Captain’s Blog

“Martin to Orion.” He shouted into his communicator. “Orion - Lantrys here.” - “Have you detected three people coming out of this complex a few minutes ago?” - “Sure. They were heading south.” - “Do you still have them on sensors?” - “No, but since they were no Romulans, it shouldn’t be to hard to find them.” - “Well, why didn’t you warn me about that? Ah, nevermind. Just point us to their current location.” - “450 meters to the south then turn left. The third structure on the right hand side.” - “Thanks. Martin out!” As they sped down the streets, Martin and the others were asking themselves, who could be so bold to kill the upper half of the Romulan empire. They reached the intersection, where the away team had to turn left. As soon as they peeked around the corner, they were surrounded by Phaser- and Disruptorbeams. The away team stood back hastily. “What in the name of Sir Isaac Newton is this?”, O’Reilly was the first who found his speech. “That’s what we are here to find out, I guess.”, Martin replied rather quiet, as if he had expected, what had happened. “First of all, we have to convince them, that we are not what we look like.” - “You mean, we have to tell the Romulans, that we are no Romulans? This is as close to suicide, as it can get.” - “Don’t worry. Trust me!” Martin stepped around the corner, with his hands up in the air. He spoke very loud and clear: “My name is Craig Martin and I am the commanding officer of the Federation starship Orion, Designation NCC-63742.” The other romulan looking non-Romulans lowered their weapons and seemed to check, if what the Captain had said, was the truth. After a few moments one of them shouted: “OK Captain, you can pass!” The three from Orion went towards the structure, where the guards were standing, still with their weapons at level.

“Well, we won’t get any work done, just by sitting around, will we?”, Alexa was right. “Captain to sickbay!” - “Sickbay here” - “Mick, what would you say to a little cosmetix surgery?” - “What do you mean, Captain?” - “Well, I’m in the mood for something more … Romulan today.” - “No prob.” - “Martin out!” He and two of the others went to sickbay, to undergo cosmetic surgery, which made them look like Romulans. Once they were finished and dressed up, the three went to the transporter-room. “I’ve found a nice and quiet location on the outskirts of the capital.”, said the transporter chief, “It’ll take you about half an hour to get to the Imperial Hall.” - “Thank you!”, Captain Martin looked around at his fellow officers, “All set? Well then… Energize!” They dematerialized in a swirl of little blue and yellow photons.
At nearly the same time down on the planet, three visitors from out of town, entered the crowded main street. Authentically dressed and visually altered, no one suspected them to be offworlders. They even talked romulan, so it seemed to passers by. And naturally no one held them up, as they were entering the government district. One of them whispered: “They must be in here.”, and pointed towards a staircase, which was leading downwards. They were beginning to hear voices coming out of a room left to the lower landing of the stairs. The visitors were hiding next to the door and all three raised their weapons and set them to kill. None of the occupants survived.
As Orions away team arrived at the council chambers, they noticed a group of Romulans running out the back door. Lt. Gamblin noted: “Strange.” - “It sure is.”, answered Martin, “What would it take to make you running away like this.” - “Probably if I had murdered someone?” Martin and Gamblin were staring at each other for a couple of moments, then they realised that Gamblin had to be right about that and started to run towards the entrance, out of which the others had emerged just a minute ago. They hasted down the stairs to the room, where they had met the Praetor two days ago, just to find the dead Praetor lying in state. Right beside him were two bodies flat on the floor. Gamblin turned them around, so the away team could see the corpses faces. It was Tvarek and the ‘other’ Praetor.

As we returned to federation space, the first thing we got was a message from command, telling us to return to Romulus immediately.
“What’s the hurry, Admiral? What happened?”, asked Captain Martin. “Rakun, the Romulan Praetor has been killed.” Martin looked over to Cmdr. MacKinnon, who returned his look. He knew that she was thinking the exact same thing, as he was. “Admiral! Orion is underway!” - “Good. Keep me posted.”
Upon return to Romulus Orion was hailed by Tvarek:”Captain Martin. How good to see you again. How can I be of help today?” Martin was not sure, how to react. So he shot into the blue: “So, which of the two Rakuns was killed?” - “Oh, that is an easy question.” He paused. “Well then, tell me the answer.”, Craig demanded. “The answer is, that I don’t know. One of them killed the other. And the other one lies in a coma since the incident.” - “So who is in charge now?” - “I am!”, Tvarek spoke these two words with such power and ignorance, that Martin knew, that he wouldn’t set a foot on that planet ever again, befor this issue was settled. “We expect the ‘other’ Rakun to die within the hour. Which makes ME Praetor of the Romulan empire.” - “But I thought, you were the leader of some kind of underground movement?” - “I still am. But, as I was the first to whitness, what had happened, I too was the first to pick up the Insignia, which mark our emperor.” - “And with that Insignia you automatically become Praetor?” - “Too right you are my friend. Too right you are.” The Captain told Jerry to cut the line. “We have to find out which Praetor had got killed.” - “Yeah. How do you plan on doing that?”, Alexa obviously had some doubts. But Martin didn’t know what they should do next.

