Chapter 22

An Unexpected Ally Saves The Day

Stardate 2366.093

S'Talla was late, but hopefully, not too late – Valdran's shuttles had yet to take off from the surface. Three of the squat vehicles sat five kilometers from the camp Starfleet had set up. As his shuttles approached, he noted three Uhlan on guard, each holding a mniet aihn. Each wore a heavy glove on one of their hands, used to grab one of the spiked steel projectiles the size of a golf ball from the bag they carried. The ancient device was necessary given the unreliability of energy weapons in the system. Given his shuttles' compliment of twenty-four security people, these men would not be a problem. Three shuttles however, meant that he would shortly be facing upwards of thirty additional soldiers.

The Commander had landed here instead of at the Federation base camp because he was running behind schedule and the original plan to intercept Commander Sanderson and "force" him to give up the device was undoubtedly compromised, given that Valdran's men had gotten down to the planet ahead of him. A bit of bad luck that, but he knew that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. At least that's how he thought the saying went. Now circumstances were forcing him to neutralize the Uhlan before he could do anything else. He just hoped that his Starfleet counterpart had the wherewithal to wing it when they finally made contact.

S'Talla's force consisted of two shuttles worth of seasoned warriors, all members of the four families. This of course meant that more than half of them were female. He actually preferred the women fighters. He found them to be professional when it really counted. His force was outnumbered, but the opposition would immediately underestimate a group of women, giving him the element of surprise – he hoped. Neutralizing the guards left behind should skew the odds a bit more in his favor. He also had to make sure he had enough of a force left to take on the Starfleet patrol if necessary. Too many factors to be concerned about; he needed to just get on with it.

His mind could not help but think about the magnitude of what his mother had told him. A device of such power that it could, by itself, change the direction of the entire Romulan Empire. If true, after a thousand years, the four families could take their place as the rightful leaders of the empire, and put an end to the destructive policies that would ultimately spell the downfall of Romulan society. He would not fail.

The shuttle landed with a slight bump and the Commander exited followed by his head of security and the twenty-three that made up her two squads.

"Gentlemen," he addressed the Uhlan guarding Valdran's shuttles.

"I would normally engage you in conversation before I said this but sadly, I am behind schedule and cannot spare the time. Please put your weapons down and submit to my head of security here. Non-compliance will be met…"

One of the Uhlan apparently took offence to what he was saying, quickly loaded his mniet aihn and was halfway through his swing when three terseht dropped him to the ground.

"…with deadly force," he finished. The other two quickly submitted.

"Thank you very much for your cooperation. Rest assured, no harm will come to you if you do not resist."

Security had her people tie the remaining two men up. She questioned them and found out where their comrades had headed.

The Commander addressed his people.

"We are now committed. If we fail, not only will our lives be forfeit, but those of our families back home as well. The very future of the Romulan Empire hinges on what we do here today. Ahead of us is a force from the old regime. They may very well out-number us, but our advantage is that they do not have our will and motivation. I know all of you will do your duty. Let's move out!"

Everyone moved out at a slow run. S'Talla thought the enemy force had about a six-click lead on them. Although he had a modicum of surprise on his side, he and the rest of the four families were not trusted, as evidenced by his being in charge of only one ship, and not the ten he had originally planned. Enough! It was time to stop thinking and to start doing. He concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. He would discover his fate soon enough. Given the terrain, he expected to intercept the other force in about an hour.

Fifty minutes later he first became aware his scouts had made initial contact with the other force when he heard their leader shout.

"What are you doing here? You cultists were supposed to be confined to your ship! Where is your commander?"

"I am sorry sir, he will be here momentarily."

S'Talla hadn't heard what his security officer had said, but he was confident she would be as non-threatening as possible. His people were under instructions to not engage the other Romulans unless strictly necessary; he wanted to make sure he could take full advantage of what little surprise he could bring to bear.

