STO Writing
More fun with Remans!
Taris
Captain's log. After our discovery in the remnants of the Hobus system, Starfleet has been hard at work following up any and all leads obtained from the Reman base. Their search hasn't been without fruit; subspace messages were being sent by the Remans to a system called Iconia in the Romulan neutral zone, a system supposed to have been abandoned. Federation Command has tasked the Wanderer with investigating; as we were the ship that discovered the Remans' culpability in the Hobus supernova, they felt it was only appropriate that we be the ones following the trail. I won't say that I'm eager, but above all else it's my intention to make sure that whoever was responsible for the death of billions is brought to justice.
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As the Wanderer dropped out of warp, Commander Wayas would almost have said she was surprised that they arrived in Iconia to be greeted by a Reman battleship and Bird of Prey. But when she thought about it, she realized that no, she really wasn't. "Sir," Sivak spoke up, just as she'd noticed them herself. "Reman ships detected. We are being hailed." Wayas nodded, shifting in her seat. "Onscreen."
The Reman who appeared on screen was a bit ugly even for Remans, but she didn't say a word. She opted to allow the Reman captain to speak first, and he did so with all the bluster of someone trying to bluff an opponent down by puffing up. "Federation ship, I am Commander S'hanclado of the Reman starship Intrakhu. Your presence here is a violation of treaty and could be considered an act of war. Leave immediately or we will open fire." Wayas quirked an eyebrow. "And what about yours? This is a neutral zone. You're just as in violation as we are, and we're not going anywhere." Bluff called.
The Reman commander cut the feed off in a huff, and Wayas turned to glance over her shoulder at her tac officers. "Ampaak?" The Klingon was already working. "The Reman ships are powering weapons, sir." She turned back around, and nodded her head towards the closer of the two ships on the viewscreen - the battleship. "They're trying to scare us off." She shook her head. "They never learn. Red alert. Bring us in, one quarter impulse. Ampaak, prepare high-yield projectiles and get a firing solution on their weapons systems for our phasers." "Aye, sir." The ship smoothly accelerated forward, red lights turning on all over as the single klaxon of red alert went off throughout the vessel.
-----
As the last of the Reman Birds of Prey fell under a hail of phaser fire, the Wanderer banked, zeroing in on a huge crater that was the planet's most notable feature. "That crater..." Wayas thought for a moment. "If they're going to have anything on the planet, that's where it's going to be. Anything else would be out in the wide open for anyone to pick up on scanners, or too close to one of those veins of magma, or both."
Ydam looked over his shoulder. "Would you like me to take us closer, ma'am?" The Commander nodded. "Do it. Maintain red alert status, keep power to the shields and weapons for now. If anything decloaks on us, we're going to give it a black eye."
The Wanderer moved towards the planet in near silence, Rylia unable to help the concern she felt as they approached an orbit above the crater. They were getting in deep. The Remans really didn't want this to come to light. That only meant it was extremely bad for them if it did. When the Wanderer finally came to a stop, holding position high above the crater, Wayas turned to look towards Sivak and Stassinos. "It's all yours." She watched the two of them tap the controls smoothly-
-and the ship was rocked with a sudden impact, sparks flaring from one of the status consoles behind the ship. The ensign manning it took the flare straight to the face, falling to the ground unconscious. The viewscreen immediately shifted, under whose guidance she didn't know, just in time to see a strange ship fire a second weapon blast on them... and then disappear. Without hesitation, Wayas called out, "Status report!"
"Shields have been disabled, captain," T'Raal reported, her voice carrying a hint of urgency. "I'm getting reports of minor casualties on decks seven, eight and nine, sir," Ampaak stated, his own words tense. Stassinos was already out of her seat, tending to the crewman who'd been injured; when Wayas glanced her way, she nodded. "He'll be all right, sir. He's unconscious and has some second-degree burns, but that's about it." She inclined her head. "Take him to Sickbay." Her next subject of attention was Sivak, who was already pouring over what little sensor data they'd gotten from the unknown assailant. "Sivak, what the hell was that?"
