*A few weeks later...* "They did this to an Imperial held world?" Marek asked darkly as he stood on the vast glassy plain of what used to be the largest city on Remus. Nothing remained, not a single building, no wreckage, no sign at all that this world had been inhabited for thousands of years and home to a thriving empire. The glassy plain stretched on for the entire planet, there was not a hill, mountain, nothing that deviated form the single flat monotonous vista. "Probes and sensors confirm that the entire planet is composed of this same glassy silicate all the way down to the core." Daala replied. They all wore environmental suits, the atmosphere of the planet had been burned away, exposing the world to the harshness of the void. "That would include all the dilithium deposits as well as other resources that Remus was providing us. It was the economic heart of the Romulan province." Kratas added shaking his head at the waste he saw around him. "Is that all you can say?!" T'Vok exclaimed, furious at the detached interest the Imperials were taking to a holocaust of epic proportions. Billions of Romulans had died this day. "Calm yourself, Admiral. This is not a time to act from emotion." Daala replied coolly. Marek stared down at the ground for a long moment. He had felt the disturbance in the Force nearly immediately when the action took place, the death of an entire world in the matter of instants. The ripples this action had sent throughout the Force had nearly stunned him in their intensity. "Tell me more about these Klingons, T'Vok." Marek asked quietly, eyes still focused on the ground beneath his feet. T'Vok took a moment to compose himself. His aide was at his side as usual, handed him a data pad that had a complete report from the home guard concerning the battle. The populace on Romulus had been kept in the dark regarding the loss of Remus. He did not know how they could break the news to his people. They had suffered so much in such a short amount of time, and the armed forces whose pride and joy it was to defend their great empire had proven completely incompetent in stopping the twin holocausts that had been visited upon them: The destruction of Romulus' greatest continent and cities, and the loss of Remus. "The Klingons were involved in the attack. Although numerous sources indicate that there were only scattered confirmed sightings of Klingon ships, we do know that the Klingons are fond of attacking and cloaking as soon as possible to confuse the enemy as to their numbers. The fact that the Federation ships were using cloaking devices further implicates the scum, they obviously shared cloaking technology or even outright gave them cloaking devices to under take this attack." T'Vok replied, his voice tight with anger. Marek could feel the anger raging within him and he was comforted by it. He continued listening, but his thoughts were also out in the void. There was another disturbance in the Force, it was close, very close. "This tactic is more like the Klingons, the Federation simply has no stomach for this kind of warfare." He added looking around in disgust at the smooth, lifeless plain. "They obviously have the technology for it." Daala replied. "What you fail to understand about the Federation is that they have the technology to do many things, but their insipid belief in their moral superiority would not allow them to use that technological edge to its fullest benefit." T'Vok commented. "Obviously that's not true in this case." Kratas replied dryly. "These Klingons, they are considered a warrior race?" Marek asked, his mind focusing on the disturbance. It was very close indeed. "If howling animals who stupidly board ships and assault planets armed with edged weapons is what you consider a warrior race, then yes, you can say that. Their culture is bent to war; subtlety and intelligence are beyond their understanding." T'Vok answered with some disdain. "You're people hate them?" "We have been enemies for nearly a century." T'Vok replied icily. "Excellent. Then it is time the Empire stretch forth its mighty hand and crush the warrior race of this galaxy for their participation in this direct attack on one of the Emperor's worlds." "But, Lord Marek, it was clear from our scans that the Federation fleet itself was directly responsible for the attack on Remus, the Klingons were only involved in the periphery of the battle. Vengeance must be sought against those that are directly responsible for this atrocity!" T'Vok protested. His aide nodded in agreement. Marek slowly turned his head to face T'Vok, his cool blue eyes bore into the old but proud Romulan admiral. "There will be vengeance against the Federation. I am no fool. I saw the reports for myself, but I have something special in mind for the Federation. For now, you will content yourselves with mastery over the Klingons." "What?" "Your fleet will assemble and be led on a general assault on Klingon space. You will engage every Klingon fleet that you encounter, until you arrive at the Klingon homeworld. When you arrive there, you will signal me for instructions." T'Vok was uncertain how to proceed. "Once the Klingons are conquered they will be placed under your direct control as a province of the Romulan empire as payment for their unwarranted aggression." T'Vok frowned. "And the Federation?" "Leave that to me." Marek smiled triumphantly as he finally located the source of the disturbance. "Admiral Daala, I want you to signal Captain Drayson, he and the Executioner will be pulled off duty on Vulcan and be given the assignment of conquering the Klingon empire. He will have all the resources of the Romulan provincial forces at his discretion." "Who will replace him on Vulcan?" "Deploy the Relentless and several support ships, including a wing of warbirds. Drayson will not be gone for long, I can assure you." Marek replied with