Star Trek: The Next Expansion
Chapter 2: The Catalyst
By Oberon
Good job Entilza for fine beta'ing!
Admiral Sela purposefully strolled through the soldiers that saluted her on either side as she made her way to the bridge. There, the officers of the Temet stood in silent anticipation of her arrival.
Subcommander Argelian greeted the Admiral as she entered. "Welcome aboard, Admiral. Let me say what an honor it is for you to come in person."
"Thank you, subcommander. The Praetor would like to let you know how grateful we are for the fine work you did. Your service to the empire will be noted."
The admiral went about inspecting the bridge stations, paying special attention to Lieutenant Rhiana's post. Sela was most curious with the Lieutenant ever so often stopping her explanation of hyperspace for clarification.
"Subcommander, is there some place where we can speak alone?" Sela asked.
"Of course, Admiral. This way."
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The sub commander found himself alone with Admiral Sela. She was reported to be one of Tal'aura's most ruthless supporters, operating within both the military and the Tal'shiar to root out any traitors. These days that could just be about any officer or Ulhan that spoke out against the Praetor. Argelian just couldn't help but be a little apprehensive.
"I do not have to tell you how much this expedition meant to the empire. Quite frankly, with the Remans and the lost of the senate, the empire is fragmented and opportunities for destabilizing forces arise around every corner. You have no idea how much the Centauri can do for us." Sela began.
Argelian was speechless, he had no idea the woman could be so frank. He had always imagined the Admiral as the stealthiest snake in the pit. For her to come out and say these things, the situation at home must be worst than he had thought. Of course he had his doubts.
"In these uncertain times the empire could use a man like you - someone that epitomizes military pride and honor. It is no secret that your voyage has captured the imagination of the empire."
"I was merely performing my duty, Admiral." Argelian replies, not sure where Admiral Sela was going with this little chat.
"And he is humble too!" Sela exclaimed. "But that wouldn't do. You need to take pride in your work." He still did not understand.
"I don't understand."
"The people need to take their minds off the uncertainties. They need to feel pride in the military. Officers like you need to know that they are making a difference in the security the empire. What I'm saying; if you can stand with the Praetor in this. Show a unified front if you will, it will go a long way to stabilize the current political climate."
"I see, and let me speak frankly as well. What will be in it for me if I'm to go along with this show?"
Sela paused. From Argelian's reaction she had expected more convincing before they got down to business. Still this made things easier.
"So the 'For the greater good of the Empire' line is not going to work with you. This is way is actually better. I'm prepared to offer you a promotion to commander – to work directly under me for the Praetor. In addition you will be granted land on Romulus."
"That sounds like a very good deal and I would be foolish to pass it up." He continued cautiously. "However, Admiral Donatra's star is on the rise while the Praetor is loosing grip of the Empire. It would be beyond foolish for me to board a sinking ship. Still what you suggested is not totally…" he chose his word, "unreasonable."
"Then the question is, subcommander. What is it that you want?"
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"Lieutentant, the Admiral wants to have a word with you."
"Yes, Sir!"
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The march of a dozen soldiers from the streets announced the arrival of someone important. Speculation grew rampant as to the identity of the individual that merit such an entourage.
"Ael Tal'aura, Praetor of the Romulan Star Empire and S'Ten, Keeper of the Praetor's office!"
The inhabitants of the large villa style estate were at awe. The hostess horridly went to welcome the new arrives.
"Ah, Lady Hiren. You look as lovely as ever." Tal'aura complimented the hostess as she went to greet them.
The hostess bowed in respect. "Praetor, I did not expect to be graced by your presence and so did not make the proper preparations for your arrival. What brings you to our humble gathering this day?"
"None sense, deer lady. Are we not friends? Am I not always welcome at your house?"
The hostess starred into the Praetor's eyes intensely, emotions and urges barely held back by an iron will and the presence of the Praetor's guards.
"I place great value in our friendship. Please, come in." the Praetor walked past her to find her own way in the party. None dared to tell her where to go or with whom to speak.
"S'Ten, it has been a long time." The hostess met the Keeper. "Come this way; let me introduce you to my daughter. I believe former Praetor Neral is around here somewhere." She led the Keeper in, the soldiers keeping guard at the door.
From the corner of her eye, the Praetor spotted someone…
"Praetor Neral, I'm so glad to see that you have recovered from your condition." Tal'aura began, her eyes probing for signs of lingering weakness.