He shook his head. "Starfleet has no record of a vessel matching these sensor readings. I cannot guess as to who made it, nor why it attacked us and then simply vanished. That wasn't a cloaking device, sir." He met her eyes. "The ship is simply gone. It's almost as if it... teleported away." She frowned, but T'Raal chose that moment to speak up. "Shields back online, sir. The damage was minor, and engineering crews have already repaired it. I suspect it was a lucky hit." That was a minor relief. She didn't like being a sitting duck; even if they could strike at will from anywhere, a single shot might be the difference between being able to escape or not.
"Alright. Sivak, continue scans." The Vulcan nodded, and returned to his work smoothly.
-----
The scans went through without incident, and a few minutes later, Sivak spoke again. "Captain, we have completed our scans of the crater. Sensors are detecting Romulan and Reman life signs, as well as one that we are unable to identify. We are also picking up signatures from the elements that we found at the Hobus base." Well, they had a connection, at least. It was proof that this base was involved. "Location?" she asked in simple reply.
"The main concentration of these elements is in an underground facility of some type, but there are multiple levels of shielding. We will need to find the shield frequencies before we can transport a team down to the base." He looked as if he was going to say more, but then his and Ampaak's consoles both issued an alert at once. She didn't have to see them to have some idea of what was coming. "Sir," Sivak said. "The Intrakhu has decloaked. It's firing disruptors."
The Reman ship hit them hard and fast; the Wanderer took several clean hits on the fore shields, and a disruptor shot managed to get through, scoring a line along the side of the ship's saucer section. Ampaak was as fast on the draw as it was possible to be, though, and a storm of phaser fire greeted the enemy's attack. The two ships exchanged fire at point blank range in a battle that was short, but as heated as any they'd ever been in. By the time it was over, damage reports were coming in across the ship. Nothing major had been hit, but they had minor hull breaches in a number of places, and more wounded were being taken to sickbay.
T'Raal surprised her by speaking up, however. "Scanners are picking up one lifesign in an escape pod, but the pod is heavily damaged. It will not survive atmospheric entry." She paused a moment, and then added, "Captain, I believe the occupant of the pod is Commander S'hanclado. We have a transporter lock and can beam him aboard at your command."
The commander pondered it for a moment, then inclined her head. "Do it. Have a security team waiting for him. Lieutenant Chmi, head down to meet the Commander, if you would." The woman nodded her head, and made for the turbolift. If they were lucky, the Reman sense of honor would prevail enough to get them into that base.
-----
A few minutes later, Wayas's commbadge chirped. "Chmielowiec to Wayas." She reached up to tap it. "I'm here." "The commander wasn't too pleased about accepting our assistance, captain. However, he may be able to help us in return. He's agreed to give us the frequency of the base's outermost shield layer." With that, they could get an Away Team into the base. "Good work, Chmi. Return to the bridge." "Aye, sir."
Ampaak spoke next. "Scans indicate that each floor of the base has its own shield generator. We're going to have to find a way through the rest of them on our own." Wayas nodded, standing up. "That's fine. We've got a way in the door. We'll figure it out from there."
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The base they beamed into was old, metallic, and similarly colored to the surface of the planet. As the five of them set up a perimeter, Sivak was already working a combination of his tricorder and a PADD, accessing Memory Alpha for any info they had. "Captain, this area was originally part of the Iconian main city, which was destroyed by orbital bombardment over 200,000 years ago." He clipped the PADD into its belt pouch, and closed the tricorder. "Based on the energy signatures and lifesigns present on our sensors, I believe it has been taken over by the Remans. Recommend we attempt to access their computers to learn more."
Wayas nodded, shouldering her rifle. "Then that's what we'll do. Primary objective is getting further into the base. Secondary objective is accessing computers for data. You're authorized to use lethal force, but if you see a good opportunity to grab a prisoner for questioning, take it." The four officers nodded, and readied their weapons. Wayas turned and took point, and with a gesture, directed the four of them to follow her forward.
The next room had three Remans standing guard around some sort of Iconian terminal. The three of them were caught by surprise, without even so much as an opportunity to call for help; that would buy considerable time for Sivak to access the terminal and obtain more info. As it turned out, though, he didn't need long. "There are logs here of shipments to and from the base in the Hobus system, as well as schematics for a device that may be what was used to seed the Hobus star and cause the supernova that destroyed Romulus."
