Part Three:
Thopor stood and left his ready room for the bridge after receiving Lieutenant Stevens notice. "Stevens, drop to warp 4.”
"Aye sir."
Stevens went to slow the ship but consoles started beeping everywhere. His eyes went to the overlay on his console showing two Romulan Warbirds appearing out of nowhere. He grew anxious, and was ready to put his training to use.
"Raising shields, Captain." Mr. Lee said.
"Delay that." the Captain was quick to respond. “Hail, them Mr. Lee."
"Sir, they’re responding. I am putting it on screen."
An older male Romulan captain appeared on the viewscreen, and Thopor introduced himself. "Good day, sir. I am Captain Thopor of the USS Umpqua."
"Pleased to meet you, I am Captain Dharvanek. We are here to escort you to Romulus. I am sending the coordinates. Have your helm fall into formation."
"Thank you sir." Thopor turned to Stevens. "Helm, lay in the coordinates and move into position. Engage."
After reading the new coordinates from the Romulan Warbird, Stevens engaged the new course.
“Stevens, what is the ETA to Romulus?" Commander Thopor asked.
"Sir, at warp 7.5 and with the course they have laid out, we can be at Romulus within 26 hours."
Thopor felt that this would be a good time to take a tour of the ship, and so he said, "Stevens, contact me if anything happens." Thopor left the bridge and entered the turbolift.
After the captain left the bridge, Lieutenant Stevens was still a little confused. The Romulans weren’t exactly the friendliest species towards the Federation. And here they were in the neutral zone with two Warbirds telling them what speed, and what coordinates to go to. Something felt a little off.
"Lieutenant Lee, let’s keep a sensor lock on those Warbirds. I want to know if anything changes, even the most minor power fluctuation." Stevens himself was keeping a very close eye on helm control, monitoring the warp drive, thruster power, and their current coordinates just in case he had to do some quick thinking. The Umpqua was inside Romulan space, far from any Federation ship. And he was determined not to be taken by surprise.
***
A few minutes later, Thopor arrived in engineering, and walked up to Lieutenant Rahl. "Good day Talak, we have some time before we get to Romulus. I thought I would take a tour of the ship and who better to give it to me than my old, buddy Talak. Come now, show me what she's got."
While the Captain waited expectantly, Talak's brain shut off.
Old buddy? Tour? What the hell? After a moment, Talak cleared his throat. "Sir, to me, the only thing that's worth looking at is what you're looking at right now." Talak paused for a short moment. "I, myself, have not been out of engineering often, so I do not know how effective a guide I would be in other parts of the ship." Though Talak wasn't lying, he was still trying to get out of Thopor's company, and what better way than to tell the truth? "There's not much to see here that you don't already know about, such as our warp core and various engineering consoles." Waving his hand out and gesturing towards the warp core, which had several crewmen working around it, Talak pretty much summed up his tour of engineering for the captain.
"I thought as much; however, an engineer must know his way around his vessel. Lets both take a stroll around her. Let a crewman finish up what you are doing. How about we check out Ten Forward, maybe some dinner?"
Instantly feeling very awkward and wary at the same time, Talak didn't know what the Captain had in store for him. Perhaps enough time to trap him for a full quiz over Nova-class refits, or a whole run down on how much better the Nehalem's warp core functions. Either way, Talak was really not in the mood to get caught up in any conversations, but declining would be almost rude, so he chose the middle road instead.
"For the dinner sir, I must decline...I already ate." Taking only a moment to think, Talak continued, "I could do a quick run down of the ship, but I must really be going to sleep in 20 standard minutes. My shift was over 4 hours ago."
Time to find something good in my room's replicators....Thopor left engineering feeling let down by Talak and still feeling hungry. Thopor went to Ten Forward alone and ordered a standard Vulcan meal at Ten Forward. It was bland, lacked flavor and what not. Thopor made his way back to the bridge to make sure that everything was in order.
He saw that Stevens was looking over the helm like a hawk. "Stevens you can relax a bit. I assure you they won't try anything. One thing the Romulans don't want is a war with Federation and Klingons. I see that we are getting close to our destination. Can we get any sensor readings from Romulus now?"
Stevens twisted around to see the captain. He knew the captain was right, after all, he was much more experienced and knowledgeable than a man on his first assignment. It was still hard though, relaxing out here, all alone. Stevens’s neck was feeling a little sore though, so relaxing might be great advice.
