to beam down to try and retake Rhijun by force.” Brian replied, looking at the others in the room.

“Do you have a plan?” Javik asked.

Talmir, after remaining quiet for most of the meeting, finally spoke up. “They will more than likely try to beam directly within the palace, which is where they will try to secure and take control by force.” Talmir began to talk, with his experience within the Navy he knew all the tactics they would use to try and take control of a planet. “In doing this, they believe that the rest will become easy and everyone else will fall back in line,” Talmir replied as he explained what he believes will take place.

“How do you plan to stop that from happening?” Ovisek asked, looking at Talmir.

“I have modified some transporter inhibitors that I will be placing within the palace that they can’t even penetrate,” Talmir replied looking at Ovisek who just nodded as it seemed to set him at ease a bit. “In doing so they will have no choice but to beam outside, which we will be waiting for them,” Talmir replied as he adjusted in his seat.

“We have already gotten the settlement ready, though we don’t expect the strike force to go there. We want to be prepared just in case.” Brian spoke up, “this is so we can have a majority of our combined forces here.” He finished speaking looking at the three of them.

“Can’t you contact your ship to send more officers?” Ovisek asked, looking at him.

“Unfortunately we can’t as soon as they entered the system they started jamming any type of communications off-planet,” Talmir spoke up as he had already tried contacting his ship to no avail.

As they stood up from the chairs they had been sitting in, “I would suggest that you three stay here, we will take care of the rest.” Brian said as he believed it wouldn’t be a good idea to have them join in the fight. If they were to get injured or even killed it would cause problems in and of itself.

Ovisek was about to protest when Javik raised his hand to stop him, looking at his younger brother who he knew wanted to join in the fight. “They are correct Ovisek, let them do their jobs.” Javik replied which made him sulk out of the room while the two looked at each other for a brief moment before looking back at Javik.

“Once we are outside, place the palace on lockdown.” Brian began to speak as they made their way to the door, “I will let you know when the situation is over.” He added as Javik nodded before they both left the office heading outside. They knew they were running out of time, there was only so much Azras could do to stall them.

Once they made sure their men were where they needed to be they too took their places near the entrance of the palace. Just as they readied their weapons they heard the sounds of transports, just as they predicted would happen.

A Star Navy officer that was holding a disrupter looked around, something seemed off about everything. Raising an eyebrow he looked to his superior, “do you find this a bit odd?” He asked, looking at him.

“What do you mean odd?” The officer asked as they stood there for a moment.

He looked at him for a moment, “are you blind? Do you not find it odd that we were not able to beam directly into the building? That there is no one around?” He asked motioning with his hand as the one began to look around him as they walked on.

“I think you are just overthinking things, how could they possibly know we are here when Jiras jammed all communications once we entered the system?” The leader asked, looking at the officer.

Thinking about what he just said, “I guess you’re right.” He replied as they continued to move towards the door as the others had split off upon arrival to cover all exits.

As they reached the entrance to the palace the security detail stood up pointing their weapons at the intruders. “I would suggest that you drop your weapons and surrender, we have you outnumbered and outgunned,” Talmir ordered, which caused them to turn around and begin to fire their weapons in their directions.

The officer leaned in towards the leader and whispered, “I told you this seemed odd.” He replied which caused the other one to glare at him as for once he was right for a change.

The Romulan officer laughed as he thought that was a funny joke, “the only ones that are going to die today are you and your Starfleet goons. Rhijun will return to the Star Empire by force if necessary.” He exclaimed as they began to fire in the direction of where they were as they tried to take cover.

All that could be heard for a while was the sounds of disrupter fire going back and forth between both parties. As Brian was about to move forwards to gain ground on the enemy when out of the corner of his eye he noticed Ovisek barge out of the palace and began firing. “Seriously…” Brian exclaimed loudly which caused Talmir to look over and give a facepalm.

“That man is stubborn as hell,” Talmir said as he began to return fire moving towards Ovisek to try to grab him when one of the Romulans made a shot, hitting him in the mid-shoulder causing him to drop to the ground. “Dammit, cover me,” Talmir said with annoyance in his voice.

Brian had gotten into position, he began to rapidly fire in the direction of the enemy as Talmir began to make his way over to where Ovisek was laying. Grabbing him he began to drag him back to where they were taking cover. While Holman kept supplying cover fire, hitting a few of them in return.

