Helping with installing the photonic field generator hadn’t been an arduous task. Tomaz was working with Jines when Horin had called him over.

“What is it, Counsellor?” He asked the Betazoid woman as he approached her. She had been talking to Lizvanna, the Qowat Milat nun leading the orphanage, when she had paused and had to take several deep breaths as she became faint. 

Shaking her head gently, she closed her eyes for a second before trying to regain focus. “Imzadi.” She whispered as she placed her hand on her heart.

Samris joined them by this point when he saw his superior look weak. “Imzadi?” He repeated. “What do you mean, ma’am?” 

“What is an Imzadi?” Lizvanna asked the two men as they helped Horin sit down in a nearby chair.

“It’s a Betazoid term for your beloved,” Tomaz replied before looking at Horin. “Ma’am, is it Commander Hunsen?”

She nodded. “Something’s happened; I can sense it. Something bad, Tomaz.”

Instantly Samris tapped his combadge as he called the ship for an update and to share what was happening. Moments later, they were informed that Horin was right; Hunsen and most of his team had been attacked at the power plant. 

“That does not make sense. Why would our Reman brothers attack them?” Lizvanna questioned the Starfleet officers.

Tomaz shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, but we should leave here.”

“Agreed, our presence here may place the orphanage in danger,” Samris said as he sat down beside Horin and held her hand. She was struggling to focus due to the overwhelming emotions she was feeling. 

Tomaz looked to Jines, “Decter, is the field generator ready yet?”

“You can’t leave us.” Lizvanna interrupted as she got in between the tall Barzan and the deputy operations manager. “These children will be defenceless.”

“Remind me again, which one of is a warrior nun?” Jines asked as he got off the floor, sitting on it next to the generator. “The generator is ready.”

Lizvanna looked at the Rutian man, “That’s not the only purpose of our convent, lieutenant.” She turned to Tomaz, “I implore you, commander, to reconsider.”

Tomaz looked at Jines, then to Samris and stared at Horin, who had her eyes closed. With her unable to assist with the decision-making, he knew he was left in charge. Rubbing his forehead, he took a whiff from his breather before he locked eyes with S’Tem. 

The young Romulan boy had been hanging with him since they arrived. He had asked Tomaz about his life and shared his own story about losing his parents. His short hair around the side and spikey appearance on top added to his adorability. Tomaz saw himself in S’Tem and couldn’t help but feel something for the orphan. He had to remind himself about his work with Counsellor Horin over Jeddie, but he couldn’t help but feel something.

Tapping his combadge, Tomaz called Odyssey himself and informed Commander Banfield that they planned to remain at the orphanage to secure it. 

“The only other team in the field is Doctor Slyvexs; she was undertaking house calls. Half of her team has returned, but I will try to get her to join you. The captain has returned, so standby for further orders.” Banfield shared.    

“Understood, ma’am.” Tomaz tapped his combadge and closed the channel. 

“Are you staying?” S’Tem asked him. 

Tomaz smiled and nodded at the young boy before turning his attention to Jines. “Decter, how creative can you be with the photonic field generator?”

“Pretty creative; why? What have you got in mind?” Jines asked as he took out his phaser and placed it in one hand while in the other, he held his tricorder. 

Tomaz looked around the room they were in. “This place isn’t the best area to defend from. We need to find a better place to take refuge; I suggest we use the field generator to shroud whatever shelter we use. That way, the Remans won’t be able to see where we are hiding the children.”

“If my Reman brothers have attacked your teams from below, then using our basement is not the best idea,” Lizvanna said. “We should go to the east wing and use one of the larger dormitories on the highest level. It is well lit so that the Remans won’t like it.”

“You honestly think they’re going to hit an orphanage?” Jines asked.

“They’ve attacked two Starfleet teams, I’m no Lieutenant Commander T’Rani, but I would guess she would say something that goes along the lines that logic dictates that we may be next; even if we leave now, they may still come, and I’m not leaving these kids alone,” Tomaz suggested. He turned to the two security officers; both of them were human men. “Gentlemen, secure the basement—use the portable field emitters to set up force fields. We may be able to block them or even slow them down.”

Both of them nodded with an acknowledgement. 

S’Tem then pulled on Tomaz’s leg. “Tomaz, I’m scared.” He remarked. 

Kneeling, Tomaz lifted the boy and placed him on his shoulders. “Stay up here; you’ll be safe for now.” S’Tem held onto Tomaz tight. 