He continued to search the database for another moment, uploading as he went. "According to these files, there are stores of tekasite, decalithium, and protomatter on this level. Those are the same elements we found in the Hobus system." Wayas nodded as Sivak stepped away from the terminal. "We'll collect samples before we move on, then," she said, indicating the far door opposite the one they'd entered. "We need all the evidence we can get."
-----
Collecting the evidence was fairly easy; they'd done a bad job of hiding it. Once they had it, they located the computer with access to the shields preventing travel to the next level down, and from there moved on. The enemy was aware of them by that point, so they no longer needed haste to take advantage of surprise; as a result, she kept them moving slowly, engaging th Remans with every tactical advantage they could. It wasn't far into the second floor down that they found a computer. And when Sivak accessed it, the look on his face, imperceptible to anyone who hadn't known him a while, told her that they'd found the jackpot.
"Captain, we've found the evidence we need," he declared, a tinge of urgency in his voice that would have been sharp surprise in anyone else. "There are logs here, copies of orders and personal communications... it appears that someone named Commander Arranhu was responsible for launching the explosive into the Hobus star." He read for a few more moment, but then added, "...but he did so on the orders of Praetor Taris."
He continued to work, explaining as he downloaded, and the pit of Wayas's stomach began to fall out again. "Taris was the one who was behind building the bases. She provided the schematics for the device and even ordered the Remans to attack Romulan mining ships to keep them away from Hobus before the supernova." Ampaak sputtered. "Cowardly petaQ! Slinking and sulking about-" He stopped at a gesture from Wayas, but she could see he was furious. She didn't blame him one bit. So was she.
"There is more, captain," Sivak continued. "There are recorded transmissions here between Taris and a race she calls her 'dread masters'." Ydam looked concerned at that. "Was the destruction of Romulus part of some larger plan?" Wayas shook her head. "We don't have enough information to know that yet. Sivak, is there anything else?" The vulcan nodded. "Sir, according to these records, there is a working Iconian gateway on the lowest level of the base. With that, Taris could go anywhere, and spread a large degree of chaos. We must find the controls for the force fields and get to the gateway."
Wayas nodded grimly, and shouldered her rifle. "Then we've got a time limit. Are you finished, Sivak?" The vulcan nodded. "The upload is complete." "Then let's move."
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T'Raal only needed a few moments to bring down the forcefield, but as she worked, she frowned. "Sir, there is a message being fed into this computer terminal. It's coming from somewhere in this facility." She stepped bac, and a cool female voice addressed them.
"I am Taris, Praetor of the Romulan Star Empire. I don't know who you are or why you're here, but that is of no consequence. Any knowledge that you have of me or my plans will never leave this place. I give you a moment to make your peace with death."
Wayas swore. "Cover!" The five of them dove at once in all directions, just avoiding a plasma grenade that hit between them. A group of four Remans had appeared behind them. The fight was on in an instant, the Starfleet officers fighting from cover to take down the aliens. When they'd gone down, she gave everyone a quick glance to ensure they were uninjured. "Taris is trying to get away. We've got to move." They all nodded, and fell into step.
When they reached the doorway to the next level down, the quintet received a nasty surprise. Waiting for them was a group of several elite Reman troops, all of whom put up a hardy fight. And no sooner had they dispatched the first four than another group beamed in, and then another group after that. The firefight seemed to go on forever, Reman after Reman beaming in to meet them. The air reeked of ozone from all the particle shots impacting flesh, steel, anything in the vicinity. By the time the troops stopped coming, Wayas had a slight headache, and a haze of smoke hung in the corridor.
"So now you think you know everything." It was Taris again, with snide amusement in her voice. "Impressive, but ultimately, pointless. Commander, it is my pleasure to introduce you to Commander Arranhu. He will ensure you never tell anyone about what you've found here."
