Deep Space Guardian: Season II-Episode 33

[Ziona]

Salara, Quarters

Ziona shook her head turning to look at Ian.

"Nothing's wrong, Ian. Trust me. I'm just exhausted and I'm not thinking straight. After some sleep... I'll be back to normal. I just... I just need sleep is all." She headed over to the beds that were positioned on the other wall and jumped rather easily into the highest bunk. She felt safer farther from the ground. With that, she rolled over, her back to Ian and tried to fall asleep.

[Republican_Man]

--Imperial Star, Bridge--
Grand Admiral Surak, supreme leader of the Nautolian Imperial Navy, stood on the bridge of his massive flagship, the Imperial Star. The ship treaded through space quickly, en-route to the Romulus system.
There the fleet would stop and commence a grand assault on Remus. Shortly thereafter, once a beachhead on Remus had been fortified, a majority of the Gorn, Koinian, and Hydran groups of the fleet, primarily consisting of their respective starfighters, would strike first at Remus, as Gul Oyet suggested in a meeting some time ago, to act as cannon fodder for the security of the mother fleet. Numerous ships would swarm in and do as much damage as they could to Romulus before the main fleet entered the fray.
Meanwhile, Nautolian Ground Forces, far superior to the Romulan ground forces, would carry out orders for combat. Their job would be to secure Remus first and Romulus second, once the time for that came, and all other moons and planetary bodies controlled by the Romulans after that.
But the initial phase was currently what counted. The massive fleet would drop out of warp and flock straight to Remus, which would be only moments away. The fleet would immediately target and disable the immediate Remus defense forces, namely orbital weapons platforms and immediate ships in the surprise attack.
A number of their ships had, as hoped for some time ago, cloaking systems called �Cloak Daggers� which were used during the Nautolian-Romulan War. A proportional few Nautolian ships contained these devices, with little over a hundred total in possession, and only approximately 25 contained them in the current fleet, hardly any, though these would be used for specific strategic operations during the battle.
�What is our ETA?� Grand Admiral Surak inquired to Captain Solan Tru, commanding officer of the vessel.
�Roughly two minutes, my Lord,� the Captain replied.
Surak smiled darkly. �Excellent. Send a message to the fleet. Gorn and Koinian snub fighters and small-craft are to go in first, followed by the designated Hydran-Nautolian task force. The rest will follow in suit.�
�Aye, sir,� Tru replied, and hurried to carry out his orders.

--Salara, Wardroom--
�That was quick,� Katran remarked.
�Shall we head to the bridge, or remain here until we�ve arrived at the planet?� Watts inquired, observing the situation.
The two suddenly noticed T�Sa leave unexpectedly. What was that about? Katran wondered. He didn�t much care for the woman anyways, so it didn�t make much of a difference.

--Hawk, Cockpit--
�We�ve arrived at the system,� starcraft pilot Josh Johnson reported.
�Slow to one quarter impulse,� second officer Brenn Tantor replied. �Maintain stealth mode; continue on in secret.�
�Aye,� came the reply. Little did they know just how much they would be needed�

[Spellbinder Marik]

-Salara, Cargo Bay-

�Where did you get all of this stuff?� Cory asked when Laura had come into the room.
�It was acquired when N�Tran was part of the Tal Shiar.� She knew N�Tran intended to return the Federation cargo containers as soon as he had the time.

Kiris walked around opening each contain to see what was inside. He didn�t like what was happening.

-Salara, Ward Room-

T�Rell�s concentration was broken when Admiral Ditex stood up.

�To the bridge then.� He said with a smile.

[Founder]

-Salara, Quarters-

[Lord Borg]

-Salara, Corridor-

T'Sa felt a breeze of someone walk by. Before she could stop him, Ian had walked down the corridor, and around the corner. She got up and started to follow, but almost ran into him when he had doubled back.

"Oh," She whispered, "Sorry..."

[Founder]

-Salara, Corridor-

Ian looked at her in surprise.

"T'Sa," He asked, "Where is everybody?"

[Republican_Man]

((I hope you don't mind me playing the Romulan bridge crew for a second below. If you do, it can be remedied ))

--Imperial Star, Bridge--
Grand Admiral Surak, supreme leader of the Nautolian Imperial Navy, stood on the bridge of his massive flagship, the Imperial Star. The ship treaded through space quickly, en-route to the Romulus system.
There the fleet would stop and commence a grand assault on Remus. Shortly thereafter, once a beachhead on Remus had been fortified, a majority of the Gorn, Koinian, and Hydran groups of the fleet, primarily consisting of their respective starfighters, would strike first at Remus, as Gul Oyet suggested in a meeting some time ago, to act as cannon fodder for the security of the mother fleet. Numerous ships would swarm in and do as much damage as they could to Romulus before the main fleet entered the fray.
Meanwhile, Nautolian Ground Forces, far superior to the Romulan ground forces, would carry out orders for combat. Their job would be to secure Remus first and Romulus second, once the time for that came, and all other moons and planetary bodies controlled by the Romulans after that.
But the initial phase was currently what counted. The massive fleet would drop out of warp and flock straight to Remus, which would be only moments away. The fleet would immediately target and disable the immediate Remus defense forces, namely orbital weapons platforms and immediate ships in the surprise attack.
A number of their ships had, as hoped for some time ago, cloaking systems called �Cloak Daggers� which were used during the Nautolian-Romulan War. A proportional few Nautolian ships contained these devices, with little over a hundred total in possession, and only approximately 25 contained them in the current fleet, hardly any, though these would be used for specific strategic operations during the battle.
�What is our ETA?� Grand Admiral Surak inquired to Captain Solan Tru, commanding officer of the vessel.
�Roughly two minutes, my Lord,� the Captain replied.
Surak smiled darkly. �Excellent. Send a message to the fleet. Gorn and Koinian snub fighters and small-craft are to go in first, followed by the designated Hydran-Nautolian task force. The rest will follow in suit.�
�Aye, sir,� Tru replied, and hurried to carry out his orders.

