Author's notes: These are compiled posts by another player and myself for the
New Romulus RP on the
Star Trek Online forums. This continues on from the last
NR entry and my STO character was Kitsu. Written between April to June 2017.
New Romulus, Page 4-5
New Romulus
As Nat'tak materialized on New Romulus, he immediately ran off to gather his crew and get his own ship, the R.R.W.
Crateris, in order. Everything seemed pretty normal; evidently, New Romulus Command was not aware of the upcoming attack.
---
I.R.W. Natius, Bridge
"This is General Nat'al aboard the I.R.W.
Natius," said Nat'al over transmission to New Romulus Command. "We have evidence that the Iconian T'Ket is preparing an immediate attack on New Romulus." No response. Nat'al's eyes widened, curious. "New Romulus, this is General Nat'al. Do you hear me? Iconian attack force imbound!" Still nothing. No response at all.
Why? asked Nat'al to himself, in thought. "Are communications being jammed?"
"No, General," replied one of his officers. "I'm not reading any transmissions from the planet of any kind."
Nat'al just sat there, unsure how to react. "Scan the planet. Is New Romulus Command even there?"
"Yes," replied the science officer. "The expected lifesigns. Numerous Romulans, some Remans. Nothing unusual."
"Odd," replied Nat'al.
An Iconian gateway opened near the planet and Iconian ships emerged, including a single Iaidon Dreadnought, numerous Vonph Battleships, and even more numerous cruisers and raiders. Nearby patrol ships moved in to attack, but they were clearly outmatched.
---
New Romulus Command, Planetary Data Center
Kitsu entered the large room to find Romulans frantically running from console to console and officer to officer. She noticed the large display screen exhibiting a view of the Iconian gateway and its threatening ships.
"Not good," she said in shock. She turned to Command's Tactical officer Subcommander Guron. "Do we have our patrol ships in position?"
Guron nodded as he went through one of the consoles circling the room's main holographic projector. "Oh yes, but they're not even close enough to handle this."
"I was just transported off the
Tetreya before they went to warp. Can we get Commander Tressa back?" Kitsu asked.
The Operations officer, Subcommander Henna responded while going through her data, "They're out of range, but we do have several local vessels preparing to assist. The
Crateris. The
Natius has been hailing."
"Why haven't we responded?" Guron asked as he multitasked.
Kitsu checked another console which displayed scans above the planetary atmosphere. "Some kind of dampening or radiation from the gateway was interfering. It appears to be fluctuating enough to make contact." Then she hailed the
Natius. "General Nat'al, do you read?"
"Barely," replied Nat'al.
"Communications are spotty at best. I'm already having some of my officers bring in some of our allies from one of the Klingon Great Houses, but it will be several minutes until they can arrive."
"The
Crateris should be joining you as well," Kitsu replied. "I'll see about my own ship and join you as soon as I can. I'm sure you don't need to be reminded, but we have to do everything we can to stop this... I still can't believe the Iconians teamed up with the Tal Shiar? Anyway, Command out."
She then turned to the others.
"Anyone know what happened to my ship, the
Saraswati?" Kitsu asked.
The question prompted Guron and Henna to stop their actions and glance at each other, shocked. "That vessel was ship-wrecked and its crew lost when her Commander was abducted by Tal Shiar."
"That was me," revealed the light-haired Romulan. "I'm Commander Kitsu."
Henna paused, unsure how to properly tread softly here. "Sorry. That ship is out of commission, and its crew... Well."
"Forget it," Kitsu interrupted before coming to a realization. "It's all my fault and now they're gone. They trusted me."
Suddenly, a Reman female in a Romulan Republic uniform with a Centurion rank approached them. "There is one ship available if you're willing. My name's Venus and I'm an Engineering officer."
"Take me to it, Venus," ordered Kitsu who began walking, but stopped herself for a second. "Hold down the fort," she said, turned to the two Subcommanders, who were in total shock at the interruption by a mere Reman. "Clearly, I shouldn't." Then Kitsu continued out of the hallway with the other woman.
---
I.R.W. Natius, Bridge
The
Natius was joined by the
Crateris and a few patrol ships and headed for the Iconian battlefleet to try to slow them down.
"This is exactly the last place I thought I would be," said Nat'al, turning to his Reman first officer. "I've always been a Tal Shiar at heart, and we all know it. I was never fine with their treatment of our fellow Romulans, nor your people, although I will admit I was never a fan of the Republic." Nat'al stopped, eyeing the Iaidon on the viewscreen. "Yet here I am, defending them with everything we have. Maybe they're right. We do need to work together to survive. As a people."
The Reman merely nodded in agreement, and the tactical officer turned to Nat'al. "They're charging weapons and targeting us, General. Recommend evasive maneuvers."
Nat'al motioned to the helmsman to do so. The
Crateris, flying alongside the
Natius, began launching Scorpion Fighters as furiously as they could.
