INAD verse; Short one-shot in response to answer C on poll at the end of the chapter.

Danger always lurks

James Kirk always enjoyed talking to Selek, but even talking to the elderly Vulcan could not distract him from the sense that something was wrong. Taking a brief glance back to the field, he saw movement. He narrowed his eyes, trying to spot it again, but failed. Listening to his instincts, he steered Selek back inside. There's a problem, I know it.

"I think someone on the balcony saw us!" hissed a figure, glancing at the well lit reception hall.

"Shut up or I'll gut you where you stand." Another figure hissed, the small group moved into shadows. "The shipyards are this way, don't make a sound!"

The Next Morning

"We've got a problem." Kirk glanced at the Klingon Diplomat next to him, whom he had been small talking about weapons, and they both turned to look at Pike and Archer as they entered the conference room. Several other diplomats looked up as well.

"What type of problem?"

"When we recovered the drill of the Narada, we discovered hatches leading into the drill from the outside. Technicians initially assumed that they were maintenance hatches."

"I'm going to take it that they weren't?" Kirk asked, already dreading the answer.

"Romulans would have been in the drill?" the Klingon added, looking concerned.

"It took us hours to get to the drill in the first place, that amount of time gap . . . they could be anywhere on Earth by now."

"Off Earth, actually. Last night, Kirk, when you alerted to a possible security breach? There was one, four, perhaps five Romulans snuck into the shipyards and took a small scouting ship." Kirk frowned.

"How did they slip past security?"

"They didn't, but we weren't notified of this until this morning, four men are dead."

"What are the capabilities of that scout ship?"

"Standard phasers, one transporter, average shields, nothing that could stand against a battleship."

Kirk kept his expression blank. He'd just thought of a few ways that a scout ship could stand against a battleship. "It would be enough for Guerrilla tactics, though."

"Guerrilla?" A rather timid looking delegate asked.

"Small groups, hit hard and fast, then disappear. Aim to weaken or distract an enemy." Kirk explained, "They won't seek open battle, but hit and run."

"What would be the point?" The Klingon scowled in distaste at such a tactic.

"Drive a wedge into alliances, quite possibly." Pike sighed, seeing where Kirk was going. "Divide and conquer . . . if they get to Romulus, they'd be able to get some support."

"And then there are planets with issues with both the Federation and Klingon Empire." The Andorrian delegate noted. "And we do not know everything that they do."

"Wonderful . . ." Another delegate muttered. "And here I thought it was over."

"We sent out an APB on the ship this morning, we've got all available ships . . . but until they do something, there's nothing we can do."

No one was happy about that, but there was very little they could do.

"We're out of any sensor range, no pursuit, they're still unorganized." Halfway to the neutral zone, three Romulans turned to look at the two humans (a young man and woman) that had helped them steal the shuttle.

"We never did get your reason for helping us."

"Oh, it's simple enough, really . . . Starfleet threw me out." The young woman smiled. "I want revenge."

"Why should we listen to you?"

"Because, you might know history, but I'm willing to bet that this time period is different." She smiled, "I know my way around, you'll need my help to stay one step in front of Starfleet and Kirk."

"She's smart, I follow her." The young man shrugged.

"Besides," the woman pressed, "Do you have any other plan?" The trio looked at each other.

They were in charge of making sure the platform continued to function. While that took a good amount of intelligence, none of them were leaders. They had spent years in a klingon prison merely existing, and much of their independence had been taken away. They had become far to use to obeying commands. Not to mention, they were engineers, not leaders. While they might not have cared for her heritage, the woman had saved them, taken care of them, and then helped them get off earth.

They owed her their lives, and would honor that debt. (It helped that they also wanted revenge for the deaths of their comrades.)

"What are your orders, Captain Lester?" Janice Lester smiled.

"Rekar, take the helm, Decius, monitor engineering with Koval . . . Green, you've got communications. There's a planet in the neutral zone that won't ask questions." The petite woman grinned, "I'll be going through our options . . . there are so many ways to get revenge . . . but for now, subtlety is best."

It's short, but it's part of something much larger, and can stand alone. This is going to be one of several plot threads extending throughout my fics in this AU. (Joanna and the klingon involvement are two others.) I realize the potential to put them all together for one giant story, but I'm going to just stick to quick oneshots and/or 'episodes' for a while.

(On the Brightside, if they're short, I'm more likely to post quicker)

In the movie, there are two romulans that come out of the drill to fight- I'm pretty sure there would have been at least one more still in the drill to make sure the systems continued running. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) None of them, aside from Nero and Ayel, were named, so I just found names that fit the ideas I had to their characters (Hint Rekar=Wrecker). Green's an easter egg- I've mentioned another character in a episode he was in already.

So . . . how many people saw that one coming?