Start Trek: The Next Expansion

Chapter 3: Beachhead

By Oberon

Thanks for Entilza for beta

General Grovous once more felt his Primus battle cruiser vibrate under his feet as one of those ominous bird ships scored a glancing blow to the front armor. They were just toying with him now, taunting and wounding him instead of killing him outright. He swallowed his pride and ordered his ship into evasive maneuvers - whatever good that would do. The severely damaged forward section of his ship could not take much more punishment. Beside him one of his escorts was destroyed, the explosion rocked his ship once again.

"Sir, we're receiving a transmission from the planet!" His officer called out.

"Authenticate," Grovous ordered.

"It is encrypted with the Imperial Naval cipher."

"One hundred and fifty ships… And we're cut down like nothing." The Centauri general shook his head in resignation. "Very well, we got what we came for. Get us out of here."

The General's primus powered up its jump engines, ready to makes its escape, but the Romulans would not let them off so easily. They fired as the General ordered the jump.

"Reactors damaged!" The officer panicked.

"Looks like they're serious this time," the General closed his eyes as he watched the warbird come around for the kill. Then suddenly his last escort vessel came from behind and got between them and the Romulans. And for that they were destroyed. The explosion from the Vor'chan guarding Grovous shredded the Primus's remaining armor and causing severed internal damage, but the Vor'chan's death allowed the General's ship time to open a jump point and escape.

The few stray fighters that hadn't been destroyed were left to their fate.

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In the last hours of the day, Turhan finally received word from the negotiators he had sent to meet the Romulans.

"Well?"

The man was reluctant to answer, knowing his emperor would not like what he has to say. "The Romulans are willing to call a truce…" he slowly stated.

Turhan breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good news," but a moment later he saw the look on the diplomat's face. There was more. "But?" he urged the man. The man's demeanor suddenly gave Turhan a sinking feeling.

"On the condition that they receive claim to the systems they already took from us… and… and three others." Turhan's face darkened. There was more, "including Marigol." Turhan's fist clenched. The Marigol colony was a major hub of hyperspace lanes for the Centauri Republic, as well as being part of the industrial heartland. The factories on the colony were responsible for more than 25 percent of all ammunition and 40 percent of consumer goods production. In addition, the shipyards in orbit could be reconfigured to repair and refuel the Romulan warbirds. The Romulans could be entrenched in the Centauri Republic for years with no way of getting them out. Without control of the jumpgate over Marigol, the captured territories would be cut off with no way for the Centauri to retake them later on without first taking on the fleet stationed over Marigol. No, doubt the Romulans would fortify the defenses to make any attempt to retake the captured territory extremely costly.

This offer of peace was not an offer at all. He was not expected to accept and had no choice but to refuse. If he accepted this peace it would mean handing over more territory to the invaders without contest and allowing the enemy time to fortify their hold in the sector.

There was no choice, this was a not a war of retribution with the Romulans. This was a war of conquest with the survival of the Republic on the line. The Centauri Republic had to fight or submit. Perhaps this had the Romulans goal all along, Turhan thought. He felt true hatred then, like nothing he had felt before. He wanted to lash out, to wrap his hands around the man responsible. Slowly, he would squeeze and watch the life drain from Refa's face for he had given the Romulans the one thing they'd needed - an excuse to legitimize their invasion. "Damn you Refa!" Turhan whispered. Personally feelings aside, the Centauri would fight, the alternative was slavery and the Lion would never submit.

With a tired wave he dismissed the diplomat.

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General Grovous limped into the operation center on Centauri Prime. He clutched at his chest wound as he felt his heart race and his lungs fill with blood. He coughed and could not stop. Finally the fit subsided and he wiped his mouth with his sleeve. His trusted aid had to help him into a chair.

"Sire," Grovous began but the old Centauri was already at the limits of his endurance. "I bring news…" another coughing fit, he wiped away the blood that was purged from his lungs. "The Quadrant B resistance…" Each breath was becoming more difficult with each precious second as he made what very well could be his last report. "Defense satellites..."

The aid had returned with medical personal but the General waved them away, intent to deliver the news that had been paid for in Centauri blood.