---
New Romulus Command, Shuttle Bay
Kitsu and Venus took the lift down to the Shuttle Bay and awaited clearance for their ship. Meanwhile, the Reman female turned to her new commanding officer.
"If you don't mind me saying," Venus began, "I don't believe you should blame yourself for the loss of your crew. We all know the risks we sign up for in the Republic, and we believe in what it stands for. To die in that service, as the Klingons would say, is the most honorable thing."
Kitsu sighed, knowing she was right. "Yeah, I suppose so. It's just hard to shake, though, and due to the limited resources we have, it feels wasteful."
"The best thing you can do is learn from your mistakes and go again. We Remans are tough and never give up."
The Commander glanced over at her. "You have the Romulan spirit, Centurion. Anyway, we don't have time to be sitting around here, talking. We have to get up there and protect this planet from— Hold on. Wasn't this planet part of the Iconian Empire once? Is it possible they're trying to reclaim it?"
"The Iconians subjugated the Dewans, like your people did to mine," Venus said, seconds before a console clicked on next to them, indicating their clearance.
Next to the notification were the ship stats and Kitsu noticed them right away. "Wait a second. We're manning a
T'Liss-class starship!? We might as well be flying a tin can on strings!"
"I'm only a Centurion, ma'am. This is all I could procure before the attack. Allow me to introduce you to the R.R.W.
Tsengate."
Kitsu rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth. "Uggh. Fine. it's better than nothing. But if we make it out if this alive, I'm going to have words with you."
"Typical Romulan attitude," Venus remarked. The two then made their way to the ship.
---
I.R.W. Natius, Bridge
T'Ket's voice ran through the comm channels, as chilling at it was.
"Your existence as you know, is over."
"Sure, sure," sarcastically replied the
Natius's tactical officer. "Permission to open fire?"
"Not... yet..." said Nat'al. "Initiate assault pattern Natarus One," he ordered.
The
Natius generated a gravity well in the middle of the Iconian Battlegroup, and quickly began draining their power and doing everything they could to disable them or even slow them down.
---
R.R.W. Tsengate, Bridge
The
T'Liss-class
Tsengate entered space and joined the Natius and the others in the firefight with the Iconians. The ship shook from antiproton beams by a nearby Mir Fighter.
"Perhaps if we stick with the small ones," offered Venus, manning the helm.
Kitsu took the weapons and operation stations, firing plasma beams back at the fighter. "Yeah, we're going to definitely die up here. How are we even operating this without a crew?"
"There's a backup system I was preparing just before the Iconians attacked," Venus said, while she turned and swiftly took the
Tsengate through evasive maneuvers. "It's on the console to your left."
The Commander tried reaching for it with her other hand, but quickly saw that she needed to fire plasma torpedoes at an incoming Baltim Raider. "Damn, this is tough!" And then she had an idea and pulled out her stolen Herald Antiproton staff, reaching its end over to the far off console.
"What are you doing?" Venus said, distracted by the battle. The
Tsengate dodged the exploding Mir Fighter, but was hit by a torpedo from behind.
Kitsu kept trying to reach. "Almost there!" And then she activated the program that made holographic crew appear all over the ship.
"Yeah, we probably should have started with that," the Reman female admitted. "Fortunately, there's a chance they'll overload our main systems."
The Romulan put her staff down and fired several plasma torpedoes into the Baltim Raider, blowing its aft sections to pieces. "You could have mentioned that!"
---
I.R.W. Natius, Bridge
A trio of Klingon Bird of Preys joined the fight, soon joined by an additional Ambassador class cruiser.
"They're returning fire!" exclaimed Nat'al's tactical officer, as torpedoes impacted the hull of the Natius, dealing alarming amounts of damage.
"This ship is meant for stealth raids, not large scale battles..." mumbled Nat'al. "Randomize evasive patterns and activate the cloaking device, and load torpedoes for another attack run."
---
R.R.W. Tsengate, Bridge
The
T'Liss-class starship shook from antiproton attacks. Kitsu was able to take her Commander's chair while the crew took over operating the ship.
"Well, I could get used to this," she said, while holding her purple staff next to her. "Keep firing! Do the plasma shockwave thing!"
As her orders were complied with, another Romulan man entered the Bridge. "Whoa! What is going on here??" he asked. "Where did all these people come from?"
"You're not one of the crew?" Kitsu answered with a question of her own.
The Science officer threw up his hands. "I was asleep in quarters, hiding out from my commanding officer because he's such a slave-driver! I picked a random ship with no launch plans! By the way, my name is Hogor."
"Well, the planet is under attack and we're responding the best way we can. Take a station, Lieutenant."
Hogor shrugged. "Sure, I can die today," he said sarcastically as he did so. "Why are these ships even still in service? At best, they're sleeping apparatuses."
---
I.R.W. Natius, Bridge
"Any luck on those reinforcements?" asked Nat'al to Nat'as and S'kkorra, who were still working away at the communications console.