Shit shit shit. The Commander and his four bodyguards all appeared at once, and their attack hit like a ton of bricks. His guards were easy enough to best, but the Commander himself was more than a match for the four of them, largely due to the strange mental powers he had. Attacks that left Rylia's head ringing, some ability to create psychic phantoms that themselves hit hard... she wasn't entirely sure how they managed victory, and when they finally did, she had to stop and catch her breath. T'Raal had been hit bad, but Sivak was already tending to her, and after a moment she sat up. "I will be fine to continue."
Ampaak was wiping the blood from a cut he'd sustained to his right cheek. "We should move quickly, captain. The Romulan taHqeq will be trying to escape." She nodded. "After this, there's no way in hell I'm letting her get away."
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When they finally reached the gate room, they found themselves to be just in time. The Praetor was still there, along with several Romulans and a host of Remans. Wayas eyed their number, then motioned her group back about five paces down the hall. She sniped off a shot at the nearest Reman, then ducked back herself.
Just as expected, the Remans came running into the hall, setting themselves right in the group's sights. the Remans went down fast, and they moved in swiftly, taking the Romulans by surprise. The battle was intense, but this time it was in their favor, even in their exhausted state. The Praetor was easily incapacitated; with a last gasp of "Must... reach.. the gate..." she fell, stunned by the phaser shot Wayas had hit her with. The remaining Romulans were easily dispatched.
"Wayas to Wanderer. We've got the Praetor. Bring her up."
While the Romulan was beamed up, Sivak had gone to work scanning the gateway. "This gateway is active," he concluded. "I believe it is too powerful for anyone else to leave us to find. Starfleet records indicate that Ambassador Picard and Captain Sisko both encountered Iconian gateways, and chose to destroy them."
Wayas nodded. "Then we'll do the same. Any suggestions?"
She didn't need to ask; he'd already have an idea. He didn't disappoint her. "The gate controls are in this room. We can rig a tricorder to send a gravimetric pulse through the controls when the gateway is open. That should cause the gateway's power supply to overload, resulting in a catastrophic cascade failure." He was already setting his tricorder up. "When we begin, we won't have much time. We should set it up, and then leave."
Wayas nodded. "Let's do it. Ydam, Ampaak, T'Raal, cover us. Sivak, let's work."
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"Sir, we are being hailed by the Romulans," Sivak warned. "Putting them onscreen now."
The Romulan that appeared on the viewscreen was a rather irate man. "Starfleet in the Neutral Zone, killing Remans and destroying Romulan property? There is no explanation that you could offer that would explain this unprovoked attack on our empire! My empress will reward me when I offer her your heads!" Wayas didn't even have a chance to try and explain; the transmission immediately cut off. She sighed. "It's never easy, is it... red alert! Open fire!"
The Romulan escort that decloaked immediately to the starboard found itself pounded by a hail of phaser fire; when the captain realized it was outmatched, he tried to bank around and make a run from behind, but he didn't get more than a hundred meters before the Wanderer's tractor beam snared the ship in place. The shield facing them was already all but down, and a pair of high-yield quantum torpedoes smashed cleanly through it and gutted the ship.
Another escort ship appeared just a moment later, and made the mistake of trying to approach the Wanderer from the side - putting it within range of every phaser bank on the ship. Lines of vibrant gold streaked across space, hitting its shields and powering through them like wet tissue; sections of the second escort's hull melted away, and the ship came apart before the Starfleet vessel could even come about to fire torpedoes.
That was just as well; a Bird of Prey appeared in space, and they swung to face it instead. As they did, two more decloaked, taking the standard tactic. Wayas was ready; she held the ship's fire until the perfect moment, and then ordered Ampaak to unload, tearing the first apart in a single alpha strike. The other two attempted to hit the ship with overcharged plasma torpedoes, but the Wanderer's phaser banks hit them with automated ease, and then Sivak shifted to the next target in turn. Five Romulan ships against one Federation vessel... it hadn't even been a fight.
Finally, the way was clear. "Get us the hell out of here," Wayas ordered. "Nearest starbase." She slumped in her chair, letting out a breath. They'd made it, and they had the culprit behind Hobus. She might not be willing to talk, but for now, it was all the Wanderer's crew could be expected to do.
