Where Has All The Glory Gone?

Captain's Log, Stardate 40177.1

Just a Routine Patrol

Starfleet has given orders to the USS Niven to conduct a routine patrol within Federation space parallel to the Romulan Neutral Zone, while maintaining radio silence. I have also been notified of a highly classified project codenamed Farsight, an undercover intelligence gathering installation within the Romulan Neutral Zone. I am at liberty to share this with my First Officer, Commander Octavio Rodriguez, and Chief of Security, Lieutenant Commander Karl Link, but I choose to keep the information as a need-to-know basis for I do not wish to hinder their duties with irrelevant information. My hope is that things proceed strictly as a routine patrol.

The beginning of our mission was uneventful save for a few intercepted communications, none which required our attention. Shortly after, however, we intercepted a distress signal spoken in the Romulan language. It stated a total life support failure and that the crew will perish within 24 hours without aid. The message took approximately three Earth hours to reach us so we had, at most, 21 hours for rescue of an unknown entity. A course was plotted, but just before I gave the order to engage at maximum speed, Rodriguez alerted me to the fact that this message was coming from a stationary point within the Romulan Neutral Zone.

We were the only ship that could possibly come to the aid of those in danger within the allotted timeframe. Given that we would be crossing into the neutral zone, Link proposed that we plot a direct path instead of the usual zig-zag to save time, while broadcasting that we were on a rescue mission to deter assumptions of our actions being inferred as an act of war. Perhaps it was our humanitarian sympathies, or perhaps it was just our fear of being court martialed for failing to provide aid when requested, even from a possible unfriendly power, that drove us to this risky decision. Though it would take six days for a return message, we sent a message to Starfleet detailing our situation and proposed course of action.

The Romulan Communications Installation

When we arrived at the site, the marines, headed by Sergeant Major Pierson, beamed down onto the surface and secured a landing spot for the shuttles carring the rest of the companies. There was a brief struggle and we unfortunately lost four brave soldiers due to breaches in their environmental suits. After six Romulan casualties, however, the entire remaining group of 57 surrendered. There was a report that 80 more were dead all around the compound. Those in engineering not working on restoring the ship or repairing the warp drives were sent down to the surface to explore the compound lead by Lieutenant Commander Vanek.

The leader of the Romulan group, a Sub-Commander S'Laf, was refusing to be debriefed by Captain Frazier due to Romulan custom of wanting to speak to a ranking equal or superior. Link and I accommodate his wishes and arrange for him to be beamed up to the ready room. Meanwhile, the marines made quick work of rounding up the captives and began beaming them along with the deceased aboard the Niven. While we were waiting, Link mentioned that it was very peculiar behavior for Romulans to surrender. Most have been known to prefer death over capture. S'Laf arrived with his Chief of Engineering who looked very cross, and was very upfront. He admitted outright that he was where he should not have been, but was merely serving as communication to prevent their ships from entering Federation Space. He then proceeded to tell us what felt like his life story. It felt like he was trying to stall us for time, but since it was their way to be allowed a Right of Statement, we let him continue. Afterwards, however, he mentioned that only two of his crew, including him, spoke English. We decided to separate S'Laf, his first officer, and the other English speaker, but kept the other Romulans in barracks set up in the marines' training area for easier surveillance.

Vanek reported back with findings of the compound being thoroughly ransacked. A bigger concern was that he discovered what appeared to be an anti-matter bomb. Because it was set up mechanically, however, there was insufficient information to know when it was scheduled to detonate. Vanek gave his best effort to disarming it, but due to pulling a panel out for better access, it seemed to have tripped an alarm and it was easily assumed that we needed to get out of the area quickly. We managed to beam our crew back before it exploded, but could not get out of the blast zone quick enough. The bomb knocked out all of our power and we were running on emergency batteries. Engineering estimated that it would take 7 days to get everything back online.

Dead in the Water

Niven was inoperative within the Romulan neutral zone for about a week. My senior officers confirmed my impression that there seemed to be an even split of opinions of hostility and acceptance of the nearly 60 Romulans we had on board. Some have taken a special interest in them and I've granted permission for study and surveillance. After a couple days, Dr Matthew O'Grady called Link and me over for a discovery he made. After performing an autopsy on the deceased Romulans, he found that their bodies all contained a toxin called neoxylanomine C, a nerve poison that affects Romulans painlessly and in a short period of time. O'Grady had discovered this poison was kept in a hollowed out molar. We assumed that every Romulan had the same set up and thus it was possible any of them could successfully carry out a suicide if needed. We did not want to alert them that we knew of their back up plan so we decided to keep quiet about it in hopes that they would not resort to it. After all, they had not taken advantage of it already when they had plenty of time to.

