Who needs pirates, when they have the Romulans
Captain Ariana Corwell stood in her office aboard the U.S.S. Unicorn, gazing out of the window at the unfamiliar stars. Her thoughts were wandering, for a short time they lingered upon her latest assignment. Patrolling the Romulan border was usually routine work nowadays. For the past 3 days they had not encountered any problems, except for a technical breakdown of the warp drive. 'What do we need Romulans for to keep us busy, our computers manage just the same', she thought sarcastically.
What was more a reason to worry was the behaviour of her first officer Commander Thomas McCaine, the newest in a series of unqualified or unlucky personalities to fill the position, after a drunkard, a voodoo fanatic, who had even predicted his own death, and a traitor, who was on the pay list of the Orion Syndicate. The best way to describe the next in the line to worry about was 'hot-headed cowboy', always looking for a row to start. The woman from London curled her lips in a mixture of amusement and distaste; he would surely be a lot of trouble.
The sound of her communicator pulled her out of her reverie. 'Speak, Commander.'
'Captain, engines are back online. Our course is set. We're ready to engage in a new adventure!' the man cheered.
'Engage then,' she replied coolly, 'I suppose my presence will not be required during the next hours.'
'Nay, we'll be having great fun, while you're brooding in your office. Howdy, Captain.' What a way to end a conversation with a superior, no less; the man simply had no manners.
Commander Volur T'Lara was preparing for battle aboard her battle ship, the Warbird 'Shadowhawk'. The Romulan Fleet command had demanded the capture of a Federation ship with its crew alive and able-bodied, without Star Fleet taking any notice of course. Politicians and strategists, who believed to know better than the field warriors, how to fight these battles, were among the top of her 'least favourite' list, equal ranking only with Centurion Hrima T'Senliou, this disgusting excuse for a Romulan officer, who the Tal'Shiar had forced upon her as political officer. As if she did not have enough problems when it came to finding qualified personnel for the open positions of bridge officers.
Since the unfortunate demise of her late first officer 3 months ago, the Scientist, Jarrok Tr'Kellian, had temporarily taken over the post. Her opinion of the martial qualities of her scientific staff had always been quite low, but so far the young man had managed unexpectedly well. 'So far we have not been engaged in battle', she thought.
Just on time as expected her bridge officers entered the room to attend to the meeting.
'Ladies and Gentlemen, you are aware of our orders. Are there any further suggestions as to the course of action?'
'Well, indeed, Commander, there are,' the scientist - she would never think of him as first officer - spoke up, his words as usual tinged in slight sarcasm. 'In my humble opinion just flying out there and dragging home the first ship we can outgun, might not be the wisest course of action.' There was a reason why she disliked him, he surely had a talent for pointing out possible flaunts in plans, but his way to deliver his criticism was outrageous in her opinion.
'The best way to take over one of their ships would be to get a few of our men aboard and sabotage them from the inside. The Federation's mania to jump to the aid of anyone in need has surely not gone unnoticed by you. We'd best use it for our advantage. Set out a shuttle, with battle marks and its passengers, dressed as civilians, of course, injured after a rough fight, from which they could barely escape,' Tr'Kellian outlined the plan in a still slightly sarcastic tone that was characteristic for him. 'They will only be too happy to welcome them aboard and treat their wounds, Star Fleet would never let the chance pass to show the whole universe, how humane they are,' the Subcommander sneered, his dislike for their attitude obvious. 'Best hide the electronic device for sabotage and transmission in the translators, worn in our ears. It won't make them suspicious; we would be supposed to wear them. If we can find the shield frequency, beaming boarding teams aboard and taking over the ship, before they even notice their surprise, will be possible without firing a single shot.'
'Not so bad for a scientist,' the Commander replied dryly, a statement that earned her a lopsided grin from the Tal'Shiar officer, who enjoyed nothing more - with the possible exception of torture and murder - than to see her slate another officer. Commander T'Lara for a moment glared in her direction, before turning back to the rest of her staff. 'You've heard the plan. Are there any complaints?' No one spoke or even dared to look up. Good to know I still have my authority.
'Very well. Since this was your idea, scientist, you will be among the ones getting on the Federation ship, you may choose whoever you like for your team to support you. Centurion T'Farren, I want all weapon system checked and readied for battle, when the time comes, I do not want any unpleasant surprises should this not work out without firing a single shot.'
She looked at the Subcommander as she stated these words cynically, but he had his features schooled into a neutral expression and did not even blink, when he heard the jibe. If she did not know that he was a Romulan, she would sometimes suspect the skinny scientist of being a Vulcan spy, the Tal'Shiar snake surely suspected him of something along this train of thought.