Taris
Captain's log. After our discovery in the remnants of the Hobus system, Starfleet has been hard at work following up any and all leads obtained from the Reman base. Their search hasn't been without fruit; subspace messages were being sent by the Remans to a system called Iconia in the Romulan neutral zone, a system supposed to have been abandoned. Federation Command has tasked the Wanderer with investigating; as we were the ship that discovered the Remans' culpability in the Hobus supernova, they felt it was only appropriate that we be the ones following the trail. I won't say that I'm eager, but above all else it's my intention to make sure that whoever was responsible for the death of billions is brought to justice.
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As the Wanderer dropped out of warp, Commander Wayas would almost have said she was surprised that they arrived in Iconia to be greeted by a Reman battleship and Bird of Prey. But when she thought about it, she realized that no, she really wasn't. "Sir," Sivak spoke up, just as she'd noticed them herself. "Reman ships detected. We are being hailed." Wayas nodded, shifting in her seat. "Onscreen."
The Reman who appeared on screen was a bit ugly even for Remans, but she didn't say a word. She opted to allow the Reman captain to speak first, and he did so with all the bluster of someone trying to bluff an opponent down by puffing up. "Federation ship, I am Commander S'hanclado of the Reman starship Intrakhu. Your presence here is a violation of treaty and could be considered an act of war. Leave immediately or we will open fire." Wayas quirked an eyebrow. "And what about yours? This is a neutral zone. You're just as in violation as we are, and we're not going anywhere." Bluff called.
The Reman commander cut the feed off in a huff, and Wayas turned to glance over her shoulder at her tac officers. "Ampaak?" The Klingon was already working. "The Reman ships are powering weapons, sir." She turned back around, and nodded her head towards the closer of the two ships on the viewscreen - the battleship. "They're trying to scare us off." She shook her head. "They never learn. Red alert. Bring us in, one quarter impulse. Ampaak, prepare high-yield projectiles and get a firing solution on their weapons systems for our phasers." "Aye, sir." The ship smoothly accelerated forward, red lights turning on all over as the single klaxon of red alert went off throughout the vessel.
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As the last of the Reman Birds of Prey fell under a hail of phaser fire, the Wanderer banked, zeroing in on a huge crater that was the planet's most notable feature. "That crater..." Wayas thought for a moment. "If they're going to have anything on the planet, that's where it's going to be. Anything else would be out in the wide open for anyone to pick up on scanners, or too close to one of those veins of magma, or both."
Ydam looked over his shoulder. "Would you like me to take us closer, ma'am?" The Commander nodded. "Do it. Maintain red alert status, keep power to the shields and weapons for now. If anything decloaks on us, we're going to give it a black eye."
The Wanderer moved towards the planet in near silence, Rylia unable to help the concern she felt as they approached an orbit above the crater. They were getting in deep. The Remans really didn't want this to come to light. That only meant it was extremely bad for them if it did. When the Wanderer finally came to a stop, holding position high above the crater, Wayas turned to look towards Sivak and Stassinos. "It's all yours." She watched the two of them tap the controls smoothly-
-and the ship was rocked with a sudden impact, sparks flaring from one of the status consoles behind the ship. The ensign manning it took the flare straight to the face, falling to the ground unconscious. The viewscreen immediately shifted, under whose guidance she didn't know, just in time to see a strange ship fire a second weapon blast on them... and then disappear. Without hesitation, Wayas called out, "Status report!"
"Shields have been disabled, captain," T'Raal reported, her voice carrying a hint of urgency. "I'm getting reports of minor casualties on decks seven, eight and nine, sir," Ampaak stated, his own words tense. Stassinos was already out of her seat, tending to the crewman who'd been injured; when Wayas glanced her way, she nodded. "He'll be all right, sir. He's unconscious and has some second-degree burns, but that's about it." She inclined her head. "Take him to Sickbay." Her next subject of attention was Sivak, who was already pouring over what little sensor data they'd gotten from the unknown assailant. "Sivak, what the hell was that?"