Talmir’s combat medic happened to be close by and began to work on saving Ovisek, though after some investigation his injuries were not life-threatening. “Do you ever just listen for once?” Talmir said as he looked at Ovisek with an annoyed look on his face as he talked. “You could have gotten yourself killed with that stupid stunt,” he added.

“I am not one to sit on the sidelines,” Ovisek said as he coughed.

Talmir looked at him, letting out a long sigh before replying. “Trust me I understand that, I do but one thing to remember is that these people here need their leaders alive,” Talmir said, holding up a hand to stop him from interrupting what he had to say. “If you all were killed that would mean they,” he began pointing in the direction of where the Star Navy strike force was located. “Win and all that you fought for will have gone down the drain,” Talmir finished before turning around to begin firing again.

Ovisek never thought of it that way before, “you are very wise.” Ovisek replied, “I should have listened and I apologize for my stubbornness.” Ovisek said, which caused Talmir to look at him for a brief moment and nod in return. The fight continued for about twenty more minutes before the enemy was neutralized. The team began to secure the area to make sure no one else was hiding waiting to strike when they least expected it.

Once satisfied Brian tapped his commbadge, “Lieutenant Holman to Commander T’Prel.” Brian said as he stood there waiting for a response.

“Go ahead,” T’Prel replied.

“The area here has been secured, did any of the strike force make it your way?” Brian asked, looking around as the officers made their way back to them. Some had been wounded but nothing seemed too serious.

“No,” T’Prel responded.

Brian let out a huge sigh of relief as it meant that Talmir’s predictions were correct and that they planned to secure the palace before moving on. “That is good news,” Brian responded as T’Prel could tell the relief that came from the tone of his voice. “I do have a request,” Brian said as he looked around.

“What would that be Lieutenant?” T’Prel asked.

“We have some wounded here, could you send Telia and a medical team over?” Brian asked as he looked over at Ovisek and the others the medic was trying to help with. He was only able to do so much as he wasn’t a doctor.

“Understood,” T’Prel replied before the comm channel ended. A few moments later, Telia and a couple of medical officers arrived to assist. They decided to move them within the palace as there was a medical facility within which they could use to treat them. After assisting in moving the wounded both Brian and Talmir headed toward the Governor’s office. Upon entering they noticed that Nivela was pacing back and forth while Javik tried to pass the time with some light reading.

Nivela stopped pacing as soon as she heard the doors open, “have you seen Ovisek?” She asked as she looked panicked when she couldn’t find him after he had stormed out of the office earlier during their meeting.

“He decided that he wasn’t going to listen to our words of advice and play hero, which got himself shot,” Talmir said which caused Javik to look up and Nivela to almost break out in tears thinking the worst had happened. “He is alright, he and the other wounded are being treated in your medical facility here within the palace by Saratoga’s medical team,” Talmir said, reassuring them both that he was alright and would survive.

“Oh good,” Nivela replied as she plopped down into a chair that was next to her.

“I take it the threat has been taken care of?” Javik asked, looking at them both.

“Yes,” Brian replied.

“They only focused on the palace, which I had a feeling they would as it seems to be their go-to method.” Talmir said looking at them, “right now we are working on cleaning up before heading back out to patrol the area, to make sure that there were no stragglers that might be hanging around.” Talmir added as they stood there.

“Wonderful,” Javik replied.

“We will be leaving the transporter inhibitors in place until we hear from the Saratoga, don’t want to take a chance of anyone else beaming down,” Brian replied as she shifted on his feet. 

“Smart,” Nivela replied.

“We will have a couple of guards at each entrance,” Talmir said.

“Thank you,” Javik replied as things were beginning to look up for them. They knew that they were not perfect and that everyone had their flaws. The crew of the Saratoga had stepped up to help them when they needed it the most, and for that, he owed them his life.

Talmir handed Javik a communicator, “we still have local comms so if you need anything please contact us.” Talmir said before they headed out of the palace, once the area was cleaned up they began to patrol the areas between the city and the settlement.

“Direct hit off our port bow,” Dazra said as the Saratoga rocked hard with that last hit from the Audex. “Sheilds are holding at seventy-five percent,” Dazra added as the ship came about continuously firing on the Audex.

