Alright, this story has developed a life of its own. It has not much to do with the summary anymore, so I may change that.
Anyway, I hope you'll still stick with it. The next chapter will be the last of this story, but I'm going to make this into a series of seven stories the first two being "Pride" and "Sloth".
o0o
Commander Tamulok was neither surprised nor angry when they told him about Starfleet's plans with him and his ship. This surprised Kirk once again. He'd heard Romulans were rather passionate and other than their Vulcan relatives they were said to carry their emotions very close to the surface.
Maybe this still had something to do with that virus? But Spock and Dr. Taylor had confirmed that there was no trace of the virus left in their system. The virus could not survive for long within the human body so it was unlikely that they had contracted it once again aboard the Enterprise.
However, when this was all over, they needed to decontaminate the whole ship, just to be sure. They had done so for the P'Jem and the Romulan scout already. With no one on board this could be done easily. It was a different matter for the Enterprise. Gravity was needed to function normally, Kirk had realized, and he didn't want to risk his engineers and bridge crew floating around when there was an emergency.
"I see you are puzzled, Captain," Tamulok said to Kirk in the transporter room. The last of his crew had just been beamed back to his ship.
"What makes you think that?" Kirk asked, and briefly wondered if he was being "unpatriotic" just because he found the Romulan Commander more congenial than the Vulcan captain.
"I can read and understand emotions better than a Vulcan, Captain. You think I should be angry with you for being deported to Vulcan along with my crew."
"Well, you are considered to be "guests". But you've actually hit the mark!"
"Yes. I consider our discovery the most important for the Romulan Empire in recent history, Captain. I've always been fascinated by our ancient history. Vor-ka-ri is a myth, a legend, it is a place of religious meaning to us, and it could also initiate a cautious approach towards our Vulcan cousins. Although we have our differences, we're still of the same blood. I agree with Captain Saluk that we must find a way to be able to study the ruins."
"Surely, you don't need to be on Vulcan to negotiate?" Kirk was becoming suspicious. He hadn't seen any ruins on that planet, why did Tamulok speak of them now?
"My government is not interested in myths. They will just shoot at you when they come across your ships here in the neutral zone. You will need a strategy for negotiations, one that I'm willing to work out with your authorities."
"You do not match the Federation's picture of a Romulan Commander who is loyal to the Empire."
"We may not value individuality as much as you do, but we are individuals as well. I may not be a stereotypical Romulan, but I am Romulan, and I am loyal to the Empire. I just do not agree with all its politics. My government wants to stay isolated, I hate to say it, but in my opinion this is a sign of being paranoid. We need not fear the Federation, we can outpower your fleet at anytime."
"I'm sure you can," Kirk smiled at him, this guy was strangely charming, he had to admit. He needed to be careful. "What about your crew? Do they agree with you?"
"My crew is loyal to the Empire. But above all, they're loyal to me. To quote one of your human proverbs: They're loyal to a fault."
Kirk raised his eyebrows. A Romulan commander quoting a human proverb? Just how much did they know about the Federation? They were masters of espionage and deceit, and he was sure that this was not just another stereotype.
"Well, Commander ...," Kirk was about to send Tamulok off with his best wishes, when suddenly the Red Alert went off and Spock requested his presence on the bridge.
"Five Romulan warbirds decloaked ahead of us, Captain. Our shields are up, but they outpower the combined weapons of the Enterprise and the P'Jem at least threefold. If they wish, they can destroy us. I suggest to negotiate."
Great. I've seen it coming - again, Kirk thought bitterly, and nodded to Tamulok to follow him to the bridge.
o0o
"Satus?" Kirk barked at no one in particular when he entered the bridge. The Romulan Commander had followed him and was now standing behind him, staring at the screen which showed the five Romulan vessels.
"They're hailing us, sir," Uhura reported.
"Put them through."
"This is Commander Valdran of the Romulan Alliance, you are violating our treaties and you are holding a Romulan vessel hostage, lower your shields and prepare to be entered," the female Romulan Commander demanded in a tone that could freeze over hell, Uhura thought. She risked a glance at Tamulok. He would explain the situation and appease her, wouldn't he?
"This is Captain James Kirk. I assure you, our intentions are peaceful. The Romulan scout is not our hostage. Commander Tamulok is our guest," Kirk said, taking a step to the side to let Valdran see their Romulan "guest".
"Tamulok?" she seemed surprised, excited even, but schooled her features back to her cold and demanding expression.
"Jolan tru, Valdran. I am relieved to see you. From your being here, I gather the rebellion has gained the upper hand within the Empire?" Tamulok smiled at her in a somewhat cheesy way, Uhura observed. Moreover, she realized that Tamulok wasn't speaking Romulan, but a language that the whole bridge personnel could understand, and he had just given them the information that there was a civil war waging in the Romulan Empire. These five warbirds were obviously a part of the rebel forces. The question was, on which side was Tamulok? And what would this mean for them?
"Jolan tru, Commander. What are you doing on the Federation ship?"