One of the reasons the four families insisted that every one of their members undergo extensive combat training, was because they knew that they would always be outnumbered. If it came down to it, they wanted to be able to go down honoring their family name as best they could. They trained constantly and as a result, were far superior in one-on-one combat than any other force in the Romulan Empire. He thought about that fact as he rounded a rock outcrop to see his scout being berated by a sub-commander. He noted with satisfaction that his people automatically moved into flanking positions and more importantly, that the sub-commander's force was more interested in appreciating the physical assets of his female soldiers than the obvious (at least to him) competence with which they held their weapons. Now all he had to figure out was how to incapacitate two and half of the sub-lieutenant's people for every one of his. He sighed inwardly; it had been a long day and was about to get much longer. As if to emphasize the point, as he approached the man, he noticed one of his soldiers standing over what appeared to be a small monitor. Could that be it he thought? He covertly signaled his second in command to get as close as she could to the device. He wanted to make sure that if the sub-commander's people knew how to use it, that they would never have the chance to.

Ok, game on. Plan "A" was to get the device without using force. He outranked the leader by quite a bit, maybe that would help.

"Sub-Commander…"

"Ostrovsky," his security officer said helpfully.

"Sub-Commander Ostrovsky, …"

"What are you doing here? You have no jurisdiction outside of your own ship!"

Or not. OK, Plan "B." Perhaps if he appeared reasonable.

"Sub-Commander, we are both soldiers and interested in making sure the Empire remains safe. There is no reason for us to bicker like children when there are bigger issues at stake. The truth of the matter is Starfleet has proved more troublesome than the General anticipated. He ordered me personally to bring the device back to his ship."

"You must think me a fool. I think the high command will find it extremely interesting that one of their members is now leading a group of cultists and asking me about a device that I did not know even existed before I acquired it two hours ago from a group of Federation soldiers."

Oops. S'Talla belatedly realized his mistake.

"Plan C."

"What was that?"

"Apologies. I was just thinking aloud."

The Commander covertly signaled his people. Those who were close enough administered the Vulcan nerve pinch to disable about a third of the opposition. The nerve pinch may have been a lost art within the rest of the Romulan Empire, but the four families had kept it alive as a matter of course.

The Sub-Commander was about to say something but was startled to see his troops dropping around him. In that moment of distraction, S'Talla landed a roundhouse kick in a glancing blow. The Sub-Commander, an experienced soldier, had been in his fair share of fights. He saw the kick coming out of the corner of his eye and managed to partially block it. Not enough so it didn't hurt, but enough so he was not incapacitated. S'Talla pressed the attack but both fighters were evenly matched.

After a few minutes, his people managed to even the odds. He saw that his second in command and the warrior who had incapacitated the Uhlan guarding the device, immediately picked it up and started at a run back toward the shuttles. Good he thought. They knew the device needed to get into Admiral Ruwon's hands at all costs, even if that "cost," included the lives of their leader and the rest of his force. There did not appear to be any danger of that however. Although he was having some difficulty with Ostrovsky, the rest of his people were slowly beginning to prevail. He was chagrined to see a few of them down, but the outcome of the battle now was a foregone conclusion; it was just a matter of time. The Sub-Commander had other thoughts however and redoubled his efforts. He was pressing S'Talla hard when one of the sisters flanked him and knocked him out with the butt of her dagger. This skirmish may have been over, but S'Talla knew there were more to come and he had to ensure the device got back. He quickly gathered his people together.

"Alright. We've got more cleaning up to do. Sister," he indicated his second in command, "I want you to handle getting the dead and wounded back to the shuttles, and as best you can, provide a rear guard to your sisters with the device. Those with less serious injuries, help anyone that cannot make it on their own. Before you leave, secure the prisoners and either take with you or destroy all of their weapons. We don't want them to be able to mount an effective attack on us if they manage to get free. Send four of the shuttles with the device back up to the ship as fast as you can and bring the fifth one to the Starfleet camp to pick me up there. The rest of you, with me. We need to rendezvous with the Starfleet force that found the device. Don't forget that they don't know we have it and we don't want them to know. Move out!"