--Salara, Wardroom--
�That was quick,� Katran remarked.
�Shall we head to the bridge, or remain here until we�ve arrived at the planet?� Watts inquired, observing the situation.
The two suddenly noticed T�Sa leave unexpectedly. What was that about? Katran wondered. He didn�t much care for the woman anyways, so it didn�t make much of a difference.

--Hawk, Cockpit--
�We�ve arrived at the system,� starcraft pilot Josh Johnson reported.
�Slow to one quarter impulse,� second officer Brenn Tantor replied. �Maintain stealth mode; continue on in secret.�
�Aye,� came the reply. Little did they know just how much they would be needed�

--Imperial Star, Bridge--
The helmsman of the flagship of Nautolian Grand Admiral Surak noted a blip on the screen. They had arrived.
�We have arrived, my Lord,� he reported.
�Excellent,� Surak said, a wide, dark grin on his face. �Signal the fleet. All slow to one-half impulse. Carry out orders as planned.�
�Aye, sir,� the ship�s communications officer reported.
�Bridge battle structure is now initiated,� Surak declared, prompting a little bit of movement on the bridge as people rearranged themselves for battle. The scenario on a command ship bridge in combat mode was dramatically different from that of normal starships or command ships in non-combat modes, hence the rearrangement.

--Salara, Wardroom--
Admiral Ditrex stood up almost immediately in response to Councilor Watts�s words. �To the bridge, then,� he said with a smile that seemed quite odd to Major Katran.

--Imperial Star, Bridge--
The entire present imperial starfleet dropped out of warp in an almost synchronized fashion.
�We have dropped out of warp,� the Imperial Star helmsman reported.
Grand Admiral Surak and Captain Solan Tru simply nodded, anticipating the battle ahead as the massive fleet crept in loominously towards the planet...



--Salara, Wardroom--
The folks on the bridge of the Romulan warbird Salara were shocked at what their sensors had just picked up.
Numerous Nautolian fleet-craft, numbering above 200, had just dropped out of warp in the system, not too far from the Admiral.
�Bridge to the Wardroom,� the bridge commander�s voice rang through, somewhat fearful. �A massive Nautolian fleet has just dropped out of warp near Remus.�
Watts naturally heard the message. He stood up slowly as the man spoke, and then said, sadly, reluctantly, almost unwilling to accept the fact, �Then it has begun. We�re too late.�

[Lord Borg]

-Salara, Corridor-

"I...I don't know, Ian."

T'Sa looked down and shruged.

"They...they didn't need me, so I walked out."

She looked up.

"I'm sorry, Ian. I don't mean to fail you. I've been so messed up lately"

[Spellbinder Marik]

-Salara, Ward Room-

N�Tran rushed passed the others and out of the room. He hadn�t counted on the attack coming this soon. T�Rell watched as the Admiral flew out of the room. He stood up himself.
�I guess I�m leading you to the bridge.�

-Salara, Bridge-

N�Tran burst through the door.
�On screen!! I want to see it!!� He was shocked by the size of the fleet.

-Salara, Cargo Bay-

An alert sounded. Kiris, Cory and Laura all stopped what they had been doing and rushed out of the cargo bay.

[Republican_Man]

--Salara, Corridor--
T'Rell hustled out through to the corridor, and Watts and Katran reluctantly followed quickly in suit, N'Tran speeding too far ahead to tell.
Councilor Watts shook his head. "It's a pity, it really is," he began, "how the Federation could just give up its principles for political gain, and now...now it came to this." He sighed. "It didn't need to, it really didn't."
"We did all we could," Katran said, reluctantly. "It just wasn't good enough."
And indeed it wasn't good enough, for a deadly battle was about to occur. Or, as historians would later look at it, two deadly battles were about to occur, and the duo were just walking into it...

[Founder]

-Salara, Corridor-

Ian was about to respond to T'Sa when the alarm rang out across the ship. Several Romulan officers dashed past both the Human and Vulcan in effort to reach their battle stations.

"What the hell?" He asked.

He tried asking one of them for help, but the Romulans ignored him. Ian remembered the two guards, carefully watching over a door. He rushed towards them, slowing when he reached them to show he wasn't a danger.

"What's going on?" He asked.

One guard looked at him in annoyance.

"Return to your quarters." He demanded.

Ian sighed and rushed to find a turbolift, hoping that T'Sa was following him. He stopped when he noticed a view port that stared out into space. Romulus or Remus, he didn't know which, could be seen hanging in space. Hundreds of meters away was a massive Nautolian fleet, heading towards the planet. This was it. They were making a push against one of the major powers of the quadrant. Not even the Dominion or Borg were so bold. Today, history would show if Rome would fall...

"Oh my God..." Ian whispered, "It's really happening..."

-END EPISODE-

(To Be Continued...)