“Sir, the Aldore has been disabled and the Audex has seemed to have turned its attention on them.” Odan said looking at Azras with concern on his face, “if they get hit in the right spot they will be destroyed.” He replied.

“Deza, bring us between them,” Azras ordered.

“Bringing us about sir,” Deza replied tapping a few buttons on her console as the ship began to maneuver between the two ships. Dazra took the cue to begin to fire weapons upon the Audex. This was not before the Saratoga was hit with torpedos meant for the Aldore, causing a console to explode sending an officer flying backward.

“Shields are down to sixty percent,” Odan reported.

Dazra began to scan the Aldore to see how badly damaged they were, “sir the Aldore has sustained heavy damage, their shields are down to forty percent.” Dazra spoke up from her console as they continued the firefight between them and the other ship. Medical had arrived to assist with treating those with minor injuries.

The ship rocked again from another direct hit, which caused Azras to go flying into a console hitting her head. Mezril stood up from the chair that he was sitting in to assist the Captain, helping her up. “Are you alright sir?” He asked as she got up from the ground and sat down in her chair. “Sir, your bleeding,” Mezril said.

Azras brought her hand up to her head, she could feel the blood on her head as it was now on her hand. “I’ll be alright,” Azras said just as a medical officer walked up. He began to scan her to make sure there was no damage that they couldn’t see, once satisfied he took a dermal regenerator and began to heal the cut that was on her forehead.

Odan looked up from his console as two ships dropped out of warp, “sir two Romulan ships just dropped out of warp,” he said which caused her to look up to see two Malem-class ships.

“Wait those are Republic ships,” Azras commented.

“They are targeting the Audex sir,” Dazra said as she looked up from her console.

Azras slumped back in her chair letting out a sigh of relief, she was glad that they were on their side. Though the fighting would continue for a few more minutes until the Audex took one last hit causing significant damage to their systems. “The Audex is hailing us, sir,” Ritru said as she looked at Azras.

“Onscreen,” Azras replied.

The viewscreen changed a moment later to that of a man, behind him you could see officers trying to put out fires as their fire suppression system was damaged. Azras raised an eyebrow as she knew this wasn’t Jiras, “Where is Commander Jiras?” Azras asked as she looked at the man whom she assumed was the first officer.

“Commander Jiras was killed in that last attack,” Jovek said as he looked battered by the fight. “I am Sub-Commander Jovek the First Officer of the Audex.” Jovek introduced himself looking at Azras before taking a moment to look at Ritru.

Ritru was internally screaming hallelujah, though externally she pretended to look concerned even though she wasn’t sad about the news. To her, he got what he deserved and she was happy that karma had finally caught up to him.

“Jiras was a fool, you can have this system.” Jovek said looking at the Captain, “It’s not worth dying over.” Jovek said before he cut the transmission and the Audex warped out which caused Azras to raise an eyebrow before looking at everyone else within the room.

“You alright Ritru?” Azras asked as she looked at her communications officer.

“I am now,” Ritru admitted as she looked at Azras before turning back to her console to see it beep. “Sir, we are being hailed by the R.R.W. Acharis,” Ritru said as she looked back over at Azras.

“Onscreen,” Azras ordered.

The screen changed from its normal view of space to what looked like a middle-aged woman on the other end. “Sorry we are late,” Latana replied with a smile. “I am Commander Latana a representative of the Romulan Republic,” she said as she looked at Azras.

“Perfect timing,” Azras replied with a smile. “I am Captain Azras Dex, Commanding Officer of the USS Saratoga.” She introduced herself before she stood up from her chair, “how can we be of help Commander?” Azras asked.

“We would like to request a diplomatic meeting,” Latana began which caused Azras to look at Mezril before turning back to face Latana. “It would be between the Republic, Starfleet, and the leaders of Rhijun,” she requested as she stood there in front of her chair.

She had a feeling about what this would be about, she was not against the idea either. “I believe we can make that happen, give me about a couple of hours to get things set up over here,” Azras replied before she sat down in her chair for a brief moment.

“That is agreeable,” Latana replied.

“Wonderful,” Azras replied with a smile. “We will be in contact with you as soon as we are ready,” Azras added as she looked at the Romulan woman on the other end of the screen.

