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.