The former praetor faced Tal'aura with instant recognition. He turned on the charm that had allowed him to deceive the great Ambassador Spock so long ago.
"As do I Praetor. As do I. However, I am no longer praetor. My friends call me Neral."
"Neral, now that you are back on your feet, so to speak. What are you plans? As I have heard, many of your former constituents are still very much supporting your return."
"Unfortunately, Praetor, looks can be deceiving. I may look fit but in truth my health has only marginally improved in the last few months. This is the first time I had been out of the house since my illness."
"I see, your health should be your first priority. I'm sure the people can make due without your leadership for at least a little while longer."
The former praetor knobbed and took a seat in a nearby chair that looked comfortable. He gestured for Tal'aura to do the same. He was much relieved. "I'm surprised, Praetor, by your attendance. I was under the impression that you and madam Aidoann had a falling out."
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Midway through the servant's 5th round the hostess called the assembled guests to attention. No one had noticed a few select individuals among them had joined the hostess moments before. Now everyone's eyes were on them.
Tal'aura recognized one of the guests up there immediately, "She must had been hiding form me the entire time." The other was the hostess Aidoann's daughter. The last was a younger male she did not know at all.
"It is not often one gets the opportunity to unite two young people in marriage. It is rarer honor still to do so for your daughter and the child of your dearest friend."
Tal'aura turned pale at the announcement. An alliance between two of her greatest opposition was not what she had expected.
"With much pride and fondness, I would like to announce the engagement of my daughter, Teelis and the son of Admiral Donatra, Delon."
The young Romulan, Delon, was perhaps ten years younger than the bride to be - a marriage of love indeed.
"May their union of true love bring glory to both our houses." The prospect of this new alliance could mean dire consequences for Tal'aura's continue rule. The Hirens hated her for murdering the former Praetor, Aidoann's husband, and Donatra had openly opposed her. With Donatra's control of the military and the Hiren's money and resources, they could take the Empire with little challenge.
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Admiral Sela studied the Lieutenant before her. The younger Romulan had a cold outward demeanor like Sela herself. Her eyes possessed a hint of the vast intellect that had been trained to be logical and unemotional. It was too much like a Vulcan for Sela's liking.
"Lieutenant, being the most knowledgably person in hyperspace physics, I believe you would be better serving the empire at a Starbase, working with some of our finest scientists." she said. "This is in no way an order as I am not in charge of personnel assignments. But I want you to think about it, arrangements could be made if you decide to serve the empire in this manner."
Lieutenant Rhiana didn't immediately reply. Admiral Sela's offer was certainly a good opportunity; however the Temet seemed to be where the action was going to take place. If anything her interests would be better served by staying aboard. "How soon do you need an answer?" she asked.
"There is some time still before the Temet's next deployment. I would like your answer before then." Sela dismissed the Lieutenant. An urgent message from the Praetor forced her to cut the meeting short.
Just as the Lieutenant was about to leave the room, the Admiral had something more to say. "Don't disappoint me." She added coldly.
With the Lieutenant gone, Sela turned her attention to the Praetor.
"Admiral, we need to move up our plans ahead of schedule. Admiral Donatra and the Hiren family have formed an alliance…"
"I understand," Sela replied. This was an unexpected twist, but not a fatal one.
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It had been exactly four months since the Temet had left through the jumpgate over Polgraph. Since then Lord Refa had locked down the mining colony. No news of the Romulans got out, no transmission was left uncensored. The loyal Refa house guards on Polgraph oversaw every aspect of the loading operations in the spaceport and communication center, though many had complained about the heat more than once.
Lord Refa sat in his command chair as the time approached. He had done everything in his power to keep word of the Romulans from reaching the Emperor and was quite proud of his work. It was better if these people negotiated with a representative of the people rather than the emperor of an empire. From his conversation with Argelian, these Romulans seemed like the democratic type.
But there were still some time between now and when the Romulans were expected to arrive. Just enough to enjoy a fine glass of Bravari.
All too soon the Jumpgate activated. "Show time," Refa whispered to himself, swallowing the last of his drink and heading for the bridge.
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Lord Refa's evaluative gaze honed in on the Romulan opposite the conference table.
"Lord Refa, I presume…"
"Come Ambassador, there is no need for such formality between our two people. Please, call me Antanio." The Romulan was an older gentleman, with graying hair and a thin constitution. To Refa, the other man looked as if he had survived some great ordeal. But only barely and it had left the Romulan weakened.