Turhan pleaded with the General to accept medical aid. "Please, speak no more. You wouldn't do us much good rotting in your grave."

But the General was insistent. He shoved a young medic aside as he tried to treat his wounds. "Urgent…" he managed to say.

Unable to speak anymore he reached into his pocket and retrieved the disk containing the message. Grovous wanted to hand the message to Turhan in person but his strength failed him. The disk fell to the floor as his world went dark.

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The Emperor's people studied every bit of data contained in the transmission from the Quadrant B resistance. The most important detail however, seems to be captured images of several Romulan Warbirds being repaired near the Quadrant B colony.

Turhan was a leader and although an able soldier in his time, he was not fully briefed on every technological detail. "How is it that our defense satellites managed to damage their ships while our mighty Primus battle cruisers could not?" The emperor looked on, awaiting the answer from his advisers and the admiralty.

"We believe it has something to do with the satellites themselves. You see, the satellites are a fixed defense platform and as such they mount a much more powerful version of the beam weapon on our Primus class battleships." One young officer explained.

Another officer interrupted. "Of course it could have nothing to do with our satellites." He pointed out. "Their shields could have suffered a malfunction at a critical moment which allowed our weapons to penetrate." It was a sobering thought that no one wanted to consider. Were they truly impotent against this new enemy?

"That is highly unlikely," the first countered. It soon turned into a heated argument between the admiralty, who placed their faith in their weapons, and the scientific staff who was more realistic in their assessment.

Turhan could take no more of this.

"Stop!" he commanded. "I want answers, not arguments over who in this room has the best eyesight." Turhan stood, his stern eyes passed over each of the people at the table. "Now, what do we know?"

"Pull up the sensor logs." Someone told the techs.

On the screen the image of a warbird came into range of the satellite's main weapon. The weapon fired and it was clear the shot did damage to the Romulan cruiser.

"Play back the last 5 seconds."

Once again the weapon fired.

"Stop!" the admiral called out. The now familiar blue hue that signified Romulan energy shields was clearly seen protecting the ship. "It's obvious the beam met resistance before doing damage to the hull."

"What do we know about that ship?" another officer asked from across the table.

"Very little, we were not able to recover any sensor logs from the ships we sent."

"What about the other ships reported to had been damaged?" Turhan injected.

The admiral knobbed, "Display sensor recordings for satellite number seventeen," the second Admiral turned to the screen. Again, the video showed a warbird come into range of the defense satellite. The warbird fired on a nearby Primus, totally ignoring the satellite. The Primus was destroyed, ripped apart completely by one of those green orbs. The Warbird then turned toward the satellite, but the heavy weapons on satellite seventeen locked on and fired first. Again the blue glow surrounded the Warbird, but the beam weapon was able to make contact with the hull. A large scorch mark appeared where the beam hit.

The Romulan ships backed away after discovering their energy shields would not protect them from the satellite's weapons. The satellite fired again, this time scoring a direct hit to the rear of the warbird. The video ended.

"At this point satellite seventeen was destroyed by fire from another ship."

"We can beat them back, they are not invincible!" thought Turhan. For the first time since the war started, Turhan could feel a ray of hope.

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Turhan sat on his throne deep in thought. Finally he came to a decision.

"Admiral, I want you to take our fleets and prepare the defenses at Marigol. That is where they will strike next. Take as many ships as you need, conscript them from the defense of our core worlds if you have to. Marigol must hold, no matter the cost."

"Sire, that will leave Centauri Prime undefended!" Admiral Varia objected.

"I am aware, Admiral. But we have no choice, our soldiers need a victory. The other houses want me to placate the enemy while going around my back to secure their own comfort." He clutched his fists tightly at the thought of such degeneracy. Cowards and traitors the nobles may have been, but he needed them. "We need a victory if we are to bring them into this war; they need to know that we stand a chance of victory."

"I understand, we will destroy them and show the Lion still has fangs!" Admiral Varia exclaimed.

"Good. According to our latest intelligence their ships are still being repaired after the last attack. You still have some time, make good use of it."

"Yes, Sire. For the Republic!" Varia saluted and departed to prepare for the eventual attack.

Turhan turned to one of the servants.

"Bring Refa to me."

