— Romulan Colony, Orbit —

It had been an argument between Javal and his Tal Shiar handler for him to be allowed to lead the assault team that was deploying to the colony’s surface. Logically he did not belong on the mission, the ship had already lost its commanding and first officers and it did not need to move further down the chain of command at the moment. Still it was the only way that he was going to be able to fake his death and be taken by Starfleet in an attempt at asylum after his transgressions against the Tal Shiar.

He looked around the small craft bay of the Romulan D’deridex-class warbird the Talon and had trouble processing what he saw. Starfleet officers mixed with Romulan troops. With the Andromeda using its transwarp drive to rush ahead and act as a distraction, a large combined force would use shuttles and Federation issue runabouts to head down to the planet’s surface and launch an attack on the Romulan defense base in hopes of reactivating the defense grid. The Starfleet ship would have to withdraw and the Talon would need to recloak, but if all went well they would return to claim victory.

A Bajoran woman approached him. His father had served in the Dominion conflict and had been to the Federation outpost Deep Space Nine, and reported back about the zealous religion tribe the Bajorans with their ornamental earrings and strange beliefs.

Making sure there were not any Romulan officers nearby she glanced at him, “I’m Lieutenant Sesi Oari, I’ll be shooting you.”

She had a large phaser rifle, which even on stun likely hurt, so Javal hoped that she was going to sue something else but he did not say anything, not so close to his subordinates. He simply nodded seriously and said, “Good luck then Lieutenant.”

Luck was important to Federation types, humans and he supposed Bajorians as well. What was going to happen was going to happen, based on their actions and the actions of the enemy. Luck, or fortune, did not factor into it.

She nodded and headed off to corral a team of Starfleet ensigns in black and dark yellow uniforms. It was clear that neither side was particularly used to this arrangement as there was little mixing between the two groups. Starfleet stayed with Starfleet and visa versa.

Finally Javal cleared his throat loudly, trying to draw attention onto himself, “Today we retake one world. It is a first step in a long liberation, driving back these invaders who seek to dominate us. Let us show them they have chosen poorly.”

Knowing his audience was just under half Starfleet he refrained from making any overtly pro-Romulan statements. Keeping it generic, and focused on the Vaadwaur was for the best. He was not accustomed to drawn out oratory, but he felt that it had gone well and received a light cheer from the assembled troops when he was done. Hopefully after staging his own death, his people would remember him fondly.

Finally he boarded one of the shuttles, as the Talon appeared above the Romulan colony. Outside they could barely see in the distance the Federation ship dancing about, launching attacks and drawing the fire of the Vaadwaur. It moved surprisingly well for a larger ship, a tactical revelation he realized that he would never be able to make use of.

Then the shuttles’ doors sealed and a stream of shuttles left the Talon as it deloaked low above the colony. The first few made it into the atmosphere, then a Vaadwaur ship broke off, heading to the warbird. With the last of the ship’s away it cloaked and vanished.

“Enemy ship approaching,” the shuttle’s pilot said. The small transport jerked about as a ship in front of them vanished into a ball of fire. Javal couldn’t tell if it was Romulan troops or Federatiion ones being evaporated. More blasts and more balls of fire followed.

Suddenly his own shuttle swerved as it was hit. He head the pilot shouting and Javal felt gravity give way as they fell towards the land below. Thrown about Javal felt his head collide with a bulkhead and then he felt nothing.

— Romulan Colony, Three Kilometres to Defence Outpost —

Javal felt something poking him and opened his eyes to see a Bajoran face looking down at him. It was Lietuenant Sesi Oari. There was blood on her face, red meaning human or Bajoran blood. She nodded at him, “Can you move?”

“Where are we,” Javal asked, unbuckling himself and flopping out of his chair and onto the ground.

Looking around all of his shuttle mates were dead. The shuttle was ripped apart and pieces were strewn about. About six Starfleet officers were standing two hundred yards away, waiting on Oari’s search of his shuttle.

“We came down about three kilometres from the target site,” Oari said, “Don’t know if any shuttles made it, our communications weren’t working and it doesn’t look like yours are either.”

She nodded towards the cockpit of the shuttle which was currently ablaze.

“Three kilometers we can do that,” Javal said confidently.

“We got no idea what kind of force we’re walking towards. We couldn’t get particularly good scans of the planet,” Oari pointed out.

“In three hours both the Talon and the Andromeda are returning,” Javal said, “doesn’t leave us much choice. We either retake the building and activate the planetary defenses or our ships are gone. How long do you think you can blend into a Romulan colony and hide from the Vaadwaur if we fail?”

“I’d prefer to go out blowing things up, like my grandfather did against the Cardies.”

Javal stood, grabbed a Romulan weapon from one of the other members of his crew, now dead next to him, and nodded. Blowing up Cardassian things wasn’t as impressive as all that, but he understood the Bajorans sentiments.