"We have formed a temporary alliance," Tamulok said, still smiling.
Valdran frowned and held up a fist in rage. "You formed an alliance with the enemies of all Romulans! You have betrayed your people!"
"Now, Valdran, you need to control yourself. We are all traitors of the Romulan Star Empire, are we not?"
"Speak for yourself. We are the liberators of the Romulan people. We are no traitors! Lower your shields or we will open fire."
"Please, Valdran. I will explain. Just give me a minute. ... We will lower our shields," Tamulok turned to Uhura and made a sign to cut off communication.
Uhura looked at Kirk, who nodded his approval and then turned Tamulok around in a fit of rage. For a moment there, she'd been sure he would hit him in the face and break his nose, or something. Instead, he just clarified:
"We will not lower our shields, Tamulok, nor are we allies. Now, if you can't bring her to back off, we will open fire."
"You can't. She will destroy you," Tamulok sounded as if he was talking to a child.
"That's what I'm counting on. Either she destroys us, or we self-destruct. We will not surrender ourselves to the enemy."
Uhura began to feel truely uneasy now. For some reason she had thought that they would find a way out of this situation, they always had, and Kirk had never given up, even if the situation had been hopeless. She hoped her captain was bluffing, only if he did, he was damn good at it.
"Captain, Valdran is dangerous. She is the leader of the Romulan Alliance, a rebellious group that has drawn the Empire into a civil war. She thinks I'm on her side. I am not. I want her and her group dead. I know how to destroy all five warbirds and leave your ships intact. You've got to trust me."
"Trust, Tamulok, is something that needs to be earned. And you have done nothing of the kind, so far."
"I know. But there is no time. Lower your shields and tell the Vulcan ship to do the same."
"Captain, at this point, it does not make a difference. Shields or not, Valdran is able to destroy us," Spock said.
"If we lower our shields, they can beam aboard. And we will be entered."
"Please, Captain. My ship has got a generator on board that modifies the shield so that it can be used as a weapon. If you place a simple phaser shot at this area," Tamulok had walked over to Spock's console and now pointed at an area of the map of the scout which was displayed there, "it will produce oscillations within the shields of all vessels in the vicinity, resulting in their immediate destruction."
"Mr. Scott did find a generator that was connected to their shields, Captain," Uhura pointed out.
Kirk turned to face Tamulok. "You would kill your own people, Commander?"
"At the moment they are greater enemies of the Empire than you are, Captain. Don't you know the human proverb: The enemy of my enemy is my friend?"
"You know many human proverbs, Tamulok," Kirk observed. He couldn't be trusted, he was sure of that now. However, at the moment it seemed as if they both had the same interests, namely to escape these five warbirds.
"Uhura, inform the P'Jem. Code Blue. Chekov, when the P'Jem has lowered her shields do the same and then fire phasers at the given coordinates."
"Aye, Captain," Chekov answered. Lowering the shields while facing five Romulan warbirds was something that he'd definitely never done before, and had never thought he'd ever would do. Well, being at the helm of Starfleet's flagship meant it never got boring. If this was the last order he'd fulfill, well then at least his life had been interesting. He watched his instruments. Bljad.
"Captain, two of the warbirds are powering up their weapons," he said.
"What about the P'Jem's shields?" Kirk demanded.
"Still up." Chekov was thankful that he had his instruments to look at, and that his Captain asked him about them, although he was looking over his shoulder at the moment and could see for himself. But it gave him something to do, and the impression that he was being useful.
"Lower our shields!" Kirk gave the command, and Chekov complied automatically.
Nothing happened. Pavel resumed breathing. But then ...
"They're firing at the P'Jem!" he shouted. Everyone could see that. Two very neatly placed shots were fired, and caused an explosion.
"The P'Jem's shields have failed," Chekov reported triumphantly, feeling bad immediately, but no one seemed to have noticed his misplaced emotions.
"Fire at the scout!" Kirk gave the order and Chekov heard Tamulok behind him take in a satisfied breath.
Then his world seemed to fall into slow motion. The shields of the small Romulan scout lighted up in a bright green, that seemed to ignite the other five Romulan ships which suddenly started to glow in pulsating intervals. One - two - three, each becoming more intense than the preceding pulse.
Instinctively Chekov groped for something to hold onto when with the fifth and last pulse all six Romulan ships, the warbirds and Tamulok's ship, exploded in a massive detonation that blinded him. The Enterprise was rocked hard, alarms went off, there was shouting, and he smelled smoke and burnt flesh.
Nausea was claiming him and he realized his hands felt as if he was holding them into boiling hot water. He wanted to scream but inhaled smoke and only started coughing.
"Mr. Chekov, you've done it! You've sent these pointy eared Romulans to Vorta Vor," he heard Kirk say.
"What else do you know about us, Captain?"
"I know that you are unscrupulous when it comes to sacrificing your own crew."
The rest was jumbled. He coughed again, the last thing he heard was Kirk, calling him by his first name, "Come on, Pavel, keep breathing."
This is not a good sign, he realized, and then lost consciousness.