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The war… it was nothing more than a distraction.

"You may leave Lieutenant." Admiral Sela dismissed the young Romulan before her with a gesture. She watched her leave; the meeting had been cut short due to an urgent communiqué from Praetor Tal'aura.

"Admiral, we have to move up our plans ahead of schedule." The Praetor's grave features came through in the dim light. "Donatra and the Hiren family had formed an alliance."

This was an unexpected turn of events. "I understand," she would have to move fast as the news of the event signaled the beginning of a new game.

"You have my authority to draft elements from the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 8th fleets to form the taskforce." Those were fleets where Admiral Donatra's influence was the strongest.

"Order received. The Admiral will never know what happened to her loyal supporters until we're halfway across the quadrant." Sela swore confidently.

"I'm counting on you," with that the Praetor ended the transmission.

Soon it would begin. The glory of the Romulan Star Empire would be restored by the blood of Donatra's allies, and soon the Romulan Empire would finally take its rightful place among the stars.

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Quadrant B Colony, Beta Quadrant.
Romulan Command Center...

Admiral Sela hid her smile from the crew. Slowly everything was falling into place. The Empire was walking over the Centauri with little challenge. Already they had secured four systems in the outer frontier of their empire. All too soon this part of space would be cut off from the rest of the xeno civilizations here. The news of victories would surely put out many fires back home as the people turned from domestic issues to support the conquest of this sector.

Sela strolled leisurely through the command center, avoiding the workman as she went by. She took note of their hard labor. Some would not survive, and for a second she thought she cared. But Sela pushed that stray thought aside. She found commander Argelian directing the workman in the command center's construction.

"Commander, status report."

"The construction will be completed in 2 days Admiral. The repairs to the warbirds are proceeding on schedule. They should be fully operational by the end of the day." Argelian had noticed the Admiral approach. She had a smirk but Argelian didn't know what it was about and it wasn't his place to ask.

Sela acknowledged her subordinate. "Has there been any progress in countering the effects of the shield dampening weapon?"

During the battle of Quadrant B a probe had suddenly appeared just as the Romulan fleet was about to engage the Centauri defense force. The moment it came out of hyperspace the probe self-destructed, but in the process it released a high intensity energy wave that depolarized the Romulan shields.

"Lieutenant Rhiana is confident the modifications she made will render the shields immune to the dampening effect."

"Excellent, have her transmit the data to the fleet." Sela continued on her inspection.

"Admiral," Argelian stopped her before she got too far.

"Is there something else commander?"

"Just some concerns. If someone here could field such a weapon in so short of time... They must truly be powerful and could become a threat given enough time to prepare."

"That thought has occurred to me," Sela replied. "I have already given orders for the scouting parties to be on the look out for such a civilization. Hopefully we can get to them before they become ready."

That would have to be enough. The unknown enemy's lack of direct action indicated they either did not have the stomach for combat or did not possess the industrial might to oppose Romulan plans at the moment. Whoever these people ware, the Romulan Star Empire would deal with them when the time came.

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Marigol system, Beta Quadrant:

As the time of the attack approached the tension of the Centauri fleet rose in anticipation. Quickly the crews went about their preparations, many in silence, and some faced panic in hiding. Some acted out their fears but were soon made examples of by their fellow soldiers. After that military discipline took over.

"Admiral, a ship is approaching." An officer informed Admiral Varia.

"Romulan?" he inquired. The fleet was hidden in hyperspace. The last preparation was still being made at this very moment. They were not ready.

"Negative. It's Refa."

Admiral Varia was instantly suspicious. The bastard that had started this so called incident had no place on the battlefield. "Hail them," the admiral ordered, and Refa's face appeared a moment later. The former lord of the Centauri was a wasting shadow of his former glory. No longer proud but still arrogant, he pissed off Varia just by looking at him.

"Refa, what are you doing here?" The admiral asked darkly, not entire happy to see Refa still in one piece. The arrogant smirk was long gone from Refa's face. The former lord grudgingly answered.

"By order of the Emperor, I am to make a last attempt to negotiate with the Romulans for peace." As reluctant as Refa was at the prospect of the upcoming task, the Admiral was more reluctant to let him stay. Still, orders were orders; he just wished the emperor had told him in advance.