"If you wish. I am Neral, Ambassador of the Romulan Star Empire."
The two sat, facing each other.
"Tell me Ambassador Neral, have your people given much thought to the possibility I brought up with Subcommander Argelian?" Refa's predatory eyes measured every facial response in an attempt to sense the other's intensions.
Neral kept his expressive passive. "What you have suggested is still being debated by our senate and scientific community. The lack of DNA for comparison had also made our job more difficult." Neral said. "Perhaps one of your aides can oblige us?"
Refa looked Neral right in the eye, giving a smile that appeared sincere. "Of course, perhaps once our negotiations have concluded."
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Lord Refa had been in negotiation with the Romulans for two days, but had gotten nowhere. The Romulans were stalling. As the third day began, Refa had suggested they break and reconvene on the fourth day. Neral had agreed without hesitation. This had made Refa very suspicious. He was back in his quarters, contemplating weather to open another bottle of brivari, when his aide came to him.
"My Lord, our spies have reported a Romulan envoy making contact with the Narns. They have arranged a secret meeting in neutral territory."
So this was what they been up to, Refa cursed silently. These Romulans were more slippery than he gave them credit for.
"Contact captain Carn, it is about time these Romulans learn that space is a dangerous place."
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Carn Murray stood silently on the bridge of the Raider flagship. It was a dirty place, lacking the military discipline for tidiness; the ship hasn't been properly cleaned up after numerous fatalities. Carn could clearly make out several large splatters of dried Pak'ma'ra blood on the walls. It had been left there after simple scrubbing had failed to remove the stain. And Carn was sure there was a piece of the Pak'ma'ra still on the bridge, somewhere… or so the smell told him.
The captain of the ship noticed Carn's uneasiness. "Don't worry mister Mollari. We are professionals. We'll get the job done."
"I hope so. For the amount my employer is paying, you had better," Carn replied. He had used an alias when dealing with these less than scrupulous people, no point in them knowing his real identity.
The Brakiri captain eyed him. "Is that a threat Mr. Mol-la-ri?" he deliberately emphasized the name. Just barely hinting that he knew Carn's identify but in reality he had no clue.
"No, no." Carn stuttered. "Of course not. However, I can't predict what my employer might do in that event."
The Brakiri gave a grunt and returned to running the ship.
"It is time," Carn announced.
The raider ship jumped into normal space and began deploying fighters.
"There they are," the captain called out.
A small scout vessel was 2,000 kilometers off their starboard side, a Narn cruiser parked directly in front of them. Green and predatory, the scout was definitely of Romulan design.
"Destroy them both, no witnesses," Carn reminded them. But the raiders were already moving. Two of the forward fighters moved to fire on the Narn while Carn's ship targeted the Romulan Scout.
"Fire!" the Brakiri captain ordered. A large burst of laser fire slammed into the Romulan ship, but instead of hull it met a shimmering blue energy field. The hull wasn't even burned. Everyone on the raider watched in shock.
"The Romulans have shields!" Carn screamed before a strange sensation overtook him.
The Brakiri watched Carn disappear from the bridge in a green haze, but could do nothing about it.
"Get us out of here, signal the others!" But it was too late. Before his eyes, one of his ships blew up as they came close to the Narn vessel.
"What's happening!" he demanded. He had not seen either ship fire and neither had their gun ports open.
Off to their portside was a ship that definitely was not there before. It fired again, and the bridge vanished in a blaze of green light.
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That very night, Emperor Turhan of the Centauri Republic received his first present from the Romulans. As he held court with the nobles and ministers around him, a loud feminine scream pierced his ear and he winced.
It was a severed head – a Centauri head. How it had gotten there no one knew, although from witness accounts it had simply appeared out of thin air. There was a note shoved inside the mouth of the unfortunate man. Turhan went pale as he read it.
"Lord Refa has ordered an attack of our ships without provocation. The Romulan Star Empire now declares war on the Centauri Republic. Your mistake."
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Light years away, Londo Mollari found himself summoned to the office of General Lefcourt, Earth Dome. There the General and by his side Hastur, aide to President Levy, were waiting for him.
"As I'm sure you're well aware, Earth has been looking to her interests recently and there is a race we would like to know if you would share any information on," Lefcourt said, "They're called the Minbari. We've only heard rumors about them and we want to know whether they pose threat to the Alliance."
"We have had some dealings with them, but almost nothing in my lifetime," the Centauri liaison to Earth Dome replied.
