Personal Log: Ben Versteegt

NRPG: A slightly different format now... Not a log, but more of a post. RPG:

Admiral Lonal rubbed the bridge of her nose. She felt like she hadn't slept in days, and that was probably because she had, in fact, been awake for at least fifty hours. After receiving orders directly from the Praetor himself to send a reconnaissance task force into Federation space, she had to come up with a plan to tackle the problem she was facing: The forces at her disposal were all currently assigned to protecting the three star systems nearest to Federation space: Ennan, K'taria and Angosia. If the Federation decided to attack the Romulan Star Empire, it would be in one of those sectors.

[More:]

It had been clear from the data gathered on Federation military strength that their adversary did not have enough ships or resources to launch a full-fledged frontal assault against all three sectors at the same time. Military analysts had determined that any attack from the Federation would likely take place in one of those three systems, so it was vital to the safety of those systems that they were guarded by a substantial force of war ships at all times. With the upgrade of the K'tarian listening post to an advanced sensor array far from completed, the Romulans had no way of knowing which of the three systems the Federation would strike... until it was too late.

For that reason, the Praetor had ordered a heavily armed reconnaissance fleet to gather first-hand data on the strength of the Federation forces in nearby sectors. If a strike force was being assembled, the Romulan task force had orders to destroy the Federation forces at all costs. It was of the utmost importance that the Federation did not get a chance to attack either Ennan, K'taria or Angosia before the advanced sensor array at K'taria was finished.

Admiral Lonal, a well-decorated Romulan officer who had earned the trust of the Praetor because of her hard work and insightful military strategies, had faced the impossible task of gathering enough ships to take out any Federation opposition, while leaving enough ships behind to guard the three systems under her command. She had ultimately assembled a task force at K'taria, consisting of three battle cruisers, three destroyers and one scout ship. She had briefed the commanders of those ships personally on the importance of this mission, and had sent them under way less than a day ago. Now, the task force was nearing the Titus sector under cloak, and Lonal was eager to see the preliminary sensor readings of that sector.

Over an encrypted subspace frequency, one of the commanders of the task force contacted the outpost above K'taria, which was Lonal's base of operations. =/\= This is Commander Vrinal of the scout ship Nighthawk, =/\= came the Commander's voice. =/\= Long range sensors have detected what appears to be a Federation outpost in the Titus system, as well as four Galaxy-X class heavy cruisers patrolling the area around the outpost. Another heavy cruiser is on its way to this system, and we have intercepted communications between the outpost and four Nebula-class strike cruisers. They have recently received orders to reinforce the Federation task force in this system. It looks like they're getting ready for an attack, Admiral. =/\=

Lonal stared at the galactic map in the operations centre of her outpost. The map displayed the Titus sector; the Romulan task force was represented by seven blinking emblems of a bird of prey with two planets in its claws, which was the emblem of the Romulan Star Empire. On the other side of the map, five Starfleet emblems -- the outpost and the four heavy cruisers -- were about to be joined by another Starfleet emblem: the fifth heavy cruiser. And with the strike cruisers on their way, the Federation was forming an armada in that sector, ready to attack either K'taria, Ennan or Angosia.

Lonal's orders were clear: the Federation invasion force had to be stopped, or at least significantly delayed. "How long until those strike cruisers get here?" she asked.

=/\= According to sensors... Less than twenty minutes, Admiral, =/\= Vrinal answered. =/\= And we won't be in firing range for at least twenty-three minutes. =/\=

The strike cruisers would arrive before the Romulan fleet would. Lonal knew full well that three command ships and four fast attack light cruisers would not be much of a match against five Federation heavy cruisers, four Nebula class strike cruisers and one outpost. If there was a way to disable the strike cruisers before they could fire their massive array of photon torpedoes at the Romulan fleet, the Romulans might stand a reasonable chance of victory. That was a big if, however. Could the Romulan ships disable the strike cruisers quickly enough, she wondered...

=/\= Admiral, =/\= came Vrinal's voice again, =/\= We're picking up communications traffic between the outpost and the newly arrived heavy cruiser. =/\=

"Patch it through here," Lonal ordered.

=/\= Titus outpost to USS Bismarck, =/\= came an unfamiliar voice. =/\= Captain Marshall, thanks for joining us. =/\=

=/\= Any time, =/\= another voice sounded. =/\= When are we scheduled to move out? =/\=

=/\= Soon, =/\= the outpost's commander replied. =/\= We'll have the final mission briefing in two hours. After that, the fleet is ordered to head straight towards Romulan space. I take it Starfleet briefed you on your mission? =/\=

=/\= We're to take out the Romulan border defences, =/\= Captain Marshall said. =/\= Soften the Romulans up a bit and destroy any outposts and orbital batteries they might have surrounding their planets. Once that's complete, we are to secure the systems and wait for the troop transports to arrive. =/\=

=/\= If that won't make it clear to the Romulans that we mean business, I don't know what will. =/\=