"We're in contact with the House of moQ Dop chorgh," replied Nat'as. "They'resss good newsss and bad newsss."
"Save me the speech," barked Nat'al, "what's the news?"
"The main battle fleet issss already organized at the Sssssstarbassssse," replied Nat'as, "but the crews were all bussssssy partying. It may be a while before they arrive."
Nat'al just threw his hands up in the air, turning to the tactical officer. "Go for another attack run, attack pattern omega!"
---
R.R.W. Tsengate, Bridge
The
T'Liss-class starship took out another Mir Fighter, blowing it to pieces.
"Yes!" Kitsu said, clenching her fist. "Not that I get any pleasure from these actions. It's strictly business," she said, in an attempt to reassure her crew.
Venus then noticed another ship, incoming for them. "Whoa! I'm reading a non-Herald lifesign aboard one of the Baltim Raiders."
"You're at the Helm," stated Kitsu. "Are you saying you gave yourself sensor controls?"
The Reman female smirked. "I'm an engineer. I can do anything I want on this ship."
"Damn it, Venus," Kitsu cursed. "You're going to have to learn about protocol, as soon as the Republic solidifies it."
Nodding, Venus sent the information to the viewscreen. "It appears Aenar," she said. "I think they're a prisoner."
"Wait," the Commander said. "There was another woman with me during my capture who was Aenar. She disappeared when a Baltim Raider visited the facility some time back."
Venus maneuvered the
Tsengate from incoming fire by the ship in question. "Well, her captors appear to want a piece of us."
"Let's get their shields down and beam her out," suggested Kitsu. "Evasive movements in space! Go!"
The
Natius went in for an attack run, blasting away a pair of Baltim Raiders and distracting the enemy forces for the
Tsengate.
The
Tsengate swooped in for the Baltim Raider with the prisoner, blasting plasma torpedoes into its hull, but an over-powered anti-proton hit, in addition to all the fire the
Tsengate took, burned through the ship's shields and knocked its port impulse thrusters offline.
"Hold on!" Kitsu called out, as her ship began spinning. "Stabilize!"
The
Natius continued evasive patterns left and right, but allies or not, it was clear they were losing.
---
U.S.S. Valhalla, Bridge
Suddenly, the
Odyssey-class U.S.S.
Valhalla dropped warp and aging-human-with-greying-bread, Admiral Cid, stood up from his command chair in shock at the sight before him.
"It's almost a massacre," commented Arkane, the stout Tellarite and Starfleet officer from the tactical station.
Cid glanced at Raje, his first officer and a Saurian. "We should attack now, sir," Raje said of their hesitation.
"Agreed! Raise shields and open fire on those Iconian ships!" Cid declared. "Attack Pattern Iota!"
The
Valhalla began piercing phasers and popping torpedoes into any Iconain ship it could get close to. Several vessels exploded from attack.
A fleet of assorted Klingon ships then dropped out of warp, opening fire on the Herald forces.
---
R.R.W. Tsengate, Bridge
The
Tsengate stopped itself from spinning and found the nearby Baltim Raider preoccupied with the
Valhalla.
"Looks like a Federation ship and a fleet of Klingons have arrived!" Venus called out in shock.
Kitsu shook her head in amazement. "Well, when the goings get tough, it appears that the universe provides. If those two things can somehow be related." Then she snapped out of it. "Venus, get us into range of that Herald vessel. We'll transport the prisoner as soon as we can."
"Understood," Venus replied while engaging full impulse. The
Tsengate sped passed some antiproton fire and neared the enemy ship. In seconds, the Aenar was beamed out.
T'Ket's dreadnought set course for the Natius, targeting them and firing a barrage of weapons.
The
Tsengate rocked, violently, as they passed several Mir Fighters and were hit by an onslaught of antiproton beams from the Baltim Raider. Another placement of plasma torpedoes with a release of a singularity core-built plasma shockwave blew the Raider to pieces.
"How.... how did we even do that?" Hogor remarked in complete shock.
Venus, now standing behind an Engineering console raised her hand. "That was me. I am an Engineer after all." Another holo-officer took over the helm.
"Let's help out the
Natius. Engage the dreadnaught!" Kitsu ordered, resulting in the
Tsengate changing course and opening fire on the large Herald ship. "Did we get the prisoner?"
Suddenly, the blind Aenar entered the Bridge, with her brow furrowed and a smirk on her lips. "Oh, you got me alright. The name's Celeste."
"What do you want?" Kitsu said, detecting her maliciousness.
Celeste took out a disruptor and blasted one of the nearby holograms into oblivion. "It's not what I want. It's what my masters want and it's that staff that belongs to them."
"Ugh, here we go," Kitsu rolled her eyes as she stood from her chair. "You do one good deed, and you get this. —Mr. Hogor, take tactical and keep firing on the dreadnaught!"
Hogor did as asked. "So, you do want us to die? Excellent."
"Well, Celeste, let's settle this," Kitsu opened, picking up her purple staff and taking a stance before the Aenar.