Horin then stood up. “I can’t sense Hunsen and the others.” She uttered. “I think they’ve been taken further underground.” Wiping her face, she shook her head as she refocused. “Sorry about that.”

“You’ve got nothing to say sorry for,” Tomaz assured her before he looked to Lizvanna. “Once we’ve moved the children, we’ll need to map the underground of this building further. Can you help us with that?”

“Yes, of course.” The Romulan nun agreed.

Tomaz’s combadge then chirped before a familiar voice followed. “Slyvexs to Tomaz.”

Tapping it, he replied, “Go ahead, doctor.”

“Tomaz, I’ve just been updated about the situation. I’m on my way to your location now, but I’m bringing company.” She announced while sounding almost out of breath.

“What’s your situation, doc?” Tomaz asked, sounding concerned. 

“About eleven Remans attempted to drop my team and me, but we were ready thanks to the heads up from Odyssey. My Qowat Milat escort took out two of them doing some out-of-this-world martial arts. I need help!” She explained and was followed by what sounded like phaser fire. 

Looking at his team, Tomaz took a big gulp. He pulled S’Tem off his shoulders and gave him over to Lizvanna, “Standby doc, we’re going to get the Boyd to you shortly.” He looked to Horin. “Counsellor, are you okay to help Lizvanna get the children up to the east wing dorm with Decter while Samris and I go save Doctor Slyvexs?”

Horin nodded. “Of course, go. We’ve got this”

Jines looked at his superior. “Sir, I need more time to get the generator reconfigured.”

“Then you’ll have to do it on your way. We’re counting on you, Decter.” Tomaz assured him as he picked up his phaser rifle. 

Jines just nodded as he quickly carried on his work. 

“You’re leaving us?” S’Tem asked, concerned towards Tomaz.

Tomaz paused as he looked at the Romulan boy. “We’ll be back, I promise.”

S’Tem’s smile faded somewhat as he hugged Lizvanna. 

“Go save your doctor.” The Nun said. “We have this!”

Appreciating the support and understanding, Tomaz looked at Samris. The Romulan counsellor had picked up his phaser rifle, though not the usual thing he did; Tomaz knew that his friend was ready, and they would have each other’s backs. 

Moments later, the two men were in the cockpit of the Boyd, activating its engines and entire tactical array. 

“I’ve got the doctor’s position; she’s about two kilometres from our current position,” Samris announced as Tomaz rushed through the pre-flight checks. “Scans are showing life signs underground. There appears to be a series of tunnels, about twenty kilometres. I’m assuming it’s the old mines. All of them read Reman-no wait; I’m detecting a Bolian life sign, a Betazoid, a Tiburonian and several non-Remans!”

“It must be the teams they captured,” Tomaz said as he lifted the Type-Nine shuttle from the ground. “Can you get a transporter lock on any of them?”

Samris tried but then gave out a frustrated sigh a second later. “No, they’re too deep under the surface for our transporters to be effective.”

“Relay their coordinates to the Odyssey at least,” Tomaz ordered. “I’m certain the captain will be preparing a rescue operation.”

“Understood.”

“Talking of which, let’s go save our favourite healer,” Tomaz said as he pushed the engines to the max and flew the Boyd towards the last location of the Denobulan doctor. 

Flying in and out of the buildings, Tomaz had kept the shuttle’s position low to avoid anyone on top of a building from hitting them while they were in flight. Eventually, they arrived and saw the doctor and her team engaged in a phaser fight with hoodied figures that he assumed were Remans. 

“Set phasers on a high dispersal pattern and stun them at a good setting,” Tomaz ordered.

Samris nodded and did as he was told; a few seconds later, he opened fire on the group, and all fell to the ground. Landing the shuttlecraft in the middle of the two groups, Tomaz placed the shuttle’s nose in the direction of the group they had just taken out while he opened the aft drop-down door. Running in was Doctor Slyvexs, along with Jew’leanar and the team that Slyvexs had with her.

“That was impeccable timing, Tomaz.” Slyvexs said as she joined him in the cockpit. “What the hell is happening?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” The Barzan strategic operations officer replied. He looked at the Qowat Milat leader. “Any ideas, ma’am?”

“For once, the truth evades me, commander,” Jew’leanar replied. “However, my instinct tells me it has something to do with Veruk, the Reman leader. He is trying to make a point by attacking your people. Wherever they are on our planet, they are not safe.”

