Larakas Colony – 2000

“They return…without the data?”  Commodore Patra sat at his governor’s desk, listening to the report from his communications officer.  The Larakas Colony sat on the far edge of the system on an unremarkable planet with enough industry to keep the lights on but not enough to warrant export.  It had been a good choice for Patra to center his operations – very little attention was paid to what he did here, even in the midst of the greatest conflagration in the history of the Romulan Empire.  The officer did not nod but gulped quietly.  He stepped forward and gingerly placed an information tablet on Patra’s desk who snatched it up and began to read it, his face growing more and more displeased with each sentence of the report.  Patra threw the device across the room and it shattered into three pieces against the stone walls.  “They did not destroy the station as requested.  They did not eliminate the ship as requested.  They could even beat a small little Federation excuse for a starship!”  He roared as he stood from his desk, sending the messenger skittering out of his office and into the hallway.  He sighed and pressed a button on his console, “Have the commander and his command crew brought to my office.  Now.”

He stood from his desk and stepped over to the window.  Spending much of his life building the operation and operative base here on Larakas had originally been designed to grant him protection from other forces within the Romulan Star Empire.  He knew that power was taken, not earned…and he had worked to take as much power as he could over the years.  Now as the Empire fractured he took great pleasure at being on the side that had brought about the spilling of blood.  He had been promised much for his efforts…and he wasn’t going to let anyone break those promises.

The door to his office flew open and the four senior officers and commander from the Lakax shuffled into the room, escorted by three security guards with menacing rifles.  Patra eyed them carefully.  None of them met his gaze, staring at the floor in abject failure.  He cursed himself for not picking a better crew to do the important things.  Now he would have to find another way to protect his name and his operation.  He stood in front of his desk, his hands behind him.  “You have failed me, Commander Ortas.  You have failed our people.  You were beaten by a…Raven Class starship?”  He chortled loudly and shook his head, “Our ships are built stronger and better than those Federation fools…you let them beat you.”

The commander, a shy engineer, looked up and immediately regretted meeting the fiery gaze of the sub-commander.  “Sir, they were well taught…they did not fold like you expected them to….sir.”

Patra slammed his hands on the desk and was pleased to see them all jump, including the security guards.  “You had the bigger ship!  You chased them rather than lead them into a trap or lure them back to the station where you should have killed that crew.  This is the way you destroy your opponents…fear and playing a game with their heads.  Humans are emotional creatures…you failed to understand your opponent.”

The commander sighed softly.  He didn’t have an answer for his sub-commander.  The other command officers refused to speak.  He knelt to the ground, “I am sorry for my failure, Commodore.  I resign from the command of my ship and offer myself to the mines or other lower level work.”

Petra laughed, drawing a surprised look from the man on the ground, “You won’t have the chance to resign, fool.”  The sub-commander quickly drew the heavy disruptor from his side and fired it point-blank into the head of the man who screamed in pain before collapsing to the ground, breathing his last.  The others stared at the body of their former commander.  They looked up to Petra who laughed again, this time louder, “You will die too.”  He fired at each of them, smiling as each hit the ground with a thump until the command officers were dead.  He gestured to the security officers, “Take a team and eliminate the rest of the useless crew.  Let people see what you do.  Drag these bodies into the square.  If people ask, tell them this is what happens when men fail Petra.  Display them until the flies begin to take them.  Then burn them.”

One of the security officers asked, “And of the bodies from the ship?”

Petra smiled, “Pile them in the square…and set them on fire.  Now leave me.”  He sat in his desk, ignoring the dull scraping of flesh being dragged across the deck until he was the only one in the room once more.  He pulled up his console and began to research what he could find on the crew of this Erigone.  They would feel his wrath.  Yes, they would.