Latana nodded before she turned her head around, signaling to her communications officer to end the transmission. Soon after the screen went back to the image of space and the planet below, Azras sat there for a moment as the bridge was in utter silence.

After a few moments of silence, she looked over to where Ritru was sitting. “Send a message to both Commanders T’Prel and Dilucca requesting that they return to the Saratoga,” Azras ordered before she stood up from her chair.

“Aye sir,” Ritru responded. 

After the confirmation that Ritru sent the message, she looked at both her and Mezril. “I would like the both of you to prepare the diplomatic wing for our guests, this includes the conference room and guest quarters,” Azras said as she looked at both of them.

“Understood,” Mezril said as Ritru nodded in response to the orders. They both got up from their chairs, walking off the bridge into the turbolift.

Azras then turned to Deza who was sitting at the helm, “Deza you have the bridge.” Azras replied before she walked to her ready room, instead of going straight for her desk she walked over to the window. She began to look out, staring at the view of the planet below them. She began to think about everything that has happened since they arrived within the system.

A few moments passed by before she took a deep breath, slowly letting it out she walked to her desk and plopped down into her chair. Azras began to stare at her computer screen for a moment before she turned it on to send a message to Javik, informing them of the meeting onboard the Saratoga.

Picking up a padd that was on her desk, she began to read the damage reports that had been coming in. She let out a sigh of relief as everything seemed to be minor, though it will take a couple of days to repair. It was not like they were going to go anywhere anytime soon, they still had work to do.

As she was reading the reports that kept coming in, the door chime to her office went off which caused her to look up from what she was reading. “Enter,” Azras replied as the doors parted to reveal T’Prel on the other end. “Please come in Commander,” she said as she motioned for one of the open chairs in front of her desk.

“You requested my presence Captain?” T’Prel asked as she walked into the room taking the offered chair.

“How are things going planetside?” Azras asked looking at her, though this isn’t why she was called to return to the ship she wanted to know how things were progressing.

“Things are progressing well, though we have had a couple of minor setbacks though overall we should be set within a week or so.” T’Prel replied looking at her, “I hope you didn’t bring me up here just to get a status report?” T’Prel questioned.

Azras stood up from her chair, walking over to the replicator to get herself a cup of coffee. “No actually,” she said as she grabbed her cup of coffee before returning to her chair. “We will be hosting a diplomatic meeting between the Republic, the leaders of Rhijun, and us here on the Saratoga,” Azras said as she took a sip of her drink.

“Mezril and Ritru are currently getting our diplomatic wing prepared as we speak, I believe this type of meeting will require both of us.” Azras said as she looked at her,” it will begin in about two hours.” Azras finished speaking.

“Understood,” T’Prel simply said as they continued to spend the next while talking about everything that has been going on both on the planet as well as on the ship.

Meanwhile, Ritru and Mezril were in the diplomatic conference room beginning to prepare. Mezril had seen many conference rooms in his Starfleet career but nothing compared to the size on the Saratoga. They seemed to go all out to support diplomatic events such as the one that would soon take place. Mezril looked over at Ritru who was busy making sure that there were foods that based on her experience the guests would enjoy.

Silence had filled the room, once he finished setting up the conference room table he walked over to where Ritru was. They hadn’t had much time to talk since he arrived on board, he was the more reserved person who preferred just to sit back and observe before speaking. “Are you alright Commander?” Mezril asked breaking the silence that had been in the room since they arrived.

Ritru looked up from what she was doing to look at Mezril for a brief moment before she turned back to finish the final touches. Silence filled the room again, she wasn’t sure how she truly felt. She knew she would need to see the counselor once this was all over. After a few moments, she finished what she was doing and turned back toward Mezril. “Right now I am not so sure, there are just so many things that have happened during this mission that I am all over the place,” Ritru replied as she wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Do you think it’s bad that I am happy that Jiras was killed? Is it bad that I feel some kind of relief?” She asked as she walked over to the window and looked out, she stood there looking out the window to try to keep her emotions in check.

“I may not be a counselor, though I believe you have the right to feel any way you want to feel,” Mezril replied looking at her even though she had her back turned away from him. “If you want to talk about it, I am here.” He replied as he turned back to what he was doing as he didn’t want to come across as pushy into knowing what was going through her mind.