Stevens twisted back to his console to report the readings, "We still don’t have Romulus on sensors but we’re definitely getting close. I’m picking up a large number of Romulan vessels within two light-years of our current location as well as a defense perimeter up ahead. We should stay on alert". Stevens looked over the sensors seeing more ships than they could possibly hope to fight off and those phaser turrets didn’t look too friendly either. He just had to count on the captain to lead them through this safely.
Just then, the doctor arrived on the bridge, a few hours had passed since he took his post, and he was nervously anticipating a Romulan attack. The doctor had his PADD, full of information on the shift rotation he had implemented, amongst other stuff. "Captain, sir... here is the status report you requested. I have included detailed information about our current apparatus, my medical staff, and full crew medical reports."
The doctor passed over his PADD and received a typical Vulcan acknowledgement, a small raise of the eyebrow. The captain took his seat. Dr. Griffin nodded, placed his hands behind his back, and slowly paced his way around the bridge.
Stevens kept glancing around nervously seeing the doctor pacing around. All this pacing made him nervous. Was something wrong? Stevens tensed back up, having relaxed for only awhile.
The console began beeping, so Stevens looked down and saw that the Umpqua had arrived at Romulus. He swiveled to face Thopor. "Captain, we are within visual range of Romulus."
Thopor turned to Lieutenant Lee. “Open a Hailing frequency to Picard.” When the channel was opened, Thopor spoke to an all too recognizable face. “Sir, I am Commander Thopor from the USS Umpqua we are here to pick you up. Are you ready for Transport?"
"I believe if you check your sensors, Commander, you will see an ion storm. We will not be able to transport through it." Picard advised.
Thopor walked over to a console, and indeed he was correct. "Mr. Lee, coordinate with Romulus for a landing site."
"Aye sir. Coordinates coming in now. I am transmitting them to helm."
"Picard, we will be landing on Pad Kilo 8 Station 2. We will meet you there." When the channel closed, Thopor said to Lieutenant Stevens, "helm, take us in." Thopor pressed his comm badge. "This is the captain speaking. We will be landing on the surface of Romulus. Brace yourself, there will be some turbulence."
You’ve gotta be kidding me. A Federation starship landing on Romulus
? Stevens thumbed his nose at the idea. Nevertheless it was his duty to follow his captain and he had complete faith in Thopor’s ability to lead them safely. "Aye sir, initiating landing process." Stevens disengaged the engines, depending on the landing thrusters only now. He worked manually to keep their descent at the proper angle and speed.
The ship flew down forcing itself through the atmosphere and into Romulus. Stevens kept thrusters firing and pitched the ship up slightly. Looking at the view screen, his overlay, and all the indicators, Stevens had to rely completely on his training.
What a first mission! Going to Romulus and landing! Those were two things most Starfleet officers
never did, and Christopher Stevens had done it at only 20 years old. He kept one eye on the ion storm, which was still a safe distance off as the ship continued its descent. Stevens also noticed that the front shields were taking a beating deflecting the planets heat and debris. "Lieutenant Lee, I need more power to the forward shields."
The young helm officer lowered the landing struts preparing for the landing. "Ok, here we go, 1000 meters to land." The ship continued descending, Stevens pitched up once more and fired the thrusters to slow the descent and the ship landed with a thud and touched down on Romulus. Stevens collapsed back in his chair, drained and tired from his job. "We’ve landed", he reported, though it was already obvious to everyone. Stevens closed his eyes and felt relieved to have made a safe landing.
Thopor walked up behind Stevens and patted him on the shoulder. Well done Stevens, the ship is still in one piece." Thopor then pressed his comm badge, "transporter room can you get a lock on Picard and Spock?"
"Aye sir, we have a lock on them."
Thopor opened a channel to Picard, "sir, we can now obtain a lock on you and Mr. Spock. Would you like us to transport you aboard?"
" That will be fine. We are ready, engage." Picard said.
"We have them aboard sir" Transporter room 2 reported in.
"Show them to VIP Quarters and tell them to make themselves at home." Thopor Turned back to Mr. Lee. "Are we cleared to take off?"
"Sir, Romulus is approving take off procedures now. They regrettably inform us our escort will be unavailable on our journey home and bid us safe passage."
I am not surprised. Now that Picard and Spock are back on a Federation ship they will not be responsible if anything is to become of them...God speed. Thopor thought to himself. "Helm, take us out. Once we are cleared the planet’s atmosphere take us to warp. Let’s see how fast we can get out of here. Thopor to engineering, be advised that we’ll be pushing the limits. Give me all she has got."
