The bridge of the Illustrious had been pretty quiet as they had spent the last several hours traveling. Nothing unusual happened during their travels, which was a plus. Captain Eryi had been sitting in the command chair with Commander Windrow beside him. “We are five minutes out,” Sovik replied, breaking the silence and letting them know they were approaching their destination.

Eryi nodded in response, and time seemed to pass by slowly until both ships dropped out of warp. On the viewscreen, they saw the planet Lanus. “Bring us into standard obit,” he said as he spoke up, looking at Sovik, who nodded before the ship began to slowly move until they were in standard orbit of the planet before coming to a complete stop. It seemed the Shepard did the same, stopping next to them.

“Open a channel to the planet below,” Eryi ordered.

“Aye, sir,” Maysa replied before pressing several buttons.

After a few moments, the viewscreen changed to an older Romulan male with graying hair, and his facial features seemed to be aging like a good bottle of wine. There seemed to be something off by his demeanor. Even though he was trying to keep his composure, he could tell something was off from the start. “Captain Eryi Yusari of the USS Illustrious, we have received your request for supplies and have brought them,” Eryi replied.

“Jolan Tru Captain, I am Jarut, Governor of Lanus. We are internally grateful for your assistance,” Jarut replied.

“I am glad we could assist,” Eryi replied. If you could transmit the coordinates, we will send an away team down with the supplies, ensuring they get to where they are going.” He added, looking at him as he noticed he had adjusted in his seat, which made it seem he felt uncomfortable with them being there.

“There is no need for that; we can take care of things from here,” Jarut said, trying to calm his nervousness.

“It is standard procedure regarding delivering supplies. We will not overstay our welcome,” Eryi replied.

“Very well, I will send you the coordinates,” Jarut replied hesitantly.

“Thank you, Governor Jarut,” Eryi replied before the viewscreen changed to the planet’s view.

“He is hiding something,” Asa said. “I sensed he felt very uneasy that we were here, like something was happening that they didn’t want us to find out.”

Eryi nodded, feeling something else was going on here. “Open a channel to the Shepard.”

A few moments later, the viewscreen changed again to show the Shepard’s bridge with Commander Zelenko sitting in her command chair. “Commander, we have contacted the Governor. Here are the coordinates. I would like three of your crew to beam down to the planet with our ships-away team to ensure the pass-off goes smoothly.”

“Understood, Illustrious,” Zelenko replied with a slight but pointed nod. “I’ll sync my transporter location with yours for a simultaneous beam-down. We’ll have a team on our pad in ten.”

“Great, thank you,” Eryi replied.

Zelenko turned from the viewscreen to her crew.

“Travers, I’m giving this one to you. Tallera, you’re on escort, I’d like these colonists to see a Romulan face in our ranks. Grab Lieutenant Vahl from medical and get to the transporter room as soon as possible.”

A pair of affirmations followed Zelenko’s typically brisk orders, and the two bridge officers made their way to the turbolift. A slight smile crossed Tallera’s lips. Rysana Vahl was the last member of her core little friend group she had yet to reunite with, and she was glad to have the chance to work with her.

Once the communications had ended and the viewscreen returned to the view of the planet, he turned to his first officer. “Commander Windrow, you will lead the away team, consisting of Asa and Black, along with a couple from his security team,” Eryi said, looking at the three on the bridge. Once you are down there, I will give you the word to begin transporting the cargo,” he added.

The three nodded before they exited the bridge, heading down to the transporter room. A short time later, they walked in, stepping onto the padd. The coordinates were locked, “ready when you are.” Came the reply from the transporter chief.

“Energize,” Windrow spoke up.

The young officer nodded, pressing a few buttons before looking up to see the five officers begin to dematerialize and disappear from the ship, only to materialize on the planet below. Looking around, they could see just how these colonists were living. It was nothing like how most of them grew up in comfort, not worrying about anything or where their food came from. These were the times when they were grateful for what they had, as they knew that not everyone had that privilege. This was why most of them signed up for Starfleet, to try to make some difference, even if it’s in a small way. The three stood there waiting for the away team from the Shepard to arrive before Windrow called for the Illustrious to begin transporting the cargo down.

“So you served on a Scimitar while you were away?”

“Yep,” Tallera responded to Rysana with a chuckle as they stepped into the Shepard’s transporter room. “The Vadenius. She’s one of the few superheavy ships the Republic has. Fascinating ship to work on, even if I was only a relief junior tactical officer.”

“Well, at least you’re a full tactical officer again now, even if it’s on a much smaller ship.”

“Yeah, I’m not complaining. Shep has better crew quarters, too.”

“Ease up on the chatter, Lieutenants,” Travers ordered with a casual grin as the trio took their places on the transporter pad. He then tapped his combadge. “Commander, the ground team is prepped and ready to go.”

“Aye, ground team. Coordinates locked. Proceed when ready.”

Vic turned to the transporter chief. “Energize.”

Tallera held still as Shepard’s interior disappeared in a shimmer of energy before being replaced by the sight of a settlement that wouldn’t have seemed out of place in her childhood memories of New Romulus.

“Commander Windrow!” Travers called out to a trio of Starfleet officers standing nearby, walking over to meet them with his two junior officers following close behind. “I’m Lieutenant Commander Vic Travers, Shepard First Officer. Away team reporting as ordered, Sir.”

Windrow nodded. “Thank you for joining us, ” she replied as she explained what had transpired during their conversation with the Governor. You notice people feeling nervous; we believe that they are hiding something. Captain Eryi is going to investigate and see if they can come up with something, ” she added, looking at them.

“Understood,” Travers nodded. “My tactical officer is quite acquainted with Romulan culture, so could be of assistance there. Tallera, feel free to point out anything unusual that non-Romulans might miss.”

Tallera nodded in affirmation with a slightly awkward smile.

“Are you ready for the cargo?” She asked, looking at Commander Travers.

“Aye, Sir,” the First Officer responded. “Proceed when ready.”

She nodded, tapping her combadge, “Illustrious, we are ready for the cargo.”

“Illustrious here, transport is beginning.” Eryi came over the channel briefly before it ended, and the cargo began to appear at the coordinates. This would take a few minutes to complete as there were quite a few to beam down, and they had to do it one by one so there wouldn’t be a strain on the transporters.

Travers watched as the crates materialized on-site, internally wondering if there was a way to tweak the emitters and EPS systems to speed up bulk transporting, especially on a ship as large as Illustrious. He wanted to bring up the concept to his counterparts on the other ship but had admittedly been trying to curtail his penchant for thinking out loud and making idle chatter since becoming First Officer. After all, the transporter operations of the Illustrious wasn’t his job down here, and he needed his focus on the task at hand.

“This place reminds me a little of Virinat,” Rysana said quietly to Tallera, taking in the view of the colony. “Are most Romulan settlements like this?”

“A lot of the border ones are, at least,” Tallera responded with a shrug. “Or ones that just aren’t as important.”

Once the cargo had arrived, the away team ensured that all were accounted for before meeting with the people who were supposed to meet them at the coordinates to accept the supplies. Asa began to sense something was off with the Romulans that arrived, they were hiding something but what. She shook it off for the time being, and the away team continued assisting the people with unloading the cargo, bringing it to where it was destined.