Star Trek Hunter
Episode 21: The Enemy of My Enemy
Scene 1: The Blue Romulan
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21.1
The Blue Romulan
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The Romulan Star Navy had invested in the enormous warbirds, and then the far, far larger battlegods for a reason that had nothing to do with klingons or the federation, or the cardassians or the Dominion. Nothing any of those cultures had ever produced was so much of a threat that would spur such an enormous investment. The four battlegods were created to counter one specific threat – a borg cube. The battlegod was about a quarter the size of a borg cube and was loaded with armaments unlike anything else in the alpha or beta quadrants. But the critical advantage and reason for the enormous size was the power source. Romulan warbirds were powered by artificially created microsingularities. It took over a hundred of these to be combined into the singularity that was housed in the Bestia – plenty to power the enormous disruptor cannon needed to cut through a borg cube.
The I.R.W. Bestia was being trailed not by one borg cube, but by two. But something had happened to the borg after the collapse of their transwarp hub by Admiral Janeway. One of the borg cubes appeared generally, but not entirely complete. The other had suffered obvious damage and did not appear to be self-repairing – what repairs there were had a homemade, unprofessional look. Enormous holes in the structure were at best roughly papered over with sheet metal of some sort. Other holes in the structure simply gaped, allowing stars on the other side of the mammoth vessel to be seen through them.
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"Get me a firing solution on the second ship," said Sela.
"That will require us to reposition," Commander Hundeeth replied. "Either that or manage to pass a disruptor beam through the first ship."
"Which is why I want to hit the second ship first and I want to do it without letting the borg know that is our plan. I don't care if we only get a corner of the second ship, get a firing solution on it. I want our torpedoes programmed to skim around the first ship and hit the second one."
"The second ship?" asked Admiral Ekot.
"Do it now!" Sela said.
"We have a solution…" Hundeeth started.
"Shoot them! I want a full volley of torpedoes – front tubes as well as aft."
"All front and aft tubes engaging. Main aft disruptor cannons engaged," Hundeeth replied.
"That second ship is the threat, Ekot," Sela said. "For some reason the first ship is fighting and repositioning to protect the other. And if we can cripple it, we only have to face one."
The bridge of the Bestia shook violently as the first borg ship engaged with an enormous phaser cannon.
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A*****A
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In the main hangar romulans were scrambling to report to general quarters. The romulan officer who was operating the main transporter unit was so clearly not a romulan that she should have been spotted immediately – her uniform was far too big for her and had been pulled over other clothing. A hastily applied wig of long, black hair was on a little crooked and some sort of green paste that had been smeared on her face and hands was melting, revealing blue skin underneath. And there should have been two officers at the massive main transporter console.
There wasn't much use for this transporter console during battle, so someone might have thought it odd that the officer operating it was evidently quite busy. But the security officers rushing through the hangar and adjacent cargo bay were looking for borg, not poorly disguised romulans.
Just as Special Agent Anana Lynarr completed her search and enacted a massive transporter program, the entire ship shook from a hit from one of the borg vessels. Relays throughout the Bestia went haywire as energy coursed through the ship in ways it was not designed for. This caused explosions in the main transporter panel. Lynarr had to leap out of the way to avoid getting burned by forks of lightning and bursts of fire coming from the control unit.
"Hveolhaonn yuuhhai. Hveolhaonn duhaen hnaifv iudaiht etrifven kjumnaihsou hteij. Hveolhaonn uaefvalhuneitrde'h'n yuuhhai," Lynarr shouted with a wave of her hand at a few romulans who had started to move toward her. They returned to their own priorities. Lynarr studied the control panel. "Dhaeg hldl aellei claehis aoni'rhnniohsyrrhihdh," she muttered and began programming what was left of the panel, making repairs to various systems as she went. She rubbed her hands, trying to redistribute the green paste, only to reveal more of the blue skin underneath. "Their eyesight must be really terrible…"
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* Hveolhaonn yuuhhai. Hveolhaonn duhaen hnaifv iudaiht etrifven kjumnaihsou hteij. Hveolhaonn uaefvalhuneitrde'h'n yuuhhai: I'm fine. I just need to repair this transporter. I will be fine.
* Dhaeg hldl aellei claehis aoni'rhnniohsyrrhihdh: Foot food and nose water (a mildly obscene romulan curse.)
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A*****A
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At the back of the massive romulan battlegod, a row of batteries that helped power one of the largest of the disrupter cannon arrays exploded, opening one end of the corridor to space. Nearly a dozen romulan engineers were killed by the explosion, another group were blown out into space and the enormous aft port array of disruptor cannon went silent. A bulkhead slammed down, cutting off the last two batteries and the remainder of the area was swiftly repressurized. Moments later, Lt. Gaia Gamor, Ensign Eykirros Jones, Ensign Chrissiana Trei, Tactical Specialist Dasare Eba, Ensign Geoffrey Horatio Alstars and Flight Engineers Yolanda Thomas and Thomas Hobbs beamed into this battery array. The ship shook again from an explosion and threw nearly everyone against one of the walls, causing them to drop the various farming implements they had been carrying. Their boots were clotted with mud, which left long, muddy streaks across the floor as they struggled to keep their footing.
Dr. Chrissiana Trei knelt next to one of the romulan engineers who had also been thrown against the wall. The trill doctor helped the romulan engineer to her feet. "Does anyone speak romulan?"
Flight Engineer Yolanda Thomas stepped forward and started talking with the engineer, then turned to Lt. Gamor. "Sir, these batteries are in direct line to power the aft port disruptors. If we can't get that weapons array back online, the borg will get close enough to board. Engineer Muve thinks most of the batteries will work if we can route power around the first two down there that are blown out and this one," Thomas pointed to one of the giant batteries in the middle of the line that was blown out and leaking acid. "All the tools and EPS conduit we need to do the job are in this area. If we work together, we can probably get it done in a few minutes…"
Lt. Gamor looked around, quickly assessed the situation. "Ensign Alstars, we are your team. Let's get this array back online. Yolanda, you, me and your new friend – we will move from one end to the other to assess the situation and make changes as needed – let's go!"
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A*****A
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Dr. Tali Shae, 2nd Lt. Ethan Phillips, Chief Flight Specialists Dewayne Guth and Thyssi zh'Qaoleq, Tactical Specialist Veri Geki and Transporter Engineer K'rok were beamed into Supreme Commander Sela's office along with a different set of farming implements. Fortunately for them, the romulan supreme commander was not in her office. Instinctively, they hid behind any furniture they could find as they could see straight through the walls onto the bridge, into a conference room behind the bridge and out into space off the port side. Neither of the borg cubes were in view. They might as well have taken seats in Sela's office (there were plenty of chairs) as they could not be seen from any of these areas. They were able to observe Sela on the bridge, and hear her and her officers ordering the battle.
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"The port aft main disruptor is back online. We are deploying now," Commander Hundeeth stated.
"Good," said Sela. "Maybe that will force them to drop back so we don't get overrun with boarding parties. I thought you told me that section had vented to space and all our engineers in that section were blown out."
"We have had unusual transporter activity all over the ship, mostly borg boarding parties. But apparently a team beamed into the battery room for that disruptor shortly after it repressurized," Hundeeth replied.
"Remind me to find out who beamed that team in there and reward them," said Sela. "They very probably saved this ship."
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21.1