Personal Log: Ben Versteegt

RNS Blood Raven, Romulan battle cruiser
Commander Tellin, personal log.

It was going to be a simple operation. The Federation had recently colonised the Endar star system near our border, to be used as a base of operations against us, but despite this the system wasn't well protected. There were no orbital batteries in place to fend off any attacking ships, and our sensors detected no Federation starships in the vicinity. Our massive fleet, stationed two sectors away at K'taria, was hardly needed in full force to take over the system. We wanted to subjugate the population, not destroy them entirely.

Based on the intelligence available, the fleet commander sent only two troop transport ships to the Endar system, accompanied by a single strike cruiser, the RNS War Martin. The transport ships had no ability to cloak, so it was very likely the Federation saw them coming, which was why the War Martin accompanied them. Still, sensors had detected no Federation ships anywhere in the area, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Just to be on the safe side, my ship and its sister ship, the RNS Red Martin, were sent ahead to scout the area under cloak. If any enemies showed up, we were ordered to incapacitate them. Based on the latest intelligence reports, the Federation didn't have any ships that could reach the Endar system in time, and if they did, they would be no match for two battle cruisers. I personally believed that this was going to be another boring mission, but it certainly beat sitting around doing nothing in the K'taria sector.

As predicted, we arrived to find the system completely devoid of any defences. We signalled the transports and the War Martin that they had a go to proceed with the mission. Not much later, the strike cruiser and the transports dropped out of warp, after which the War Martin dropped its cloak to start the attack on the first inhabited planet in the system.

That was what the Federation forces had been waiting for. All of a sudden, four Galaxy-X class heavy cruisers dropped out of warp only a few hundred kilometres from our position. They must have used the radiation from the nearby neutron start to mask their approach. I immediately ordered my ship to be put on red alert and told Lieutenant Kala at the helm to put us into a fighting position. The mission to attack the planets in this system was quickly aborted, and as the strike cruiser prepared to engage the enemy, the transports were given the order to retreat.

Immediately the Federation ships opened fire at the only threat they could see: the War Martin. The strike cruiser returned fire, and for a few moments the space between the Federation and the Romulan ships was filled with torpedoes. Our two battle cruisers quickly decloaked to come to the War Martin's aid, and together we managed to destroy two out of four Federation heavy cruisers.

They had, however, already fired their weapons. With four heavy cruisers targeting the one single strike cruiser, the War Martin didn't stand a chance. While its destruction did buy enough time for the troop transports to warp away, 89 brave Romulan soldiers had died when the War Martin exploded. Those deaths had to be avenged. Two Federation heavy cruisers were left, and our two Romulan battle cruisers opposed them. Our presence had been as much a surprise to them as theirs had been to us.

Now, it was two against two. But Federation heavy cruisers have superior shields... Our advantage lies in our cloaking system to remain invisible. Now that we were visible, however, they had their advanced weapons trained on us. I quickly ordered Lieutenant Kala to execute a flyby manoeuvre, taking us past their port flank. My colleague on the Red Martin followed the same strategy, and together we focused our fire on a single heavy cruiser.

Unfortunately, the Federation ships employed the very same tactic. They arrived at our port flank and targeted only one of our two ships. This round of fighting resulted not only in the destruction of one of the Federation vessels... But also in the destruction of the Red Martin. Another Romulan cruiser was lost, another few dozen lives ended prematurely.

Now it was just the two of us. With the viewscreen set to aft view, I looked at the Federation ship, and I knew the Federation commander was staring back at me. Our ships were nearly evenly matched -- my adversary had more powerful shields, to be sure, but my manoeuvrability was greater than his. I could still prevail... But I had to execute my strategy carefully.

Our previous flyby had taken us too far away from the enemy in order for our plasma weapons to be effective, so I ordered Lieutenant Kala to turn the ship around and to execute another flyby. We would fire all of our weapons at close range, ensuring that none of our torpedoes would miss. It was a risky plan, but at the time I felt it was the only one that had a chance of success.

As we turned around, however, sensors indicated that the Federation starship was charging its warp engines. The cowards were retreating! Still too far away for maximum weapon efficiency, I nonetheless ordered my tactical officer to take out their warp engines. He fired a plasma beam... And missed. Not a second later, the Federation ship jumped to warp. With our target having escaped, we felt we hadn't won the battle. We had merely survived.

I wanted to pursuit my enemy and make them fight me. I would have targeted the vessel and ripped it apart one component at a time. But my duty did not permit me that pleasure. When the Federation ship had escaped and the sector was safe again, the transport ships returned to finish what they had started. With their escort gone, it was my duty to see to their safety.

The transports eventually succeeded in their mission, even without the aid of the strike cruiser. The Endar system was taken from the Federation, and its disgruntled population is now under Romulan control. We were victorious, but at a great cost. Many lives were lost today, all because we had underestimated the Federation. We will not make the same mistake again.

Computer, end log.

Categories: BOTF