They spun around and were facing yet another Praetor (or what seemed like one). He said: “My name is Rakun and I am Praetor of Romulus. The real Praetor of Romulus.” The other Praetor shot to stand in a blink of an eye and confronted Rakun. “I am Rakun, Praetor of Romulus!” - “No, you are not. You know, that you are not.” - “Proof me wrong, but we two look just the same. We sound the same and we have the same knowledge. Why do you know, that you are Rakun and I am not.” Cpt. Martin took the advantage of a splitsecond and asked: “What are you? Clones?” - “No!”, said the second Rakun, “He is my twin brother.” Tvarek was startled by this confession. Obviously he did not know either. “So, why are you on opposite sides then?”, Martin asked. “Because he is a slavedriver.” Tvarek added: “He killed nearly half a million Romulans, just to show, that the new Praetor is taking his position seriously.” - “This is genocide!”, Rakuns twin shouted. “So what shall I do? Tell everyone, that I am an evil man and let them go about their business? No, I am to much of a professional to do such things.” - “You could start with sitting down on a table together and discussing the matter in private with some of your staff and some of the underground, to find a peaceful solution for this.”, Martin’s words seemed to have some kind of effect in Rakun. After some considerations he answered: “No! I don’t think so!” Then he took out a weapon and shot Tvarek. He died instantaniously and vanished into nothingness. Rakuns brother formed the word ‘No’ with his lips, but there was no sound coming out of his mouth. “This, Terran, is how we deal with traitors on Romulus. I will give you ten seconds from now on, to leave this place and return to your ship. Take my offer or die side by side with my brother.” - “Go, I can handle him.”, said the false Praetor. Leaving the two brothers alone, the crew sped out of the structure. As soon as they were clear, Martin slammed his communicator: “Captain Martin to Orion. Four two beam up, immediately.” - “Right away, Sir”, answered the Transporter Chief. They took a last look back into the buildling and then just moments before beaming, they heard two shots.
Back on board Orion and on the bridge, Martin shouted: “Hail them!” - “Impossible Sir. All comm lines to the planet are dead.” - “Well, then we will have to wait for the daily, I guess.”, Solak’s comment came as unexpected as could be, but was a very welcome cheer up at the moment. “Come about, Ensign. Maximum warp. Get us out of this neutral zone.” - “Aye Sir.” Then he loudly and very calmly spoke the word: “Engage!”

To Jade it seemed like hours, that she had to wait for Tvareks answer. They were to beam down to some coordinates the romulan had given them. “You and two others.”, that were the orders from underground. So they beamed down. Cmdr. MacKinnon, Lt. Lantrys and security officer Phillips. They were set for the worst, but what awaited them at the given coordinates was extraordinary, to say the least. It was an exact replica of the council chambers, which were obviously a few dozen feet above them. Even the light seemed to emerge directly from Romulus’ sun. “Amazing!”, Jade was astounded. Tvarek and a few of his followers were already there and welcomed them to their realm. “You won’t need your weapons. We come unarmed, as your tricorders may have told you by now.”, Tvarek had something intoxicating in his voice, that made the federation officers lower their weapons at once. “Please follow us.”, he said. They went out the council chamber and through a series of tunnels and underground constructions. “Is this a replica of the whole city?”, Jade asked. “Not the whole city, but we are working on it.”, Tvarek smiled as if he were very proud of himself for accomplishing this kind of project. “Your captain is right in here. Please enter.” MacKinnon looked over to her chief of security, who had brought forth her tricorder to scan for Cpt. Martin. “I am reading one human biosign. It is the Captain.” They entered the structure and saw Captain Martin sitting at the far end of the room. An elderly man in a richly decorated dressing gown was sitting beside him. Tvarek took the opportunity to introduce: “May I present ’our’ Praetor.” - “Jade!”, Captain Martin was obviously very delighted to see some of his crew. Then they heard a voice behind one of the large curtains surrounding one of the entrance gateways: “You can’t imagine how long I’ve been waiting for this moment.”