"Very well, stay at these coordinates and await the Romulans. Do not divert your course and do not leave your assigned area. This is a war zone, not your private playground." With a grunt the Admiral dismissed him.

Refa Silently went his way. In his heart he swore vengeance against the impetuous Admiral. Once I'm back in the emperor's good graces… He thought.

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Refa, just Refa now for he had been stripped of rank and honor, entered the bridge of the Primus battleship Valerious. He smelled of Bravari, which became a perpetual stench that followed him more loyally than his former retainer.

"Refa, a Romulan ship just appeared directly ahead." The Captain's tone was rude and contempt dripped from every word.

Refa hesitated. "Are you certain the fleet will be here to save us if the Romulans decide to open fire?"

The captain the Valerious had just about had it with the little man. "Stop wasting time, Refa." He raised his hand to signal the comm. "The Romulans are waiting."

The face of the Romulan was not someone Refa recognized. When the Romulan saw Refa's face his expression instantly darkened.

"Romulan commander, I am-"

"I know who you are, Lord Refa!" The Romulan replied. "What do you want? Have you come to beg for our mercy or surrender in the name of your Emperor?"

Put off balance by the Romulan, Refa managed to regroup, though it was fairly obvious. "I would like to sincerely apologize for my earlier actions against your people. My initial attack on your vessel was unprovoked and wrong." He felt completely deflated. The false bravado he built up during the journey here evaporated. "I am prepared to hear any reasonable-" he was careful to stress it had to be reasonable. "Terms you will propose."

"You desire peace?" the Romulan commander inquired.

"Yes!" Refa shouted.

"Then the terms are simple. You will give up your claim to this system as well as the ones already in our possession. You will-" the panic on the Romulan's face momentary confused Refa. "Back us off! NOW!"

Even as the Romulan commander ordered his crew to back his ship away, someone on the bridge of the Valerious moved to action.

"For the Republic!" The officer shouted.

Refa suddenly became aware of a rumbling on the ship. "What's going on?" he cluelessly wondered, and for a split second he saw himself explode. The bridge vanished in a massive anti-matter explosion. Refa's last thoughts were a raging fury for whoever had betrayed him.

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In hyperspace, Admiral Varia of the Centauri fleet listened to every word said on the bridge of the Valerious.

"Refa had failed. Of course I never really had faith in him. Sent the signal to jump." Now the real battle would begin.

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Before the Valerious had left Centauri Prime with Refa on board, it had been almost completely gutted and put back together. Every spare space in the ship was replaced with anti-matter tanks and rigged to self-destruct in the event that Refa failed to negotiate a truce. The Romulans had noticed too late that the Primus was filled to the brim with anti-matter and deuterium.

The Romulans tried to back away with their shields at full power, but the explosion was massive. The energy shields on the Norexian lasted a full four seconds in the fire. The warbird was tossed about while the force of the explosion stripped away armor and hull plating like paper. Finally residual anti-matter carried by the explosion bombarded the inner hull. The crew died a slow death.

Admiral Sela watched the destruction and the deception of the Centauri.

"Decloack, shields up!" Sela shouted out. There were only seconds left before the shockwave hit the remaining warbirds. Without shields the anti-matter would kill her crew even if the shockwave was not powerful enough to damage the ships' systems. The wave washed over them safely. Sela breathed a silent sigh of relief, but the next moment the Centauri attacked with everything they had. Hundreds of jump points opened before them. Centauri Primus and Vor'chans, along with thousands of fighter escorts equipped with nuclear missiles, fired at once.

The Romulan fleet was rocked by the Centauri fire. The first salvo had hit, but the combined multi-megaton explosion only managed to degrade the shields. The Centauri fired again, intending to take advantage of the momentary distraction.

The Romulans got over their shock quickly. They moved into formation and came right at the Centauri line. The Romulans retaliated for their earlier loss with a full alpha strike, and instantly seventeen Centauri capital ships were carved up. A few managed to survive intact, but the Centauri still had superior numbers and seventeen was only a small fraction of the two hundred capital ships present.