He shook his head. "Starfleet has no record of a vessel matching these sensor readings. I cannot guess as to who made it, nor why it attacked us and then simply vanished. That wasn't a cloaking device, sir." He met her eyes. "The ship is simply gone. It's almost as if it... teleported away." She frowned, but T'Raal chose that moment to speak up. "Shields back online, sir. The damage was minor, and engineering crews have already repaired it. I suspect it was a lucky hit." That was a minor relief. She didn't like being a sitting duck; even if they could strike at will from anywhere, a single shot might be the difference between being able to escape or not.
"Alright. Sivak, continue scans." The Vulcan nodded, and returned to his work smoothly.
-----
The scans went through without incident, and a few minutes later, Sivak spoke again. "Captain, we have completed our scans of the crater. Sensors are detecting Romulan and Reman life signs, as well as one that we are unable to identify. We are also picking up signatures from the elements that we found at the Hobus base." Well, they had a connection, at least. It was proof that this base was involved. "Location?" she asked in simple reply.
"The main concentration of these elements is in an underground facility of some type, but there are multiple levels of shielding. We will need to find the shield frequencies before we can transport a team down to the base." He looked as if he was going to say more, but then his and Ampaak's consoles both issued an alert at once. She didn't have to see them to have some idea of what was coming. "Sir," Sivak said. "The Intrakhu has decloaked. It's firing disruptors."
The Reman ship hit them hard and fast; the Wanderer took several clean hits on the fore shields, and a disruptor shot managed to get through, scoring a line along the side of the ship's saucer section. Ampaak was as fast on the draw as it was possible to be, though, and a storm of phaser fire greeted the enemy's attack. The two ships exchanged fire at point blank range in a battle that was short, but as heated as any they'd ever been in. By the time it was over, damage reports were coming in across the ship. Nothing major had been hit, but they had minor hull breaches in a number of places, and more wounded were being taken to sickbay.
T'Raal surprised her by speaking up, however. "Scanners are picking up one lifesign in an escape pod, but the pod is heavily damaged. It will not survive atmospheric entry." She paused a moment, and then added, "Captain, I believe the occupant of the pod is Commander S'hanclado. We have a transporter lock and can beam him aboard at your command."
The commander pondered it for a moment, then inclined her head. "Do it. Have a security team waiting for him. Lieutenant Chmi, head down to meet the Commander, if you would." The woman nodded her head, and made for the turbolift. If they were lucky, the Reman sense of honor would prevail enough to get them into that base.
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A few minutes later, Wayas's commbadge chirped. "Chmielowiec to Wayas." She reached up to tap it. "I'm here." "The commander wasn't too pleased about accepting our assistance, captain. However, he may be able to help us in return. He's agreed to give us the frequency of the base's outermost shield layer." With that, they could get an Away Team into the base. "Good work, Chmi. Return to the bridge." "Aye, sir."
Ampaak spoke next. "Scans indicate that each floor of the base has its own shield generator. We're going to have to find a way through the rest of them on our own." Wayas nodded, standing up. "That's fine. We've got a way in the door. We'll figure it out from there."
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The base they beamed into was old, metallic, and similarly colored to the surface of the planet. As the five of them set up a perimeter, Sivak was already working a combination of his tricorder and a PADD, accessing Memory Alpha for any info they had. "Captain, this area was originally part of the Iconian main city, which was destroyed by orbital bombardment over 200,000 years ago." He clipped the PADD into its belt pouch, and closed the tricorder. "Based on the energy signatures and lifesigns present on our sensors, I believe it has been taken over by the Remans. Recommend we attempt to access their computers to learn more."
Wayas nodded, shouldering her rifle. "Then that's what we'll do. Primary objective is getting further into the base. Secondary objective is accessing computers for data. You're authorized to use lethal force, but if you see a good opportunity to grab a prisoner for questioning, take it." The four officers nodded, and readied their weapons. Wayas turned and took point, and with a gesture, directed the four of them to follow her forward.
The next room had three Remans standing guard around some sort of Iconian terminal. The three of them were caught by surprise, without even so much as an opportunity to call for help; that would buy considerable time for Sivak to access the terminal and obtain more info. As it turned out, though, he didn't need long. "There are logs here of shipments to and from the base in the Hobus system, as well as schematics for a device that may be what was used to seed the Hobus star and cause the supernova that destroyed Romulus."