“Commander; ready to go to warp!”, Lt.Cmdr. Jefferson’s voice sounded a little more cheerful, compared to the last time Jade spoke to him. Cmdr. MacKinnon’s answer came right away:”Then let’s go for it! Ensign; Maximum warp!” - “Aye! Maximum warp!”

Meanwhile Cpt. Martin was held captive in the detention block of Romulus’ Senate chamber. “ATTENTION!”, Martin was startled. He suddenly stood upright in his, what the guard had called, bed. It was rather a block of hard wood, with some sheets firmly attached to its surface, which had probably not been cleaned for years. The steps were coming closer. “Stand up for the Praetor!” The Praetor? Was he that important? What information could he possibly have, that the Praetor himself would come and interrogate him. “Release the human!” The Praetor’s voice was hard and one would not dare to disobey it. Craig Martin’s handcuffs were taken off and he was led out of the cell. The Romulan emperor stood face to face with the captain and said in a very calm voice: “Captain Martin, I would honestly like to apologize, for what trouble my subordinate had caused you. Please, walk with me.”

“Commander, Romulus is dead ahead.” - “Standard orbit Mr. Taylor.” - “Aye, standard orbit.” - “Hail the Romulans.” Jade was ready to fight an argument to the end. “Too late, Commander. They are already hailing us.” - “Well, put them up then.” The screen cleared, revealing the face of a romulan civilist. “My name is Tvarek. I am the leader of the romulan underground movement. We have heard about your captains abduction and we are currently trying to free him.” Jade made a gesture, which told Jerry to cut the line. She then turned around to face the crew: “Am I hearing right? Since when is there such a thing as a romulan underground movement?” Solak was the first to answer: “There have been reports of such kind, but no proof up until now.” - “So you say, I can either trust him, or not. But I can’t make my decision upon hard facts.” - “I suggest we advance with extreme caution.” - “Sure. Open the channel.” - “Nice to meet you. I am Commander Jade MacKinnon of the federation starship Orion. May I ask how you plan to free our captain.” - “We already are in the midst of the operation. We sent the Preator to get him.” He said the words “the Praetor” with a certain tone in his words, that suggested to MacKinnon that it probably was an impostor, a look-a-like serving the needs of the underground movement. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to beam up to your vessel and discuss the matter in person.” - “No, not at all.” - “Then I will meet you shortly. Tvarek out.” The screen went black and Jade went off, telling Alexa to escort Tvarek to the situation room, once he arrived.
“We are in a position to cause the romulan empire enough trouble to force them to overthink their attitude. The underground movement knows, that the empire has old fashioned opinions and standpoints. There is no future for our culture, as long as there is no u-turn in the governments minds.” - “Excuse me.”, Jade interrupted him, “I don’t want to be blunt, but how do we get our captain back?” - “He already is in our custody.” - “When can I see him?” - “You’ll see him. Soon enough.”

“Commander, the warp engines are failing!” - “Do we have enough momentum to overhaul them ?” - “No Ma’am. We have to…” Lt.Cmdr. Jefferson did not have enough time to finish the sentence, before Jade MacKinnon shouted into the intercom: “Then stay at warp as long as possible!” - “Aye Ma’am. But that would damage the warp core beyond repair.” - “Do it!” Thomas was obliged to follow that order, even it was against his better justice. But noone on the bridge would know, how long the warp core could really last this lasting overload. So he decided to turn off the engine, just a few seconds before the core had taken to much damage. The drive, that the ship still had could not last very long, for the warp field collapsed almost instantaniously, but it lasted long enough to bring them close enough to the uncloaked Romulan vessel, to fire a marking beacon. The beacon was magnetically locked on the Romulans hull. “Let’s hope the Romulans don’t have time to remove the damn thing”, Jerry mentioned rather blunt. “Let’s hope so, let’s hope so”, Jade was a little absent minded. “Thomas, how long do we have to crawl at impulse?”, Cmdr. MacKinnons voice came out of the speakers in engineering. “At least two more hours.”, the chief engineer replied, “but we are doing our best, to make it earlier.” - “Very good! Go on!” They were almost at the boarder to the Romulan neutral zone. Jade summoned the staff officers in the situation room: “We have to make a decision. Do we cross the border, or not? I’m all ears for your suggestions.” No one spoke. After what seemed like hours, Alexa finally said: “I think I’m speaking for all of us, Commander. We should go after those bastards and try to get our Captain back.” All the others nodded agreeingly. “Very well. I am about to violate a direct order from starfleet. If anyone has an objection to this I shall note it in my log.” As again no one spoke, she stood up and dismissed the others. “Tom, a word with you. How long will it take to get warp back?” - “Maybe half an hour commander.” - “Okay. Do what you can. I don’t want to go on impulse once more.” - “Understood” He went of to main engineering. As Jade re-entered the bridge and took seat on the captains chair, Ens. Taylor noted: “We are now leaving federation space.” - “Where is the warbird?”, Jade wanted to know. Solak answered  right away:” We still have them on long range scanners, but they are to far away to give you the correct distance.” - “A qualified guess would be alright with me.” - “They probably reach Romulus within the hour.” - “Then let’s hurry up. Full impulse.”

