Somewhere deep within the Federation-Klingon Neutral Zone, lurked a cloaked vessel, more specifically a cloaked Romulan Warbird. Its presence being kept under wraps for a particular rendezvous with a Federation starship called the U.S.S. Pureshashu. Within the bowels of the Warbird were several Romulan officers across the bridge of the ship. One of which would turn in his seat towards the central point of the bridge, where an important female officer was situated.
“Commander Keirianh, we have reached the designated co-ordinates given to us by Starfleet. What are our orders?”
It was clear that many of the officers on the bridge were tense to say the least. After all, relations between the Federation and the Romulan Empire had always been…difficult. In fact many of the Romulans on board the Warbird had lost friends or family to battles involving the Federation. The only reason the officers aboard had gone on this mission at all had been due to it being a direct request from Empress Sela.
The woman of whom the male Romulan spoke to appeared to have her eyes closed and hands rested on her seat. She was clearly a decorated Romulan due to her rank of Commander which was the equivalent to a Starfleet Captain. She unusually had long hair instead of the typical short hair style and was dressed in typical Romulan uniform. The woman proceeded to open her eyes as her mouth opened.
“I see. Maintain our position here, since these Humans always have a thing for being late I will be in my quarters. Do not disturb me unless it is absolutely necessary.”
The woman known as Commander Keirianh commanded before proceeded to stand up from her seat and began to make her way towards what was presumably a turbolift. She stopped as she waited for it to arrive before turning her head.
“Do I make myself clear?” She stated with authority towards every officer on the bridge.
“Yes Commander!” Said every officer on the bridge in obedience to their superior officer’s order. And with that the Romulan Warbird Monolaire would sit and wait for the arrival of their Federation ally, unbeknownst to them however, they were being watched and were about to come under heavy fire from an unknown enemy.
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On board the Federation starship the U.S.S. Pureshashu, a newly formed yet skeleton crew were beginning their preparations for their maiden voyage. A simple mission, rendezvous with a Romulan Warbird in the Neutral Zone, transfer its commanding officer to the Pureshashu and then travel back to Federation space to pick up the remaining transferees at Deep Space Nine. However this simple voyage would soon become more than anyone ever expected.
“Ensign Challice, are we prepared to leave McKinley Station?” A stern man in the center of the ship’s bridge asked towards a much younger and clearly very nervous man sitting at the helm.
“Almost sir! Engineering is just making the final checks before we release the docking clamps, sir!” The younger man known as Ensign Challice responded.
“Ensign Challice. Please, there’s no need to be so…nervous? Just relax and you’ll be fine.” The sterner man replied. It was quite unusual as well since the sterner man who seemed to be the ship’s Captain not only had unusually white hair but also appeared to possess feline like ears and a feline tail that he kept wrapped around his own waist.
The stern man would heave a sigh before tapping the commbadge on his chest. “This is Captain Jenkins to Engineering. Please respond.”
After a few moments, there was a beep followed by a feminine voice that chirped out from the commbadge. “This is Engineering Captain. What can I do for yah?”
“For a start, Lieutenant Commander Watson, you can tell me how much longer these final checks are going to take. We are on a schedule after all.” Captain Jenkins stated, clearly in a bit of a bad mood with how they were being held up.
“Ah, so it’s about that. Well we actually just finished the final checks. So you can begin releasing the docking clamps and prepare to depart. Captain.” Replied the feminine voice belonging to Lieutenant Commander Watson.
“Understood. Captain Jenkins out.” The stern feline man would say before darting his eyes towards the Ensign at the helm. “You heard the lady Ensign. Begin releasing the docking clamps and getting us under way.”
The Ensign gulped slightly as he began to tap several parts of the helm console. “Understood sir, releasing docking clamps and increasing speed to one quarter impulse.” The Ensign responded as many clamps on the outside of the ship removed themselves and the ship itself began to leave the station it was docked at, heading towards the edge of the Sol System.
“Ensign, once we reached the outer edge of the Sol System I want us at maximum warp. Is that understood?” Captain Jenkins commanded before standing upwards. “In the meantime, I think I’m going to take a nap, or would that be catnap…hah.”
Everyone sort of looked at the Captain unsure of how to respond. But the Ensign simply responded with. “Understood sir. Shall I inform you via comms once we arrive at our destination?”
“Yes, please do. Now if there isn’t anything else, I’ll be off. Ria, you have the bridge.” Captain Jenkins stated looking towards his sister who was also the Security Chief for the ship.
“Actually, sir. If you don’t mind I’d like to discuss some things with you before taking the bridge off your hands.” Said the familiarly feline individual, much in the way that the Captain had feline attributes with an unusual hair color, Ria’s hair and fur were pink.
“Very well Ria. Let’s discuss what you want to talk about on the way to my quarters.” The Captain stated before making his way over to the turbolift, in which Ria also made her way towards the turbolift. After the lift arrived, the two entered it.
“Deck Two.” Captain Jenkins stated as the turbolift’s doors enclosed on the two feline humanoids and the lift before to make its way towards Deck Two. The usual lift humming noise occurring for several moments before the turbolift’s doors opened. The two would then exit as the Captain opened his mouth.
