Firewing: Too Short a Season

[NDak 0]

“Commander,” the alarmed voice of his engineer screamed. “I told au that the engines could na take the stress. They've blown.”

 

Fvadt! Commander Raekal thought and spoke the obscenity almost simultaneously. He should have known better than to trust the Klingon-designed impulse engines. He took a very deep breath and considered the situation. His mission had been completed, but they needed to return to the information to Romulus, and he would prefer not to have to explain to his commanders why a Federation vessel was towing them to the edge of the Neutral Zone.

 

Of course, that brought about an entirely different issue. The Lloann'na commander would surely question why a vessel flying the t'Liss was so deep into their space.

 

“Orders,” the calm voice of his sub-commander came, interrupting his thoughts.

 

Frowning, Raekal leaned back into the command chair. He steepled his fingers and furrowed his dark eye-brows. This was not a man accustomed to being so helpless, nor was he used to having to wiggle his way out of compromising situations.

 

“We're still moving at around 300 hakinas,” his engineer, Centurion Dajaeli t'Sshav chimed in, running a hand through her long hair as she glowered at the status monitor blinking bright green, the color the Klingons had chosen to indicate 'the impulse engines just blew up in a blaze of glory, let's drink bloodwine.'

 

“The Lloann'na vessel will easily be able to catch up to us.”

 

“Ie, Sub-commander.”

 

A moment passed and a thought occurred to him. Given their proximity to Klingon space, the shape of their vessel and the fact that the Federation didn't exactly have a database of Romulan Star Navy ID tags, it was entirely likely the Commander of the Federation vessel was unaware of the nature of the prey he tracked. “Estimated time till they enter sensor range?”

 

“Three minutes.”

 

“Prepare a message buoy for launch, upload our mission logs and include a status update for Galae Command. Inform them we are attempting to evade a hostile Lloann'na vessel but have been damaged and may require assistance.”

 

“I will alter the logs accordingly,” the Sub-commander added as he did as ordered.

 

A few more moments passed before the buoy was ready for launch. Once prepared, it streaked harmlessly off towards Romulan space to deliver the news of Firewing's mission. On the Oira, Raekal considered his next move.

 

“Open a channel,” he said. “We might as well use our element of surprise now.”

 

–

 

 

The afternoon sun had risen high in the late spring afternoon. A flitter glinted as it's silvery hull caught the rays of sun that bathed the Two Worlds in life giving heat. The fragrant scent of haenin blooms swirled in the wind.

 

Anaeris tr'Raekal sat the earthen ceramic mug down on the terrace table and took in the moment. There were few sights and smells as pleasant and heart warming to a battle-hardened Romulan Commander like springtime on Romulus.

 

For Raekal, the month-long repair and refit that his command, the warbird Firewing, was undergoing had been a most welcome change of pace after a grueling ten-month tour patrolling the Outmarches, or as the Lloann'na called it, the Neutral Zone. In years past, such an assignment was occasionally interesting as they often got to play cat and mouse with whatever Lloann'na vessel was stationed their opposite. However, with the Lloann'na attention turned to Qo'Nos, rarely anything was happening in the Outmarches – maybe a stray comet or an anomaly, but nothing worthy of a veteran commander and crew.

 

Spending time on the homeworlds during the rebirth of nature and getting to see his three children, who'd grown much taller and mature since he'd last been home, was entirely pleasant and kept him distracted from the dangerous mission he and his crew were to undertake once the refit of the nearly fifty year-old Firewing was complete.

 

Firewing, like, nature was in part, being reborn. To complete their dangerous mission, they would require a number of sensor improvements and the computer upgrades required to run them. She had been a marvelous ship, despite her origins as a stripped down, aging Klingon cruiser. It was ironic, Raekal thought, that command would choose such a vessel for the mission at hand.

 

Like all the D7, or as the Romulan designation went Hakari'Kli, vessels under the operation of the Galae, Firewing was acquired as part of the alliance with the Klingons. The Klingons, as one of his fellow commanders had once put it were 'terrible shipwrights, but they did build good weapons platforms.' And thus, Firewing had served in the Galae for many years hence.

 

The reason they had been purchased was two fold. The Klingons had all but extorted the Senate into buying them and secondly because the technical issues surrounding the Romulans own warbirds and their fusion drives. While the Empire and her Scientists possessed ample knowledge of how to create a Matter/Anti-Matter drive similar to the ones the humans and Klingons used, the supply of dilithium required to control such drives was limited in Romulan space and Klingon ships came pre-supplied with the required drive. Hence it was advantageous to buy the more complex and efficient drives from the Klingons as opposed to using their own bulky, inefficient simple fusion drives which powered Romulan-designed warbirds, as they'd grown increasingly larger to produce warp speeds comparable with their enemies.

 

Which brought about Firewing's next and possibly final mission. As it became clear that the alliance was one sided and little more than scam intended to sell the Romulans cheap, mouldering scrap heaps unfit to fly the t'Liss, the Senate and the Galae began looking into alternate methods of powering vessels.

 

One such experiment had been the Obelisk Project; using a particle labeled N-3, Obelisk had the potential of unlimited energy. However, it had quickly been shown to be extraordinarily unstable and extremely dangerous. The research facility that had been leading the Obelisk Project was utterly obliterated, and entire five light year area was laid to ruins. Officially, it was the work of terrorists and the entire area was cordoned off with a punishment of death for any who entered.

 

It was most curious then, when a similarly described area appeared in Federation space. That the Federation scientific community would be capable of developing such an advanced form of energy was surprising for such a primitive, child-like race, but as Raekal had reasoned, even a blind nnarni occasionally found a nut.

 

Curiosity piqued, Raekal and his crew and Firewing were chosen to investigate and confirm whether not the Federation had dabbled in N-3 production, a most troubling conclusion for the Senate.

 

On Romulus the sun had began it's slow decent behind the Arkal Mountains. The wind had died down and only the vestigial remains of the poignant haenin scent remained with Raekal. To get to the Lantaru Sector they would have to cross into Federation space, undetected and then proceed for many light years deep into Federation held space before they could begin their mission, which itself would take several days of stationary scans in hostile space, all while trying to avoid detection.

 

In the back of his mind it occurred to him that the rebirth of Firewing could very well be too short a season.