S'Talla and his remaining people humped it toward where they had spotted the Starfleet shuttles. He already had the device, but wanted to make sure none of the bad Romulans who were currently roaming the planet got hold of any other ancient technology that had yet to be discovered. The best way to do that, he figured, was to follow through with the original plan to meet up with Commander Sanderson and his force. At that time he could better assess the situation. Within twenty minutes he approached the Starfleet landing site and saw their people make ready to fight. He spotted the Commander.

"Commander Jon Sanderson I presume?"

"You're late," Jon answered deadpan.

Riker and Warf were surprised at this interchange, as they were never told they were supposed to rendezvous with a Romulan.

"Yes well, unavoidable delays, couldn't be helped."

"What happened?"

S'Talla had been briefed by his mother that Jon was a friend to be trusted, but he was unsure about the rest of the people here.

"The Sub-Commander and I had a little disagreement over our collective mission. He thought we should head back to our ship, we thought differently. Caused a bit of a dust-up."

A few kilometers away four Romulan shuttles boosted at high G's from the surface. They were both obviously in quite a hurry to leave. Both Jon and S'Talla realized that this meant the device was on its way to Admiral Ruwon.

Riker was normally inclined to trust Jon's judgment, but at this point there were a few too many unanswered questions, so he motioned him over.

"Ok Jon, what the hell is going on? Who is this guy?"

"Will, let me introduce you to Commander S'Talla, son of Admiral Ruwon. The Commander has been a staff member of the high Romulan council for a few years now."

"He's a spy for the four families?"

"Yes, you could put it that way. And since we know the Enterprise is currently outgunned by the bad guys, I think it wise we at least listen to what he has to say."

He turned back to S'Talla.

"So old friend, you've landed, incapacitated your fellow Romulans, presumably taken the device they stole from us, and then made your way to us double time from the looks of it, all just to tell us you had a disagreement?"

"I'm sure I have no idea of what the device is you speak of, but I was told by the Admiral to brief you on the current situation, and provide additional troops if you feel the need."

"Why would we need more people on planet? We're due to be picked up shortly."

"I'm afraid you are going to have to wait a bit before your ride can make its way here. The Romulan commander General Ralaa has locked the system down tight in the name of containing the "rebels" that have invaded Federation space."

"Does that mean the Enterprise is…?"

"The last I heard, there have been no hostilities yet, but the Enterprise is surrounded by cloaked ships and cannot go anywhere. As long as she remains where she is for the next day or so, Ralaa will continue to maintain the fiction that his intentions are entirely to prevent a rift in Romulan and Federation relations. That may change, the longer he goes without finding what he is looking for."

"If that is a fiction, then why are they really here?"

"They are under the impression there may be advanced technologies to be had. Technologies that will allow them finally to subjugate the Federation."

"Why do they think there is anything here at all? We didn't know for sure there was anything more than ruins until a few months ago; and even then, we only had vague hints there might be more."

"The short answer commander is that I told them. I may have exaggerated the threat a bit."

Warf was outraged.

"You mean you orchestrated the invasion of Federation space by a hostile fleet of Romulans on purpose!?"

"Yes Commander," Riker added. "I would be very interested in learning why we are potentially on the brink of another major war with the Romulans. We were told the four families were only interested in discovering information about their origins from the ruins."

Riker noticed that his friend was not saying much. He asked him with an edge to his voice.

"Did you know about this Jon?"

"Admiral Mifune was not aware that Ralaa would show up until Admiral Ruwon briefed him. Originally, the Commander here was supposed to lead a second fleet of ships himself. The ships were to be crewed by members of the four families; a group we felt was sympathetic to the idea of improving our mutual relations. The presence of the General and his people was an unpleasant surprise."