“So…what’s up sis?” The Captain said in an informal manner, something that a Captain should never do but a Captain had to have some privileges in private.
The female known as Ria would heave a sigh as the two began walking, side by side. “Well firstly, do you need to be so informal with me? I may be your younger sister but I’m also part of YOUR crew. But the reason I wanted to talk with you is that, well…” She paused for a few moments. “Some of the crew, myself included aren’t happy about this whole Romulan being our XO deal.”
Nathan, otherwise known as Captain Jenkins came to a halt. He turned to his sister, with a serious look on his face. “To be honest, I’m not entirely happy about the whole idea either. I would have liked to have some choice on my First Officer, but dad said this was important to the Federation and the Romulan Empire’s best interests. Who am I to argue with that? You know what dad’s like.”
Ria simply sighed softly. “I suppose you’re right. Usually when dad says things like that, he isn’t joking. Heck I don’t think I’ve ever seen him crack a smile…ever. Have you?”
Nathan merely chuckled as the two of them began walking again. “Honestly…neither have I. But then the man is a Caitian, I don’t think those fur balls would know what fun was if it smacked them in the face.” The two of them simply began to chuckle together as Ria began to talk again.
“In any case, I think we should try to restrict the Romulan’s access as much as we can while she’s with us. The last thing we need is some Romulan virus infecting our systems. Don’t you agree?” Ria asked, wondering what her brother’s stance was.
“No, I disagree on that one, also the Romulan’s name is Isha Keirianh. And before you say something, it’s not because I don’t think you’re right to suggest we do so. But the last thing we also need is Starfleet down our throats about how we caused trouble for an alliance that by all accounts is very shaky after that whole supernova incident that destroyed the entire Romulan system.” Nathan said as they both came to a halt, this time outside of his quarters.
“Well, I suppose you have a point. In any case, I’ll return to the bridge and let you know once we arrive at the Neutral Zone. Captain.” Ria stated before turning away from Nathan and making her way back down the corridor towards the turbolift. Nathan on the other hand would enter his quarters and make his way over towards the bedroom section of his quarters before laying down.
He would press his right forearm against his forehead for a few moments before letting it fall to his side. “This whole Romulan as a Starfleet First Officer situation is starting to look more and more like one huge bad idea. I hope things get better…” Nathan would mutter to himself out loud before closing his eyes and attempting to fall asleep.
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Meanwhile, back aboard the Monolaire that was presently maintaining its position whilst also being cloaked in the Neutral Zone itself, the commander of the vessel Commander Keirianh was laying on her bed seemingly unable to sleep at all. She would turn over and tussle several times before rolling back onto her back. The Romulan female looked up at the ceiling before sitting up, placing her hands on her knees.
She then proceeded to stand up and move over towards the washing sink, slapping her face with water. She was also in her sleeping attire as she leaned against the sink. “I’m not sure why…but I have this sinking feeling in my gut that something is going to happen…” She bit her lip, letting some of her blood seep from her lip as she turned around. She was planning to try and sleep once more when the entire ship was rocked back and forth by a sudden impact causing Isha to fall down to her hands and knees.
The proud Romulan quickly got back to her standing position as she leaned against a nearby wall, pressing a button on her comm device. “This is Commander Keirianh. Report!” She ordered as the ship shook several more times as Isha grabbed her clothing and began to make her way back to the bridge, getting dressed in the process.
A shaky voice shot out from the communications panel on the wall just before Isha left her quarters. “We’re under attack Commander…while cloaked!” The voice stated causing Isha to come to a halt and subsequently fall down again as a look of shock came over her face.
“Please respond Commander Keirianh. I repeat, we are under attack while cloaked.” The shaky voice stated.
“I heard you the first time!” Boomed Isha. “So decloak the ship and return fire already!” She muttered before continuing to make her way towards the bridge. It wasn’t long before Isha appeared on the bridge, where sparks were flying everywhere and many of the Romulans were out cold on the floor. The bridge was a complete mess.
“Status report.” Isha ordered as the owner of the earlier shaky voice spoke up. “It’s not good Commander. Weapons are offline, the cloak is down. And our shields are on the verge of collapsing. We still have life support systems, but we may as well be as the Humans say…dead in the water.”
“Do we know who these guys are?” Isha asked as the ship effectively shook about several more times.
“Uncertain Commander, the ship’s design is similar to a Federation ship, but its general power readings don’t match any known Federation signatures. If I had to guess they want to make it seem like we were taken out by the Federation ship we’re meeting.
Just then a massive blast came over the view screen of the ship as it got closer and closer. “Oh sh*t!” Isha muttered as the blast collided with the ship sending debris flying, along with most of the officers on the bridge. Including Isha herself. But as soon as the unknown attacker had appeared and disabled the Romulan ship, it disappeared as if it had never been there. The ship itself was now completely disabled, the only system remaining being the life support system. The ship slowly began to drift towards a nearby moon.
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