"We're planning on sending an expedition to Minbari space to try and make contact with them," Hastur injected.
"I wouldn't if I were you. They are powerful and secretive, I would even say dangerous, yes?"
"Be that as it may, we need to be prepared for all eventualities. Anything, even maps, would be much appreciated."
"The only advice I can give is this: send only one ship. They are the oldest, and most advanced of the space faring races. I wouldn't threaten them if I were you. Even when the Lion strode across a quarter of the galaxy unopposed, we never dared attack the Minbari! You can be guaranteed that if you leave them alone, they will treat you the same."
Neither the aide nor the general really listened to Mollari's advice. Earth had beaten the Dilgar when most of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds bowed to their will. They could deal with the Minbari. Human determination and ingenuity would see them through.
"Arrogance and stupidity in one package, how efficient…" Londo said. Later he would be known for that comment. "I only hope," said Londo, "that in your stumbling around in the dark, you do not wake the dragon. I promise I will try and get you what you want, but no more. If you do not listen to my advice now, then you are the ones who will face the consequences." He paused, something occurred to him. "But it will not be free."
"What is it that you're asking for?" Lefcourt asked suspiciously.
"I'll send you a list by tomorrow." He reassured the general, "Do not trouble yourself. I'll keep the list short." If the humans were going down, then the Centauri would have to get everything out of them that they could while there was still a chance. "These are desperate times for the Republic", Londo noted silently.
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The EAS Prometheus arrived at the coordinates provided by Ambassador Mollari. The Prometheus's scanners pick up the silhouette of the Grey Council's vessel, the Valen'tha. Captain Jankowski was nervous.
"This system was supposed to be clear. Unless they were waiting for us." He wanted to see what the Minbari were up to. "Take us closer," Jankowski orders his helmsman.
"Sir, our orders were to avoid contact," his first officer reminded him.
"Take us closer!" Jankowski demanded.
"Sir, our scanners can't pick up much!" One of the techs said in alarm.
"Closer! We need to find as much information about their ships as we can," Jankowski replied.
"Sir!"
"We handled the Dilgar; we can handle a few stray ships."
The Minbari ship had detected the Prometheus and was on an intercept course. Curious, they scanned the human vessel. But their scanners were so strong that they interfered with the Earth ship's jump engines, inadvertently backing the Prometheus into a wall.
In his chair Captain Jankowski took this as a sign of hostility. "Red Alert! And hail the Minbari. Minbari vessel, we mean no harm but you're damaging my ship. Please stop this, we don't want to harm you!"
The Minbari did not respond and continued on their course. Their gun ports opened as they approached.
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Out near the edge of Centauri space, a second battle was about to take place.
The captain of a Primus class battle cruiser watched in horror as 20 Romulan warbirds came from nowhere and started dissecting his small escort fleet. Green beams and glowing spheres impacted and tore ships apart, some in a single hit. The bridge rocked as the ship was hit by a disruptor.
"Return Fire!" The Centauri captain demanded. He watched his remaining ships fire what weapons they could, but the few shots that hit the Romulan vessels were absorbed effortlessly by their energy shields.
Another hit rocked the Primus, this time it threw the ship spinning out of control toward the atmosphere. Beside him another Primus was destroyed, the light from the explosion making the Romulan ships look even more like predatory birds as they swooped in for the kill.
"Main reactors are down," his officers screamed out. "We have no weapons."
His vessel was rocked by another explosion. Without power the great Centauri warship drifted ever downward, caught by the planet's gravity. The Centauri captain sat helplessly as another vessel was destroyed. His own death would be much more drawn out. The captain closed his eyes, saying one last prayer to the Great Maker as the bridge began melting and flaming atmosphere rushed in.
In orbit, their task done, the Romulan fleet recloaked and warped out, waiting for their next chance to strike.
To be continued...
in Chapter 3: Beach Head
Just a note: Hiren was the name of the Praetor in Star Trek: Nemesis. He is the one that was killed when Tal'aura activated the Thaleron Radiation device. This explains Aidoann's, Hiren's wife, hostility toward the current Praetor. Neral was the praetor before Hiren. In the ST:TNG episode Unification part I and II, he was the proconcul that lured Spock to Romulus inorder to get his cooperation in his scheme to take over Vulcan. Later in ST:DS9 he was elected to Praetor during the Dominion war. A curious note, Neral was a young man in TNG while he appeared much older in DS9. In here I gave him an illness that forced him out of public office. You can interpret that anyway you wish.