Stevens felt a little disappointed. All this way to Romulus and he didn’t actually get to see any of the planet. He prepared for departure. Thrusters were ready to go, the ion storm was still a safe distance away and the dignitaries had been picked up. Time to leave.
The thrusters engaged and the ship pushed off the ground. Stevens angled the ship towards the sky and turned thrusters to full power. The landing struts lifted up. Stevens sat tight over his console waiting for the ship to exit the atmosphere. The ship started to rumble and vibrate as the deflector pushed all the particles out of the way, the shields protecting the rest of the ship. The sky gave way to the blackness of space, stars now filling the viewscreen. The thrusters powered down as the ship entered orbit, ready for the impulse engines to come online. The Ship lifted off the planet. Hundreds of Romulan ships were stationed around the planet, as stars glistened across the background.
K'Rrauw left the science station and walked up to the captain and silently addressed him. “Captain, have you had time to look at my report on how to improve our sensors?”
The captain turned to face the Science Officer. “Yes, K'Rrauw. Coordinate with engineering to make the necessary adjustments.”
“Understood. Sir, I would also like to inform you that on our rather long journey through Romulan space, I've done many passive sensor sweeps and gathered a massive amount of unique data ready to be analyzed.”
“Good. When we get back, compile this information and send it to Starfleet Command.”
“If I may speak freely sir?”
“Go ahead.” Thopor said.
“Sir, I would like to suggest that we take another route back to Federation space. If we plot a course to Vulcan, your own and Ambassador Spock's home planet, it will only take us only 25% of the time to leave Romulan space then it would take to exit the same way we arrived. Considering our guests safety, that would be my recommendation sir.”
Just then, the Tactical Officer’s console beeped, causing Commander Thopor to turn. “Sir, we have an incoming message from Starfleet. It’s Admiral Redshirt on a secure channel." Lieutenant Lee reported.
"Put it to my Ready Room." Turning back to the Science Officer, Thopor said. “K'Rrauw, thank you for the advice. I will take it under consideration.”
Thopor then departed from the bridge and walked into the captain's ready room and sat down. "Computer Access Admiral's Redshirt message."
Admiral Redshirt’s message played, "Captain you should have had time to pick up the Dignitaries by now. I expect your mission is going well. However, there has been a change of plans. You are to drop of the dignitaries off at Earth Station then proceed to Utopia Planitia for a small sensor refit. It should only take a few days. Admiral Out."
Thopor stood and reentered the bridge. Stevens had just cleared the ship and was about to go to warp.
"Stevens, adjust course. We are to go to Earth and drop off our passengers. Then to Utopia Planitia, for a sensor refit.” Thopor then turned to K'Rrauw. "Lieutenant, find out what this refit is and will be used for.
“Helm, engage,” commanded Thopor, as he sat back down in the captain’s chair.
Near the Romulan Neutral Zone The ship was cruising through Romulan space at 8.8 for the past few hours, not far from the neutral zone when the captain felt a vibration.
***
Just walking around engineering, Talak was observing his team, since it was essential to know how everyone worked together both in and out of an emergency. It has been several hours since the Umpqua had picked up the diplomats, and very important diplomats at that. A beep came from a console that Ensign Sun was working at, snapping Talak out of his thoughts. Wanting to know what the problem was, Talak said, "Report."
"It seems like there's an increasing number of contaminants in the warp drive plasma, causing a destabilization in the warp field. There might be a problem with the plasma injectors." The ensign began running a diagnostic on the warp engines while Talak was working along beside him trying to get the problem fixed before the warp field destabilized too much and they would have to drop out of warp at the edge of Romulan space.
Readings from the preliminary scans showed that the plasma injectors were not replaced when they had been at the Starbase, probably because they were undamaged when the Umpqua had come in. However, they were causing a problem now, and to make matters worse, they were acting up when they had two "celebrities" on board. Just then, the ship shuddered, causing everyone in Engineering to grab a hold of a nearby console or rail, and the few crewmen that didn't have a handhold, fell to the floor.
Suddenly, the ship rocked violently and a nearby EPS conduit blew right next to Ensign Sun, who fell to the ground with burns covering his face. From the engineering console, Talak shut down the power to the warp engines, which caused the ship to drop out of warp, leaving the Umpqua spinning in space.