He continued to search the database for another moment, uploading as he went. "According to these files, there are stores of tekasite, decalithium, and protomatter on this level. Those are the same elements we found in the Hobus system." Wayas nodded as Sivak stepped away from the terminal. "We'll collect samples before we move on, then," she said, indicating the far door opposite the one they'd entered. "We need all the evidence we can get."
-----
Collecting the evidence was fairly easy; they'd done a bad job of hiding it. Once they had it, they located the computer with access to the shields preventing travel to the next level down, and from there moved on. The enemy was aware of them by that point, so they no longer needed haste to take advantage of surprise; as a result, she kept them moving slowly, engaging th Remans with every tactical advantage they could. It wasn't far into the second floor down that they found a computer. And when Sivak accessed it, the look on his face, imperceptible to anyone who hadn't known him a while, told her that they'd found the jackpot.
"Captain, we've found the evidence we need," he declared, a tinge of urgency in his voice that would have been sharp surprise in anyone else. "There are logs here, copies of orders and personal communications... it appears that someone named Commander Arranhu was responsible for launching the explosive into the Hobus star." He read for a few more moment, but then added, "...but he did so on the orders of Praetor Taris."
He continued to work, explaining as he downloaded, and the pit of Wayas's stomach began to fall out again. "Taris was the one who was behind building the bases. She provided the schematics for the device and even ordered the Remans to attack Romulan mining ships to keep them away from Hobus before the supernova." Ampaak sputtered. "Cowardly petaQ! Slinking and sulking about-" He stopped at a gesture from Wayas, but she could see he was furious. She didn't blame him one bit. So was she.
"There is more, captain," Sivak continued. "There are recorded transmissions here between Taris and a race she calls her 'dread masters'." Ydam looked concerned at that. "Was the destruction of Romulus part of some larger plan?" Wayas shook her head. "We don't have enough information to know that yet. Sivak, is there anything else?" The vulcan nodded. "Sir, according to these records, there is a working Iconian gateway on the lowest level of the base. With that, Taris could go anywhere, and spread a large degree of chaos. We must find the controls for the force fields and get to the gateway."
Wayas nodded grimly, and shouldered her rifle. "Then we've got a time limit. Are you finished, Sivak?" The vulcan nodded. "The upload is complete." "Then let's move."
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T'Raal only needed a few moments to bring down the forcefield, but as she worked, she frowned. "Sir, there is a message being fed into this computer terminal. It's coming from somewhere in this facility." She stepped bac, and a cool female voice addressed them.
"I am Taris, Praetor of the Romulan Star Empire. I don't know who you are or why you're here, but that is of no consequence. Any knowledge that you have of me or my plans will never leave this place. I give you a moment to make your peace with death."
Wayas swore. "Cover!" The five of them dove at once in all directions, just avoiding a plasma grenade that hit between them. A group of four Remans had appeared behind them. The fight was on in an instant, the Starfleet officers fighting from cover to take down the aliens. When they'd gone down, she gave everyone a quick glance to ensure they were uninjured. "Taris is trying to get away. We've got to move." They all nodded, and fell into step.
When they reached the doorway to the next level down, the quintet received a nasty surprise. Waiting for them was a group of several elite Reman troops, all of whom put up a hardy fight. And no sooner had they dispatched the first four than another group beamed in, and then another group after that. The firefight seemed to go on forever, Reman after Reman beaming in to meet them. The air reeked of ozone from all the particle shots impacting flesh, steel, anything in the vicinity. By the time the troops stopped coming, Wayas had a slight headache, and a haze of smoke hung in the corridor.
"So now you think you know everything." It was Taris again, with snide amusement in her voice. "Impressive, but ultimately, pointless. Commander, it is my pleasure to introduce you to Commander Arranhu. He will ensure you never tell anyone about what you've found here."