"That still begs the question of why the Romulans were coming here in the first place. We were told the four families were only interested in the ruins and…"

S'Talla interrupted Riker and explained.

"Yes, the search for our origins has been a central part of the four families' traditions since before we were part of the Empire. We are taught the importance of this from a very young age. Part of our formal learning is dedicated…"

Riker grew impatient and cut him off.

"…You don't need a second fleet of ten plus ships for that!"

S'Talla raised his hand to interject.

"Umm, it's seventeen, not ten."

Riker took this new information in and then directed his attention to his friend.

"So Jon, what is really going on here?"

The Romulan Commander tried again.

"Commander Riker, I can assure you, our intentions are…"

Without taking his eyes off Jon he held his hand up at S'Talla.

"I was not asking you."

Jon paused, as if deciding what to tell Riker. When he spoke he was unapologetic.

"About six months ago, Admiral Mifune found evidence that a Tantalus Device might exist on this planet. It was felt, at the time, that this presented a once in a lifetime opportunity to change the leadership of the Romulan Empire from a known hostile group, to one more interested in a cooperative relationship with the Federation."

Professor Livingston was apoplectic.

"So, your plan was to give the device to the Romulans all along? Are you out of your mind?! Do you have any idea what you've done!?"

"We know exactly what we are doing. The four families are the only group sympathetic to forging a lasting peace with the Federation, but they have a limited lease on life."

"And we should care about any Romulans why?"

"Because the families present our last best hope. Once the Romulans got wind of the technology in this system, right next door to their border, they would have felt compelled to invade as soon as they could cobble a fleet together to stop us from developing it. And make no mistake, they would have found out about it. There is no way an entire system chock full of advanced alien tech could be kept under wraps.

"But Jon," Riker asked, "how can we be sure we can trust the Romulans? Are we getting anything out of this other than the remote chance for a change in the regime five years from now?"

"Admiral Mifune has known Ruwon for many years now. He trusts her. There are five families altogether, as you know. Four of them reside in the empire, and one is on Vulcan. That is the family the twins belong to. Those families share a bond greater than allegiance to the Federation or the Empire. If that is not enough for you, Ruwon has given us all of the specifications relating to the Romulan cloaking technology and how to detect any vessels using it."

That surprised Riker.

"She gave us complete specs?"

"Everything."

"How do we know their information is reliable?" Warf added.

Jon shrugged.

"We will find out in the next few days I expect. I do not anticipate Captain Picard taking the Romulan incursion sitting down."

S'Talla spoke up.

"Gentlemen, General Ralaa thinks this planet holds the key to his asserting his dominance over the Romulan high council. If word got back to the Empire of what he has discovered here and his plans to use it, his life would be forfeit. He therefore cannot afford to leave anyone alive in this system who is not expressly loyal to him.

So your options are pretty straightforward. You can work with us and our five warships to safeguard any remaining advanced technology that may be here, and eliminate the obvious threat of General Ralaa, or attempt to defend yourselves on your own. Since he is quite aware of the extent of the Romulan spy network in Federation space, he can no more afford to leave any of you alive than he can to keep me breathing. The last I heard you had one fighting ship, the Enterprise, and a few science vessels against the General's force of sixteen warships. Even knowing how to detect his cloaked ships, those odds are rather long."

The professor was not buying any of it.

"Starfleet has been notified of your presence here." he informed S'Talla. "Romulan politics is none of our affair and I could care less who has it out for who! I strongly suggest all of you leave the system immediately because ships will be here shortly in force, and they will shoot first and ask questions later!"

The Commander raised a single eyebrow.

"Well then," he said sarcastically, "I will inform my superiors immediately of our urgent need to depart right away, as I am sure your information is better than mine. We were totally unaware you had developed a method of cutting through the nebula's interference and getting a sub-space message back to Starfleet headquarters."

He addressed Riker.