“Then we need to get back to the orphanage as we still have a team there,” Samris stated.  

Once everyone was safely on board, Tomaz brought the shuttle back around to head to the orphanage. 

“Boyd to Odyssey.”

“Go ahead, Commander Tomaz,” replied the captain. 

“Sir, we have Jew’leanar with us. She believes the Reman leader is behind these attacks and that none of our teams are safe. We’ll need to evacuate the orphanage.” Tomaz told him.

“I understand your predicament, Tomaz, but we’ve got a Romulan Republic warbird in orbit. How many people are we looking at evacuating?” 

“Over a hundred.” He answered.

There was a brief lull from the captain before he responded, “Alright, use the Boyd as a transporter enhancer, and we can beam everyone back on the Odyssey in one fell swoop.” 

Tomaz understood the captain’s plan and just acknowledged his orders. 

Samris looked at his friend. “Do you know how to set the shuttle to do that, Tomaz?”

Wincing his head, “I think so.” Tomaz said honestly. 

“Is that absolute candour, commander?” Jew’leaner asked Tomaz.

“It is,” He answered. “I’ve done it once before…on the holodeck.”

“Tomaz, this is no holodeck,” Slyvexs said with an edge of concern in her tone. 

“I know.” He replied before they eventually arrived back at the orphanage. “We’ll adjust the shuttle’s transporter buffer so it can relay the signal back to the Odyssey.”

“I hope this works,” Slyvexs grumbled as she got up. “Beam us back to the Odyssey first.” 

Tomaz made the adjustments, called the Odyssey and informed them they were proceeding in beaming back their people. Once they had been given the all green, he activated the transporter; Slyvexs, Jew’leaner and the others all materialised into nothing. A second later, the confirmation from Odyssey was received. Tomaz called ahead to Horin about the change in plan. She told him to start with the Qowat Milat nuns with the children. Beaming up a small group of ten at a time, he started the process and soon, they were making their way through the orphans. Wondering if S’Tem was any of them, Tomaz shook the thought of the little boy out of his head as he continued to concentrate. 

“Tomaz, the field emitters we set up to slow down the Remans from the orphanage’s basement have just gone offline. I’ve lost connection with them. I think the Remans are coming.” Samris said. 

“I’ve got three more groups than just our people left,” Tomaz said as he moved through the transporter controls one more time. 

“And not to put any more pressure on you, but I’m detecting an incoming Reman scorpion fighter,” Samris announced. “They’re about one and half minutes away from us.”

“Damn it; we won’t be done in time,” Tomaz said as he sent the next group the transporter relay back to the Odyssey. He looked at his readings and noticed he only had one more group of Romulans and the rest of their team to beam up. “Damn it,” He cursed as he changed tactics and opened the transporter buffers further and beamed everyone up to the shuttle in one go. They all materialised behind them before he ordered Samris to raise their shields. He turned around and saw Horin, Jines, their security officers, and Lizvanna clutching onto a scared-looking S’Tem.

“Change of plans?” Horin asked as she and Jines took the seats behind Tomaz and Samris. 

S’Tem jumped out of Lizvanna’s arms and ran over to Tomaz. “Something like that.” He answered as he pulled the boy up into his lap. “We’ve got a Reman fighter incoming, so everyone just hold on. I’m taking us to full speed to get back to the Odyssey.”

The Boyd darted across the Vorash skyline as it returned to its mothership. Pursued by a Reman fighter, they were head of it just in time for them to reach where the Odyssey had landed and beside it sat Grand DaiMon Deliaros’ vessel. The Reman fighter didn’t have a chance to hit the smaller shuttle as a spark of purple energy left Deliaros’ ship and hit it directly. Blowing up into a million bits, the debris fell from the sky, hitting the shielded Ferengi marauder but not making a dent.

“Remind me to thank the Grand DaiMon,” Tomaz said as he flew the shuttle into Odyssey’s main hanger bay. 

The Boyd landed with a gentle thud. Tomaz and the others departed from their craft after getting up from their chairs. With S’Tem in his arms, he looked at Lizvanna. “Samris will take you all to sickbay; go there as I’ll be needed on the bridge.”

Lizvanna nodded before S’Tem gave a tight hug to Tomaz. “Come back.” He whispered before he let go.

“I promise, mate,” Tomaz said, smiling before handing the infant over again to the warrior nun. 

With Horin, he proceeded to head up to the bridge via the nearest turbolift to discover the latest developments.