IRW Qrinkartai, Sector 001
Stardate 8390, alternate

The Romulan bird of prey Qrinkartai was on a mission of exploration: to explore Federation space under cloak, discover any military secrets possible, and report their findings back to Romulus and Remus. They were currently traveling through the Sol sector while attempting to decrypt various coded messages to Starfleet Command.

"I'm detecting another one," the comm officer, Sublieutenant Ergon, announced. "It's not coded, and on maximum bandwidth."

"Is there a visual?" Commander Srankreth asked.

"Yes, sir," Ergon answered. "Onscreen."

A tall, dark-skinned man appeared. Srankreth recognized him as Admiral Cartwright, from the intelligence holos. "Do not approach Earth," he warned, through a large amount of static. "Do not . . ." he repeated, and then broke up.

"Attempting to compensate," Ergon reported. "Something's interfering with their communications."

"I have it on sensors," another officer, Sublieutenant Ralatk, reported. "Some type of . . . something. A probe, maybe. Definitely not of Federation origin." He paused, running a quick cross-reference. "Or that of any other race known to the Empire."

"What's our distance from Earth?" Srankreth asked.

"Less than a third of an isoparsec," Ralatk reported.

"Maintain our position," Srankreth ordered. "And keep a constant watch on that probe."

"It appears to be transmitting some type of sonic signal," Ralatk said.

"Sonic? As in sound waves?"

"Yes, commander. And seems to be causing quite some difficulty. Equipment malfunctions, meteorological calamities. And the probe's output is increasing. Geometrically. By my estimates, Earth should be totally destroyed within minutes."

"And with it, Starfleet Command and Federation Headquarters." A pleasing thought indeed, Srankreth mused.

"Yes, sir."

"Very well, then. We'll just wait for it to do so--and then take the spoils ourselves."