The Centauri continued to attack, but soon found their fire being mostly evaded by the swifter warbirds. Loses were beginning to mount as the Romulans fired a second round and shattered Primus and Vor'chan alike.

The Romulans accelerated pass the Centauri while completely ignoring the fight.

"Take us around for another run." Sela ordered.

"Target locked," the Centurion replied, smiling. His younger brother had been on the ship disabled in the explosion.

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On board the command ship of the Centauri fleet, things were being to heat up while the battle quickly turned against them.

"Admiral, we can't take much more of this!" An officer called in panic. The Primus was rocked as another beside it was blown to atoms. Slowly the Centauri turned to face the warbirds, but more died in the attempt.

The admiral gritted his teeth. "Set course for the defense satellites. Full burn." The protection of the satellites was just a short distance away. But the Romulans did not let up, not even when the satellites powered up their main weapons. They kept coming and every time they would pick off more of the Centauri, slowly whittling them down.

During the slaughter, the Romulan warbird Generex floated dead in space, its crew had died an agonizing death due to anti-matter radiation poisoning. Forgotten by all, the cruiser drifted until it was snagged by large hooks that dug into the hull. For a second the meter thick cables connected to the hooks went taut and it seemed as if they would snap. But it did not, and slowly the Romulan warbird was wheeled in, at the pace of a snail, it was towed from the field of battle by a Centauri salvage vessel.

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"Admiral!" An officer on Sela's flagship finally noticed what's going on. "The Generex!"

Sela's attention was momentary diverted from the battle. So this is there plan. Steal our ships from right under us. Cleaver. "Sent the Temet to destroy them." As soon as the orders were sent, the Centauri salvage ship and the Generex disappeared into a hyperspace vortex.

"Damn it!" Sela swore. "Break off! Break off!" Sela shouted. The Centauri must not capture their ships for study. The entire campaign depended on the superiority of Romulan technology.

The Romulans turned away from their prey, ignoring the stray shots that came toward them from behind and the occasional fighters. The warbirds set a course for the last coordinates of their lost ship. "Prepare to open a singularity. We're getting our ship back." Sela promised.

Commander Argelian of the Temet came on the comm. "Admiral, our shields will be severely weakened in hyperspace," he warned.

Sela was beyond care. She would not be made a fool of by these Centauri. "Your concerns are noted and ignored." She turns to the helm. "Take us in."

The hyperspace vortex exploded to life before the Romulans. They entered without hesitation. And the next moment they were rocked by anti-matter explosions from behind. Fortunately, they were just out of range of the initial blast but the reverberating waves degraded precious shields.

"Admiral, we have appeared at the edge of an anti-matter mine field!" An officer called in panic. That was when they notice it. Thousand of ships of all sizes and classification – the main Centauri fleet had been waiting for them! As one, the Centauri fired. Their fire blocked out the orange dimension of hyperspace.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Sela shouted in quick response. They were hit, but only by a few stray shots.

Two of their sister ships were not so lucky. The combined force of hundreds of ships was finally able to overwhelm their weakened shields. They went out in a ball of fire.

The Centauri fired again and kept the Romulans on the run and at optimal range. Their saturation fire was enough to often pin the Romulans to where their focus fire became effective. Hyperspace was playing havoc on Romulan shield generators as they tried to absorb even a fraction of the normal damage. Slowly the warbirds were driven back, toward the mine field.

Admiral Sela gritted her teeth in outrage. "Find me that ship!"

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"That's it! We're actually doing it!" Admiral Varia of the Centauri clutched his arm rest as the saturation fire took effect. The Romulan ships were still agile and often managed to escape from being pinned down by taking a horrendous amount of fire. Still it was working. "Drive them to the mine field." He ordered. All too soon a warbird wandered too close to one of the anti-matter mines they had planted earlier. The bird like ship tripped the proximity sensors of the nearest mine. The resulting explosion vaporized the enemy.

Across the bridge the officers cheered as another of their once invincible enemy was taken out.

"Keep firing!" the admiral ordered. As long as he could keep the stolen vessel hidden the Romulans would stay and come under fire from the almost two thousand ships gathered here. If the enemy escaped into real space then the damage vessel was theirs to keep. It was a win, win situation all thanks to Refa's noble sacrifice. The admiral chuckled.