a grin. "The Relentless is currently undergoing extensive repairs in the shipyards." Daala warned. "Admiral, I am well aware of our current tactical and strategic situation, the Relentless, though badly damaged is still a dire threat to anything but a full fledged Federation fleet." "What if they do decide to deploy a fleet in a counterstroke against Vulcan? It's what I would do after an attack such as this." Kratas interjected. Marek's smile broadened. "Captain Kratas, the Federation will be deploying many fleets in the coming days, but they will not be to retake Vulcan, it will be to protect itself against our assaults." "Then we will be moving against the Federation as well?" T'Vok pressed. "Indeed, Admiral. In fact, I want you to have all warbirds closest to your neutral zone to begin immediate offensive action against all Federation ships and bases. The Imperial fleet will be deploying soon thereafter." "Our goal?" Daala asked curiously. "There can be only one goal. But that will be revealed to you in time. For now I have a far more pressing question." "My Lord?" Daala asked after a moment of uncomfortable silence where the only sound was the air coming into their environmental suit's helmets. "Admiral T'Vok?" "Yes?" T'Vok replied. "How long have you had a Changleing as your aide?" Marek asked. T'Vok whipped around as his aide suddenly drew a disruptor and aimed at Marek. Daala cursed herself as she tried to draw her own sidearm, she should have ignored Marek's insistence that there was no need for stormtrooper escort on the surface. Even Mara Jade was moving a beat too slow, drawing her weapon and firing, the first shot missing the aide's head by less than a hand's breadth. She was cursing loudly as she fought against the natural clumsiness of the environmental suit's gloves. The aide sneered and fired two quick snap shots from the disruptor. Marek moved without anyone seeing him do so, between the blinks of an eye, there was snap hiss and one of his crimson lightsabers ignited deflecting one disruptor bolt into the ground next to him and then swung his blade in a flash of movement from his wrists, taking the next bolt and whipping it back at the aide. He screamed as the bolt sheared off his arm. The aide collapsed to the ground, clutching the stump of its gun arm. Mara was by the aide's side in the next moment and pointed her blaster at his head and began to pull the trigger. "Hold!" Marek barked and strode over to the stricken aide, whose wound was now oozing strangely, as flesh gave way to some odd golden liquid. Daala grimaced in disgust. T'Vok stared dumbfounded at the sight. "So, you thought you could blatantly hide among us, eh, shapeshifter?" He noted with contempt as he deactivated his lightsaber. The changeling did not look up, instead it was massaging the stump, the liquid gelatinous substance was slowly solidifying, but oxygen was clearly running out of the enormous tear, ice crystals forming on the clear shield of the helmet's face plate. "Struggle all you want but your treachery has been discovered. Your people have been oddly silent since our arrival. Considering you nearly brought this quadrant to its knees I was wondering when we would begin to see the Dominion." "For a solid, you have a firm grasp of strategy and tactics, but you are as flawed as all of your kind. You act from baser instincts which we have surpassed long ago. You come to impose order on this galaxy. Order? What do your people know of order?" The changeling laughed, looking up at Marek with unconcealed contempt. Marek smiled. "Death is the only penalty for spying on the Emperor's minions. However, if you tell me what I want to know I will make sure that you will live long enough to join the great link again." The changeling's face was difficult to gauge for emotion but there was no doubt that Marek's revelation of his knowledge of what was going through its mind disturbed it. "This cannot be, even the most powerful Betazed telepaths cannot pierce our mental discipline." "Beta Zed telepaths? I am no simple mind trickster. I am a Sith and the Dark side will not denied. Now, what say you? Your oxygen is running out and it looks as if you are having trouble with the lack of pressure here. How long before you boil away to nothing, I wonder." "I will tell you nothing, foul one. I have seen what you call order and it is nothing more than the application of force to deal with a problem. That is infantile and pathetic. Your weapons may be impressive but I have seen enough to know that you are far from home and lacking support here. The Federation surprised you here and my people are just waiting patiently for any weakness. We will not fold as easily as these fools." He replied hotly, jerking his head in T'Vok's direction. Marek stared intently at the changeling for a moment. The changeling returned the gaze without flinching. Marek suddenly pressed his lightsaber against the faceplate and there was a snap hiss. The changeling stiffened as the blade passed through its head and emerged on the other side. The body began to boil away, lumpy gelatinous golden liquid spilled out of the suit. "Burn it all. Leave no trace of the thing." Mara nodded and commenced to burn away the liquid with her blaster. Marek whirled and stalked over to Daala. T'Vok still shook his head in disbelief. "The Dominion has been spying on us since we arrived here. The changeling was alone, there were no others, to its knowledge nonetheless, but begin immediate screening of the population." He paused and a slow smile crept across his face. "And tell Drayson that he has to make a stop before proceeding on his invasion of Klingon space." "My Lord?" "His mission will be to collapse the wormhole at Bajor. Without it, our patient friends will indeed have to be patient because it will take decades for their warp drive to get them here." Marek said.