Fred's A-model Egret raced through the atmosphere of the planet looking for the Romulan scout. He maintained a high altitude in order to be able to see more at a time. For three hours, he roamed around the planet alone. He had talked to Sylvia a number of times. He liked to hear her voice; it was comforting to him, plus the fact that it told him that she was okay. He was now at a point where he didn't watch his sensor readout as carefully as he did at first. He didn't expect to find the Romulans for a time, while in the back of his mind he was afraid that they would suddenly decloak behind him and open fire.
Cil was getting rather bored sitting there waiting for Fred to find the scout. When she wasn't talking to him through her combadge, she just walked slowly around the area, observing the plants. She never saw any other life forms.
Fred happened to glance at the sensor display, which showed a small vessel ahead of him. The Egret's computer, which was programmed to identify known enemies of the Federation before the Egret reached them, labeled the target as hostile. He changed course to intercept the target.
When he was within range, he opened fire on the green Romulan ship. He could see the phaser blasts hitting the shield grid. The scout maneuvered to evade him, but he was too close for that to be very effective. Staying close to the target also made it harder for them to hit him, although his fighter did get a few minor injuries. When the computer told him that the scout's shields were down, he tried to transport the crew off of it. It took the transported some time to lock onto them, and in the meantime the scout kept trying to get away from him. It was faster than he had expected, and he sometimes had to push the throttle to full to stay within transporter range. He kept trying to beam away the Romulans onboard until there were no more life signs inside the ship. Then he activated the Egret's autopilot and beamed to the scout before his fighter left transporter range. When he materialized, he was very relieved to find an empty ship. He went over to the controls and figured out how to fly the thing. He followed his Egret back to Sylvia, who was eagerly awaiting his return. She was worried about him going off to fight Romulans single-handedly, but they both knew that this was the only way they would be able to get off the planet. No friendly ships were likely to be by there for a while.
She got up from sitting under a large alien tree, well, alien to her anyway, and walked far enough away so that she could get a clear view of the planet's sky. The sky was blue, but it wasn't the same blue as Earth. It wasn't as bright, and it seemed to have a little tint of… was that green? On Earth, greenish sky often warned of an incoming storm, but there did not appear to be any clouds on this planet, at least not where she was. She heard the rush of something moving very quickly through the air. It was the Romulan scout ship. The Egret became distinguishable soon after, as it was smaller than the scout was. Sylvia felt herself being transported and she materialized inside the Romulan ship.
"Well, you did it," she said to Fred.
"Yeah, that was the easy part. Now we have to get out of here without the Romulans finding us."
"Yeah. Got any ideas?"
"Just one. Start going and don't look back. I've figured out the shortest route back to Federation space, but it passes near a gas planet about six hours from now or so. Hopefully there won't be any Romulans there, but if one of there ships sees us it might make a good place to hide."
"That's true. Do you know if Starfleet will be looking for us? I mean, at least keeping their eyes peeled for a lonely Egret coming from within Romulan space?"
"I'm sure they're watching Romulan space like a hawk right about now. What I'm worried about is what they'll do if they see a lone scout ship coming across the border."
"Hmm. Damn, I hadn't thought of that. We're not a warbird or anything though, so wouldn't they try to capture it?"
"They might. Actually, I hope they do. All that'll happen is that they'll bring us in and find out that we're lost Egret pilots, I mean we're obviously not Romulan."
They both laughed a little at the disgusting thought of being taken for a Romulan. "Well, let's not spend any more time in hostile space than we have too," Fred said.
"Right. Um, how do you fly this ugly green contraption anyway?"
"Oh, right. Here, I'll show you." Fred spent the next fifteen or so minutes explaining everything that he had managed to learn about the Romulan vessel in the time it took him to fly it back to where they were now. Then he hit his combadge and was beamed back to his fighter. The two mismatched craft climbed out of the planet's atmosphere together. Sylvia looked back at the planet when they had reached a reasonable distance away from it. It was somewhat green, wasn't it? Weird, quite fitting, but weird nonetheless. They left the system and began following Fred's course out towards the gas planet and home.
Cil was getting rather bored sitting there waiting for Fred to find the scout. When she wasn't talking to him through her combadge, she just walked slowly around the area, observing the plants. She never saw any other life forms.
Fred happened to glance at the sensor display, which showed a small vessel ahead of him. The Egret's computer, which was programmed to identify known enemies of the Federation before the Egret reached them, labeled the target as hostile. He changed course to intercept the target.
When he was within range, he opened fire on the green Romulan ship. He could see the phaser blasts hitting the shield grid. The scout maneuvered to evade him, but he was too close for that to be very effective. Staying close to the target also made it harder for them to hit him, although his fighter did get a few minor injuries. When the computer told him that the scout's shields were down, he tried to transport the crew off of it. It took the transported some time to lock onto them, and in the meantime the scout kept trying to get away from him. It was faster than he had expected, and he sometimes had to push the throttle to full to stay within transporter range. He kept trying to beam away the Romulans onboard until there were no more life signs inside the ship. Then he activated the Egret's autopilot and beamed to the scout before his fighter left transporter range. When he materialized, he was very relieved to find an empty ship. He went over to the controls and figured out how to fly the thing. He followed his Egret back to Sylvia, who was eagerly awaiting his return. She was worried about him going off to fight Romulans single-handedly, but they both knew that this was the only way they would be able to get off the planet. No friendly ships were likely to be by there for a while.
She got up from sitting under a large alien tree, well, alien to her anyway, and walked far enough away so that she could get a clear view of the planet's sky. The sky was blue, but it wasn't the same blue as Earth. It wasn't as bright, and it seemed to have a little tint of… was that green? On Earth, greenish sky often warned of an incoming storm, but there did not appear to be any clouds on this planet, at least not where she was. She heard the rush of something moving very quickly through the air. It was the Romulan scout ship. The Egret became distinguishable soon after, as it was smaller than the scout was. Sylvia felt herself being transported and she materialized inside the Romulan ship.
"Well, you did it," she said to Fred.
"Yeah, that was the easy part. Now we have to get out of here without the Romulans finding us."
"Yeah. Got any ideas?"
"Just one. Start going and don't look back. I've figured out the shortest route back to Federation space, but it passes near a gas planet about six hours from now or so. Hopefully there won't be any Romulans there, but if one of there ships sees us it might make a good place to hide."
"That's true. Do you know if Starfleet will be looking for us? I mean, at least keeping their eyes peeled for a lonely Egret coming from within Romulan space?"
"I'm sure they're watching Romulan space like a hawk right about now. What I'm worried about is what they'll do if they see a lone scout ship coming across the border."
"Hmm. Damn, I hadn't thought of that. We're not a warbird or anything though, so wouldn't they try to capture it?"
"They might. Actually, I hope they do. All that'll happen is that they'll bring us in and find out that we're lost Egret pilots, I mean we're obviously not Romulan."
They both laughed a little at the disgusting thought of being taken for a Romulan. "Well, let's not spend any more time in hostile space than we have too," Fred said.
"Right. Um, how do you fly this ugly green contraption anyway?"
"Oh, right. Here, I'll show you." Fred spent the next fifteen or so minutes explaining everything that he had managed to learn about the Romulan vessel in the time it took him to fly it back to where they were now. Then he hit his combadge and was beamed back to his fighter. The two mismatched craft climbed out of the planet's atmosphere together. Sylvia looked back at the planet when they had reached a reasonable distance away from it. It was somewhat green, wasn't it? Weird, quite fitting, but weird nonetheless. They left the system and began following Fred's course out towards the gas planet and home.