Shit shit shit. The Commander and his four bodyguards all appeared at once, and their attack hit like a ton of bricks. His guards were easy enough to best, but the Commander himself was more than a match for the four of them, largely due to the strange mental powers he had. Attacks that left Rylia's head ringing, some ability to create psychic phantoms that themselves hit hard... she wasn't entirely sure how they managed victory, and when they finally did, she had to stop and catch her breath. T'Raal had been hit bad, but Sivak was already tending to her, and after a moment she sat up. "I will be fine to continue."
Ampaak was wiping the blood from a cut he'd sustained to his right cheek. "We should move quickly, captain. The Romulan taHqeq will be trying to escape." She nodded. "After this, there's no way in hell I'm letting her get away."
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When they finally reached the gate room, they found themselves to be just in time. The Praetor was still there, along with several Romulans and a host of Remans. Wayas eyed their number, then motioned her group back about five paces down the hall. She sniped off a shot at the nearest Reman, then ducked back herself.
Just as expected, the Remans came running into the hall, setting themselves right in the group's sights. the Remans went down fast, and they moved in swiftly, taking the Romulans by surprise. The battle was intense, but this time it was in their favor, even in their exhausted state. The Praetor was easily incapacitated; with a last gasp of "Must... reach.. the gate..." she fell, stunned by the phaser shot Wayas had hit her with. The remaining Romulans were easily dispatched.
"Wayas to Wanderer. We've got the Praetor. Bring her up."
While the Romulan was beamed up, Sivak had gone to work scanning the gateway. "This gateway is active," he concluded. "I believe it is too powerful for anyone else to leave us to find. Starfleet records indicate that Ambassador Picard and Captain Sisko both encountered Iconian gateways, and chose to destroy them."
Wayas nodded. "Then we'll do the same. Any suggestions?"
She didn't need to ask; he'd already have an idea. He didn't disappoint her. "The gate controls are in this room. We can rig a tricorder to send a gravimetric pulse through the controls when the gateway is open. That should cause the gateway's power supply to overload, resulting in a catastrophic cascade failure." He was already setting his tricorder up. "When we begin, we won't have much time. We should set it up, and then leave."
Wayas nodded. "Let's do it. Ydam, Ampaak, T'Raal, cover us. Sivak, let's work."
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"Sir, we are being hailed by the Romulans," Sivak warned. "Putting them onscreen now."
The Romulan that appeared on the viewscreen was a rather irate man. "Starfleet in the Neutral Zone, killing Remans and destroying Romulan property? There is no explanation that you could offer that would explain this unprovoked attack on our empire! My empress will reward me when I offer her your heads!" Wayas didn't even have a chance to try and explain; the transmission immediately cut off. She sighed. "It's never easy, is it... red alert! Open fire!"
The Romulan escort that decloaked immediately to the starboard found itself pounded by a hail of phaser fire; when the captain realized it was outmatched, he tried to bank around and make a run from behind, but he didn't get more than a hundred meters before the Wanderer's tractor beam snared the ship in place. The shield facing them was already all but down, and a pair of high-yield quantum torpedoes smashed cleanly through it and gutted the ship.
Another escort ship appeared just a moment later, and made the mistake of trying to approach the Wanderer from the side - putting it within range of every phaser bank on the ship. Lines of vibrant gold streaked across space, hitting its shields and powering through them like wet tissue; sections of the second escort's hull melted away, and the ship came apart before the Starfleet vessel could even come about to fire torpedoes.
That was just as well; a Bird of Prey appeared in space, and they swung to face it instead. As they did, two more decloaked, taking the standard tactic. Wayas was ready; she held the ship's fire until the perfect moment, and then ordered Ampaak to unload, tearing the first apart in a single alpha strike. The other two attempted to hit the ship with overcharged plasma torpedoes, but the Wanderer's phaser banks hit them with automated ease, and then Sivak shifted to the next target in turn. Five Romulan ships against one Federation vessel... it hadn't even been a fight.
Finally, the way was clear. "Get us the hell out of here," Wayas ordered. "Nearest starbase." She slumped in her chair, letting out a breath. They'd made it, and they had the culprit behind Hobus. She might not be willing to talk, but for now, it was all the Wanderer's crew could be expected to do.