Ritru stood there in silence for a few moments, “right now I feel happy, sad, and relieved all at the same time.” Ritru admitted as she turned around to face him, “I relieved that I finally found some closure on the deaths of my parents. I am sad that it was a member of my own family that did it. Finally, I am happy that Jiras got what he deserved.” Ritru said as she walked up to the table and sat down for a few moments as tears began to run down her face.

Mezril quietly listen to what Ritru had to say, “I can understand how you feel Ritru and there is nothing wrong with that.” Mezril said, though sometimes even as a diplomatic officer he can have problems with words coming out the way he intended. “This mission has been a lot on the crew,” Mezril admitted as he sat down next to Ritru for a few moments.

Ritru nodded as they would continue to talk for a while as they got back to work. Ritru started to feel a bit better as she was able to freely talk to someone about her feelings, about this mission in general. She didn’t like the fact that they were even here in Romulan space, though at the same time they were helping those that are fighting for their freedoms away from the tyranny of the Star Empire that was crumbling before their very eyes.

****

A couple of hours had quickly passed, and everything had been prepared for the meeting that was about to take place. Ritru and Mezril had long returned to the bridge after they completed their assignment, Azras looked at Ritru for a moment. “I would like you to join us in this meeting,” Azras said before she looked at the other two.

“Why do you need me?” Ritru questioned in confusion as she was sure that Mezril could handle things.

“They have requested your presence,” Azras replied.

Raising an eyebrow, “very well.” Ritru responded as the four of them walked off the bridge into the turbolift. After a few moments, they arrived at the transporter room. Azras gave a nod to the chief to bring the first guests over. After a few moments, two Republic representatives appeared on the transporter room padd.

“Welcome aboard the USS Saratoga,” Azras began as she stepped forward a bit before turning towards her senior officers. “This is my Executive Officer Commander P’Trel, my Chief Diplomatic Officer Commander Mezril Zelar, and my Chief Communications Officer Lieutenant Commander Ritru,” Azras said.

“A pleasure,” Latana said with a smile. “This is Commander R’Vek of the R.R.W. Illaesa,” Latana gestured as the man walked off the transporter room padd to greet them.

Ritru looked at the older Romulan man standing next to Latana, “how can this be…I…I” she began as the tears that had formed in her eyes started to run down her face. Azras looked at Ritru before looking back at her guests.

“Ritru, what is going on?” Azras asked with concern in her voice.

“R’Vek is my father,” Ritru said which caused everyone in the room to raise an eyebrow. “How can this be, I saw you get shot!” Ritru said with confusion in her voice as she braced herself on the console behind her.

R’Vek walked up to Ritru putting his hands on both of her upper arms, “I was shot but it wasn’t a fatal” He replied as tears ran down his face, “when I came to you and your sister were gone.” He admitted as he wanted to hug his long-lost daughter who he’d been missing for all these years.

Ritru had so many questions that needed to be answered, though now wasn’t the time. “Can we talk after the meeting?” She asked looking at him, “there are so many questions that need to be answered.” Ritru said looking at him before hugging her father tightly for a few moments, feeling the warmth of his arms around her again made her feel whole.

After releasing from their hug and composing themselves they turned back to the others, nodding to Azras that they were ready for the others to arrive. Azras nodded as she turned back towards the Chief, “we’re ready for the others.” Azras ordered as the transporter sprung to life beaming the other four representatives onto the Saratoga.

“Welcome back to the Saratoga,” she said to Javik and the others that were with him. “May I introduce Commanders Latana and R’Vek of the Romulan Republic,” Azras introduced.

“A pleasure,” Javik replied with a smile.

Azras then turned towards the others, “this is Javik the acting governor of Rhijun and with him are Ovisek, Nivela, and Torath.” Azras introduced them to the Republic representatives.

“Thank you for agreeing to meet with us,” Latana replied.

“Shall we?” Azras asked as she gestured for the door, they nodded in agreement and began to head out of the transporter room. They headed down the corridor towards where the conference room was located. Upon arrival they each took their seats, food and drinks were awaiting them. They began the meeting that would decide whether they would remain independent or join the Republic.