"Nor Commander, did we know that you had developed a warp drive that would allow your ships to travel with sufficient speed to get here sooner than the two weeks Admiral Mifune told us it would take for Starfleet to bring any significant assets to bear in this system. But our information, of course, is a few weeks old and is undoubtedly incorrect. Since you obviously do not require my assistance, I will take my leave."

Riker knew S'Talla was right.

"What sort of assistance did you have in mind?"

Jon smiled, he knew Riker was always a quick thinker and practical. The professor, not nearly so.

"Commander, you cannot seriously be thinking about working with the Romulans? I mean, our ships will be arriving shortly won't they?"

"No."

"Well, when will they arrive?"

"Professor, we cannot easily get any messages out to Starfleet and even if we could, S'Talla is correct, the nearest reinforcements are two weeks away at best. We are facing a common enemy and anything that can increase our odds of getting out of this mess alive is something worth considering."

"But surely…"

"Professor, S'Talla's math is correct. If we do not work with him and his allies, we will most assuredly become casualties before the week is out. It is therefore to our advantage to cooperate. On the one hand we die for sure, on the other, we might die; the choice is clear. And let me add that time is at a premium and we have precious little of it left to decide what to do."

"I am sorry to interrupt your deliberations, as important as you apparently think they are, but as was mentioned, time is at a premium and I need to get back to my ship. The soldiers I recently encountered let me know there are quite a few other teams roaming about which will make that more difficult the longer I wait. I think your priority should be to protect any other technologies you have found as best you can. They cannot be allowed to get into the General's hands. If that happens, make no mistake, the Federation is doomed. I can leave you fourteen of my warriors if you think you can use them."

Before he saw the twins fight, Riker might have considered a bit longer the idea of female warriors with only hand weapons. Now however, he did not hesitate.

Riker and Jon said simultaneously.

"We'll take them."

S'Talla smiled and called one of the sisters over.

"This is Centurion Teveena, leader of this platoon; consider her and the rest of her companions under your command. She is well aware of the stakes we are fighting for. Now, unless there is anything else gentlemen, I wish you luck and will take my leave."

He motioned to two of the warriors and they started a slow run back to his shuttle.

"Teveena, do you have any idea of how many of the bad guys are on planet and are in this general area?"

"Our best information is that there is only one ship over this area of the planet, not counting our four. The rest are still dealing with the Enterprise. So, we estimate a ground force of not more than a few hundred, spread over a wide area searching the other ruins."

"Well, that's a relief. The other ruins are nowhere near here."

"But I would be remiss if I did not point out that this state of affairs is temporary. As soon as the General can take ships away from the Enterprise, they will start landing troops and other personnel to scour any other areas of interest."

"Well S'Talla said that he does not want hostilities unless he finds advanced technologies. If the Enterprise keeps him busy, he won't be able to spare any ships right? So why do we need to worry?"

"You are technically correct", the Centurion said matter of factly. "Everyone outside of the military members of the high council thinks this mission is to chase some rebels and bring them to justice. The General could conceivably just capture or destroy the four family ships, head back to Romulan space, and claim he accomplished his mission…"

Professor Livingston was still not understanding.

"See? I vote we wait here. Eventually the Enterprise will send some more shuttles to pick us up."

One of the other sisters tried to help.

"But, the General is convinced there is something to be found here and he will stop at nothing to acquire it. He is willing to maintain the fiction of a peaceful mission for now, but he only has a two-week window to find anything. If his people on the planet now don't come up with something in the next day or two, he will not hesitate to destroy the Enterprise to free up his ships."

"But surely the Enterprise can defend herself against the…"

"Enough! We're wasting time. Professor, do the other ruins contain any of the technology we talked about?"

He was about to press his point but saw Riker's expression and decided not to.

"We have found no evidence of any advanced technology at any of the other sites."

"In other words, you have no idea. Commander, may I suggest we gather what supplies we can and make our way to the place where the Tantalus Device was found?"

Warf was not afraid to show his impatience with those he considered lacking.