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Sela cursed as another of her warbird was driven too close to the mine field. Her own ship was not doing much better. Their shields were at critical and could fail any moment.

"Admiral, we can't stay here much longer." Argelian's distorted voice came over the comm. Sela at that moment was thrown out of her seat as a third mine exploded.

"Just find that ship commander."

"Sir, I found the Generex!" Someone on Sela's bridge called out in triumph. Several Centurions let out a sigh of relief at those words but they knew they were not out of the woods just yet. "It's in the enemy formation."

"Commander, go!"

Argelian knobbed, "Prepare to go to warp," with those last orders he cut off communication.

The nacelles on the Temet flared a bright green as every last bit of warp power was used. For a second it seemed to the Centauri as if it stretched onto infinity. Instinctively they fired upon it, but even as the destructive beams left their batteries the Temet appeared among them, too fast for the eye to see or the hands to react.

Every turret in the fleet turned to face the Temet, since its intensions were obvious. But they were too slow. The Temet fired a single green globe before it stretched once again and disappeared. The high yield torpedo struck the Generex and vaporized the ship.

With the destruction of the Generex , there was no longer any point in continuing this fight in hyperspace. Admiral Sela immediately ordered a full retreat of the remaining warbirds into normal space. The transition was instant, but even so they only barely dogged incoming fire. The Romulan fleet immerged several hundred kilometers from the Marigol jumpgate. The Centauri fleet was right on their tail.

Once again in normal space, the Romulan systems returned to normal operations, but they had taken a beating and repairs were required. They could not stay long, but just long enough to exact some measure of revenge.

Sela gave one last look at the jumpgate. "Lock torpedoes on the gate." This was their mission – but it was more like a final spite to the face of the enemy that has taken such a large toll. Since they couldn't have Marigol, neither would the Centauri.

One last torpedo was fired from the Romulans, to the shock and surprise of the Centauri in pursuit. They watched helpless, too far away to do anything to effect the outcome. The torpedo struck one of the jump gate's power generators and touched off the Quantium 40. The jumpgate was consumed in spectacular fire.

"There's nothing for us here, take us back to base." Sela ordered. Almost solemnly, the Romulans retreated from the field of battle, leaving behind stretched afterimages at their wake and fiery debris that once was a jumpgate. They were no longer invincible in the eye of the Centauri, and that was just as much a loss as the destruction of the warbirds.

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Admiral Varia sighed in defeat. It was a victory for morale, but for all intent and purpose they had only managed to drive back the Romulans. The enemy would continue to advance on other fronts and they would be back. But even that small measure of victory had a high cost. The Marigol jumpgate had been destroyed in the battle, regular commercial traffic to the system was now impossible because most civilian vessels did not possess jump drives of their own. With a single shot, the Romulans had in effect accomplished what they had set out to do. The Republic's production capacity had been dealt a severe blow that would take months or even years to recover from.

"Admiral, something strange is going on." An officer on the bridge got his attention. "I just lost the signal from the hyperspace beacon network."

"Which one?" the admiral inquired.

The officer hesitated to respond, the implications too frightening to contemplate. "All…all of them…"

Varia understood what was going on. The Romulans, they had taken out the jump gates in the adjacent systems.

"How far does it go?"

"I am not sure, but if I'm correct… then the beacon network for over half the republic and beyond has been destabilized."

The admiral half sat and half fell down; his knees gave way to pure fatigue and outright shock. "By the Great Maker…" The true nature of the Romulans diabolical plan was made evident to him. They were now trapped in Marigol with over half of the Imperial navy. They could not return to defend Centauri Prime, and the Emperor could not send a fleet to retake the territory under the Romulans. They were prisoners in their own system, while the Romulans had secured a beachhead.

It was all over. Varia took his sidearm and removed the safety from the hoister. With trembling hands he put it to his temple.

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Somewhere in Minbari space while in route to meet with the grand fleet…

"Alyt Shakiri, we have lost the beacon signal from hyperspace."

"What? Take us to normal space." Until the signal could be regained, the Minbari Sharlin would be unable to join the main fleet for the next assualt on the humans. However, humans would soon be the least of the Minbari's worries.