My last 24th century Star Trek chapter of this story.
Enjoy.
Based on the Countdown comic book.
Destruction of Romulus.
Ambassador Jean Luc Picard watched from afar as the ship his old friend, Spock was flying to try and escape the black hole which had once represented one of the greatest threats the galaxy had ever known.
Aside from the Borg, the Dominion and of course, Nero.
The super nova.
For some reason, a natural one for once, the supernova engulfed hundreds of solar systems - planets, stars, moons, some of them inhabited. It wasn't just Romulus that had suffered, but that meant nothing to Nero. The Romulans would survive, in some shape or form. There were colonies out there, some small, some large.
But that meant nothing to Nero. Picard sighed sadly, pity filling every pore in his body. Thanks to Donatra, whom he'd made friends with after Shinzon, and others who'd had more than enough of the constant intrigue between the Romulans and the Federation, he'd managed to arrange for a peace treaty, it wasn't perfect but thankfully the treaty had been modified over the last few years.
It was such….a waste. If only the Vulcans had not held back from helping their own distant cousins; surely it would've been more logical to bridge the gap between them. It was similar to the Warp 5 project, only that time the Vulcans had every right to judge humanity's space worthiness. No society was perfect, not even the Vulcans were an exception to that rule.
The Romulans were also not exempt from blame; their ruling body had refused to even evacuate their own planets near the supernova's wave.
Millions had now died as a result.
Nero…..
It was hard to believe the thoughtful, eloquent and mild mannered Romulan was now an insane, hate driven murderer. Picard thought about a novel, 20,000 leagues under the sea, written by one of his own countrymen.
Captain Nemo.
Captain Nero.
It was amazing how many similarities existed between the pair of them, Nero and Nemo felt they'd been wronged, how they'd waged a war of vengeance, how they used one of a kind vessels to make their vengeance easier.
Their pain…..how they'd lost family. But in Nero's case, invaders hadn't arrived to slaughter the inhabitants of his home planet.
Maybe Nero's vengeance hadn't been as unprovoked as he would like to truly like to think.
Picard had started to notice some truly obvious flaws with the Federation over the last few decades; even the Federation hadn't responded as well as could be hoped to save some Romulans. Proud people or not, the Romulans could've used some help.
The Federation had simply neglected to give it.