"An excellent idea Mr. Warf, take some people and gather everything you think might be useful."

As this conversation went on, the twins wandered over to some of the nearby ruins and examined the hieroglyphs.

"Professor," Riker was trying his best to sooth the man's ruffled feathers, "our best hope of keeping any other devices out of the hands of the Romulans is to go where there might be some. Our best bet therefore, is to head back to where you found the device in the first place."

Up until now the twins had contented themselves with ignoring the conversation and studying the writings. Sahrafel said off handedly.

"Did you look in the city east of here?"

Everyone stopped talking and looked at her with surprise.

The professor didn't bother to hide his annoyance.

"What city?!"

Sahrafel looked at him. She wondered what was unclear about what she had said.

"The city east of here."

"There is no city east of here!"

"Have you searched east of here?", she asked.

"That is beside the point young lady! I have studied these ruins and there is no evidence…"

"If you have not searched east of here, then how do you know there is no city?"

"Sahrafel, what makes you think there is a city east of here?" Riker interrupted.

"It says so on this map.", she pointed to the writings she had just finished examining.

"I seriously doubt that young lady! I am the leading expert on these writings. I was part of the team that originally surveyed them ten years ago. My scientists and I have been analyzing these hieroglyphs since then. No one knows how to interpret them better than I do!"

"Fair enough professor. What does this say?" Jon asked reasonably as he pointed to a random group of characters chiseled in the stone.

"I am not accustomed to being questioned about my own area of expertise…"

"So you have no idea what it says?"

Cornered, the scientist went over to look at the characters Jon had indicated.

"It relates to a ritual honoring their gods. This character glyph here represents a gift of something precious to this other glyph, which stands for one of their local gods. Most dwellings, we have found, have similar types of acknowledgement of local deities."

He stopped talking and didn't bother to hide the smug look on his face. Sahrafel examined the writing and immediately said.

"It's the name of the builder Adenkar, and how much the dwellers paid him to construct their house."

The professor's smile abruptly disappeared.

"Ridiculous! How could you possibly…"

"From a young age I was schooled in the ancient language of the origin families. These writings are a bit more formal, but essentially the same. I never thought I would have the opportunity to see the language as it was originally recorded."

"So it's an advertisement for who built the place?"

"More akin to an artist signing his work, but essentially, yes."

"Commander, I would not…" the scientist started to object.

"Will, if I might," Jon interrupted. "Sahrafel, please show this nice gentleman your left arm."

Sahrafel dutifully pulled up her sleeve, revealing a set of tattoos obviously written in the same script as those on the walls of the ruined house. All the professor could do was stare, mouth agape.

"Well, I think that about settles that," Riker quipped. "Anything else you want to add professor?"

The scientist quickly shook his head.

"OK then. I think the city would probably be the best place for us to go to. Sahrafel, is there any more specific information on its location and what might be there?"

She looked at glyphs again.

"There is no specific mention of any technologies, but there is a reference to what appears to be… I am not certain. The literal translation is 'gift of those who came before.'"

That's as good as any other reason to head in that direction. Any other details Sahrafel?"

"Unclear Commander. These symbols seem to indicate the city is hidden in some way. I am not sure."

"Do you think it's cloaked?"

"No, more like it's buried or covered with something."

"A whole city buried? That does not seem to make sense."

"That is why I am unsure sir."

"We will find out when we get there. Warf, have you gathered everything we might need from the camp?

"Yes Commander."

"Sahrafel, how far is this city?"

"I would estimate it would take us eleven and a quarter hours to get there, Commander… Approximately."

"Couldn't narrow it down more than that?" he asked amused.

Sahrafel was obviously clueless as to Riker's friendly sarcasm.

"Given the variables involved, I cannot be any more accurate than that Commander. I will endeavor to refine my estimate as we get closer to our objective however."

"That won't be necessary Sahrafel. All right people, let's move out! We want to make the city before dawn."