“I - WON’T - TELL - YOU - ANYTHING!”, Cpt. Martin shouted at the top of his voice. “There is no need to be rude, Captain. Just tell us what we want to know and you are free to go.” - “Ha! You don’t believe that yourself, do you?” That last sentence sounded almost a bit sarcastic, if it weren’t for the situation Martin was in. “Look”, Jarun sounded very calm, “we can play this game otherwise too, but I don’t want to mistreat you, honestly”, he obviously did his best not to kill the Captain where he sat. Cpt. Martin sighed: “OK! All I can tell you is, …”, he stopped midsentence. “WHAT?”, the Romulan was in rage. “Ah, nothing. Nothing at all!”, and he grinned blue-eyed in the aliens face.

“According to their trajectory, the Romulans are heading directly for the neutral zone.” Solak was right. They had to get out of shot. “Well, what are you waiting for then? Follow them! Maximum warp!” Jade was very agitated, to say the least. “Get me starfleet HQ; in the ready room!” - “Admiral!” - “Commander MacKinnon. What can I do for you?” - “Captain Martin has been taken hostage by the Romulans. We do not know yet, if it was a military action, or the work of some ill tempered Freelancers.” In short she explained the situation to the admiral. Then she posted her request:”Admiral; Request permission to follow the Romulan ship into the neutral zone.” - “Commander. It is not, that I wouldn’t want to help you, or that I do not understand the necessity of your concerns, but I have to decline this request. I’m sorry! You are bound to federation regulations, as am I. You are under no circumstances to enter the neutral zone, unless being attacked, or…”, He made a pause there, “or I wouldn’t know of it. Carter out.” Speaking those last words, Admiral Carter had a certain smile on his face. Jade knew how she should interpret it. Back on the bridge, she sat down in the Captain’s chair and said in a very quiet and reassured voice:”Helm! Are we on an interception course with the Romulan ship?” - “Yes ma’am”, answered Jerry. “Good! Keep it that way, until we reach the neutral zone.” Jade lent back in the chair and watched the stars go by at high warp.

Captain Martin felt very uncomfortable in the chair, the Romulans had tied him to. Jarun entered the room and pulled himself a chair to sit opposite to Martin. “What do you want from me?”, Craig demanded to know. The Romulan Commander asked his counter-question:”Well, what do you want to talk about.” - “Oh, there is much I do want to talk about. For example: Why does the rain always fall down, instead of falling up to the heavens?” - “That was not what I meant.” Jarun was obviously trying very hard to stay calm. “Let’s talk about the Klingons.” - “I barely know them”, Martin answered momentarily, “The have a certain reputation, you know”, and in a slightly lower voice, “Giving me the creeps!” - “Don’t try to fool me, Terran!” This outburst of Jarun’s was it, that Martin gave the certainty, that he had the Romulan right where he wanted him to be. Know everything he said would be taken for granted, because humans are known to react to threats in a very particular way, they always tell the truth, when under stress. Jarun thought so too.

“We have the Warbird on long range sensors, Commander. They must have disengaged their cloak.” - “Very good. What is their E.T.A. at the border?” - “About five hours thirtyseven minutes.” - “And how long until we catch up?” - “Five hours and fourteen minutes, at our current velocity.” Solak’s cold mathematical calculations lacked every bit of concern about the captain’s abduction. Jade called engineering:”Commander Jefferson; Is there anything more we can get out of the warp engine?” - “I could give your warp 9.3 but I wouldn’t suggest to travel at this speed for more than two hours.” - “Solak; how much closer would that bring us to the Vex’ra?” - “It would take approximately 1 hour 58 minutes off our trip.” - “Jefferson; Do it!” - “As you wish, Commander.”

Jarun shouted:”Bring the cloak back online, you idiot!” - “I can’t! Our cloaking device is laden with antiprotons. We will have to purge it first.” - “Do it.” - “We would have to make a full stop to perform the necessary operations.” - “Well then we have to go on without a cloak. Maximum velocity!”, Jarun was angry, angry about his useless crew. Never again he would let somebody else make suggestions on which crewmembers he should choose. In the meantime Martin managed to free himself from his restraints, but he stayed where he was.

