Where Has All The Glory Gone?
Captain's Log, Stardate 40177.1
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.
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 men 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 Subcommander 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.
The Niven was dead in the water 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.
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. 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. When one of the warp nacelles were repaired, because of these vessels possibly patrolling the area, we remained among the rubble and with radio silence to try to remain out of sight.