Vigilante Justice

Just as the ship's impulse power was restored, S'Laf insisted on a private meeting with Link and me, and he said he had received a death threat from someone. He did not know who the offender was and could not describe him either. Given the nature of our situation, there was not much we could do for him aside from increase security. Link then took the opportunity of the rattled Sub-Commander to extract information from him. Earlier, we had intercepted a transmission making a reference to Intrusion Detection Installation B, which was assumed to be S'Laf's base. We got confirmation of this and now can also safely assume that there are other installations similar to this one. Later that day, a memorial service was held for the casualties of this mission. Pierson gave a heartfelt eulogy for his men. Tensions were beginning to run high. Several crew members had seen medical for anxiety and stress issues. There were even absurd rumors of the Romulans having a mind-control weapon. Communications intercepted a couple more transmissions, this time from Romulan vessels a few light years away. Because of these vessels possibly patrolling the area, even though we had impulse power, we remained among the rubble and with radio silence to try to remain out of sight.

Engineering was making steady progress on repairing our ship. Unfortunately, it wasn't soon enough, for the following day, I received an urgent call from Lieutenant Natalie Berg saying that S'Laf had been attacked! Rodriguez and I raced down to where they were and Dr Andrea Young was trying to stabilize him. Inside S'Laf's quarters a sergeant had Lieutenant Konrad von der Horst pinned to the ground. I ordered him to be thrown in the brig and that I would deal with him later. After making sure Dr. Young was able to stabilize S'Laf enough to operate on him, I asked Berg what happened. She was obviously a bit rattled and apologized profusely. Apparently she had stepped away from her post for a minute due to a private call and it was then that von der Horst stepped in and attacked the Sub-Commander. I had Rodriguez accompany me down to the brig to talk to von der Horst. He seemed rather proud of himself for "taking matters into his own hands" and felt no remorse for the heinous act. After seeing neither Rodriguez nor I were very impressed with him, he requested a judge advocate.

The Romulan Way

The following day, a transmission from Starfleet finally arrived as a response to our message six days ago. It concurred with our decision so at least we had the small comfort of knowing we did the right thing despite everything that had happened. Dr. Young and Dr. O'Grady kept me informed of S'Laf's condition throughout the surgery. I was told that he was stable, but still in critical condition. Soon after, I got a frantic call from one of the sentries that the Romulans were dying. They had resorted to the mass suicide. I gave orders to stop them at once. Sadly, we were only able to detain six of them.

Early the following morning, Link arrived in my quarters to deliver a Class-A Security Prime message. It stated that our orders now were to make any necessary repairs and to return at maximum speed to Star Base 20. According to Vanek, our warp drives were finally back online, but it was strongly suggested that we let them warm up by remaining in lower warp speeds for a duration of time before increasing speed. He, however, took me by surprise when he asked for my permission to give the engineering crew stimulants. They had been working around the clock, but given how critical it was for us to get out of the neutral zone, he wanted to be sure they were still alert enough to do their jobs. Reluctantly, I granted medical to do as he wished, but also made a point to personally address my hard-working crew. I told them I knew of all of their efforts and needed them to push just a little longer to get us to safety.

Wrongful Accusations

While we were still in low speed warp, sensors picked up two Romulan Stormbirds uncloaking. Immediately on yellow alert, we try to hail them, but they gave only a violent response of firing upon us. We had superior firepower and defenses, but one of their shots breached our shields and took damage on the starboard wing. 10 crew members, including 4 marines were presumed dead. After a couple volleys, a transmission came in stating that we have violated the peace treaty by attacking and destroying an unarmed installation engaged in inoffensive research, killing over 100 of their people in the process. They finally answered our hails and to their surprise we demanded their surrender. Of course, they did not take us seriously until we informed that we had launched our photon torpedoes at them. Grumbling, they asked for our terms. We demanded that any and all "unarmed installations engaged in inoffensive research" to be removed or we would remove them ourselves. If they cease attack and part ways to comply, we would disengage the torpedoes that would surely destroy them. They agreed, cloaked, and we were left in peace.

I was informed that S'Laf pulled through the surgery. We handed over the data chips Vanek collected from the base along with the seven remaining Romulans to the authorities after getting to Star Base 20. The crew went through a lengthy debrief, but at least we were home.