'Dismiss!', she snarled at her crew members, who immediately scrambled to their feet.
'Captain, we have picked up a distress signal. It seems to come from a Romulan shuttle pod, close to the border of the neutral zone. They request our help. Just what are the bloody Romulans thinking?' Commander McCaine snarled unpleasantly.
'And we will give our help of course. We are not savages after all,' the Captain berated her first officer in an irritated tone. 'Lieutenant, set an interception course. We will pick them up.'
Just a few minutes later they reached the shuttle and orders were given to beam their 'guests' aboard.
When Jarrok Tr'Kellian materialised on the U.S.S. Unicorn and was greeted with 4 phasers pointed at him and his 2 companions, he was grateful for his ability to control his emotion and show only what he wanted others to see. With a pleading look that would be expected from a civilian who found himself at gunpoint of 4 trained soldiers he turned towards the officer in charge, easily recognisable from his rank insignia. He talked in Vulcan in order not to arise suspicion: 'Please, we have no weapons and my friend is injured. Can you treat her at least, before you arrest us?'
One of the 4 stepped forward and conducted a scan, before declaring them cleared. He would have snorted at their idiocy, as if their transporters had not taken care not to transport any weapons with them. Apparently they fell for the translator trick, since neither the transporter nor the scanners had found anything suspicious about them.
'We will bring your friend to the sick bay. But the Captain wants to see you and your other companion on the bridge.' That was more than he had hoped for, as he had expected them to be arrested or at least having to create a distraction to sneak to the nearest computer and tap their systems. He nodded in consent and replied carefully courteous: 'We will be honoured to meet our saviour.'
While they were led through the ship by 2 armed officers – the other 2 had gone with the centurion to the sick bay, so their forces had been split, as he had intended - he took in every detail, aware that he might need it later on. Finally they stepped out of the turbo lift onto the bridge, where the Captain followed by a rather brutish looking first officer stepped forward to greet them. He refused to shake her hand, but made a courteous bow instead to show cooperation and courtesy, all the while plotting how to best tap the bridge computer without anyone noticing.
The Captain looked at the 2 Romulans, who were led onto the bridge. One was a huge brute, who looked in every way as you would expect your typical Romulan foot soldier to look like, while the other one, who had greeted her and appeared to be in charge, was tall and scrawny with dark hair and eyes that were regarding her coolly. He did not take her hand, but bowed courteously, something about his demeanour irritated her, but she could not out her finger on it.
'Who was it that attacked you?' she inquired.
'Smugglers, we suppose. We must have surprised them and they outright attacked us,' the tall one replied without hesitation.
'Too bad, your weapon systems were worthless. It can't be easy for a Romulan to turn tail and run,' the first officer sneered unpleasantly. She could have strangled him for his lack of subtlety and diplomace, especially when dealing with Romulans.
'We are just civilians in an unarmed shuttle, surely there is no shame in, what would soldiers call it, strategic withdrawal.' Jarrok smiled innocently, before turning to spring his trap. 'Even the best shuttle could not compete with the battle power of a ship like this.'
The Captain eyed him suspiciously, but the other human was truly pleased. 'Indeed, perhaps you would like to take a look…' While he stepped towards the officer, he gave an almost imperceptible nod to his companion to use the distraction to place the tapping device.
'Commander, I fear you forget that this is a battle ship and there is no sightseeing on my bridge,' Captain Corwell snapped at her Commander. Jarrok had watched out of the corner of his eye as the device was being placed and as soon as he saw the small diode's blinking signal that their information had been successfully transmitted, he reacted immediately, whipping around and nodding in agreement towards the Fedration Captain. 'Indeed, this would be a breach of security. Maybe you should escort us back to our friend?'
As soon as the code phrase was spoken, several events happened at once: Subcommander Tr'Kellian and Centurion Tr'Lorrien disarmed the unsuspecting Federation guards and took their turn to point the phasers at the surprised bridge officers. All over the ship Romulan boarding teams were beamed to strategic locations such as the bridge, sick bay or the machine room. Commander T'Lara herself materialised on the bridge of the Federation ship a sneer plastered on her face.
No sooner than she opened her mouth to address her prisoners, the main screen started to flicker, all of a sudden showing the Romulan warbird that seemed to have dropped his cloaking without orders and was torn apart by a slow motion explosion only a second later.
For a moment everyone on the bridge was too shocked too move, then all hell broke loose.