Vausees stood in the living room of the Governor’s house as the primary monitor lit up with the features of a Romulan. Everyone in the room turned their attention to the monitor and listened to what was being said. No one dared to breathe as the message was being sent to them.

When the message ended, and the monitor returned to its static state, Vausees turned and looked at Simix and Viktor. She could see the terror in Simix’s eyes as he looked at Viktor.

Viktor turned and walked out of the living room. Vausees watched him until he disappeared from view. Her attention then returned to Simix, and she stepped over to him.

In a low tone, she spoke to him, “Don’t worry, my Hazard teams specialize in these kinds of situations,” she reassured him as Debrah walked up and gave the Governor a nod. Vausees nodded to her fiance and turned to follow Viktor’s path.

–

She found him outside leaning against a post that held up the second floor. The sun was just starting to crest on the horizon as she stepped up next to him.

“What’s on your mind, Viktor?”

“I know who that Admiral is.”

This caught Vausees by surprise, “Oh?” she replied.

“She’s known to lead a vast armada. With well over hundreds of Republic warbirds and was once part of the Tal Shiar,” he stated as he looked out over the compound at the horizon and an incoming sandstorm. “I expect her to send down her ground forces in that storm,” he says as he indicates the approaching storm.

“What are we looking at, General?”

“Two if not three units of Romulan guard.”

Vausees shook her head and looked out at the approaching sandstorm. “I’ll get my team’s, up to speed,” she said as she turned about and headed back in, as a gust of warm wind sent up some dust.

–

Back inside, Debrah sat next to Simix and was helping the Governor understand what Vausees had meant by her statement about the Hazard team’s when Vausees entered. The sound of the door sliding open and then closed, caused Debrah to look over.

Vausees nodded to Debrah as she walked over to a private corner. Debrah nodded back and stood up.

“I’ll be right back, Governor,” she stated as she stepped away from him and walked over to Vausees.

“Viktor knows exactly who we are dealing with,” she told her fiance.

Debrah nodded as she looked around the living room. She knew what was coming next.

“Let the Hazard team’s know that a small Romulan force will be coming inside of an approaching sandstorm and to take to the defensible positions inside the estates compound,” Vausees said as she looked at Debrah.

Debrah nodded as she looked back at the Governor. “What about him?” she asked as she returned her attention to Vausees.

“He is to stay inside this building, and under any circumstances is he to leave without being told to and is under guarded escort,” Vausees replied as she looked over at Simix. She could see that the terror was still in his eyes, though not as bad as before. “Thank you for talking to him,” she said as she looked back at Debrah.

Debrah shrugged, “It was nothing, just a simple explanation of what you had meant earlier.”

Vausees nodded, “Thank you nonetheless, as I can see it has helped him come down.”

-Battlecruiser U’miahl – The Plan-Ri’veetha looked at the holographic image of the planet displayed above the table near the rear of the bridge on the U’miahl. She had been studying the plans she and Xandis had discussed a few hours ago. When no one from the planet’s government had replied to their demands for complete surrender of the planet.

They had called her bluff on the bombardment of the planet. She had hoped that she was only dealing with a bunch of new federation officers that would freeze under her scare tactics. When that had failed, she brought up the image of the ship that had fled and realized that she was, in fact, messing with a battle-hardened crew of the USS Heracles.

She had heard of the Heracles from the news of the Federation’s involvement with the “The Hunters of D’Ghor” in what was classified as the Archanis Operation. Ri’veetha had been impressed by the balls their captain had shown during that time; even after being injured,, their captain kept herself in the fight. To Ri’veetha, that was something that she honored about their captain.

Ri’veetha had hoped to meet this captain one day, but now, under these circumstances. She was not honored, but she knew that this captain would give her one hell of a fight if push came to shove.

So she continued to study every aspect of the planet. Looking for some advantage to perhaps taking out the Heracles’ captain. Then, she noticed that a sandstorm was heading toward the compound where the Federation captain was held up in.

Contacting the Sol’dobi, she informed and ordered Xandis to have his guards ready for deployment within the hour as she watched the sandstorm raced towards the Governor’s Estate.

-Proto II – Sandstorm-Vausees stood on one of the pylons that contained a part of the force wall. She looked out over the sun-baked grounds in the valley of two mountain ranges that surrounded the estates compound. The sandstorm was closer than it had been when Viktor had shown it to her a few hours ago. She guessed they had an hour, two at the most, before this valley and the mountains would be engulfed in the storm, and the guards that Viktor had said would be hidden within it.

–

Inside the compound, Debrah sat across from the Romulan that had tried to enter the compound last night. Her normally bright emerald green eyes were dark as she looked into the Romulan’s eyes. She dismissed Zyvia a few minutes ago from the interrogations they had been ordered to perform.

To their amazement and astonishment, the Romulan had remained silent and unmoved since he was placed inside the room. Debrah had kept her eyes locked on the Romulans’ eyes as she sat there in silence. She was determined to weather and wear the man down with her own silence. She had perfected a tactic over the years, both during her time in the Federation and as a civilian captain.

The Romulan remained silent, but inside he was starting to break. Inside his mind, he was at war with himself. He hated the silence that the woman that sat across from him was demonstrating. Unable to contain himself any longer, the Romulan blinked and leaned back against the chair he was in.

“What do you want?” the Romulan asked as he sat there, his emotions still in check as he continued to look at Debrah.

On the outside, Debrah’s face was blank, but on the inside, she was celebrating. She swallowed and leaned forward in her chair, “Your name, for starters.”

“T’himix,” he replied as he remained motionless. Anyone looking at him would have thought he was dead, except for the subtle movement in his chest as he breathed.

–

Vausees had stood behind the one-way glass as Debrah sat in silence. She had never seen her fiance so patient with anyone. The look gave awe to Vausees as she watched her. A smile creased her lips when she watched the Romulan break under the constant silence that Debrah had given.

When she heard the name, she turned to Zyvia, who was already looking up the name. She walked over behind Zyvia and looked at the monitor as the image of the Romulan appeared, along with a ton of data on him.

“A Romulan spy,” she said softly.

“Not just any Romulan spy,” Zyvia stated as she indicated the faction, “Republic.”

Good work, Zyvia.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

Vausees walked over to the door that led into the room, where Debrah and T’himix sat. As the door closed behind her, she moved to stand next to him. She placed her hands down on the sides of the metal table and leaned in close. “Gotcha,” is all that she whispered as she pushed off the table and took a seat next to Debrah, who had a confused look.

“It appears that our Romulan is, in fact, part of the Republic and a spy for them,” Vausees stated as she leaned back in the chair and folded her arms over her chest.

Debrah looked back at T’himix, “Is she right?”

He shrugged, “It matter’s not because I know very soon that I will be released,” he said in a tone that said he knew something that they didn’t, “and you Federation types will either be dead or imprisoned.”–

Outside Viktor stood on the balcony of the second floor. His eyes were glued to the storm as it approached. He looked down at the men and women standing along the compound’s walls.

“Ten minutes,” he said before turning around and headed inside.

As he entered the building, he walked down a flight of stairs and entered the interrogation room. His eyes fixated on Vausees for a moment before he motioned with his head that he needed to speak with her.

–

Deep in the center of the sandstorm, Romulans moved silently within it. Their tracks were covered instantly by the intensity of the storm.

Xandis moved with his guards as they marched toward the Governor’s Estate. Each member of the Romulan guard wore eye protection and facial protection. All around them, a reddish, golden haze covered everything that they could see. The only reason they knew where they were going was because each guard’s GPS device constantly indicated their precise location and the final destination, the Governor’s Estate.