“The Romulans are now travelling at warp 9.35, Commander.” Jade hammered on the intercom and demanded:”Engineering; I need warp 9.4 for as long as possible, otherwise the Captain will be lost.”

Right behind the Romulans there was Cpt. Kostavos. “Kostavos”, I shouted, “what’s that all about?” With a silent buzzing sound something like a camouflage-device gave up its work and revealed the true heritage of Cpt. Kostavos. “My name is Commander Jarun.” Then he turned to his crewmen. “Take him to the interrogation chamber.”

Meanwhile back on the U.S.S. Orion

Cmdr. MacKinnon was sitting in the big chair, when Lt. Lantrys spoke up: “The Romulan ship is hailing us.” - “Put them on the view screen.” The picture cleared up and Cpt. Kostavos came into view. “Captain Kostavos. What can we do for you? Is everything alright?” - “I am afraid not everything is alright, Commander. We offered your Captain a little snack, which obviously was not to his likings. He is currently in our medical bay, where our doctor is treating him. There is no need to be concerned.” - “Can I speak to him?” - “Oh, I am sorry, but that won’t be possible right now. He is, ah, how shall I put it, … choking his guts out. I will let you know, when his condition is back to normal. Vex’ra out.”
That was not what Jade had anticipated. “Lieutenant Lantrys!”, she called, “would you please check the starfleet record on that Captain Kostavos?” - “Right away, sir.” A few moments later, Alexa had found the record: “Commander. Captain Kostavos was reported missing four months ago. His ship was on patrol near the romulan neutral zone, when their sensors picked up an unusual signal. Captain Kostavos was leading the away team to investigate, when he was beamed off the shuttle, by a cloaked vessel. His crew conducted an extensive search of the area…” - “Are you saying, that he was abducted by the Romulans?” - “I guess it comes to that, if you put one and one together.” - “So either Kostavos was turned around by the Romulans, or it’s an impostor, that just looks like Kostavos, or maybe we are being tricked another way.” She reflected for a few moments, on how the issue could be resolved, and then suddenly called out: “Get me Kostavos on the screen, or whoever he might be!” - “The Vex’ra is not responding to our hails, Commander.” - “Open a channel! This is Commander MacKinnon of the Federation star ship Orion. I demand to speak to Captain Martin immediately!” - “You have nothing to demand female”, came a voice out of the speakers. Then the Warbird had gone to warp and had activated its cloaking device.

Captain’s Blog - Supplemental

As soon as the turbo lift doors slid open on deck 1, I shouted: “Report!” - “A Romulan Warbird has entered this sector and is heading directly for the station.” - “Cloaked or uncloaked?” - “Uncloaked.” - “E.T.A.?” - “five minutes 21 seconds.” Solak took on the conversation: “Fascinating. This behaviour is quite unusual for Romulans. Normally they stay cloaked as long as possible, before attacking.” Jerry intervened:”They’re hailing us.” - “On screen!”

The Romulan ship’s captain didn’t look like a Romulan at all. He looked rather human. “This is the Romulan Warbird Vex’ra. I am Cpt. Andrej Kostavos.” - “I’m Cpt. Craig Martin from the Federation starship Orion. Excuse me sir, but… How did you get to command a Romulan vessel?”
Kostavos told us, that he was fighting off the very same ship, he was standing on right now, a few days ago. His own ship, the U.S.S. Franklin, took heave damage, and as the Romulans were boarding the Franklin, he and his crew beamed over to the warbird and sped off at high warp. The remaining Romulan crewmen, were detained in the brig.
“That was one hell of a manoeuvre, Captain.” - “Thanks, but we have to hurry and investigate the Romulan technology, before they have repaired the Franklin and come searching for us. As soon as that happens, I want to be as far away from this Warbird as humanly possible.” Solak piped up:”Federation regulations on exploitation of foreign technology are quite clear Captain.” - “Arrgh, I know. But I wish I could get my hands on their cloaking technology.” - “We could prepare an away mission, though, which could provide us, with a little insight, on how Romulans work and how they build their community.” That was the best idea Solak had had since we’ve left spacedock. “Captain Martin?” - “Yes.” - ” I would appreciate it, if I could have a few words i private with you, before eighty percent of your crew come for a visit.” - “On my way”, I said already on the way to the turbolift. Moments later I found myself in the transporter room, on the platform and finally on the Romulan Warbird.

“Welcome aboard”, said a very self-satisfied voice behind me. As I turned around, I stood face to face with four Romulans, who were pointing their disruptors at me. It was a trap.