=/\= Once Ennan, K'taria and Angosia have fallen, =/\= this human called Marshall sighed, =/\= there will be nothing standing in our way between us and Romulus. If we can show the Romulans that we can attack their home world, maybe they'll be a little more eager to sign a peace treaty. =/\=

=/\= We'll see, Matt, =/\= replied the human on the outpost. =/\= We first have to take over the three border systems. =/\=

=/\= The Bismarck will be ready, Paul. Marshall out. =/\=

Lonal bit her lip. This conversation proved that her worst nightmares were true: the Federation was planning to invade Romulus! There wasn't any time to request additional ships from the Klingon front to guard Romulus or the border planets; there wasn't enough time for anything. "Communications," Lonal ordered, "send an encrypted message to the Senate. Apprise them of our situation, and tell them I'm ordering our reconnaissance task force to engage the Federation forces at Titus."

This was going to be the one fight that could determine the future of the entire Empire. If the Federation was allowed, without any opposition, to move towards the Romulan border with a strike force bent on taking over the Romulan systems, things could get rather messy for the Romulans. Unfortunately, Lonal knew that things were going to get messy for the Romulan task force out there as well. They were outnumbered and outgunned. Their only chance was to attack the strike cruisers with their first volley, to prevent them from filling the vacuum of space with dozens of torpedoes. If they succeeded in disabling the strike cruisers, they would only have to deal with five heavy cruisers and one outpost -- and even those chances didn't look good. But this fight was not so much about destroying the enemy forces as it was about sending the Federation a message... A message that the Romulans knew of their plans and were ready for them -- even if, in all actuality, they were not.

The next twenty minutes were nerve-wrecking. Admiral Lonal and her advisers had planned strategy after strategy, but everything pointed to the same conclusion: those strike cruisers had to be disabled if the Romulan task force was to have any chance at victory. In the end, all the advice Lonal was able to give them was to drop out of warp at the last possible moment, strike fast, and strike hard.

The positions of the Romulan ships and the Federation ships were still displayed on the view screen in the operations centre of the outpost, and Lonal could see the Romulans getting closer to the Federation ships every second. Finally the moment came when they disengaged their warp engines. =/\= This is the battle cruiser War Hawk to all ships: drop cloak and attack your assigned starships. =/\= All communications was relayed to the outpost as well in order to keep Lonal updated on the situation.

The symbols on the view screen moved around quickly -- the destroyers and the scout ship were attacking the heavy cruisers in the hopes of luring them away from the strike cruisers while the battle cruisers unleashed their powerful arsenal on the Nebula class vessels. The tactic seemed to work: one strike cruisers was destroyed almost instantly after the first volley hit, and one other was heavily damaged. The other two had managed to raise their shields in time, but they hadn't gone undamaged either. The fast attack ships, meanwhile, had done their job admirably: by heavily wounding one of the heavy cruisers -- the Bismarck, as Lonal saw on the screen -- they had succeeded in drawing the group of heavy cruisers away.

However, the command ships hadn't yet destroyed all of the strike cruisers, and the plan hinged on the Nebula class ships being destroyed in the first volley. The fact that three out of four strike cruisers remained (somewhat) intact, meant that their original plan wouldn't work any more.

Lonal listened to the communications chatter as she saw that the Federation ships were now moving as well. =/\= We're being targeted, =/\= the commander of the War Hawk reported. He seemed to be giving orders to his crew. =/\= Reroute power to shields and weapons. Target the strike cruisers. Plasma torpedoes, maximal dispersal pattern. =/\=

The voices and messages that followed were a lot more chaotic. As the Federation ships returned fire, all Lonal could do was try to make sense of the cacophony of subspace messages that reached the outpost.

=/\= Direct hit! We're losing ventral shielding! =/\=

=/\= ...casualties. Hull breach on deck five! Emergency- =/\=

=/\= Fire suppression system off-line! Reroute power to weapons! =/\=

=/\= Return fire! Helm, evasive action, bearing zero-one-three mark tw- =/\=

=/\= ...life support. Trying to route power to secondary systems. Overload reported in main engineering, initiating counter mea- =/\=

=/\= Abandon ship! All hands, abandon ship! =/\=

As her heart pounded in her throat, Lonal held her breath in shock as she watched the Romulan emblems on the view screen disappear one by one, until finally, there were none left. Without any ships to relay sensor data, the screen went blank.

Admiral Lonal swallowed hard. Seven Romulan ships had been obliterated within seconds, and in all likelihood they hadn't been able to do much to stop the Federation strike force from attacking. All they had managed to do was to give a message to the Federation that they were watching... But perhaps this defeat had given the Federation an entirely different message. A message that the Romulans couldn't defend themselves at all. And at this point, Lonal knew that that message would be correct. Ennan, K'taria and Angosia were vulnerable. And if they fell... Romulus could be next.

Categories: BOTF